Occasionally, because Bedico Creek Preserve is such a popular neighborhood on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Louisiana, we will have newspaper, magazine, and online articles and blogs written about our master-planned community. We feature these articles in our Press Room area. Also, we sometimes create press releases for special news and events that are happening at Bedico Creek Preserve. You can find all of this information, plus make media inquiries all right here in our Press Room.
This is a free family-friendly event that celebrates Halloween in Covington.
Trickin’ and Treatin’
Covington Trailhead
419 N. New Hampshire Street
Covington, LA 70433
October 24, 2020
10am – 12pm
Free Event!
This is a two-day music festival in Mandeville.
Ozone Songwriter Festival
Mandeville Trailhead Stage and Interpretive Center, Old Rail Brewing Co., Lafitte St. Market Stage
675 Lafitte St.
Mandeville, LA 70448
Cancelled
Price: Free
Water conservation has always been a big issue when it comes to the use of water in our homes. Water conservation saves on costs, allows less land use for stormwater management and helps with the quality of water that is available. One way builders are seeking to help even further with water conservation is through total hydrology planning.
Total hydrology planning is a methodology developed by landscape architecture firm Consilium Design to identify and utilize all water resources on a project site. Every site or piece of land is different in how it reacts to the climate. Total hydrology planning looks at this relationship and determines the best way to balance between water supply and demand.
In order for the process to be successful, it must be implemented during the land planning and design phase. When a new community is developed, reducing the development footprint will in turn reduce the linear foot runs of water, sanitary sewer and the developed flows, enabling designers to scale down stormwater management systems and the amount of irrigated landscape. The patterns and connectivity of streets should be altered to allow better balance water pressure and reduce line sizes and construction phasing. Clustering homes around shared common “front yard” for neighbors to gather and play also will help reduce water needs.
Instead of clearing all the land, developers would benefit from keeping some of the native landscape. The compact design of homes that take up less space is a good way to preserve native landscaping. Native landscaping is much easier to re-establish in areas where dirt has been moved to build a home.
Another great feature that can be added to an existing home or to a new neighborhood is rainwater harvesting. If done correctly, 30% or more portable water demand can be reduced. For a home, rooftop collection and storage work best. For a new community, directing surface rainwater as sheet flows or via curb cuts from streets, parking lots, patios and walks to adjacent landscape areas whenever possible.
Just by changing the way we conserve water helps to create solutions for builders when it comes to water management. Builders should shift from focusing on the water that is not there to the way they can maximize what is currently available. This will make the total hydrology planning a success.
Click Here For the Source of the Information.
Housing starts were up more than 22% in July from the previous report in June. According to the Commerce Department builders started 1.5 million new homes in the month of July. This is great news for potential buyers who will now have more inventory to choose from, however, home prices are also on the rise.
Raw materials used to build have had a huge spike in prices. Components that are made in China such as hammers, bathroom fixtures and nails have seen heavy tariffs. According to Mark Konter, a builder from Savannah, Georgia, he had to raise his home prices in July because of the cost of timber going through the roof. The higher cost of lumber will add $8,000 to $14,000 on the price of new homes to compensate for the difference.
“From July 1 to Aug. 1, we were up just shy of 45%, in that short, 30-day period alone,” Konter said.
Jerry Howard, head of the National Association of Home Builders blames the rise in timber cost to supply and demand. During the height of the pandemic supply of timber was down because the lumber mills had to close. The high demand for houses with the low inventory of timber caused the prices to skyrocket.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated housing to come back this strongly, placing this much pressure on the demand for all the components that go into a house,” Howard said.
This will not detour housing demand. Homebuyers are looking for larger homes where they can work from home and have space outside because of social distancing. Low-interest rates will help with the increase in home prices and as long as the interest rates stay low, homebuyers will keep purchasing.
Click Here For the Source of the Information.
The National Association of Realtors reported sales of existing homes rose 24.7% from June to July this summer. July of this year sales were up 8.7% higher than they were this time last year. According to NAR that is the strongest monthly gain in the history of the survey.
When looking at sales, the NAR says the numbers they report include closed sales. The high numbers are stemmed from a lack of inventory, rising prices and record low mortgage rates.
“The new listings are running a little higher than one year ago but all those new listings are being grabbed by the buyers and taken off the market,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors.
Home inventory was reported to have only 1.5 million homes for sale at the end of July. It was reported that the supply of existing homes for sale decreased to 21.1% annually. At the beginning of the year, there was a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace but with this drop, the sales pace went down to just a 3.1-month supply. This is the lowest reported since the National Association of Realtors began the survey in 1982.
Since the supply is low and demand is up, the median price of a home was also up in July 8.5% annually. The lack of inventory increased the median price of homes sold to $304,100. This is also a record high price much like the prices seen during the bubble in 2006.
Record low-interest rates are also fueling the market. Potential homebuyers have a lot more purchasing power and can afford a bigger purchase price with such low rates. The average 30-year fixed mortgage is below 3% as reported in July.
Low rates coupled with high homebuilder sentiment has been positive for the industry. August saw a record high score on the National Association of Home Builder’s monthly index. Homebuilders are benefitting from strong buyer demand and inventory shortage.
“I think there is a big societal change concerning housing decisions today,” said Yun. “The upper-income bracket has been more stable in terms of jobs, and they are taking advantage of record-low mortgage rates.”
Click Here For the Source of the Information.
The festival will be a drive-thru event this year in Covington.
Monster Mash Fun Fall Family Festival
Bogue Falaya Park
213 Park Drive
Covington, LA 70433
October 17, 2020
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Price: Drive-Thru Ticket $10
