The St. Tammany Home Builders Association (STHBA) will hold its fall fishing tournament Oct. 3 at the Rigolets Marina in Slidell.  More than $7,500

in cash and prizes will be awarded.

The entry fee is $60 per person for STHBA members and their guests. But members who register by September 12 get a reduced entry fee of $50, plus you are eligible to enter the members-only Calcutta.

The entry fee for kids under 16 is $25 per person; or non-members, $75 per person. You may register online at http://sthba.org/fishing/.

Basketball Referees Sought

The Tri-Parish Officials Association will be holding a clinic for the upcoming recreational basketball season. No experience is required, but experienced officials are welcome. Graduates will begin working immediately. The average pay is $18 to $27.50 per hour. For more information, contact Jeff Hoffmann at 630-5178 or email jeffphoffmann@att.net.

SYBA Volleyball Registration

SYBA volleyball registration is open for the 2014 fall season. Boys and girls ages 6-16 can register for a 10-game season.

Online registration can be completed at www.slidellyouthbasketball.org, or walk-in registration will be available at the SYBA gym at 3158 Rama St. Slidell on August 9, and August 16.

Cost is $85 for the first child and $75 for each additional child from the same family

Fall Youth Sports at West St. Tammany YMCA

Registration began August 1 for soccer and T-ball at the West St. Tammany YMCA, 71256 Francis Road. Practice will begin August 23. The price will be $52 for members and $72 for non-members. This will be a seven-week season for boys and girls ages 3 to 7.

Practice will be held on Saturdays and will consist of basic drills, followed by a game. Our main goal is to teach children the basic fundamentals of each sport in a non-competitive, fun atmosphere. Cleats and chin guards are recommended for soccer, but not required.

Registration for Covington Youth Soccer Association

Register now for fall soccer, open to boys and girls, ages 4 to 15. Online registration is available at www.covingtonsoccer.com. Registration will continue through August. The season begins in September. For more information, email info@covingtonsoccer.com.

Fall Sports Registration at Pelican Park

Pelican Park in Mandeville will offer registration for fall sports through August 12. The following sports will be offered:

–Baseball – ages 6-14 (age as of April 30, 2014)

–Cheerleading – ages 7-10 (age as of September 12, 2014)

–Football Clinic – ages 5-6 (age as of July 1, 2014)

–Football – ages 7-12 (age as of July 1, 2014)

–Volleyball – ages 9-15 (age as of September 1, 2014)

The pre-season practices for all sports will begin in late August, and games for all sports will begin in early September. Returning players may register online at www.pelicanpark.com.

New players may register in the Castine Center office, Monday-Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For questions please call 985-626-7997.

Registration for Pearl River Youth Football Association

The Pearl River Youth Football Association’s online registration is now open for youth interested in participating in football or cheerleading during the fall season.

Football is open to youths ages 4 to12; cheerleading is open to youths ages 5 to 13. Registration fees are $110 plus a $10 concession fee, which will be refunded after concession volunteer service is completed. An additional $50 deposit is required when helmets and shoulder pads are issued and will be refunded when the gear is returned at the end of the season.

To register, visit pryfa.sportssignup.com, or for more information, contact Virgil Phillips at 985.863.9495.

Fall Sports Registration at Magnolia Park

Magnolia Park, St. Tammany Parish Recreational District #12, is holding registration for its fall sports, which include cheerleading, soccer, fall baseball/softball, and football. Walk-in registration is available at 13296 Louisiana 40 on August 6, 7 and 8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Online registration for fall sports also is available at www.activityreg.com from through August 10.

Be sure to bring a birth certificate for each child you plan to register, as well as a fee payment method. Physicals are required for children to play football. For more information, visit the website http://www.magnoliaparkfolsom.com/ or call the park office at 985.796.5045.

Madisonville Thunder Baseball Team

The Madisonville Thunder Boys 12-Year-Old Baseball Team has been invited to play in a tournament at Walt Disney World August 30 through September 1. The team is a recreational All-Star team that does not have the backing of sponsors. The team is seeking the community’s help to send the 13 boys and three coaches to the tournament. To assist, visit a web site set up by the team at:

Part of responsible homeownership includes, of course, regular home maintenance.  And there are some tasks that, if deferred, can lead to a home system that’s inefficient and overworked, which can result in problems and expenses.  One such task is changing the filter of the home’s HVAC system.  It’s simple and inexpensive, and taking care of it at least every three months can mean the difference between optimum comfort and avoidable repairs.

