As property values plummet across the country because of the credit crisis and a glut of homes for sale, it’s common for sellers to slash prices on their homes in a desperate attempt to snag buyers.
Meanwhile, residents of St. Tammany Parish have been up in arms about new property assessments that boost their value of their homes. In some cases, home values have shot up as much as 700 percent, according to a story last week by St. Tammany News.
The ordeal has some people so worked up, they are threatening to leave St. Tammany, according to comments on St. Tammany News’ Web site.
“Nothing here for the people anymore. Next flood I am moving to another parish. Recall petition comes to mind. People need to speak up,” someone named Lisa wrote Monday.
Then, this week, the Louisiana Tax Commission dropped this bombshell: A preliminary survey of nearly 300 homes in the parish shows that the majority are under-assessed.
Here’s an excerpt from a story posted on 99.5 FM’s Web site:
The Commission says it reviewed the assessments of 290 houses and concluded that most are assessed at an average of 83% of fair market value, when they should be assessed at 90% to 100%.
Meanwhile, the parish Property Assessor says she has made adjustments to assessments on at least 4,000 properties whose owners filed appeals with her office.
In recent days, some residents have shared outrageous stories about their new assessments. Here’s an excerpt from a story posted to wwltv.com Wednesday:
One woman’s story on how the Tax Assessor’s Office appraised one of her properties drew laughs of disbelief from the crowd and frustration from the Parish Council.
“I have a home destroyed in Katrina that went up in value, it’s not there,” she told the council.•
504ward, an initiative of The Idea Village to lure young professionals to New Orleans, got some good press Wednesday on Inc.com, a magazine for entrepreneurs.
The magazine’s blog featured a posting about 504ward and its contest for businesses that hire young professionals in New Orleans.
Here’s an excerpt:
In talking to New Orleans entrepreneurs, like Seema Sudan, CEO of LiaMolly, one of four promising start-ups we profiled in our July issue, you hear a lot about the interconnectedness of the business community. Sudan focused on promoting LiaMolly, her eclectic sweater company, by outsourcing advertising and PR to capable local agencies that also happened to charge less than their coastal counterparts. And after watching a performance of the New Orleans-based Tsunami Dance Company, Sudan hired them to model her latest designs for a video on her site. “In New York, could you just call up a dance company? It’s like one degree of separation down here,” said Sudan.
Any of you enticed? Are any of you starting up a new venture in New Orleans? Have you ever contemplated moving your business to another city to take advantage of the business climate?•
New Orleans has lost a large number of houses thanks to Katrina. The storm itself wiped out some homes. In other cases, the owners demolished homes that Katrina damaged.
But according to some, the city has been tearing down perfectly good homes since Katrina.
The Associated Press reported that a federal judge is weighing whether the city should be held in contempt of court for allegedly tearing down structurally sound homes without giving notice.
Interestingly, Tracie Washington, one of the attorneys for the residents, said in the AP story that her home was up for demolition by the city, even though she’s living in it and a court filing said it was not damaged.
An attorney for the city, Franz Zibilich, has told the AP that the allegations “have no merit whatsoever.”
It’s not the first time since Katrina that people have complained that homes are being demolished without proper notification. In January 2006, laborradio.org published a story about the bulldozing of flood-damaged properties in the Lower 9th Ward. Here’s an excerpt:
City inspectors have declared up to five thousand homes unsafe to enter in New Orleans, most of those in the city’s lower ninth ward. Two thousand five hundred were scheduled to be destroyed after Christmas. Steve Bradbury of ACORN, a plaintiff in the case, says that while many of these homes are damaged beyond repair displaced homeowners are not being adequately informed.
In January, National Public Radio picked up on the story of healthy homes being demolished in post-K New Orleans.
“One common complaint from people who are trying to stop demolitions is that they are unable to get information or help from city hall about the entire process,” the NPR story says.•
Three years after Hurricane Katrina flipped New Orleans on its back, the city is moving ahead with a master plan to direct future growth. But not everyone is happy about it.
The New Orleans chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is concerned about a ballot item that will go before New Orleans voters Tuesday. If that ballot item is passed, it would put the force of law behind the master plan before the plan is even written. By giving the plan the force of law, it reportedly would be more difficult for the City Council to make land-use decisions, such as changing zoning rules and granting exceptions.
The council still has to approve the master plan, which is being developed now with public input. The plan is expected to be finished by the end of next year.
CityBusiness reporter Ariella Cohen wrote about the NAACP’s concerns in a story Thursday. Here’s an excerpt:
The NAACP statement blasted the proposed charter change as an attempt by elites to redraw neighborhoods and potentially “turn our neighborhoods into ‘green spaces’ and prevent our families, friends and neighbors from returning to our city.”
“In addition to the possibility that the plan could reduce the footprint our neighborhoods, the ramification of the proposal has not been adequately discussed with members of the community. Therefore, the community cannot make an informed vote,” said New Orleans NAACP President Danatus King, an attorney.
In response to NAACP’s concerns, the Rev. Marshall Truehill Jr., who is black and a former chairman of the New Orleans City Planning Commission, blasted the NAACP.
“It is beyond belief that the some of the leadership of the African-American community are misinformed, spreading misinformation and putting gross ignorance of the planning process on display by making (such) claims,” Truehill said.
But the NAACP is not the only one concerned about the proposed charter change. Comments on nola.com show that others are against it, although others are for it.
Here’s what bayoustjohn wrote on Monday:
Vote NO!!!! At a time when New Orleans specifically needs flexibility to deal with rebuilding up from our 30 years of economic and population decline we shouldn’t be enshrining the best ideas of RIGHT NOW to guide us for the next 20 years. Since restrictive zoning has done so much damage to our commercial sector, driving out thousands of businesses, tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of residents and the proponents of this measure don’t care. They want to stop business and economic development even further.
Clefable49 wrote this:
I concur with bayoustjohn: Zoning in New Orleans is about as gerrymandered as anyone can imagine. Consistency is lacking. Variances seem to be available “for a song”. Just by way of one example, look at the various interpretations of the widths of setbacks around newly-built, multi-story houses. The city has to get a handle on this.
Nolalou is among the supporters of the charter change:
The charter change would shift power away from the city council and towards the citizens. It would create a predictable, transparent, and clear set of rules for everyone – neighborhoods, developers, and citizens – to follow. It would mandate citizen participation in the creation and modification of the plan. And it would instill confidence in us all that our efforts to determine the shape and form of our city would not be in vain.
So if you’re dissatisfied with the current system; if you want to see fair, transparent, predictable planning; if you want New Orleans to become more stable, economically viable and secure, vote YES for giving the Master Plan the Force of Law. This is our one chance!•
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon sends news outlets around the state a regular question-and-answer column in which he responds to insurance issues residents are facing.
This week’s version on the surface sounds like one of those “only in Louisiana” stories, but there’s more than meets the eye.
“I live in a wood subdivision,” the question starts. “Over the weekend, a large deer crashed through the plate glass window on one side of the living room of my home and out the window on the other. The deer caused a lot of damage both to my home and to the furnishings inside. Will my insurance pay for the damage?”
According to Donelon, the damage is covered through the “sudden and accidental occurrence provision” of a basic homeowner’s policy. Payment is subject to the same deductibles and exclusions that apply to any other kind of home damage.
Donelon said wildlife wreckage is not the exclusive domain of rural areas. He’s heard of domestic deer damage in more populated areas, and said a very common woodland creature claim comes from squirrels chewing threw electrical wiring.
If an animal invader causes extensive damage to valuable items such as antique furniture or fine china, reimbursement is limited unless there’s a special endorsement on the homeowner’s policy to provide additional coverage, Donelon said.
The deer dilemma brings up the question of damage done by animals that have an owner. If a neighbor’s dog bites you or his cow or other animal damages your property, Donelon said the neighbor is required to provide reimbursement whether or not he has homeowner’s insurance.
