All Forum Posts by: Kimberly Jones

It is very hard to get good deals in Metairie and Kenner AND the competition is fierce. I got tired of working out there and came on in to the city a couple of years ago. Definitely more money to be made here. That said,  Metairie and Kenner are good places to buy and hold for income  and multi units are the way to go. If the numbers are right, it's the income that can make up for the lack of discount on the acquisition.

We are all being raped here when it comes to insurance. Your flood probably won't be so bad out there but the Hazard is going to make you want to cry. Nothing we can do about it though, just got to work it in and still try to make some money.

Definitely be very careful in Dayton. I have a client that is extremely experienced in multiple markets. Somehow he got the idea to try out Dayton and it has not gone well. He always does serious due diligence and he has a team in place that does an awesome job on the rehabs. He did the same things in Dayton that he does from Florida to NYC, but the properties are not selling. His flips have turned into rentals. Not what he had in mind.

You can't go by zip here.

@Braden Smith I have to call you out on that "investor friendly" statement. Lot's of Realtors are investor friendly, the problem is not many know what investors truly need. They certainly cannot help a newbie learn the ropes. You actually run with investors so you know the game. I am thinking a better term to describe you would be "investor savvy." :)

We like flying under the radar in NOLA. There is enough competition here as it is!! ;)

You are right about the variation from block to block and it is most assuredly something that requires local knowledge. You can take one house and drop it riverside of St Claude and it will value in the $300k-$500k range. Same house dropped a few blocks north (lakeside of St Claude) and it will top out in the low $200's. A few blocks further north and it will barely touch $100k. This all happens within a mile. Outside of knowing values, you also have got to know areas to stay out of. You can literally cross one street and be smack in a war zone. Everything looks the same to the unknowing eye, until you get shot in the *** for no good reason.

You are probably right about the Hedge Funds not coming here, at least for the moment. I tried my best to get them here after Katrina and they were too afraid. We never really felt the brunt of the mortgage meltdown because we were already flattened before the crap hit the fan everywhere else so foreclosures were never abundant enough to bring them. There are a few looking this way now that we are spending so much time in the International spot light, but they are looking at the high dollar properties. To be honest, I am not sure the Hedge Funds would have ever stood a chance here. You know how much trust New Orleans folks have for "outsiders." Little to none. 

Are the properties in New Orleans, or are they in Slidell?

Ah ha. So the problem isn't really a little bit of mold around one window (that could be easily fixed by the way.) Your problem is actually whether the windows all have to be pulled and redone, or not. Do you have anyone knowledgeable that can go inspect the property for you? 

Chance, there are 2 things I can guarantee you will grow accustomed to dealing with if you are going to invest here in New Orleans. Mold and termites. Mold is rarely a deal breaker, termites on the other hand....little tiny weapons of mass destruction.

Where is the mold?What is the source?If you can give a better description, I can probably tell you what you might have to do to remediate. It may not be nearly as bad as you think.

I love the way BiggerPockets is referenced here!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/this-man-wants-to-teach-you-how-to-flip-homes%E2%80%94for-a--34-000-fee-150349468.html

@Paul Timmins Like I said, New Orleans is not like other places. We only have 5 ARM certified property managers and 3 of them are one company. Quite literally, when you step here, you go back in time. It is the best way I know to try to describe it.