What Can Go Wrong

Most homes have some sort of furnace or heat pump, and many of those homes (especially newer ones) have combined heating, ventilation and air-conditioning or HVAC systems.  Each type uses some type of air filter or screen to prevent larger airborne particles (up to 40 microns) from entering the system and clogging sensitive machinery.  A system that has a dirty filter can suffer from pressure drop, which can lead to reduced air flow, or “blow-out,” resulting in no air infiltration at all.  Any of these conditions can cause the system to work harder to keep the home warm or cool (depending on the season and the setting).  And any mechanical component that has to work harder to run efficiently puts undue stress on the whole system, which can lead to premature failure, resulting in repair or replacement.

Also, a dirty filter that’s exposed to condensation can become damp, which can lead to mold growth that can be spread throughout the home by the HVAC system.  This can lead to serious health consequences, not to mention a compromised unit that will likely require servicing and may require replacement, depending on the severity of the moisture problem.

Types of Filters

Most HVAC and furnace filters are disposable, made of biodegradable paper or similar media, and shaped in cells, screens or fins designed to trap as much airborne debris as possible.  Filters can typically be purchased in economical multi-packs, and there are many types that will fit different models of furnace/HVAC units.  It’s important to use the appropriate filter for your unit; using the wrong filter that doesn’t fit the unit properly can create the same types of problems as having a dirty filter.  Your HVAC installer can show you where the filter goes and how to remove the old one and install a new one.  Your unit may also have an affixed label with directions for easy filter replacement.

How Often?

Your HVAC or furnace technician should service your unit once a year.  Because a furnace/HVAC unit contains moving parts, it’s important that belts are not cracked and dry, ventilation ductwork is not gapped, cracked or rusted, and components, such as coils and fans, are clog-free and adequately lubricated for unimpeded operation.  This sort of evaluation is best left to the professional, unless the homeowner has had the appropriate training.

The filter of the unit, especially if it’s an HVAC unit that will tend to get nearly year-round use, should be changed by the homeowner at least every three months, but possibly more often.

Check your filter’s condition and change it once a month if:

• You run your unit six months a year to year-round.
• You have pets.  Pet dander can become airborne and circulate through the home’s ventilation system just as typical household dust does.
• You have a large family.  More activity means more household dust, dirt and debris.
• You smoke indoors.
• You or someone in your household suffers from allergies or a respiratory condition.
• You live in a particularly windy area or experience high winds for extended periods, especially if there are no nearby shrubs or trees to provide a natural windbreak.
• You live in an area prone to or having recently experienced any wildfires.  Airborne ash outdoors will eventually find its way indoors.
• You have a fireplace that you occasionally use.
• You live on a working farm or ranch.  Dust and dirt that gets kicked up by outdoor work activity and/or large animals can be pulled into the home’s ventilation system, especially through open windows.
• You have a large garden.  Depending on its size and how often you work it, tilling soil, planting, pulling weeds, using herbicides and pesticides, and even watering mean that dirt, chemicals and condensation can be pulled into your home’s ventilation system.
• There is construction taking place around or near the home.  You may be installing a new roof or a pool, or perhaps a neighbor is building a home or addition.  Even if the activity is only temporary, dust and debris from worksites adjacent to or near the home can be sucked into the home’s ventilation system, and this increased activity can tax your HVAC system.

Change the filter immediately if:

• The filter is damaged.  Whether it happened inside the packaging or while being installed, a damaged filter that has bent fins, collapsed cells or holes will not work as well as an undamaged filter, especially if it allows system air to bypass the filter at any point.
• The filter is damp.  A filter affected by moisture intrusion, system condensation, or even high indoor humidity can quickly become moldy and spread airborne mold spores throughout the home via the ventilation system.
• There is evidence of microbial growth or mold on the filter.  Mold spores already infiltrating the home via the HVAC system are not only bad for the unit itself, but they can pose a health hazard for the family, ranging from an irritated respiratory system to a serious allergic reaction.  The musty smell produced by a moldy HVAC filter is also unpleasant and may take a while to completely eradicate from inside the home.  If you discover that you have moldy air filter, it’s important to have the cause investigated further.  An InterNACHI inspector or HVAC technician can help determine the problem so that it doesn’t recur.

