The number of foreclosures on the market in Lafayette parish increased 1% since July when I last pulled the numbers. In Lafayette parish, 5% of the homes on the market are labeled as REOs or bank owned right now, up from 4% in May and July. In Acadiana as a whole, 6% of active listings are REOs, which is what it was in May and July.

Since the beginning of the year, 17% of home sales have been foreclosures. When priced right, foreclosures listings represent great opportunities for home ownership and/or investments. Affordability is at an all time high.

Our real estate market in Lafayette parish and Acadiana is very healthy as a whole. There are still 741 home sales pending in Acadiana and 508 in Lafayette parish.

If you would like to receive updated listings of foreclosure properties via email, please fill out the form below.

Originally Posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

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Below is the post I did last year on this day about the 9-11 memorial that we have here downtown Lafayette. If you haven’t been or haven’t noticed before, looks like today will be a beautiful day for a stroll downtown.

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I was not going to write anything about 9-11 today, mostly because every one is, and like me, many of you are probably feeling in 9-11 information overload. That said, I received an email from a friend this afternoon who reminded me about the memorial we have here in downtown Lafayette. It just so happen that I wasn’t far from it so I decided to go and take a picture.

These are beams that were salvaged from the World Trade Center standing tall and oriented  like the original towers were in New York. The base is pentagonal in shape and includes limestone masonry salvaged from the Pentagon (it is also oriented like the actual Pentagon). On each tower are plaques with the times there were struck and the times they fell. In the base is also the time the Pentagon was struck. The beams are 13 1/2 feet tall and both the beams and the pentagonal base are at a 1/100th scale of the original structures.

If you want to see it, it is located in the corner of Parc Sans Souci in Downtown Lafayette at the intersection of Congress and Polk Street.

Originally Posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

One question I get a lot from buyers in our initial conversation/consultation is: “what if the house is listed with someone else, do we still call you?”

Absoluetely!

I can show you any home that is listed for sale in our local MLS, which covers the parishes of Lafayette, Vermilion, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Acadia, Iberia, and Evangeline.

You see, all brokers (real estate companies) cooperate with one another. We call it “broker reciprocity.” Typically in a transaction, there is one agent representing the seller and one representing the buyer. And while both agents get paid out of the seller’s proceeds, Louisiana has what we call “designated agency.” In other words, even if the seller pays my commission, if I am representing you as a buyer, my duty is to you and not to the seller.

Louisiana does allow dual agency, i.e. one agent representing both the seller and buyer, but it does not happen very often.

So if you see a property for sale and you have questions about it or would like to view the inside, contact me today. I would love to help!

Originally Posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

I think we can safely say that most of the numbers are in for August. Needless to point out that Isaac disturbed our home sale numbers. The end of the month is when many sales occur and some of the closings that were scheduled for last week got pushed into September.

And while sales were down for August compared to July, the number of pending sales in the area is still very high. September sales should be good.

At this time last year, there were only 295 home sales pending in Lafayette parish and 513 in all of Acadiana. What a difference a year can make! The graph below shows numbers in Lafayette parish this year vs last year.

 If you have questions about any of the information you see here on my blog or any real estate matter, contact me. I’m here to help!

Originally Posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

So I came back from Canada just in time to prepare for Isaac with hardly any time to even unpack my suitcase. We were fortunate here on our farm; we didn’t suffer any damage and Lafayette as a whole did well. I was, however, without internet for a while on my computer.

Hurricanes are not good for the real estate business. When people are “hunkering down,” they are not looking at homes, making offers, and closing on their new house. Several closings likely were delayed last week as a result of Isaac and several offers were not made.

The time my assistant and I spent removing signs from properties and securing vacant listings before the storm when the owners live out of town and then putting the signs back up/assessing damage after the storm is not very productive time, if you ask me. On the other hand, it would be really terrible marketing if I received a call from a neighbor saying that my sign went through their window. The things we have to do…

Things got back to normal shortly after the storm and people started looking at properties again. It is still a great time to buy a home or invest in real estate. If you think now is your time to make a move, I would love to help!

Originally Posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News