These are home sales in Lafayette parish and Acadiana as recorded on August 4th in our Multiple Listing Service. Home sales were slightly up in August compared to last month.

If we compare home sales in Lafayette parish for 2010 with the numbers of 2009, there were less sales this year but the gap for sales in August is not as wide as it was in July. 

There are currently 2500 Active residential listings in all of Acadiana and 1373 in Lafayette Parish.

There are 454 home sales Pending in Acadiana and 293 in Lafayette.

To search for your next home, visit my web site, LaRealEstateDoctor.com.

If you wonder what your home might be worth in today’s market or you want to know what your neighbor’s home sold for, sign up for my Market Snapshot in the column on the right.

In today’s market, with inventory on the up side, buyers have plenty of homes to choose from. One of the ways sellers can make their home stand out above the crowd is by staging and pricing it right.

The pictures below are of a listing I just sold. It took a couple of weeks to get the home staged. Michelle Molinari and her team got the job done! All it took was paint (for a couple of rooms), moving furniture around (including putting some in storage), and strategically placing art work throughout the house. The total cost to the seller was less than $3,000 (for labor and supplies). The result was a home like the ones we see on HGTV!

On Friday, July 30th, we began marketing the property in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), and we found a buyer that Sunday, 3 days later, when we held our very first open house!

The asking price for the property was $178,000. The accepted offer was $175,000 (cash buyer) with no concession, or over 98% of asking price.

If you are thinking about selling your home or if your home is on the market already and you are not getting the attention you need from buyers, consider hiring a professional stager. Or better yet, if you live in the Lafayette, LA area, hire me and I will bring Michelle with me and provide a staging consultation free of charge.

As a real estate professional, I walk through many homes every week with my buyers. The homes that make the short list are always the ones that are clean, look good, and are move-in ready. Yes, getting your home ready for sale requires a little bit of work, and yes, it might cost some money as well (usually not a lot). On the other hand, your home will likely sell faster (saving you from making extra mortgage payments) and for more money. Isn’t that what all sellers want?

When I arrived home tonight, this was my view. Our pond with a beautiful rainbow over it. I know the colors of the rainbow are not that strong…there is, however, something magical about them. I just had to share…

Sometimes, we get so busy with our lives that we forget about the simple (and free) wonders mother nature brings our way.

I love rainbows and I’m grateful this one welcomed me home tonight. What are you grateful for, today?

Today is my husband’s birthday and this is how I never forget the day Katrina hit and ravaged Louisiana 5 years ago today.

At it strongest, Katrina was a category 5 hurricane with sustained winds up to 175 MPH. At the time, Katrina was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. She was surpassed by Rita, which also hit Louisiana’s coast less than a month later.

When Katrina hit Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, it was a category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 MPH.

I’m sure most of us remember the devastation that captured our media for days afterward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Orleans being below sea level and built somewhat like a bowl, retained the flood waters for days leaving thousands of people trapped in its path.

What I remember vividly about Katrina is the government’s incompetence before, during, and after the ordeal. Here is Lew Rockwell on the one event I was never able to forget:

“Perhaps the most astounding case of incompetence has received the least attention. It relates to a 500-boat flotilla stretching over 5 miles that left for New Orleans from Acadiana Mall in Lafayette. It involved 1,000 people who had hoped to rescue hospital patients and take them to safety. It consisted of private boaters, fishermen, hunters, and others who had spent their entire lives navigating Louisiana waterways.

“Once this caravan arrived, they were turned away by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which was now being run by FEMA. All five hundred boats were turned away and ordered out.

“Now keep in mind that this was three days after the hurricane hit. There were hundreds of people inside the Charity Hospital in New Orleans alone. They had no supplies and only three had been rescued. At this very time, the head of the FEMA-ized Wildlife and Fisheries Department announced to the world on television that it needed no help from anyone and that it had all matters under control.” For the rest Rockwell’s article, click here.

I knew some of these boaters and all they wanted to do was help their fellow citizens. Another friend of mine, who was a student at LSU’s medical school at the time, managed to rescue about a hundred people the day before with his boat and the help of a friend. He, too, was ordered out of the waters because he wasn’t a “government official.” Imagine what 500 boats could have accomplished!

What is your Katrina story? What do you remember most about the infamous storm and the days that followed?

If you are interested in a career in real estate and are not sure where to start, come to career night this coming Wednesday, September 1st, in Lafayette.This is a free, informative session on what it takes to become a real estate professional and what it take to be successful once you have your license.

If you’re already in the process of obtaining your license or you have completed it and are not sure which company offers the best opportunity, this seminar is a great way to learn about Keller Williams and what our company has to offer.

If you do not live in the Lafayette area, contact me and I will put you in touch with an office near you.