Tips on Changing the Filter

• Turn off the unit before replacing the filter.
• Use the right filter for your unit and make sure it’s not damaged out of the package.
• Follow the directions for your unit to make sure you’re installing the filter properly.  For example, many filters use different colors for the front and back (or upstream and downstream flow) so that they’re not installed backwards.
• Make sure there aren’t any gaps around the filter frame.  If this is the case, you may have the wrong size filter, or the filter itself may be defective or damaged.
• Use a rag to clean up any residual dust before and after you replace the filter.
• Securely replace any levers, gaskets and/or seals.
• Turn the unit on and observe it while it’s operating to make sure the filter stays in place.
• Note the date of filter replacement in a convenient location for the next time you inspect it.  A filter that becomes dirty enough to change within a short period of time may indicate a problem with the unit or ventilation system, so monitoring how often the filter requires changing is important information for your technician to have.

Call a technician for servicing if:

• Your unit fails to turn back on.
• The fan is slow or makes excessive noise, or the fins are bent.
• The coils are excessively dusty or clogged.
• You notice moisture intrusion from an unknown source anywhere in the system.

 

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Burglary is a crime of opportunity.  And burglars don’t want to spend a lot of time looking through a home to find things of value to steal, which is why there are obvious locations that they always check.  That means that there are ways to outsmart them by hiding your valuables in not-so-obvious places, and sometimes even in plain sight.

Depending on the size and type of item, the best places to hide valuables are those that burglars don’t want to search through or wouldn’t bother with, including places that are inconvenient or difficult to search, messy, or uninteresting.

Here Are the Top 10:

1. hollowed-out books.  Criminals tend to be uneducated, which is why they’ve turned to crime to  make their living.  They’re practically allergic to books!  But if you have only a couple of books on a bookshelf, this may be a clue that they’re actually hiding places for your valuables, so make sure your library is large enough to serve as a tedious place to search.

   

2. a false VHS tape or VHS carton.  Who watches VHS tapes anymore?  Again, follow the rules above for books.  A few can be a clue, but many can be a time-consuming distraction.
3. false containers in the kitchen cupboard, under the sink, and in the bathroom, such as fake food cans and boxes, false cleaning product bottles, and personal hygiene items, and even in a heavy tub of “cat litter.”  Some false containers available on the market today actually look like false containers, so you might want to save yourself the expense and create your own.

   

4. in the false bottom or under the plastic liner of a bathroom or kitchen trash can.  No one wants to go pawing through your trash in the slim hope of finding something worth pawning.
5. wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil and stored in the back of the freezer.  This is also a good place to store documents and paper currency in case of a house fire.
6. in a floor safe in the bedroom closet.  While this location may be obvious, a burglar would have to exert a lot of time and energy—and create a lot of noise—trying to break into a floor safe, which is also generally of the heavy variety, making it not only hard to open, but hard to steal whole, if the thief had plans to break into it later.
7. inside a house plant.  Using the same method as for trash containers, a plant’s soil can be contained in a waterproof liner that can be lifted up to hide items underneath.  Just make sure the items you’re hiding are in a waterproof container, too.
8. inside a false wall outlet.  Make sure it’s not a live receptacle or in the way of any electrical wiring.
9. within hollowed-out/removable building components, such as wainscoting, floor panels, door jambs, window sills, and cabinet doors.
10. in the garage inside boxes marked with mundane labels, such as “Xmas Ornaments,” “Kid’s Clothes,” “School Projects,” etc.  Again, the more boxes you have, the longer the burglar will have to search—if he’s so inclined—to find something worth stealing.