Have you filed or heard of a wild and wooly insurance claim connected to animals? Share your stories.•
Yesterday, I e-mailed Tim Ryan, chancellor of the University of New Orleans. Here’s why:
Last year, Mayor C. Ray Nagin said 2008 “will be the turning point in our recovery” from Hurricane Katrina. Then, on Monday, Nagin said he was right. “We’ve tipped,” he said, according to a story by The Associated Press.
After reading Nagin’s comment, I decided to contact Ryan, an economist.
“I was wondering if you agreed with that statement. Have we reached a tipping point in our recovery in New Orleans?” I wrote to Ryan.
Here’s Ryan’s reply, which I received this morning:
I’m not sure that I or anyone else really knows what the “tipping” point in this recovery is. I believe that over the last six months we have made significant progress in the rebuilding of some of New Orleans’ neighborhoods. There is still much work to do but there seems to be some real momentum now that we didn’t see a year ago. In programs like the Road Home, as flawed as it may be, we do see the dollars flowing now. That is helping with the recover significantly. The biggest change over the past six months is a growing confidence that it is OK to move back. We had a lot of people waiting to see if the neighborhoods were going to come back. I believe that many have finally made their decisions and are starting to rebuild. There is obviously a lack of physical evidence about the rebuilding of public infrastructure – roads, all police and fire stations, NORD facilities, sewerage and water infrastructure, the 17 targeted redevelopment zones, and the like. It is my understanding that these projects are all in the “paperwork” phase that can be maddening with FEMA. But, that phase is required for the projects to get done. I also understand that we are getting closer to actual construction.
On the economic front, the recovery is going better than I expected. We are at 87% of the jobs we had before the storm. The interesting thing is that 87% are actually earning more dollars in total than the 100% was before the storm. In other words, total earnings in the New Orleans MSA are up, compared to before the storm. I think that that is remarkable. The oil and gas industry and construction are ahead of per Katrina levels. Manufacturing is close to per Katrina levels and tourism is doing very well.•
How much longer will New Orleans recovery czar Ed Blakely be around? That seems to be the question today, as Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Blakely – according to a story by The Associated Press – are scheduled to meet in December to discuss Blakely’s future in New Orleans.
Blakely’s future has been in question lately. In a story Wednesday by The Times-Picayune, Blakely said helping the city recover from Hurricane Katrina has been tough on his family.
According to the TP story, headlined “Ed Blakely may leave post in January,” Blakely, whose family lives in Australia, plans to go to Sydney in November to talk with his wife about his future in New Orleans.
Lately, Blakely has complained about his staff in New Orleans. On Oct. 17, Blakely said “bureaucrats” at his Office of Recovery and Development Administration spend too much time getting reports done and slacking off while he’s away. Blakely made the comment after making a visit to Dubai.•
Nearly a year ago, on Nov. 1, Mayor C. Ray Nagin, giving his 2008 budget address to the City Council, said 2008 “will be the turning point in our recovery.”
On Monday, Nagin said he was right. “We’ve tipped,” he said, according to a story by The Associated Press.
“We’re going to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars next year on this recovery, and that’s dollars that (are) recession proof, so I think we’re heading in a good direction,” Nagin said.
So has New Orleans “tipped”? Some might think so, but others might not.
Two months ago, The Brookings Institution and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center released a report that said this:
Greater New Orleans approaches the end of its third year of recovery from a position of strength, with the vast majority of its pre-storm population and jobs. But many recovery trends have slowed or stagnated in the past year as tens of thousands of blighted properties, lack of affordable housing for essential service and construction workers, and thin public services continue to plague the city and region. A strong federal-state-local partnership must continue to further the hard work of recovery, which is now well underway.
In April, The New York Times, in a story headlined “Big Plans Are Slow to Bear Fruit in New Orleans,” said this:
There has been nothing to signal a transformation in the sea of blight and abandonment that still defines much of the city. Weary and bewildered residents, forced to bring back the hard-hit city on their own, have searched the plan’s 17 “target recovery zones” for any sign that the city’s promises should not be consigned to the municipal filing cabinet, along with their predecessors. On their one-year anniversary, the designated “zones” have hardly budged.
What do you think? Has New Orleans reached a tipping point?•
It was a glorious Saturday morning on a day that begged to be spent outside. My plans were to get in a workout and bike ride and then bring a friend’s dog out to the river for a play date. And if a Voodoo Fest ticket landed in my lap, a trip out to City Park was in the cards, too.
But first there was the matter of early voting. I’ll be in Washington, D.C., the week of Election Day, so this was my chance to fulfill my civic duty. Gearing up for my time in line, I’ve got a book and my iPod. They go into my backpack along with a snack to fuel my workout. After a light breakfast, I drive out to City Hall to get in queue.
Making the turn on to Perdido Street, I see a line of voters trailing from the front door of City Hall out to the sidewalk and reaching about 20 yards from LaSalle Street. I pick out a tall man near the back of the line and note he’s right next to a parking meter. I’ll drive around the block and see how far he gets, and shuffle my schedule if things are at a crawl.
It takes little time to make a block downtown on Saturday morning, and in that span my tall man has moved up about 50 feet. Not bad. I’m thinking I’m looking at an hour-long process as I park a couple blocks away and join the line at 9:50 a.m.
Less than a minute later, I’m no longer the last person in line. A man drops off his wife, considers joining her and then decides he’ll take his chance at the polls on Election Day. She’ll call him after she’s voted. A young couple follows, then an elderly woman, a trio of students – the line quickly spans back to near LaSalle again.
Bonds forms along the line. Stories are shared about why we’re here. The lady behind me came in from Hammond, where she’s been since Hurricane Katrina and isn’t sure if she’ll settle there. Similar accounts are heard throughout the day from people who want to come back, can’t come back and remain suspended in electorate purgatory.
That parking meter is still my landmark. When it takes roughly 45 minutes for me to advance 20 feet to reach it, I realize I’ll be here more than an hour. More than two hours – and that’s just to get inside City Hall.
Groups of roughly 50 voters are taken inside and escorted to City Council chambers where those of us who didn’t bring along folding chairs are grateful for a seat. It’s about 12:15 p.m. and anyone’s guess how long we’ll be here. But we’re inside now and we’re sharing an experience.
Thanks to this collective spirit, the mood inside City Council chambers is light. Sure, there are criticisms lobbed at city government for not being prepared, but there is no mean spiritedness – just the opposite, in fact. People save seats and spots in line for restroom breaks and trips to the snack bar. There’s laughter, lots of it. Friends embrace, united following storm separations. Strangers discuss intimate issues: politics, of course, along with relationships and bladder control.
Around 12:30 p.m., Mayor C. Ray Nagin saunters into the chamber audience to press the flesh. He had to know the question was coming: “Why is this taking so long?”
“I’m not the registrar of voters. I don’t have an answer for that,” Nagin answered, deftly dodging political quicksand.
Voters call on the mayor for insight on the state constitutional amendments. After a pregnant pause, he suggests they consult the newspaper. After being reminded they were beyond the point of being able to do their homework, Nagin consults a photocopy handout circulating among voters with the amendments spelled out in legalese. The mayor breaks down a few of the items, but it’s not enough clarity for many of the voters. Their stand comes down to this: If I don’t understand it, I’m voting against it.
Nagin’s curious as to why so many people were voting early. One voter didn’t trust things would go smoothly on Election Day, so she’s making sure her voice is counted today. Others say they won’t have enough time to get away from work next Tuesday.
One young woman flew in from Miami for the weekend and claims not to have missed a single election since Katrina. She’s among the many student-aged voters present.
