Michael Russell writes about a variety of subjects, including real estate, environmentalism, and modern architecture. This article discusses real estate in New Orleans. For more information about New Orleans real estate, visit the Real Estate Book.
Finding real estate in a city that has been battered by hurricanes and a struggling economy has obvious challenges. But these elements also provide real estate investors with unique opportunities, especially in New Orleans.
It was Aug. 24, 2005, and New Orleans was still charming. Tropical Depression 12 was spinning from the Bahamas toward Florida, but the chances of an American city’s being destroyed by nature were remote, even for one below sea level. An entire industry of weather bookies — scientists who calculate the likelihood of various natural disasters — had in effect set the odds: a storm that destroys $70 billion of insured property should strike the United States only once every 100 years. New Orleanians had made an art form of ignoring threats far more likely than this; indeed, their carelessness was a big reason they were supposedly more charming than other Americans. And it was true: New Orleanians found pleasure even in oblivion. But in their blindness to certain threats, they could not have been more typically American. From Miami to San Francisco, the nation’s priciest real estate now faced beaches and straddled fault lines; its most vibrant cities occupied its most hazardous land. If, after World War II, you had set out to redistribute wealth to maximize the sums that might be lost to nature, you couldn’t have done much better than Americans had done. And virtually no one — not even the weather bookies — fully understood the true odds.
Real estate speculators are searching for easy profits in the Big Easy.
Days after Hurricane Katrina struck, investors began posting inquiries about properties for sale on the website craigslist.org. Under "New Orleans," dozens of ads were posted seeking properties to buy in Louisiana, including in the city's French Quarter and nearby Garden District. Some ads offered property for sale.
A "triplex 4 sale" in an upcoming neighborhood adjacent to the French Quarter has "little to no hurricane flood damage," according to an ad posted by Alexis De Bram, an interpreter who said he was laid off by his employer and can't afford his mortgage, since some tenants have disappeared.
"French Quarter/Garden District properties wanted," wrote Jason Malroy, a District of Columbia-area computer engineer and real estate investor, on the same site.
It is a testament to the times. The market might be struggling, but smart investors and realtors are doing everything in their power to make it work. If you are interested in New Orleans real estate, and have the right amount of capital, good credit and job security, now is a good time to consider buying.
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