Hiding Places to Avoid:

1. areas that can damage your valuables with water or invasive matter, such as the water tank of a toilet, inside a mayonnaise jar that still has mayonnaise in it, or a paint can filled with paint.  There are high-quality waterproof containers on the market that will allow you to hide items in water (and possibly other places), but err on the side of caution.  Documents, jewelry and electronics that become wet or permeated with chemicals or food matter may be damaged beyond repair in your zeal to outsmart a tenacious burglar.
2. a jewelry box.  This is a good place to store jewelry that you can afford to lose, but not your diamond tennis bracelet or your grandmother’s antique wedding ring.
3. your desk drawer, bedside drawer, or underwear drawer.  Too obvious.
4. inside CD cases.  It’s true:  burglars still prefer CDs to MP3s.
5. inside DVD cases.  DVDs and Xbox-type games are worth between $2 and $10 at pawn and re-sale shops; count on being cleaned out of your collection during a home burglary, regardless of the titles.
6. a wall safe.  Unless it’s high-end and professionally installed, a wall safe can be dislodged by cutting the drywall seam around it, and wall safes are typically small and light enough to easily transport off site to be opened later.  Opt for the heavier and harder-to-access floor safe.
7. inside picture frames with false backs/interiors.  These tend to be thicker than typical picture frames, so they’re easy to spot as a hiding place.
8. a cookie jar.  Put cookies in it, not your grocery money.
9. an electrical item or heated area, such as a lamp base, toaster oven, or HVAC duct.  You could accidentally ignite your valuables and put your entire home at risk for a house fire.
10. any locked box or locking file cabinet.  A box that has a lock on it will be stolen regardless of what’s inside, and the lock on a file cabinet can be popped out with the right tool and a little effort.

Other Precautions

For valuables that you can’t hide or lock up, such as a flat-screen TV, stereo system, and computers, make sure they’re insured through your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.  Unless you invest in a home security system (and sometimes even if you do), it’s not possible to protect every item in your home.  But you can take precautions to password-protect and GPS-activate laptops and smartphones so that their recovery is more likely, should they be stolen.

Also, firearms should be properly locked in an approved gun safe that is stored out of reach for the safety of the home’s occupants, as well as to deter theft.

Place a pole in the bottom track of your sliding glass patio doors so that they can’t be forced open wide enough to permit the entry of an intruder.  Install burglar-proof window locks that will allow you to leave your windows open slightly for fresh air, but not wide enough to allow a person to get through.

Remember that burglary is a crime of opportunity, so don’t tempt fate by leaving any exterior doors unlocked (including sliding glass patio doors, and the door between the garage and the living area), hiding a spare house key outdoors (under the “Welcome” mat, a large potted plant, statuary, or a solitary or fake rock), leaving the doors to your attached garage open (even when you’re home), or leaving the curtains or drapes open so that your valuables are in full view of prowlers and passersby.  Your personal safety is at risk as much as your personal property.

Also, don’t over-share personal information with the world by advertising your absence from home on social media.  When leaving on vacation, have a trusted neighbor, friend or family member monitor your home and bring in the newspaper, mail, and random take-out menu hung on your doorknob.  Install light timers indoors and security/motion detectors outdoors to illuminate your property’s exterior.  And go ahead and apply security company stickers to your windows/doors that advertise that your home is professionally protected, even if it’s not.

  

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It’s not every day you see a 200,000-pound house loaded onto rollers and moved. And it’s really not every day that move takes place on the water.

So residents of the quiet Lewisburg neighborhood near Mandeville anxiously watched Friday morning as movers began loading a huge house from the rollers onto a barge in Lake Pontchartrain. The house is to be moved from the end of Holly Street to another Lewisburg lot on Magnolia Street. About 1,000 feet of that move is to take place on the lake.

“We started about a week ago,” said Warren Davie, of Davie Shoring, the company moving the house. “It’s a 1960s lake house. Ten-foot ceilings, heart pine flooring.”

Davie estimated it weighs around 200,000 pounds.

“You can’t really move it by road,” he said. “By water is the only way.”

Services for children with special needs will be topic of discussion at the June 10 meeting of the St. Tammany Commission on Families near Covington. The meeting, featuring representatives of five agencies, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at First Baptist Church of Covington at 16333 Louisiana 1085.