My new friend from Hammond asks if I was a student, and she’s instantly my new best friend. It’s just after 1 p.m. when we’re instructed to exit City Council chambers and form a line along the main corridor. It spans the width of the building, and I can tell my new friend is questioning her decision to vote early. As a state employee, she doesn’t have to work Election Day, but we’ve already invested more than three hours. We’re in this for the long haul. The line we first joined this morning remains intact.
The line moves forward in lurches as groups are brought into the voting area. The City Hall foyer marks the halfway point, and it takes about an hour to reach it. Still, there are people lined up outside the door going back to Perdido Street. You can tell by their looks that they’re gauging how long their wait will be, and none of us have the heart to tell them it’s going to be a while.
On the other side of the foyer, a row of chairs gives us one more opportunity to get off our feet. I realize I won’t be around a TV or radio in time for the LSU-Georgia game, and I’m happy about that when a friend texts me that the Tigers are down 7-0 after the opening play of the game.
Just as I’m falling into a stupor, a perky security guard alerts us that it’s time to move to the voting area.
“Have your IDs ready and move into the hall.”
It’s within reach. We can see the voting machines. They’re in the hallway, maybe eight of them, and another four or so are in a side room. The reasons for the delay become crystal clear. A dozen voting machines plus thousands of voters equal gridlock. It’s simple logistics. Didn’t anyone see this coming? It’s worth some solace that this same scenario is taking place around the country.
About a dozen city employees are orderly checking IDs and registration. They must be feeding on the mood of the crowd because despite the endless line of voters and potential for disgruntled individuals, all is well on their side of the desk. Within minutes of having my ID checked, I’m at a voting booth and making history.
Two more friendly faces outside the registrar’s office ask me to leave my electronic voting card and take a sticker that reads, “I voted early.”
I peel it and place it on my chest with a thump of achievement. Time: straight up 3 o’clock.
I live about a block away from my voting precinct and love the fact I can walk to cast my vote in every election. Only once previously in the 20 months I’ve been a New Orleans resident have I had to wait in line to vote. From my front door and back, it’s about a five-minute process.
There will be a new appreciation for that convenience when we’re back at the polls in December, but I’ll look back at those five hours spent at City Hall as much more than a hassle that scrambled my plans.
At 40, I’m not old enough to appreciate the struggles many in line went through just for the right to cast a ballot. You could see the determination in their eyes, many using canes, walkers or wheelchairs. Depriving myself of a few hours of personal time is a small price to pay for the right I’ve probably taken for granted in the past.
Regardless of the outcome of the presidential race, history will be made. I’d like to be in the nation’s capital on Nov. 4 knowing I played a part in the outcome.•
I spent yesterday morning at a Kenner hotel, where Metairie-based Prudential Gardner Realtors brought in a real estate expert to help its Realtors with, among other things, pricing property correctly while the national real estate market goes through turbulent times.
The room at the Radisson New Orleans Airport hotel was filled with Prudential employees, including execs and real estate agents. During the first break, near the coffee table, I spoke with Prudential agent Augie Berner, who works in Metairie. Berner said he was pleased with the presentation by David Knox, a professional speaker and real estate expert from Minneapolis.
Many of the other agents also seemed excited that Knox was there. They seemed hungry for the information, hungry for answers, which makes sense; this is a time when many Realtors across the New Orleans metro area and country are scared stiff about the market.
“In today’s seminar, David will help you increase your production and put the fun back in selling,” said a description of the event Prudential e-mailed to me.
Put the fun back in selling? That might be easier said than done. For one, according to Knox, some sellers want more than the house is worth and are reluctant to listen to the advice of Realtors when it comes to pricing. Dealing with a hard-headed seller doesn’t sound like a good time.
Some Realtors are trying to cope with this challenging market through virtual venting on the Web. Destrehan Realtor Christian Harlow, of Re/Max, invited other Realtors to share stories of their struggles on his blog. Here’s an excerpt:
I want to help anyone else who it would seem that may be hurting and feeling like they cannot pass through the struggle. I am here to listen and help you. I am here to hold your hand through the darkness. Let me listen to your hurt. Anyone who would like to add inspiration to this place of help please do so. And God be with you.
Yesterday, real estate blogger Steve Hoffacker, of West Palm Beach, Fla., posted this:
Hope is not a strategy. That simply means that we cannot go through life just hoping for or wishing for good outcomes. I hope I get that listing, I hope I make a sale, I hope I get my commission check, I hope I pass my test, I hope my checkup at the dentist is OK.
If all we’ve done is hope for something to happen and not done anything constructive to bring about or cause that outcome, then about all we can do is wish that it happens. Usually that’s not the case, and it’s not a predictable strategy. Listings and sales don’t just happen. Sometimes referrals seem to – but there’s actually a major reputation and work product behind that referral.
With Realtors trying to deal emotionally with this tough market, it’s no wonder some real estate companies are calling on professional speakers to motivate their agents.
The plight of U.S. Realtors recently caught the attention of our neighbors up north in Canada. Here’s an excerpt from a story by The Canadian Press:
Real estate agent Sharon Zunkley has taken some unusual steps this past year to sell houses:
She hired a cleaning lady to teach one male client how to clean his house before showings. She paid to have a stove fixed when the buyer and seller couldn’t agree on who was responsible for the repair. She hung artwork from her own home in a client’s house to make it more attractive.
Despite her efforts, her median selling price has dropped $20,000, to $180,000.
“We’re all taking a hit,” said Zunkley, whose office is in Mentor, Ohio. “We’re hoping when this is over and things start to go back up, we’ll have survived.”•
One of the owners of the Southern Waterproofing building at 2930 Burgundy St. wants the “Gray Ghost” to vanish.
On Wednesday, Michelle Gallodoro said Fred “Gray Ghost” Radtke destroyed a mural on the building by painting over it, according to a story by CityBusiness reporter Richard A. Webster. Radtke is the city’s best known enemy of graffiti. He covers up graffiti with gray paint, which some people say looks worse than the graffiti.
According to the story, it’s not the first time Radtke has painted over the mural, which was painted by local artists.
“It’s been going on and on like this,” Gallodoro said. “No matter what we say he doesn’t listen. This guy is running around throwing paint on private property, and no one is doing anything to stop him. Everyone knows that he defaces private property without permission and yet he’s never fined or jailed or anything.”
CityBusiness has not been able to reach Radtke for comment.•
Realtors are in the business of selling homes. But with a national real estate market on hard times, Realtors don’t want to waste their time with buyers who are not serious.
David Knox, a real estate expert speaking at a Prudential Gardner Realtors seminar in Kenner this morning, said there are three questions to ask buyers to find out if they are motivated:
1.) When do you want to buy?
2.) How long have you been looking?
3.) If you found something today what would you do?
“If they say we’re not ready to buy now,” tell the buyer to stay in touch, he said.
During this tough market, Realtors should try to sell to buyers “the joy of living in a house,” he said.•
To survive in today’s real estate market, Realtors need to reach out to buyers.
That’s according to David Knox, a real estate expert who spoke today at a Prudential Gardner Realtors seminar in Kenner.
Knox continued to stress the importance of getting back to basic real estate-selling techniques.
“The fundamental skills of selling will make you a fortune in this industry,” he said.
But, “you don’t create wealth by being good,” he said. “You create wealth by being there. All the skills that you learned to be a good Realtor … it does not create income for you. It’s really hard to hear that.”
The problem is Realtors want buyers to come to them, he said. That’s like getting all dressed up and sitting at home hoping a date will show up, he said.
Hand out your business card, he told Realtors, and call the people in your database.
“You ought to be calling 10 people a day for the rest of your life,” he said. “I think you ought to have customer appreciation parties.”
When a Realtor gets an Internet lead, they should respond immediately, he said. When the phone rings in the office, answer it, he said.
Knox also gave Realtors techniques for getting referrals. Instead of asking former clients if they know someone who wants to sell a home, Realtors should ask them which of their friends would be most likely to sell their home next, he said.
