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.

Custom Homes Trend Down Slightly From All Time High

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As the economy began to recover, custom homes led the way in housing market statistics.  In 2009, the percentage of custom homes being built by an owner, contractor, or builder on the owner’s land – a single, custom home built with collateral – was 31.5%, a record high amount of custom homes being built.

For 15 years, most builders and owners had shied away from building one custom home at a time, however the financial constraints of the Recession brought this trend back in 2009.  The reason that builders were not building 0-609 Lake Circle Front Exteriorcustom homes was because they could build spec homes on credit before the Recession.  However, builders were unable to build spec (inventory) homes because of the overwhelming restrictions on lending following the Recession.  The typical AD&C credit for new home starts without a pre-sold contract was simply unavailable.  Therefore, this custom home building trend for individual builders and individual owners continued until just recently when the housing market started to make a full recovery.

Now, builders are able to build spec homes once again, and the capital that has been built up by new home builders by the selling of new home inventory that had been sitting stagnant for many years has loosened up the purse strings for builders to now reverse the custom home trend.  Also, lending restrictions have eased slightly as well. As a result, the percentage of the housing industry that includes the construction of custom homes has dropped back to 21.9%.

At Bedico Creek Preserve, a master planned, Conservation Community in St. Tammany Parish, our builders build both inventory homes and custom homes for new home buyers on the Northshore.  Our buyers come from Mandeville, Covington, Abita Springs, and Madisonville. We also have around 30% of interested buyers from the Southshore in New Orleans, Metairie, & Kenner.  The reason for this diverse audience of interested home buyers is because of the 16 available builders that build new homes and new, custom homes in our subdivision.  We also offer lots for sale in 7 different, distinctive Neighborhoods in a variety of price ranges and sizes.  Bedico Creek offers something for everyone, so if you have not already had the chance, Come Out & Visit Our Community to Discover the Preservation of the True Northshore Lifestyle.  Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail Info@LiveBedico.com.

Click Here for the Source of the Information.

New Home Pricing Up in the Greater New Orleans Area

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One of the clear indicators of a healthy housing market is home pricing.  Whether it is new home pricing or prices of existing home, the price of homes in any area can give a clear picture as to the health of that area’s housing market.  While coming out of the Recession, many economists kept a sharp eye on housing prices because of the constant, steady, and sometimes sharp increases in home prices.  If prices went up too much, too fast, there was a danger of a “double-dip” Recession because the housing market would create what is called a housing bubble – inflate home prices and then tumble leaving homeowners in homes that were not worth as much as the price for which they were purchased.

The good news is that prices stabilized in the housing markets nationwide about 6 months ago, and local St. Tammany Parish Home Pricingcommunities have been enjoying nice profits on homes that previously were not selling with as much regularity.  Taking a look at the Greater New Orleans area pricing, Wade Ragas, of Real Property Associates, who authors the twice-yearly report regarding real estate trends, reported that New Orleans pricing, especially in historic neighborhoods, jumped 14% during 2015.

For many people, this price range became unattainable, and many home buyers started looking to the suburbs of New Orleans such as Jefferson Parish on both the East Bank and the West Bank, St. Charles Parish, and St. Tammany Parish.  However, even though prices were a bit more affordable in these outlying suburbs, pricing in these other parishes also increased during 2015.  St. Tammany Parish home pricing rose 4% from $103 / square foot to $110 / square foot.  The average price of a house in St. Tammany Parish in 2015 was $242,442, up 3.2% from 2014 which saw an average house price of $234,818.

According to Ragas, two things will impact the Greater New Orleans housing market moving forward – oil prices and interest rates.  Oil prices have been slightly volatile, causing layoffs and reducing the price per barrel of oil.  Mortgage interest rates are still at historic lows even with the Fed recently raising the interest rate, so now is still the right time to make the investment in a new home or an existing home in the Greater New Orleans area.

Click Here for the Source of the Information.

Builder Confidence in St. Tammany Parish

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For 30 years, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo has been measuring builder confidence based on 3 factors of new home building – current new home sales, projected new home sales, & new home buyer traffic.  The survey is called the Housing Market Index (HMI), and builders nationwide are selected and surveyed by the NAHB each month.  The result is a gauge of how confident builders are in the housing market and the future of the housing market.  Post Recession, these numbers stayed low for many months, even years, but in the 8-1609 Audubon Parkway Kitchen Overviewpast 2.5 years, builder confidence has been up.

Nowhere is that more evident in our own backyard than at Bedico Creek Preserve, a master planned, Conservation Community in Madisonville, Louisiana, in St. Tammany Parish.  Builder confidence in St. Tammany Parish is definitely up in our community.  We have had a record high amount of 18 builders all building new homes in our subdivision at one time.  Currently, we have a list of 16 qualified and quality new home builders that offer lots to be built, as well as new homes for sale in the 9 available neighborhoods within our new home community in Southeast Louisiana.

Two of our Neighborhoods focus solely on the new homes built by exclusive builders that have purchased the lots in the neighborhoods to build established floorplans to maintain an inventory of new spec homes for sale.  These two neighborhoods are Cypress Crossing and Deer Park.  Other builders have individual Homes for Sale that are located throughout the other 7 Neighborhoods.

