Good News for Residents of St. Tammany Parish

Even though the 10-year statistical snapshot for the parish of St. Tammany includes 2006, a “boom” year for the parish, the snapshot revealed some very good news for residents of St. Tammany Parish, as well as home buyers looking to move into the parish. A report by the St. Tammany Parish

Economic Development Foundations shows a 10-year overview of the population, employment, wages, income, housing, and much more.

According to the report, the population increased 26% from 223,062 to 253,603 from 2006 to 2016. The really good news was that total wages increased by nearly 63% from $2.4 billion in 2006 to $3.9 billion in 2016.  Most of the job growth was seen in the science and technology sector, which saw a 40% increase.  Overall, household income increased from $75,016 to $88,614 during the 10-year period, which is an 18% increase.  Science and technology job wages grew from $163 million to $293 million in 10 years, with an average wage of $62,400.

“I think the biggest impact, to me, is knowing the opportunities and wages for science and technology jobs increased so much,” said Brenda Bertus, the foundation’s chief executive officer. “That tells me

there are more of those jobs here. Those are really good jobs,” Bertus said.

Local real estate companies as well as the U.S. Census & U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis contributed to the statistical data about the residents and economic information in St. Tammany Parish.  They also reported on building and business permits, housing prices, apartment rent, and sales taxes.

After the initial boost of buildling permits just after Hurricane Katrina in 2006, the report showed that housing sales increased around 42% over the last 5 years, and the average rent for apartments went up 38%. Business numbers increased from 6,728 in 2006 to 7,900 in 2016, which is approximately a 17% increase.
Access the Full 10-Year Report Here.
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Know Your Home Buying Process

There are many tools that you can use during the home buying process.  You can do the majority of your own research by using online resources on the Internet.  You can manage your finances and credit and get quotes from lenders and banks on your mortgage.  You can research different areas of

town to find the best locations to buy your home by checking out reviews of area information.  Once you find out how much you are able to spend, where you want to purchase your home, and different homes that you would like to actually go out and visit, you can retain a Realtor to act as your buyer’s agent to buy your new home.

Even if you hire a Realtor, you are going to want to stay the savvy, “in the know” home buyer who knows the questions to ask and the information to get in order to get the best home for the huge investment that you are going to make on your home.  Below is information which is important to know when buying a new home.

What Is Allowed

Unless you are buying a home in an established community with known restrictive covenants and a homeowners association, you are going to want to make sure that anything you want to do to or store at your home is allowed.  Zoning laws can hamper a new homeowner’s aspirations by not allowing you to run a business out of your home, build a workshop at your house, build a fence, store your boat or RV, or add an addition.  So, before you sign on the dotted line, be sure to know if the home you are buying has any zoning or covenant restrictions.

Use an Inspector

If you are buying your home “as is” with no changes or required improvements by the seller, then you won’t need to worry about the condition of the home.  However, if you want to make sure that you get your return on investment, and don’t “buy a lemon,” you will want to make sure you get a home inspection.  Realtors know many people in the real estate industry, so they may be able to recommend a quality inspector to you, but make sure that the inspector they use is extremely thorough and has your, as the buyer, best interests in mind when making the inspection.  You definitely don’t want an inspector who glosses over a report so that your Realtor can “make the sale.”  You may want to get a referral and hire your own inspector.  If necessary, get the seller to cover the cost of a home warranty that covers all major appliances and structural systems of the home to “cover your bases,” as well.

Your Contract

Just like your parents and teachers always taught you, don’t sign anything unless you read it.  This applies to every piece of paperwork that you are going to sign regarding your new home purchase, from your contract, to counter offers, to waivers, to your closing documents.  Not only should you make sure that you read everything, but you should also be sure to “read all of the fine print.”  If there is anything that you absolutely don’t understand, make sure you get it clarified before you sign anything.  Another important point about this is to get everything extra in writing.  This includes everything that is outside of or not written on the paperwork that you are reading and signing.  If the seller promises to fix a faucet, repair a door frame, or include additional equipment to “make the sale,” make sure you get it in writing.

Negotiate Everything

Most everything is negotiable when buying a home from the home price, the purchase of a warranty, home repairs / deductions, and closing costs.  Any chance you see to save yourself some money, attempt to negotiate.  It never hurts to ask the seller, especially if you are already qualified with guaranteed money from your lender.  The worst thing that can happen is that the seller can so no.
Using the tips above along with the other tools at your disposal to make a good home buying decisions, you can retain a Realtor and then monitor the process yourself to make sure that you are fully informed during your home buying process.


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Buying a New Home – Fix Your Financing!

Financing is one of the biggest factors in buying a new home.  From the appraisal, to the loan application, to the Good Faith Estimate, to the mortgage, to the large amounts of paperwork that get faxed, scanned, and e-mailed; you can almost spend as much time acquiring money to buy your home as you did finding the home itself.  Sometimes searching for a home takes less time & effort! In order to have the best chance at bidding for and putting a contract on the home that you are going to buy, we recommend that you begin with a lender commitment letter which shows your potential seller that you have the financing and ability to close on the loan. This gives you an edge over other home buyers and also dictates the amount of money you are able to spend on a loan.