Like he did earlier this morning, Knox spoke about working with hard-headed sellers who want to price their home at a higher price than the Realtor thinks it should be listed for.
“Tell them (sellers) the truth,” he said. “I would like you to see yourself as a doctor. The question is do you want to tell them the truth or not.”
If a seller doesn’t believe the Realtor has priced the home right, “you might have to take the sellers right to the houses,” he said. One technique involves showing clients other homes for sale and having them guess the prices the homes are listed for, he said.
“They always guess too high as sellers, too low as a buyer,” he said.
Knox also talked about “media judo.” Realtors can’t control what the media report, he said, and judo relies on using the motion of an opponent to defeat them. So, when a seller won’t budge on the price, Realtors can show them headlines that show home prices are falling, he said.
“They’ll believe the paper,” he said. “They’re not going to believe you.”
Knox offered a tip for Realtors to test a seller’s motivation. Realtors should suggest to the seller that they take their home off the market, he said. If the seller is open to taking it off the market, then the Realtor should move on because that seller is not ready to sell, he said.•
Prudential Gardner Realtors this morning presented a seminar to its Realtors at the Radisson New Orleans Airport hotel in Kenner. The speaker, David Knox, was hired by Prudential to explain how Realtors can thrive in today’s difficult real estate market.•
Prudential Gardner Realtors this morning presented a seminar to its Realtors at the Radisson New Orleans Airport hotel. The speaker, David Knox, was hired by Prudential to explain how Realtors can thrive in today’s difficult real estate market.•
As Realtors nationwide deal with a troubled housing market, they need to recognize the importance of motivating sellers and buyers.
That’s according to David Knox, a real estate expert from Minnesota speaking this morning to Prudential Gardner Realtors at a seminar in Kenner.
“No. 1 thing you need to do is seller motivation,” he said.
Sellers can sometimes be fickle, Knox said; they may be conflicted on whether they want to sell or not sell.
“I want sellers who want to sell,” he said. “That’s your mission in life as a Realtor is to find those sellers who want to sell.”
Sellers sometimes want more for a home than it is worth, Knox said.
“What you need to do is find out why people want what they want,” he said.
Realtors should “get to the heart” of why a fickle seller is talking to a Realtor, he said. “Get to the feelings of it. You need to ask why-based questions.”
Knox then showed clips of Realtors talking to sellers. The clips were meant to illustrate how Realtors can reconfirm a seller’s motivation to sell in a hard market.•
In Kenner today, at a seminar hosted by Prudential Gardner Realtors for its agents, speaker David Knox is telling Realtors to get back to basics in order to thrive in today’s market, which is troubled nationwide thanks to the mortgage meltdown.
A kay factor, he said, is pricing a home right.
“How do you know a listing is priced right? It sells,” Knox said.
A lot of agents are wondering when buyers are going to start rolling in, Knox said. That won’t happen until homes are priced right, he said.
“They’re waiting for you to get realistic about the price,” he said.
“Listings still control the market,” he said. “Buyers do not look for agents; they look for listings.”
Basic real estate sales techniques are just as important as ever, he said.
“When is the last time you called everybody in your databases?” he asked. “Go to the buyers, because they are not coming to you.”
“The No. 1 thing buyers look for is good photos,” he said. “Take a good picture of the house.”
Realtors “need to be the good doctor” and be upfront with sellers about what they should do to make the home sell faster, such as hiding the dirty ashtrays, he said.•
I’m live blogging today at the Kenner Radisson New Orleans Airport hotel. Metairie-based Prudential Gardner Realtors is presenting a seminar to its Realtors to help them succeed in a market that is struggling nationwide.
The speaker is David Knox.
“Very few companies are putting on events like this,” he said. “The coffee bill for this is $2,000, just so you know.”
Knox’s message is frank.
“I have no easy answers for you,” he said. “I think we’ve got about four or five years of this market left. Stop waiting for this market to change. That’s like hoping another hurricane isn’t going to come to New Orleans.”
He says Realtors need to do things differently.
“My goal today is that you actually grow your business in this market,” he said.
Stay tuned this morning for more posts from this event.•
Something’s been bugging me for a while, and it’s time to get it off my chest.
Just about every day, for how long I don’t know, I’ve been getting e-mails from this camp or that camp for upcoming elections, mostly the Louisiana congressional races. If I had the time, I’d try to get off these mailing lists. But because I am a busy guy and can’t waste time unsubscribing to this junk mail, I keep getting them every day and it’s driving me nuts.
I don’t recall signing up for these releases, so I wonder if that makes them spam. But that’s another issue altogether.
For example, after a debate, it’s common for all the candidates to declare they won. Of course they think they won. They’re not going to do something as detrimental to their campaign as come out and say they lost. Anyway, isn’t it up to the public to decide who won a debate?
Sometimes these releases focus on what to me are petty issues, an obvious attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.
These press releases have no effect on me, other than outrage. And other people must hate them, too. So why do camps send them?
Perhaps they send it for themselves and others who support their candidate. It’s their way of reaffirming that they’re voting for the best candidate.
But I don’t need them to tell me which candidate to vote for.
Who bases their choice for a candidate on these press releases? Is anyone that gullible?•
Trial lawyers from across the United States are gathering in New Orleans this week for the Defense Research Institute’s annual meeting.
According to a posting by Robert Ambrogi on Legal Blog Watch, the meeting, which runs today through Sunday, will feature former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Newsweek commentator and The McLaughlin Group panelist Eleanor Clift and National Public Radio correspondent and Fox News political analyst Juan Williams.
About 1,000 defense lawyers and corporate counsel are expected to attend, Ambrogi wrote.
The blog post goes on to poke fun at the conference’s brochure. Here’s an excerpt:
I could not help but notice a peculiarly lawyer-like twist to the conference registration form. On Saturday morning, the DRI will sponsor a 5K “Fun-raiser” run and walk to benefit New Orleans-area charter schools. But this being a conference of defense lawyers, it should be no surprise that the conference brochure includes a full-page “Assumption of Risk and Waiver of Rights.” Anyone wishing to join the “fun” by walking or running must first acknowledge and agree to the following:
[T]hat it may involve numerous risks and dangers including, but not limited to: acts of God; civil unrest; terrorism; use of roads, trails, hotels, vehicles, boats or other means of conveyance that are not operated nor maintained to customary and usual standards; high altitude; accident or illness without access to means of rapid evacuation or availability of medical supplies; the inadequacy of medical attention once provided; physical exertion for which I am not prepared; consumption of alcoholic beverages; or negligence (but not willful, fraudulent, or malicious conduct) on the part of DRI.
OK, civil unrest and terrorism? A long shot, but maybe. But high altitudes? In New Orleans? It goes on:
I fully understand, acknowledge and recognize that such risks and activity may be beyond the accepted safety and health standards of my life at home or work, yet they will contribute to my enjoyment and excitement and are a reason for my voluntary participation.
If I read this correctly, by signing this, you are affirming that the risks spelled out above — acts of God, terrorism and all the rest — will contribute to your enjoyment and excitement and are a reason you are joining the race. Either defense lawyers are an unusual lot or they are badly in need of a good editor.•
In what could be good — or bad — publicity for New Orleans, the National Geographic Channel will feature a New Orleans school in a show, “Inside New Orleans High,” which airs 9 p.m. Sunday.
Walter L. Cohen Senior High School will be featured in the program. There doesn’t seem to be any trailers for the episode on National Geographic’s Web site. But there are photos.
One photo shows the security clearances students must go through. Another shows a home damaged by Katrina. Another shows a FEMA trailer in front of a house. And another shows hallway doors covered in graffiti.•
Europeans won’t have to cross the pond this weekend for a taste of New Orleans.
New Orleans musicians will perform in a mini-Jazz Fest, called Festival New Orleans, which will run Friday and Saturday. It coincides with Sunday’s Wembley Stadium game between the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers.