Scheduled to speak are: Wanda Stroud, with the Early Steps program; Jennifer Waguespack and Janna Rode, with the Regina Coeli Child Development Center; Sue Ellen Stewart of Northshore Families Helping Families; Sharon Hosch representing the St. Tammany Parish school system; and Dianne Baham of the St. Tammany Association for Retarded Citizens. They will discuss various service programs available to help families who have children with special needs.

St. Tammany Commission on Families is a coalition of diverse members working empower families by providing opportunities for networking, collaboration, training and information exchange, according to its website. Its purpose is to identify service gaps, develop strategies for the mobilization and utilization of volunteers within organizations, and involve the private sector in supporting services for families and children.

St. Tammany Parish will formally mark the reopening of its public fishing pier over Lake Pontchartrain with a June 7 grand reopening celebration and family fishing rodeo. Sign-in for the fishing rodeo starts at 6 a.m. with final weigh-in at 1:45 p.m.

The pier, south of Slidell, opens at 6 a.m.

The event celebrates the January reopening of the pier which had been closed for more than a year due to damage inflicted by Hurricane Isaac. The repairs cost nearly $390,000.

The pier debuted in 2012 and quickly became a big hit with St. Tammany citizens.

Registration fees for the fishing rodeo are $10 for adults and children 12 and over, and $5 for children under 12. Fees include a T-shirt and a lanyard. Fishing pier fees are $3 for everyone over the age of 12 who plans to fish and $1 for everyone over 12 who plans to sight-see. There is no charge for children under 12.

Visitors are encouraged to bring ice chests and picnic lunches and join the fishing, fun and kids’ arts activities, the parish government said in a news release.

First- and second-place prizes will be awarded in the following rodeo categories: speckled trout, catfish, black drum, croaker, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, largest crab, and the weigh master’s top pick. Winners of the rodeo will be announced at 2 p.m.

For information, visit www.stpgov.org/gofishing or call 985-649-1922.

St. Tammany Parish government is fully prepared for the 2014 hurricane season and citizens need to be equally ready, Parish President Pat Brister said Tuesday (May 27). Brister advised residents not to wait until a storm enters the Gulf of Mexico to begin preparations to ride out the storm or evacuate.

“We encourage everyone to prepare themselves and their families,” Brister said at a news conference at the parish’s Emergency Operations Center in downtown Covington. “Make a plan. Have an evacuation plan in place.

“It’s so difficult when there’s a storm in the Gulf to start putting everything together. So you need to do that now just as we’ve done it here.”

Brister said all parish government departments have reviewed their emergency plans and assigned roles to employees. “We are well prepared. We have everything in place.”

All government buildings and properties have been assessed and are ready for this year’s storm season, which starts June 1, she said. The parish has reached out to special-needs residents to have them register with the parish government so officials will know their locations during an emergency.

Brister encouraged citizens to sign up with Alert! St. Tammany, a parishwide notification system that can broadcast emergency messages to both cellphones and home phones. Registration is available through the parish government website, stpgov.org.

Valuable information about hurricane preparedness also can be obtained at Ready.gov, she said.

Citizens should clear drains and culverts around their homes and pick up loose items in yards. Residents should also assess the needs of the elderly in their neighborhoods, she said.

Noting the widespread flooding and damage inflicted by Category 1 Hurricane Isaac in 2012, Brister said residents should not disregard the danger of lower-category storms. “We have learned that lesson that you don’t always look at just the category of a storm. You have to look at many many more things.”

Brister said she is encouraged by forecasters’ predictions of fewer storms this year, but reminded citizens that severe hurricanes can still occur.

“It only takes one to hit the right spot. So we will not let our guard down . . .”

By Katherine Sayre, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on February 03, 2014 at 2:45 PM, updated February 03, 2014 at 10:39 PM

Home prices in the New Orleans metro area continued to climb last year as more buyers leapt into a heated market and prices in some urban neighborhoods spiked as high as 15 percent, according to a report released this week by the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors.

In New Orleans, the overall average price of a house last year was $325,348 — or $153 per square foot — up nearly 8 percent from 2012.

 

The average per-square-foot home price in the city was up by 34 percent compared to prices in 2005 before Hurricane Katrina destroyed or damaged the housing stock and threw the market into disarray.

