All Forum Posts by: Clint Galliano

@Bart H. By the time New Orleans experienced Katrina, the majority of the oil industry had already relocated to Houston. Pretty much all of the others who hadn't, with the exception of Royal Dutch Shell, immediately moved to Houston or established offices north of Lake Ponchatrain. Even Shell reduced their personnel footprint in New Orleans. So there wasn't a whole lot of existing business besides the tourism to continue. AND, as others have stated, a lot of people just settled where they evacuated to.

Houston has multiple oil industry businesses that are headquartered there, along with lots of other types of businesses. I don't see it turning into a Post-Katrina New Orleans. 

The other thing to point out is that a lot of the people involved in all of these anchor businesses live in Katy, The Woodlands, etc. all on the outskirts...While there has been flooding all around, a lot of neighborhoods on the outskirts seem to have  been spared the worst of it.

Yeah, we figured that something was a little off with all the urgent messages...

Currently listing a home for rent as we finish up the last few details of the rehab and showing it to prospective tenants.

Had one send a total of 12 messages via Zillow, Trulia, and Craiglist asking to see the property immediately. Since I was going there this morning, I contacted her to come by. She showed up late, then proceeded to tell me that she was evicted from a rental last year, and will most likely break her current lease to move into our rental, so when can she find out when she can move in?

"Well, ma'am, we will not be finished with the last few details until this weekend, so we will be making our decision next week."

"But I need to know right away, because if I wait, I will have to pay another month's rent where I am now and won't have the deposit & rent for here..."

"For reasons previously stated, and because we also have other tenants who applied to rent the property, we will make our decision next week. Here is our application and a document explaining our application process and selection criteria."

"Oh, OK. Thank you."

Uhhhhhhhh?!?!?!?!?

@Rich Schmidt Didn't realize there was a thread for it...cross-posting now.

Currently listing a home for rent as we finish up the last few details of the rehab and showing it to prospective tenants.

Had one send a total of 12 messages via Zillow, Trulia, and Craiglist asking to see the property immediately. Since I was going there this morning, I contacted her to come by. She showed up late, proceeded to tell me that she was evicted from a rental last year, and will most likely break her current lease to move into our rental, so when can she find out when she can move in?

"Well, ma'am, we will not be finished with the last few details until this weekend, so we will be making our decision next week."

"But I need to know right away, because if I wait, I will have to pay another month's rent where I am now and won't have the deposit & rent for here..."

"For reasons previously stated, and because we also have other tenants who applied to rent the property, we will make our decision next week. Here is our application and a document explaining our application process and selection criteria."

"Oh, OK. Thank you."

Uhhhhhhhh?!?!?!?!?

Congrats on the remodel, @Shaun R.! 

We are in the final wrap-up of our rehab and currently taking applications. I'm with you on not doing as much ourselves on our next one. 

Welcome to BP, @Kevin Boyd! 

As  you may or may not know, listen to the podcasts, set up keyword alerts for topics you are interested in, utilize all the learning resources available on BP, and scour the forums for any questions you may have.

There should be two components to this: State & Federal. In Louisiana, at least in the coastal parishes (counties), there is a coastal zone board that reviews and approves permits to do things in wetlands areas. A good bit of the area is considered wetlands. Usually if something is going to be done in a wetlands area, there must be some kind of mitigation created to replace the wetlands area that was displaced. On the federal side, the Army Corp of Engineers may have a say in changing the designation from bog/wetlands to normal use. My suggestion is to talk to you local planning committee and ask them. They should be able to point you in the right direction.

We replaced the coil on an existing unit about 2-3 years ago for about $1,000. It is still going strong. Also, we are in South Louisiana, so it gets used a lot.

We are doing a rehab right now and went with luxury vinyl tile. About $2.00 / sq ft and my contractor is putting it in for about $0.75 / sq ft because it is so easy to handle. Lays right over the existing flooring and has a nice wood look.