Musicians expected to perform include Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Kermit Ruffins and the Rebirth Brass Band.
The event could provide a boost New Orleans’ tourism industry, which, according to a story by The Associated Press today, relied heavily on British travelers before Katrina. London festival co-producer Quint Davis said the gathering will be one of the largest ever of south Louisiana musicians outside the United States, and he hopes it becomes an annual event, according to AP.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
Mary Beth Romig, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she has roamed New Orleans every weekend for the past month with British television crews and print journalists filing reports from the city in advance of the game and festival.
“The British traveler was our biggest international market before Hurricane Katrina,” Romig said.
Before Katrina struck in 2005, she said, about 100,000 British tourists came to New Orleans. Overseas travelers accounted for about 1 million visits, or about 10 percent of annual travel to New Orleans.
Since the storm, Romig said visitor numbers are down, though she said the bureau did not have an accurate measure in part because of disruptions in visitor tracking after the hurricane.
The London event presents an opportunity to reinforce the message that the Big Easy is ready for global tourism.
Promotional posters featuring Dr. John and others have been strewn for weeks throughout the London subway system and elsewhere.•
According to the blog The Chicory, state Rep. John LaBruzzo sent an e-mail Wednesday to his supporters about his controversial idea to pay poor women to get sterilized.
Comedian Harry Shearer, whose work includes the films “A Mighty Wind” and “This is Spinal Tap” and voice work for “The Simpsons” (He’s Mr. Burns, among other characters), in a blog posting Friday said the nation has forgotten about New Orleans.
Here’s an excerpt:
Today’s Times-Picayune points out what’s painfully obvious: the biggest man-made engineering disaster (per Dr. Bob Bea, co-author of the ILIT report ever to befall an American city has fallen completely off the national radar screen. New Orleans got only one passing mention, in reference to its growth in charter schools, in the four national candidates’ debates. New Orleans may be, according to the old slogan, “the city that care forgot”, but, judging by this campaign, it’s certainly the city America forgot.•
It’s hard to know how to feel about Louisiana’s real estate market these days.
On the one hand, we haven’t had nearly as many foreclosures as other communities across the country. Experts say that’s because Louisiana has not been a high-growth market and, therefore, the state does not have a large volume of bad loans compared with other states.
For example, according to RealtyTrac, in August Louisiana was No. 42 in the country for foreclosure filings, putting it well behind states such as Nevada (No. 1) and California (No. 2). (RealtyTrac’s September report is due Thursday.)
So, Louisiana is at the bottom of a list that, for a change, it wants to be on; no one wants a glut of foreclosed properties in their backyard, because that can lower the values of surrounding real estate, which means reduced property tax collections, which means less money in government coffers, which means potholes take even longer to get fixed.
On the other hand, what allegedly caused Louisiana to avoid the foreclosure crisis – the fact that we’re not a high-growth market – should cause concern.
Louisiana lost 4.1 percent of its population from April 1, 2000, to July 1, 2006, while the population of the United States grew by 6.4 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Katrina has obviously been a factor in the loss of residents in parts of the state. For example, in Orleans Parish during the same time period, the population decreased by 53.9 percent. With declining population, how can Louisiana be a high-growth market, in which lots of people are moving in and buying up homes?
So, as U.S. taxpayers cough up hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out firms that were crippled by the financial mess that started with bad mortgages, Louisiana can feel good that it was not a major contributor to the crisis.
But before celebrating, Louisiana, and its leaders, should consider that Louisiana’s failure to be a high-growth market is considered by experts as a key reason it has ranked low for foreclosures. It should illustrate that Louisiana’s leaders have room to do a lot more to lure residents here.•
Before Hurricane Katrina, the Warehouse District was a hotbed of condo activity; every day, it seemed, there was an announcement that some building was being converted from apartments or some other use into condos.
These days, the U.S. is in the midst of a economic crisis and New Orleans has additional troubles thanks to Katrina. And, apparently, moving real estate in the Warehouse District is all about pricing it right.
According to New Orleans Realtor and blogger Eric Bouler, most Warehouse District condo buyers are looking for units under or near $200,000. Here’s an excerpt from a posting he published this week:
Lets see and review what is happening in the 200k range as we sit in the middle of October, 2008 . Things are selling but not that fast and there is a valid reason for that. There are not just a lot of nice units for sale in this price range that I would recommend to clients. There are a couple that I like from a value standpoint. The value units do sell. There were two such units in the Cotton Mill and both sold in the last 2-3 weeks. They were just good buys.
The second-most popular price range, he said, is $300,000 to $350,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit.
This begs a question: If people are looking for $200,000 condos in the Warehouse District, can a pricey project like Donald Trump’s Poydras Street tower find buyers in New Orleans? Maybe Eric can weigh in on that.•
At a talk in New Orleans today about the city’s redevelopment, New Orleans recovery czar Ed Blakely had some not-so-kind things to say about his staff in the Office of Recovery and Development Administration, according to a CityBusiness story today.
Here’s an excerpt:
Blakely also blamed so-called “bureaucrats” at his Office of Recovery and Development Administration for spending too much time on getting reports done — and slacking off.
Every hour that he is away from his desk means another hour that “nobody is working,” the jet-setting University of Sydney, Australia, professor said. He also said, after reflecting on lessons he learned on a recent visit to Dubai, that the staffers who work under him have to “stop planning and start implementing.”
Blakely has spoken critically of city employees in the past. In April, Blakely told the New York Times that were a lot of “lot of tensions in the staff.” He pinned the problem partially to race.
“Black people have a hard time taking instruction from white people,” said Blakely, who is black. “It’s really bad. I’ve never encountered anything like this,” he said.•
Bus and streetcar shelters in New Orleans are getting fancy.
On Monday, a shelter featuring a painting by New Orleans artist Morgana King was unveiled at the intersection of Canal and St. Peters streets. It is the first of 14 Canal Street shelters that will be, essentially, the canvases for artists as part of a Downtown Development District competition.
The 13 other Canal Street transit shelters will be unveiled over the next two weeks, according to a CityBusiness story.
A posting today on The Independent Weekly said the decorated transit shelters make New Orleans more like Paris.•
Across the nation, Wall Street’s problems are affecting people’s retirement plans.
“The financial crisis that toppled major Wall Street banks and snarled credit markets around the world has also taken a toll on nest eggs, forcing people to rethink when — and even if — their savings will allow them to retire,” The Associated Press wrote earlier this month.
CityBusiness this week asked readers if Wall Street’s slide last week is changing the way they save for retirement. So far, 87 percent say no. For more results from the poll, click here.
The poll results are interesting, considering that so many Americans are griping about the impact the Wall Street turmoil is having on retirement. Take this comment from ireport.com:
“The Wall Street crisis may very well leave my working-class parents financially devastated,” wrote AngryMoVoter.
Last month, this question was posted on sfgate.com: What happens to my 401(k) plan if the company administering the plan, or my employer, goes under?
Here’s an excerpt of the answer:
The money you contribute to your 401(k) account is held in your name, separate from the assets of your employer and from the company that administers the plan. If either of those companies went bankrupt, its creditors could not seize the assets in your account.
“That is different from a bank,” says Rick Meigs, president of 401khelpcenter.com. “If you put $50,000 in a bank, that is not segregated, it becomes part of the bank’s balance sheet.” That’s why the FDIC provides insurance, up to certain limits, on bank and thrift deposits.•
It’s very disheartening to hear about the New Orleans VooDoo folding this year. I became a season ticket holder last season and had a blast at each game. It was fast-paced fun and gave you that football fix, albeit it different football, during the Saints’ off-season.
Despite the usual gripe about $7 beers, the tickets were extremely cheap for eight games and proved to be an inexpensive way to support a local team and the city.