 

Across the eight-parish metro area, homebuyers last year paid an average $222,440 for a house, $110 per square foot, up 3.9 percent from 2012. More than 11,160 homes were sold, the highest rate since the 12 months prior to Katrina, when more than 12,000 homes sold, according to the report. In the earlier years of that decade, home sales exceeded 13,000.

Wade Ragas, real estate consultant and owner of Real Property Associates, analyzed Realtor-assisted sales for the Realtors Association’s twice-yearly report. Ragas said with New Orleans prices on the rise recently, there was a misperception that prices were also strong in suburban areas, where markets were actually lagging behind.

Metro area home prices, by ZIP code

The new data indicates there is now broad price growth across the area.

“It’s no longer just being pulled along by Orleans,” Ragas said. “Just about every parish is rising in price, very few zip codes are not rising in price.”

Nationwide, housing prices are on the rise. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city and 10-city home price indexes both reported nearly 14-percent increases in November 2013 compared to the previous year, the most recent data available.

Housing markets in Sun Belt cities — such as Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tampa — were hit hardest by the financial crisis and have seen the biggest upswing in prices over the last 18 months.

 

“Home prices continue to rise despite last May’s jump in mortgage interest rates,” David M. Blitzer, S&P Dow Jones index committee chairman, said in a news release last week. “Combined with low inflation — 1.5 percent in 2013 — home owners are enjoying real appreciation and rising equity values. While housing will make further contributions to the economy in 2014, the pace of price gains is likely to slow during the year.”

Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard home prices compared to pre-Katrina

In the New Orleans area, which was shielded from the foreclosure crisis while homeowners worked to rebound from Katrina, the price climb has been more steady.

Rick Haase, president of real estate company Latter & Blum Inc., said he looked at his company’s January business report and the number of closed sales were up by 36 percent, indicating that market growth is continuing into the new year.

“As goes Orleans Parish, so goes the rest of the marketplace,” Haase said. “It’s not a surprise to me that the outer lying markets are doing well when we’ve watched Orleans Parish come back over the last four or five years,” Haase said.

The New Orleans metro area is moving toward a more balanced market when looking at housing inventory, Haase said.

Months of supply means the time it would take for all houses on the market to be sold at the current sales pace. In general, a six-month of housing is considered a balanced market. Any more and it’s a buyer’s market with shoppers having more options. Less than three months of supply is considered a sellers’ market, as buyers compete for fewer houses.

Today, the New Orleans metro area has 6.9 months of inventory, Haase said, compared to 8 months of inventory last year and 12 months of inventory a year earlier.

St. John and St. Charles home prices compared to pre-Katrina

In other pockets of the city’s urban core, such as Bywater, Uptown or the Garden District, strong demand for houses and less than three months of inventory have caused prices to spike, creating a real estate frenzy with bidding wars. Much of the demand has been fueled by historically low interest rates on mortgages.

Last week, the Federal Reserve said it will cut its monthly bond purchases — intended to keep interest rates low and stimulate the economy — by $10 billion to $65 billion. That was the second $10 billion cut after the Fed reduced its bond buying from $85 billion to $75 billion in December.

“When the bond buying process slows down, the interest rates tend to increase, and that’s what’s starting to happen,” Haase said. “So, over the last year, as buyers have become more aware that the interest rates hit the bottom, it triggers activity.”

The report breaks down sales data by ZIP codes. The ZIP codes that include Gentilly, Bywater, Lower Ninth Ward, Uptown, Carrollton, eastern New Orleans and Lakeview all reported between 7 percent and 13 percent growth in price per-square-foot. In the Lower Garden District and Warehouse District areas, prices grew by 15 percent, according to the report.

St. Tammany home prices compared to pre-Katrina

In suburban areas, the average price of a home St. Tammany Parish was $223,338, or $104 per square foot, up 5.1 percent from 2012. In Jefferson Parish, the average price was $190,100, or $102 per square foot, up 4.1 percent.

 

Glenn “Chip” Gardner, Gardner Realtors vice president of operations and special initiatives, said the average number of days a house sits on the market in the metro area is steadily declining, another sign that the market is heating up. In December 2013, a house sat on the market for an average of 72 days, down from 96 days in December 2012.

