All Forum Posts by: Braden Smith

Hi @Paul Pritchett. Welcome to BP. Always good to see another NOLA member on here. I'd recommend Charles Muller. He is located in Metairie and very knowledgeable about real estate related accounting. 

If I can be of service to you, let me know.

Braden

Try David Birdsong at Gulf South Title. He is very investor friendly and the former president of NOREIA.

I second what @Kimberly Jones said.

The Southshore is definitely saturated with investors. The Northshore is not near as bad, but investors are starting to look further out from the city due to the competition in the city.

Zillow isn't too bad in some markets, but it is not accurate in our market and neither is Trulia. Our market is very unique as you probably already know. We have many pockets of good and bad and values vary greatly from one to the next. None of the websites I have seen can provide accurate comps. In my opinion, the only way to get accurate comps is from the MLS and even then the search area has to be very specific to the neighborhood in question. You cannot use a radius in our area.

Hi @Justin Harris. Welcome to BP. Always good to see another GNO area member. 

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but good deals have become a scarce commodity in our market. Our area has become absolutely saturated with investors so the competition is fierce to say the least. It is now pretty much impossible to find a good deal on the MLS, so you have to find them off market where you can deal directly with a seller. Direct mail to distressed owners is the most common way to do this, but due to the massive amount of competition in our area direct mail has become pretty much useless. For example, I spoke with a seller recently who sent me a picture of all the postcards, flyers and letters he had received in about 6 weeks and there were about 25 pieces laid out on his table. All that in no more than 6 weeks time!

You have to be creative with your strategies, and do things differently if you want to stand out from the competition. There are just too many people all doing the same things these days. There are several ways to generate leads and some work better than others, but it will take some trial and error to find what works for you. How are you currently generating leads and what do you have your VA doing for you? Is it a local VA or one from overseas? I ask this because a foreign accent can hurt your cause with phone calls in our area.

You can still find some good deals from one of our local wholesalers, but you need to be careful who you deal with. Make sure they are on the up and up, actually have a solid contract on the property and can provide some good references. 

What is currently holding you up with making that first step?

Sounds like an FHA 203k loan would work for what you need.

Welcome to BP @Jerrod Langlinais!

I'm a local Realtor and investor here in the New Orleans area. If I can be of service, please let me know. 

Good luck!

He needs to speak with an attorney that knows how to deal with this. Try David Birdsong at Gulf South Title.

Hi @Ronald Russell. The New Orleans Real Estate Investor Association meets on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Sheraton Galleria in Metairie. See here - http://neworleansreia.com/

Home Bank and Investar are investor friendly