Even though they went up against the Hornets toward the end of basketball season, the VooDoo continually posted some of the best attendance figures in the league and had built a pretty loyal fan base, looking at the number of jerseys and purple shirts filling the arena for home games and the car decals stuck on cars around town.
It was interesting to learn the VooDoo was not our first foray into the Arena Football League, with the New Orleans Night playing in the Superdome for two seasons in the early ’90s.
With the loss of the Brass several years ago, this makes me wonder if New Orleans really is just big enough to support the Saints, Hornets and Zephyrs or is it all about money and drawing the biggest crowd possible.•
Today is Blog Action Day, when bloggers, podcasters and videocasters around the world try to raise awareness about a particular issue.
This year’s issue is poverty, a well-known problem in New Orleans. Last year, the issue was the environment.
Here’s an excerpt from hornets247.com on New Orleans and Blog Action Day:
Poverty and homelessness are issues in every US city, but New Orleans has it pretty bad. Hurricane Katrina didn’t do anything to help the situation, costing many people their homes and possessions, leaving them little option but to live on the streets. In 2007, 14.8% of people in the Greater New Orleans area were considered to be living below the poverty level, including 20.8% of all those under 18 years of age. Last March, USA Today reported that the homeless rate in New Orleans had “reached unprecedented levels for a U.S. city: one in 25 residents.”
The blog flooringtheconsumer.com published a post about Liz McCartney, who came to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to create the St. Bernard Project, whose mission is to help St. Bernard Parish recover.
Go on a honeymoon to a locale that needs tourism dollars, near (New Orleans) or far (Ghana, Nicaragua) – you’ll get more bang for your buck, help the local economy, and also see a place in the world you may never have had the opportunity to visit.
Other bloggers are recommending people help New Orleans on Blog Action Day. Take this from a post on michaelorwick.blogspot.com:
If you have a musical instrument you no longer use, donate to the still-struggling musicians and students in New Orleans, who are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. A few great organizations that will accepts musical instruments are Tipitina’s Foundation (www.tipitinasfoundation.org) and The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund (www.nomrf.org/donations.html).
This is just a sample of what’s online today. Just Google “Blog Action Day” and “New Orleans” for more.•
Before taking vacations, many people consult the Internet, looking for Web sites and blogs that might fill them in on the good, the bad and the ugly about a place.
Travelers to New Orleans have posted online their thoughts about the Crescent City’s comeback from Hurricane Katrina. As is to be expected, many people rave about the city’s food and music.
“The place is as amazing and fun as it is scary and sad. Highlights.. the music.. oh the music. Nowhere else I’ve ever been can you find at least a dozen choices for live music. The culture is alive, though on rocky ground. I saw the most glorious partying and parading side by side with homeless beggars and violent crime. Somehow the band plays on. If you stay long enough you will fall in love and despise it all at once. In the end I found myself whistling Louis Armstrong on a daily basis. The spirit is alive and needs to be appreciated,” gpharvey wrote March 18, 2007, on www.boo.com.
“If you get away from Bourbon Street, you’ll see a beautiful city, meet wonderful people, and eat incredible food,” cbord wrote the same day on the same site.
But visitors complained about transportation in New Orleans. Take these comments from boo.com:
“Public transportation is even more unreliable than before,” cbord wrote.
“The public transportation sucks, doesn’t run very often,” jlmul6901 wrote.
More recent online comments show that people are still unaware that the French Quarter was unscathed in Katrina. For example, here’s what RonniD wrote yesterday on www.tripadvisor.com:
“I loved New Orleans but have not been there since Katrina. It is our 20th anneversary and I’d like to go someplace REALLY nice in the French Quarter. Is that area more or less re-built? Are all the restaurants and clubs up and running?
Its a very special occasion for us- so I want to be sure its the New Orleans I know and love.”
And here’s what Tulanefan wrote back:
“We have been back a dozen times since Katrina. The FQ is as you remember it (if you remember it?). Enjoy!!”•
Since Hurricane Katrina, the Corps of Engineers has received a lot of blame for the failure of floodwalls and levees that led to massive flooding. But an article in the fall issue of American Entomologist suggests that termites might have played a role in what went wrong. Gregg Henderson, a professor at the Louisiana State University AgCenter, wrote the piece for the magazine.
Today, ScienceDaily reported on the magazine’s termite story.
Here’s an excerpt the ScienceDaily article:
The Formosan subterranean termite originates from China, where it has been known to damage levees since the 1950s. Besides eating at bagasse seams, the termites may have contributed to the destruction of the levees of New Orleans by digging networks of tunnels, which can cause “piping,” sending water through the tunnels and undermining the levee system.
It’s not the first time Henderson has linked termites to the levee failures. Take this excerpt from an August 2007 posting on beyondpesticides.org’s blog:
Throughout the world, termites have caused problems on levees by tunneling in the soil and weakening the integrity of the structures, Dr. Henderson said, including those that broke in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “It’s almost certain termites contributed to the levees’ failure,” he said, noting that 70 percent of the seams of flood walls on the London Avenue canal, the site of breaches, showed signs of insect infestations.
Years before Katrina struck, Dr. Henderson cautioned that Formosan termites were undermining the protective system by eating the sugar-cane-based seam-filling material in the concrete dike walls and infesting mature trees along the levees. Experts suspect falling trees that pulled their roots out of the ground contributed to the weakening and eventual breaches of levees in New Orleans during Katrina. Planting vetiver grass, Dr. Henderson says, could not only provide erosion control and a breakwater barrier, but it could help prevent future damage by warding off termite infestations.•
Some former Road Home employees are suing Fairfax, Va.-based ICF International and a subcontractor, alleging that ICF and some of its subcontractors bilked Road Home workers out of overtime pay, according to a story Monday by The (Baton Rouge) Advocate.
ICF runs The Road Home program, created to compensate Louisiana homeowners for property damages resulting from the 2005 hurricanes.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The former Road Home employees allege that ICF, of Virginia, and some of its subcontractors, which were hired to help victims of the 2005 hurricanes, bilked hundreds of workers out of millions of dollars in overtime payments.
ICF officials deny those allegations in court filings in New Orleans.
ICF corporate officials in Baton Rouge and Virginia declined to expand on those denials.
“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on specific pending litigation,” Gentry Brann, ICF International’s vice president and director of communications and external affairs for its Road Home division, said in an e-mail message.
Is there a support program for Road Home employees like the Citizens’ Road Home Action Team group for Road Home applicants?•
The Times-Picayune today, citing Arena Football League sources, reports that New Orleans Voodoo owner Tom Benson, in a letter to the league’s interim commissioner, Ed Policy, said VooDoo is folding.
“According to sources, Voodoo officials met with representatives with the AFL and the other teams on Friday and left unhappy with the state of the league and the direction in which it is headed,” the story says.
On the T-P’s Web site, boywonda posted this comment: “We had an afl team?”
This begs a question? Does the team have enough of a following to sustain itself in New Orleans? Is this city an arena football town? And is New Orleans big enough for the Hornets, Saints and VooDoo?•
Anyone who’s been in Lakeside Shopping Center recently has seen the construction activity going on as Dillard’s gets a post-Hurricane Katrina overhaul and Macy’s builds a new store.
Dillard’s doesn’t look anything like its pre-K self. Everything is new, from the flooring to the layout. Even some of the retailers appear to be new.
According to a news story published today at wwd.com, Dillard’s has relaunched its store at Lakeside. So, work there must be complete, or near complete, although as recently as last month workers were still putting down new floors in the store and shoppers had to walk around noisy construction areas.
Macy’s, meanwhile, is preparing to open and unveil its new store Oct. 25. Macy’s will also open a renovated store at The Esplanade mall in Kenner that day.
Three years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Dillard’s Inc. is heralding a top-to-bottom renovation of its 270,000-square-foot store at Lakeside Shopping Center.
Executives said that what might have been the chain’s least-appealing unit will be a showcase.