Before you ever get this letter from your lender, you are going to need to seriously examine your financial situation in order to determine if you are ready to go through the rigorous loan process required most banks and lenders.  In order to do this, you will need to look at the amount of money you make, how long you have made this amount of money, if you are employed and how long you have been at your current employment, how much your monthly bills are (minimum payments on credit cards and fixed loans), and your credit score.

Your credit score should always be a work in progress in your daily life.  Pretty much all of your financial decisions in life affect your credit score, so you are not going to want to just wake up one day and decide to buy a home.  You will want to check your credit score, and if it need improvement, come up with a plan to get rid of all of the negative information on your score before you apply for a mortgage.  The earlier you start on your plan and get your score up, the longer you have a consistent good credit history, the better chance you have at an excellent interest rate and quality loan offering.

If you have low / no credit, there are several things you can do to “get some credit.”  Secure loans and credit cards are a great way to establish credit because these products are designed to report to the credit agency monthly with your on-time payments.  This establishes that you can maintain payments / credit and also boosts your score.  Another way to work on establishing your credit is to stay super strict on your credit usage.  This means that you should use a low percentage of the credit available to you and make your payments on time. Keeping your “credit utilization ratio” below 30 percent makes the credit agencies “happy.”

Finally, kind of a no-brainer, common sense concept, but you want to get rid of all derogatory marks on your credit.  This includes old utility bills, written off credit cards, old medical bills, and any other reported debts that you owe.  Really working on your credit score is vital to having the best chance at financing a new home loan with a lender or bank.  When you are ready to get started on your home buying process, Contact Ron Lee Homes for Homes for Sale to Build a New, Custom Home.  Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.


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How to Be the Expert Home Shopper

Finding a new home to buy is an exciting and even entertaining way to spend your time.  The thrill of knowing that you are soon to become a homeowner and “have your own place” is one of the best experiences that you can have.  However, below are some tips on how to be the expert home shopper when it comes to finding either your dream home or your next investment.

Timing

There are a couple of things to take care of before you start your home shopper experience.  First of all, make sure you give yourself plenty of time, dependent on your personality, to make a good choice

of a home to buy.  This means that you don’t want to start looking for a new home when your lease is about to expire in a week or your are required to move within a couple of weeks.  Because it’s such a huge investment, buying a home shouldn’t be a rushed decision unless you are good at seeing something and making a quick decision, and you are comfortable with this process.

Secondly, find out how much home you can buy – how much you can afford. You will want to carefully and thoughtfully narrow your search to homes for which you are able to actually get a loan, so you don’t waste your time touring homes that may be out of your price range.  Also, be sure to put yourself in the best position as a buyer by getting a lender commitment letter to show that you pre-qualify for the financing on a new home.

Decide Your Features

This is your dream home, so dream big.  Sit down and brainstorm the features that you want in your new home.  Decide what you can and can’t live without and then stick to your list.  If a home that you are touring measures up to most of your wishlist, and you are willing to compromise on some items; that’s o.k. as long as your began your search with a clear idea of exactly the type of home you wanted to buy in mind.

Be Organized

Once you have given yourself plenty of time, gotten pre-qualified for your loan, decided what you wanted in a house; then you can begin the home buying process.  Stay organized by possibly using an app to map out the homes you are going to look at, take notes about the homes that you especially

like so you can keep your choices straight, and make sure you have enough time in a day to tour everything you want to see. If necessary, break up the tour days to allow yourself time to take a lunch break, relax and consider home options, and simply take care of yourself.  This isn’t a race, it’s a marathon, and there may be many homes in the bunch that you look at before you find the perfect one.  Dress comfortably with the weather in mind, and you might even want to wear shoes that slip on and off for those particular homeowners who require you to keep their floors neat and clean.

A Second Look / Comparison

Once you have your list of top selections, go out and tour them again because the second time through might help you see pros and cons that you didn’t see the first time through.  You will want to do this in a timely manner for homes that you really like because real estate is booming throughout the country, and homes are not staying long on the market. Home inventory is down to just over a 4-month supply which is the sign of a healty economy.

If you are interested in buying a new home for sale, Contact Ron Lee Homes at 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com for more information on New Homes for Sale.


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Items to Negotiate When Buying Your Home

So, you think you got the hard part out of the way when you were able to find a home to buy, in your price range and location, and it’s either a new home or quality home that is perfect for you.  However, before you hand over your precious investment money, there are several items to negotiate that you are going to want to address in the offer that you make on your new home.

Financing

In order to make you a more “quality buyer,” you are going to want to have a very good idea as to how much home you can afford.  Before you ever start your home buying process, you should make sure that your income and credit are in order, and you should meet with a lender in order to get a

lender commitment letter to use in making the offer on your home.  This letter shows the seller of the home and the Realtor or Realtors involved that you are a real buyer with financial backing who will be able to close on the home in a reasonable time period with minimal hassle.  This will make you a solid prospect, and you may be able to use this to beat out any other interested bids or prospects on the home.

