A Mandeville Favorite Dining Spot Is Not Gone Forever

Liz’s Where Y’ at Diner in Mandeville was tragically burned in a fire June 11, 2019. The closing of this landmark at 2500 Florida Street was sad for everyone. Liz is not letting the fire detour her business. She plans to reopen.

Tuesday morning, June 11, 2019, a fire broke out during a busy morning rush. The fire began in the dry goods storage area and spread from there causing major damage to the building. The restaurant’s 10 year anniversary is today and will be celebrated when the restoration is complete.

Liz praised the community for their love and support, “The love we’re getting … the wonderful things people are saying and doing for us. The free meals (from neighboring restaurants). It’s amazing. It’s truly amazing.

“I’ll tell you: It’s overwhelming.”

Liz Munson opened “the laid-back diner” ten years ago in Mandeville on Florida Street. This had been her dream after waitressing for fifteen years. The New Orleans native wanted to celebrate the New Orleans’ classic Creole food in the tranquil setting of the Northshore. 
     
The fire hasn’t stopped her from working nor her employees. She will keep paying her employees even though the restaurant is closed. Liz has created a make shift office out of a picnic table next door. She and her 33 employees are working on getting the restaurant restored and reopened.
Luckily the damage was mostly in the kitchen area, however everything will have to be replaced.

Munson explains that, “The smoke (damage) is everywhere. Little things like the pencils and the pens. Every sheet of paper. Everything smells like smoke.”

Patrons will still enjoy the same food, and same atmosphere as before. Liz shoots for a Labor Day reopening. There is a GoFundMe page that has been set up to help cover cost.
Click here to contribute to the GoFundMe account for Liz’s Where Y’ at Diner.

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2019 New Home Sales Up 3.8% Year-Over-Year

Even with the sales numbers for new homes for sale during May, 2019, not all in, an annualized report of new home sales shows a 3.8% increase, year-over-year of new home sales. Because many different firms only look at sales numbers through the lens of how they compare to the previous month’s sales, the reports of new home sales growth slowing have been inaccurate when taken into account of adjusting for seasonal fluctuations and year-over-year numbers.

In 2018, two things affected new home sales – the increases in interest rates throughout the year and a slight stock market “bear market” which slowed down the economy overall. The beginning of 2019 shows a boost after the slowdown, and it also doesn’t show any signs of wavering throughout the rest of the year according to Forbes.com economic contributor John S. Tobey (click here to read the article).

The seasonal adjustments account for the slowdown of new home sales throughout the winter – this is a consistent annual occurrance. It is Tobey’s opinion that home buyers “postponed” the purchase of their new home to wait for better housing market conditions. He also anticipates double-digit growth rates towards the end of 2019’s home buying season.

Locally, in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, local home builders enjoyed enormous turnout for the 2019 Parade of Homes. Also, local builders have also seen tremendous and growing interest in home buyer contacts to build new homes and fully custom homes in Mandeville, Covington, and Madisonville. Ron Lee Homes has been inundated with interested home buyers, partially as a result of the Parade of Homes. We welcome you to Contact Us for your home building needs to sit down for a consultation to discuss your options. Call 985-626-7619 or Email Info@RonLeeHomes.com.
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Home Sales Increase Nationally During May

For the first time in two months, the year-over-year increases in existing home sales increased during the month of May, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The exact number of home sales was 5.34 million, increasing existing home sales by 2.5%. Part of this increase is due to supply. For many months, it’s been a seller’s market because the number of homes for sale has not been able to meet the demand of home buyers on a national level.

The number of homes for sale increased from April, 2019, to May, 2019, from 1.83 million units to 1.92 million units in May. The types of homes included were single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops. There was also a year-over-year increase in the number of homes available for sale from 2018, which saw 1.87 million units available to May, 2019, which had 1.92 million units, which is a 4.3-month supply for potential home buyers.

Home buyers are eager to pick up homes as soon as they come on the market, which has been great for sellers and Realtors alike. The average amount of time that an existing home stayed on the market before going under contract was 26 days, and that actually accounted for 53% of homes under contract. This statistic is kind of unusual because average home prices are up in 2019 – by 4.8%, averaging $277,700 for resales.

All statistics were made on a national level, but specifically in the Southern region, resale sales were up 1.8%, and home sales also increased by 1.3% in the Southern region. Locally, homes for sale have been “flying” off the market, so if you are in the market for a home for sale or are considering buying a new home for sale, Contact Ron Lee Homes for your next new home purchase! Call 985-626-7619 or Email Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

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A New Wave of Generations To Make Up Future U.S. Housing Market

Baby Boomers have been a big target in the housing market but the future will see a shift in who the future housing market will capture. According to Morgan Stanley, Millennials and Gen Z will slowly take over.

In 2019, it is reported that Millenials (those born between 1981 and 1996) will become the largest generation in the nation. If all follows as planned, Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) will take over in 2034. What does these mean for the housing market? This “youth boom” which is the merging of these two generations will heighten the economy and encourage a drive for demand in

housing.

“We’re going to see strong demand for housing, both multifamily and single family, over the medium to long term,“ says Richard Hill, who leads Morgan Stanley’s U.S. REIT Equity and Commercial Real Estate Debt research teams.

We can already see the effects in the housing market in many U.S. regions. Areas report bidding wars as the Millennials a forming households. Home prices across the country continue to rise due to the lack in inventory. There are a reported 22 million people between the ages of 20 and 24 across the United States that will be adding 3.6 million new households within the next five years.

“Our findings show that household formation will increase 1.7 times annually over the next five years, compared with the prior eight years,” says James Egan, a strategist on the firm’s Securitized Products Strategy team.

The areas with the change in the trend market are definitely effected in different ways. The West and Southwest are seeing a rapid change because the Millenials outnumber the Baby Boomers. This is the exact opposite for New England and the Rust Belt which have the least Millenial population.

With a new generation comes a new way of buying, iBuyers. An iBuyer is a company that uses a web-based questionnaire and home-value algorithms to purchase homes. Basically they use technology to make an offer on your home instantly. iBuyers will account for 3% of the U.S. existing home sales by 2030.

“3% might seem small in percentage terms,” says Brian Nowak, Head of U.S. Internet Research, “But given the large size of the residential market, which is around six million transactions a year and $1.8 trillion in transaction value, it means iBuyers would purchase roughly 175,000 homes in 2030.”

The U.S. housing market will see a massive change in both target market and purchasing tools within the next decade. This is great news for both single-family homes and multi-family homes.


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