The relaunch last weekend comes just two weeks before Macy’s reenters the New Orleans market with a new stand-alone unit at Lakeside, which has more than 120 stores and restaurants and is located in suburban Metairie, La.•
There’s a blog for just about everything these days.
For example, there’s a blog dedicated to spotlighting cakes that have gone horribly wrong, or “cake wrecks.”
Recently, a cake resembling the Louisiana Superdome was featured as one of the site’s “Guess-a-Wrecks” in which readers try to figure out what a cake is supposed to resemble.
Here’s what the blog author wrote:
Most of you either saw a couch, grilling steak/lobster/sushi, a Boyscout campfire, a French bed, or a coffin carried by beetles. There were also conjectures including demonic pianos, misshapen torsos, and tombstones. A few of you even reported favorable relationships with your mothers, which was nice to hear.
You be the judge. Does the cake look like the Dome?•
As American taxpayers provide a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry in hopes of saving the nation’s economy, there have been many attempts to assign blame for the mortgage meltdown that led to the mess.
Republicans blame Democrats. Democrats blame Republicans. Some blame the Bush administration. Others say the seeds of the problem were planted before Bush took office.
The accusations and explanations are all over newspapers, the radio, TV and, of course, the Internet. Here’s a look at some of them.
In an Oct. 3 opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, a professor of economics at George Mason University looked back to 1992, when “Congress pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase their purchases of mortgages going to low and moderate income borrowers.”
Here’s more from the piece, “How Government Stoked the Mania”:
We need a careful analysis of public policy’s role in creating this mess. Greedy investors obviously played a part, but investors have always been greedy, and some inevitably overreach and destroy themselves. Why did they take so many down with them this time?
Part of the answer is a political class greedy to push home-ownership rates to historic highs — from 64% in 1994 to 69% in 2004. This was mostly the result of loans to low-income, higher-risk borrowers. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, abetted by Congress, trumpeted that rise as it occurred.
Here’s the headline from a Sept. 30, 1999, story by The New York Times: “Fannie Mae Eases Credit to Aid Mortgage Lending.”
The story opens with this:
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The story then goes on to say that the program will encourage banks to give home loans “to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.”
Here are the next two paragraphs:
Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers.
Further in the story, there’s a paragraph that, today, sounds prophetic:
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s.
The Wall Street Journal, in an Oct. 2 opinion piece, “What They Said and Fan and Fred,” lists comments politicians and policymakers made during House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee hearings dating to 2003.
A Wikipedia entry on former Sen. William Gramm, R-Texas, includes “Gramm’s relationship to the 2008 Subprime Mortgage Crisis.” Here’s more from that Wikipedia entry:
Many believe that legislation written primarily by Gramm in 1999 (signed into law by Clinton), is in large part to blame for leading to the 2008 mortgage crisis. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is perhaps most famous for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act which regulated the financial services industry. The legislation allowed Swiss Bank UBS to purchase several American institutions. Gramm later became a lobbyist for UBS, collecting over 750,000 USD in fees. UBS alone issues over 18 Billion USD in subprime mortgages.
A May 30 piece on Salon.com, which focuses on liberal politics, also blames Gramm for the mortgage crisis.
But for every accusation aimed at Republicans, there’s one aimed at Democrats. Here’s an excerpt from a piece of commentary published Sept. 22 on Bloomberg.com. The excerpt is about a 2005 bill.
For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.
If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.
But the bill didn’t become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn’t even get the Senate to vote on the matter.•
Realtors are always looking for ways to stand out among the competition. Some rent billboards featuring their professionally produced picture and, sometimes, a slogan that can be nauseatingly cheesy or catchy and effective. Others put their faces and names on the sides of buses.
Some New Orleans-area Realtors have found another way to advertise themselves: blogs.
These Realtor blogs are serving as more than a place to post their names and phone numbers. Realtors use them to discuss issues facing the market or to provide details and history on New Orleans neighborhoods.
For example, New Orleans real estate agent Darryl Glade this week wrote on his blog about credit scores.
“These days, we hear about this huge national credit crisis,” he wrote. “We hear that credit is not available or even if it is you need perfect credit to qualify. First of all, there is credit available and even though it is harder to get than a year ago, you do not need perfect credit.”
This week, New Orleans real estate agent Eric Bouler’s blog features a post about why few French Quarter homes have front yards and another post about using a condo as corporate rental property. This blog appears to date to 2006, which means he’s been blogging for about two years. It’s not all about real estate, though. In fact, one post deals with the nation’s energy needs.
I’m not sure how many blogs Bouler has. It seems he has at least one more, which focuses on the condo market, appears to have been started in January and has categorized pages for various communities in the metro area, such as the Warehouse District and Metairie.
These are just two New Orleans real estate agents trying their hand at blogging. Any other Realtor bloggers out there in the Crescent City or surrounding parishes? If so, please share your blog address as a comment to this post.•
American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a California retreat for its executives days after it received a federal bailout, according to a story by The Associated Press.
Here’s an excerpt from that story:
AIG sent its executives to the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy. The resort tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The retreat didn’t include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers still were enraged over thousands of dollars spent on outing for executives of AIG’s main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.
So what did AIG have to say for itself?
According to AP:
Former AIG CEO Robert Willumstad, who lost his job a day after the Federal Reserve put up the $85 billion on Sept. 16, said he was not familiar with the conference and would not have gone along with it.
“It seems very inappropriate,” Willumstad said in response to questioning from Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.
This revelation will surely enrage those in the public who are already angry about the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry. And there are a lot of those people, as evidenced by comments to CityBusiness’ Question of the Week last week. The question was “Do you support a federal bailout of the financial industry?”
“The banking industry played fast and loose in their dealings and they screwed up. This not a taxpayer problem,” wrote gentillygirl1@hotmail.com.
“Why give money to the jerks that screwed it up in the first place!” wrote ldhebert@gmail.com.
“This is a rip-off,” wrote bescher@nolacommercial.
The bailout has supporters. On the CityBusiness poll, some were in favor of it.
“This is not a Wall Street bailout but an opportunity to get/keep money flowing,” wrote sylviaroy@att.net.
“Unfortunately there is no choice but to do the best that can be done NOW!” wrote lalapinjude@aol.com.
” Some program is necessary, especially a buyout of troubled mortgages,” wrote mary@wiggenhorn.org.•
State Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, on Monday lost his position as vice chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee after suggesting that the state pay for poor women to be sterilized.
Some in the public are cheering his removal from the committee. But others are unshaken in their support of the lawmaker.
“Good job, John! I look forward to when you come up for re-election,” wrote headcritter on nola.com.
“This is what you get for speaking your mind, and thinking outside the box. Could this be why some things never change around here?” wrote bond007304, also on nola.com.
Batturelady, on nola.com, said this: “LaBruzzo, you only said what a lot of people are thinking. Too bad you had to lose your position over it. You did not steal from the people, you are not under federal indictment, but that is the price you are paying for being a white man.”
Bloggers took the opportunity to attack LaBruzzo.
“It is now absolute consensus that John LaBruzzo’s eugenics bill represents an embarrassment to the entire body politic,” says a comment on wecouldbefamous.blogspot.com.
Theind.com ran with this headline: “The Sterilizer ousted as health committee vice chair.”
Here’s the headline from another blog: “John LaBruzzo treated like idiot he is.”•
It’s sometimes hard to push children out of the nest. But the struggling economy is apparently keeping them in the nest even longer.
Like older American workers, young employees are having to make hard choices in this economy, such as cutting back on retirement savings or not saving for retirement at all. A CityBusiness story this week looked at young workers struggling to save.
“At this point, it’s just not feasible,” Sarah Cacioppo, University of New Orleans marketing major, said about saving money.
So, as young people struggle in today’s economy, moving back home perhaps becomes even more palatable.