“We think it’s all lining up to be a really strong year in the New Orleans real estate market,” Gardner said.

 

Acutec Home Inspectors provides Home Inspection services in New Orleans, Slidell, Covington, Mandeville, Abita Springs, Hammond, Pontchatoula, Pearl River, Kenner, Bogalusa, Lacombe and all areas in-between.  We offer a full service Home Inspection Service and maintain proper insurance and a license with the LSBHI Home Inspection Board.  Our home inspectors are trained and will perform your Home Inspection service and provide a professional report in a timely manner.

Call us today at 985-290-8993

 

Stay with NOLA.com for updates on this story, including a database of average prices by ZIP code and maps.

 

Average home prices for the New Orleans metro area
	2012 Annual		2013 Annual		Change
Parish	Average Price	Avg. Price Per Ft.	Average Price	Avg. Price Per Ft.	2012-13
Jefferson	$179,995	$98	$190,100	$102	4.1%
St Tammany	$212,802	$99	$223,338	$104	5.1%
Orleans	$305,412	$142	$325,348	$153	7.7%
Not renovated	$70,342	$38	$52,669	$32	-15.8%
Tangipahoa	$151,333	$84	$154,906	$86	2.4%
St John	$124,912	$72	$140,681	$81	12.5%
Not renovated	$48,622	$32	$54,969	$34	6.3%
St Charles	$184,979	$92	$199,373	$99	7.6%
St Bernard	$104,855	$65	$117,536	$72	10.8%
Not renovated	$46,126	$27	$52,149	$31	14.8%
Plaquemines	$300,468	$129	$319,053	$129	0.0%
Metro area	$214,448	$106	$222,440	$110	3.9%
Not renovated	$63,013	$36	$52,992	$32	-10.4%
Source:  Metropolitan Association of Realtors, Multiple Listing Service Tabulated by Real Property Associates, Inc.  Dr. Wade Ragas to Dec. 31, 2013 as of Jan. 9, 2014

In today’s market, it can be hard enough to just sell or buy a home. There’s a lot to think about if you’re trying to do both at once. Plan ahead, keep detailed notes, and make sure you’re familiar with all the options before you start. Here are a few tips to help you ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Keep Track Of Information

Yes, you can enter notes on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, but chances are you’ll have plenty of paperwork to go around as well. Have a dedicated binder or folder for your buying and selling information. Document every meeting you have; who, where, why, when and what was discussed. It will keep you from frantically searching your memory at the last minute.

Meet With Your Real Estate Agent

A real estate agent in your area can give you a good idea of how soon you can expect your home to sell. They can help you learn what you need to do to sell your home faster, and what price it will likely bring. You’ll also learn what homes are available in your area, and what time gap you can expect between your sale and the purchase of your new home. Consult with your real estate agent as early as you can in the process – up to a year ahead of your planned sale.

Talk To Your Mortgage Broker

Your mortgage broker is another entity you should speak to early on. Ask what you’ll likely get on your sale, what you qualify to purchase, and what down payment you’ll need for your new home. Knowing what you can afford ahead of time will assist you in your search.

Know Your Moving Options

It’s extremely difficult to time the purchase of one home with the sale of another. Ask for a rent-back or long close on the sale of your home, so you can continue to live there for a month or two if your purchase takes longer than planned. By the same token, you might be able to request an early move-in date for your new home. Expect to sign a waiver essentially stating that whatever goes wrong before the close is on you if this option is granted, and that the owner won’t be liable for your possessions.

Have A Backup Plan

Plan for delays, and you’ll be prepared if and when they occur. Build up cash reserves that will allow you to pay on two mortgages for a few months if necessary. Also, research suite hotels or vacation rentals in the area, just in case you have to move out before you’re ready for it.

If you’re buying and selling a home simultaneously, preparation is the key. Be prepared to document meetings and phone calls, and keep financial and closing documents well organized. Work with your real estate agent and mortgage broker to develop a plan that works for you. When you’re aware of your options and plan for possible difficulties, your relocation will go much more smoothly.