Inspections, Repairs, & a Home Warranty

Unless the home that you are buying is an “as is” purchase, where you are taking the home without any changes, you will want to make sure you get a home inspection.  For the sake of expediency, you may want to put a time limit on the amount of time a seller has to get an inspector and make the inspection of the home. If there are repairs or major systems that have issues, you will want to negotiate the cost of these repairs off of the seller’s price or have the seller repair them before closing.  If the home passes inspection but is an older home or has questionable systems or appliances that will potentially bread down quickly, you can ask the seller to provide a home warranty on the home as part of the items to negotiate.

Closing Date

The sooner that you offer to close on the home, the better as far as any motivated seller can attest.  However, there will be times when a seller is selling and trying to move into another home and may be “stuck” in between the two homes during your home buying process.  In order to make you a

“better buyer,” you can offer a short-term lease back as part of your offer which gives you a small break on the purchase price and gives the seller more flexibility in their moving timeline.  Then you and the seller can agree on a fixed closing date that works for both, making you an attractive buyer with your willingness to negotiate to fit their lifestyle.

Closing Costs

In most of the items to negotiate above, you as the buyer are making yourself totally flexible and available to the seller, but don’t forget to take care of you.  If possible, you should ask that the seller help you pay some of the closing costs associated with your home purchase.  They may stick firmly to their selling price, but some sellers will be willing to give a little if they are getting a solid home buyer prospect who will close quickly and work with them on repairs of the home.  Closing costs can add up with the abstract of title, title insurance, deposits into escrow – prorated taxes and insurance – and your loan origination fees, so definitely try to negotiate these costs to get the seller to step up for some of them.  Remember, all the seller can say is “no,” so it doesn’t hurt to ask!

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New Home Buying Trends of Millennials

Since the late 1990’s, home buyers interested in a buying a home have dramatically increased their usage of the Internet to find available homes for sale. In fact, 2016 statistics from the National Association of Realtors show that 95% of home buyers used Internet searches throughout their home buying process.  Of that 44% of home buyers started their home search online. And, 100% of home shoppers used the Internet to search for a specific property address.

Of these home buyers, 99% of Millennials, the new generation of home buyers, used the Internet to search for homes for sale compared to 89% of the Baby Boomer generation.  And, Millennials are known for their intensive and overwhelming dedication to complete research of any product that they will buy.  This generation is known for visiting multiple websites to compare just one product before purchasing it.  Also, Millennials are just now able to find employment in their field and begin to pay off student loans and begin their search for a home now that employment is on an upward trend after the Recession.  Because of the limited availability of extra cash for a down payment and the tightness of home inventory available to new home buyers, especially first-time home buyers, Millennials are interested in purchasing a home that does not need a lot of work or improvement in order to be able to support themselves and not spend money on repairs or renovations.

What has materialized out of this information is that Millennials may purchase a new home for sale, built brand new buy a builder instead of a “fixer-upper” home that requires additional money for upgrading or improvements.  Also, Millennials typically purchase their “starter home” with plans to move again soon in the future to a 2nd or 3rd home choice, so they actually spend less time in their first home purchase than previous first time home buyer trends would indicate.

This information has given valuable insight to professionals who assist Millennials in the search for the home that they are buying.  Builders know that Millennials may prefer to buy a new versus a previously owned home, so as long as they are a quality builder whose work is showcased effectively to a Millennial buyer, they start out with an “edge” over the competition.  This information has also helped Realtors who assist Millennial buyers by helping prep home sellers who have homes to sell in the price range of Millennial buyers to make sure their homes are improved, upgraded, and ready to sell without any additional construction or renovation work required.  Millennials tend to buy homes that are “just right.”

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Amazing 1st Quarter Building Permit Data from the EDF

During a report about the 1st quarter of 2017, the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development Foundation has once again brought great news to the residents of St. Tammany Parish about the economic health of this area of the Northshore.  Building permits for the year 2017 so far show a year-over-year increase of 23.6% compared to 1st quarter 2016 for a total of 319 building permits. In addition to this exponential increase compared to last year’s 1st quarter, it also showed a 37.5% increase in building permits compared to the 4th quarter of 2016 (last quarter).

Numerous reports have been bringing the news that May, 2016, saw a decrease in housing inventory on a national scale to just a 2.6 month’s supply, so this drastic increase in building permits is excellent news for home buyers who are entering an extremely tight and competitive housing market in search of a home to buy.

Of the building permits issued, 82 of the permits were commercial building permits, which is a 3.8% increase compared to the first quarter of 2016. The St. Tammany Parish EDF also reported that house sales in the 1st quarter netted 761 houses, which is a 3.8% increase compared the previous year, and the average sales price was $238,068, which is actually slightly less than 2016, which was $238,151 – bucking the national trend.

The number of businesses being incorporated during the 1st quarter of 2016 was 777, which was an astounding 61% year-over-year increase compared to the 1st quarter of 2016.

“Every quarter, we report the number of new domestic entities filed with the Louisiana Secretary of State for St. Tammany Parish,” foundation CEO Brenda Bertus said. “The drastic increases in the months of January and March of 2017 from the same months in 2016 show an increase in growth and stability in St. Tammany.”

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