Builder confidence nationwide in January had a score of 60.  Any score above 50 is considered optimism from new home builders.  Broken down, the builder confidence rating scored as follows: current sales conditions rose two points to 67, projected sales conditions dropped three points to 63, and current buyer traffic came in at 44.  In St. Tammany Parish, the new homes at Bedico Creek have been selling as fast as builders have been framing them.  Many of our new homes for sale are available on our website for just weeks before they are under contract.  If you are interested in living at our new home subdivision, you may want to meet with one of our 16 builders to discuss purchasing a lot in your selected Neighborhood and then building a new home for you and your family.

Contact Us Today to Make an Appointment to View Our Lots at 985-845-4200 or E-mail Info@LiveBedico.com.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Home Builders Are Hiring in Large Numbers

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Home builders are hiring according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) by BLS and the National Association of Home Builder’s analysis.  Construction jobs are being offered at a rapid rate because of the increase in the production of new, inventory homes for sale.  The number of building permits that were acquired and not used rose above 4% because of the lack of labor for builders to use to build the new homes that they had 1657 Audubon Parkway Under Constructionplanned.  The construction industry saw an 11.6% increase in available construction jobs from October to November.  This number is actually surprising for construction employment because of the slowdown of the real estate industry in the last two months of the year – November and December.  To see such an uptick in available jobs is truly an indication that the housing market has been on an upward slide and seems to be picking up speed.

In the big picture, construction jobs accounted for almost 2% of all available employment in the United States. The good news is that with the available construction jobs comes a steep increase in hiring and employment “movement.”  Employer hiring of construction labor increased 5.1% from October to November, and employees quitting to look for better employment went up by 2% as well. In a healthy construction employment market, the movement of workers in an upward salary fashion is encouraging to the overall economy as construction employees start to get higher salaries and are able to put that money back into the economy.

At Bedico Creek Preserve, a masterplanned community in St. Tammany Parish, we have 16 builders in our Conservation Community that are all building new homes for sale on lots that have been purchased in our 9 Neighborhoods available for sale.  The construction that is going on in our community is phenomenal, and in order to keep our existing homeowners in a “livable” state, we take great care to monitor jobsites, construction equipment, and trucks going in and out of our subdivision.

If you are interested in buying your own lot and hiring a builder or contractor to construct your new home, you will want to contact our Lot Specialist, Scott Waltemath, to take a tour of lots within your price range or lot size.  Contact Bedico Creek Today to Set Up Your Appointment to View Our Lots for Sale. Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail Info@LiveBedico.com.

Scott Waltemath
Lot Specialist
Classic Properties Management Corp.
New Orleans, LA
Licensed in Louisiana

Click Here for the Source of the Information.

A Strong Housing Market Affects Growth in St. Tammany Parish

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St. Tammany Parish is seeing the benefits and struggles of growth as it relates to the strong housing market.  It is projected that the parish population will increase from the current 250,000 to approximately 460,000 by the year 2030. Many fear the growth will lead to a look of “Anywhere U.S.A.” with separate commercial and residential developments.

Not only do experts fear it will lead to a non-aesthetically pleasing look, but it will also lead to horrible traffic problems. St. Tammany is more susceptible to this problem because everyone living in the parish has to drive 4-206 W. Longview Court Wall of Windowseverywhere they want to go. The national average of trips made by people alone in a vehicle is 70% but in St. Tammany, it is 82%.  With the growth and sprawling suburban expansion comes more roads being built, which will only increase the number and length of St. Tammany residents’ trips.

St. Tammany parish government and a company called Greater New Orleans Inc. are working towards a solution to struggles with a growing population.  They sponsored a panel of experts from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), housed in Washington D.C., to study the parish as it relates to future development, land-use strategies and hardiness to flooding and hurricanes.  According to panel Chairman Jim Heid, “the object was to provide objective and unbiased views on land use challenges.”

In a meeting held at the parish government complex north of Mandeville, the concept of a “village in the woods” was most favorable.  This concept brings the residential and commercial land use together through a pedestrian friendly development that focuses on using the natural environment. This will give residents the choices of walking, bicyclingGinger or carpooling to destinations.

The panel recommended the development could potentially be located in the area between Interstate 12 and Louisiana 36 north of Lacombe, including Louisiana 1088 and 454. Fortunately the parish already has several areas to look upon as role models for this “village in the woods” concept. TerraBella located off Bootlegger Road in Covington, the planned development Tamanend, off of Louisiana 434 and downtown Covington already project this concept with their mixed-use development including apartments, single family houses, shops and other businesses.

Stakeholders are supportive of this concept and according to Alan Razak, a member of the panel, “strong political will and some risk taking” will be the only way this vision will come to fruition.  Parish Planning Director Sidney Fontenot sees potential in other areas such as land north of Lacombe where the Northshore Technical Community College project is beginning and the Goodbee area located west of Covington.

To sum it up, the panel recommends that parish leaders update St. Tammany Parish’s comprehensive plan for the future by adding to the land with mixed-use developments. Fontenot states, “I think the next step is at what level do we go from allowing it, encouraging it to mandating it. That’s a major policy discussion for the elected officials in concert with input from the citizens.”

Click Here for the Source of the Information.

Bedico Creek Christmas Social

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RSVP to kellywaltemath@gmail.com.

An All-Inclusive Christmas Event at Bedico Creek Preserve

Bedico Creek Pool Pavilion  

Saturday, December 12, 2015
1:00PM – 3:00PM

 Santa & Mrs. Clause Are Coming to Spread the Joy of the Season!

They will be reading of Christmas stories, offer balloon making, face painting and more for this family-friendly event!

Whether you have children or not, we welcome you to attend as it is a great opportunity to meet your fellow neighbors!

RSVP to kellywaltemath@gmail.com.