An Aug. 3 story on timesdaily.com referred to young adults who move back home with their parents as “boomerangers.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Jobs are out there, but the economy makes them more competitive, said Melissa Medlin, director of career services at the University of North Alabama.
“You can’t just say ‘I’m a college graduate, give me a job,’ ” she said.
This was posted to boom2bust.com in March, before anyone was even talking about a $700 billion financial rescue of financial markets:
Taking shelter with parents isn’t uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially when the job market is poor. But now the slumping economy and the credit crunch are forcing some children to do so later in life — even in middle age.
Financial planners report receiving many calls from parents seeking advice about taking in their grown children following divorces and layoffs.
This week, on answers.yahoo.com, a nearly-24-year-old asked for financial advice. Someone named Murciela had this suggestion: “Moving back with the parents is a good choice.”
But not everyone supports the idea. In May, someone wrote this on The Boston Globe’s Web site:
“All too often parents that can afford to give ‘handouts’ are taken up on their offers, and the ‘children’ never grow up.•
It’s only fitting that a light rain greeted Saints fans as they, and I, left the Superdome last night.
Am I the only one who found it ironic that as soon as I crossed Interstate 10 on Claiborne Avenue that the streets were dry and the rain had stopped?
It’s hard to live in New Orleans, before and after Hurricane Katrina. Much was said that the Saints’ 2006 season was a key factor in the “quick” recovery. It amazes me how much impact a football team can have on a city and its residents.
We, Saints fans, pump money into city’s restaurants, bars, shops and hotels. We spend $7 on beer at the game, $5 on hot dogs and countless more dollars watching the games at local bars, hosting parties and buying team paraphernalia.
It seems tortuous to continue supporting a team that year in and year out provides us with emotional losses.
But what’s ironic is the parallel that can be drawn between supporting the Saints and supporting out city.
We believe. We believe in our NFL team and we believe in our city. We love both no matter the frustration and heartbreak we endure on a daily basis. I’ve thought many times — as I’m sure you have — that we’re fools for sticking with it. But we hold out for better days. We keep the faith.
I had a conversation with a fellow fan on the way out of the Dome.
“Why do we continue to support this team,” I shouted. “Why do we continue to live in this city.”
“Because you love this city,” was his simple answer.
After Hurricane Katrina, gentrification — the conversion of a deteriorating neighborhood into a renovated, middle-class one — became a major concern for many.
“I am against white people moving into black neighborhoods and taking a slice from the home turf of African Americans and gentrifying it and objecting to traditions and rituals like second lines and meeting places that may cut into their peace and quiet. You know what, if you want peace and quiet….don’t buy a house across the street from a bar! In a Black neighborhood!
To that end, I want African Americans of means to move back into the hood, buy homes, contribute to community and vision and send white people back to their own neighborhoods, get grocery stores, markets, and services back into the neighbor’s hands. Revolt against the white slumlords that are keeping African American culture down and take back our legacy (yes, Black legacy belongs to all of us). What’s the matter of investing in rental properties where it will do the most good? Put your money where your mouth is. What’s more, I believe that the Claiborne overpass should be torn down, oak trees replanted and the division of the Treme obliterated like the crime that it is.
While some are concerned about gentrification, others seem impatient that nothing is being done with the city’s oldest housing stock. Take this comment on nola.com last month from someone who goes by the name bayoustjohn:
The precipitous population and economic decline of our city needs drastic remedies to correct. There is nothing historic about decline and decay. There is nothing special about the economic decline of New Orleans, except that it has left us with a much older housing stock left to us by neglect and disinvestment.
Even as gentrification concerns some, some say it’s not easy to build in older, historic sections of the city. Take this comment from someone who goes by the name Helpanother, also posted last month to nola.com:
It is easier for me to build a new building that looks just like my old building, than it is to renovate my 100 year old building that sat in 6 feet of water. But am I “allowed” to use MY property the way that I want to ? NO.
This is Federal Reconstruction, just like it was from 1867 to 1876. And the bottom line is that SOME THEIF WANTS YOUR ASSETS. I am dealing with contractor theft and the various city departments that have helped the contractor steal from me.
And now, 2 governmental agencies want to tell me what color I have to paint my building and they are telling me exctly what the front of the building should look like even though they admit that they don’t know what the original facade looked like. They are making-up the BS as they go along because it flatters their egos and gets them a government pension.
Rep. William Jefferson and former WDSU-TV reporter Helena Moreno, both Democrats, are heading into a run-off for Jefferson’s congressional seat. And the Internet is a flurry of comments, many of them downright vicious, about the two candidates.
One posting by a blogger on nola.com’s blog refers to Jefferson as “Central City’s own ‘American Gangster’” and Moreno as “The Poor Bayou Man’s Sarah Palin.”
Another blog site referred to them as William “I’m Under Indictment, For God’s Sake” Jefferson and Helena “I Have No Qualifications Besides Being A White Anchorwoman And Endorsed By Metairie” Moreno.
On a different blog site, someone had this to say about Jefferson:
“Of course, you remember cold cash Jefferson. He’s the congressman found with all that money stashed in the refrigerator.”
The same blog site said this about Moreno:
“She’s Hispanic and is best known for being ‘that little white girl in the race.’”
This is just a sampling of the many online comments against these two candidates in the wake of Saturday’s primary election. Some in the public clearly wish they had other choices, as expressed in this comment yesterday from jon4400 on nola.com:
“So, Helena Moreno, a NEWSCASTER, with NO political experience, WITHOUT a law degree (no understanding of what the legal process is or how laws are made), is our only choice against a criminal.”•
Stadium food has never had a reputation of being healthy. Wings, nachos and beer do not a balanced meal make.
But the Louisiana Superdome is serving up healthier options now, according to a story on CityBusiness’ Web site. Sure, the Dome’s menu still includes junk food standards such as nachos, hamburgers and hot dogs. But new, healthier editions include turkey dogs and turkey burgers, blackened chicken sandwiches and seared ahi tuna.
The healthiness, or lack thereof, of stadium food is a popular topic on the Internet.
“I don’t care if peanuts are high in calories. At least they have some nutrition. I’d sooner eat an entire bag of them before I’d indulge on greasy chicken tenders or cheesy nachos,” according to a post on diseaseproof.com.
“I think the whole thing about stadium food is to exercise restraint – as long as you eat in moderation and don’t stuff your face with food for 4 hours, then you’ll do okay,” says a comment on peertrainer.com.
“I personally try not to touch it as it’s mostly full of crap,” says a comment on footballfrenzy.org.uk.•
Yesterday, CityBusiness’ Web site featured a story about falling sales of SUVs at North Shore auto dealers.
“SUV sales have become practically nonexistent for us,” said Ed Greenwald, sales manager with Baldwin Motors in Covington.
He’s not alone. Other SUV dealers throughout the country are watching demand for gas-guzzling vehicles drop as the country goes through an economic slowdown and deals with high gasoline prices.
But high gas prices could cost the North Shore more than SUV sales. It could cost St. Tammany Parish and surrounding parishes some of their population as residents grow sick of paying more than $3 a gallon to drive the 24-mile-long Causeway or other routes across Lake Pontchartrain.
In a July 23 CityBusiness story, reporter Emilie Bahr wrote that gas prices increasingly are prompting some North Shore residents to re-evaluate the expensive need to drive across the lake to get to their South Shore jobs.
“Real estate market figures suggest there has yet to be a large-scale migration away from the North Shore back to the city. While housing sales are on the decline across much of the metro region, they remain relatively stable in western St. Tammany Parish, which experienced the smallest decrease in the New Orleans area in the number of homes sold from April 2007 to the same month this year, according to the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors,” the story says.
“Local real estate experts say people will not make such a fundamental lifestyle change until stratospheric gas prices prove to be the new reality, not just a temporary spike. There is nonetheless a vanguard that has grown weary of commuting across the Causeway, the twin spans or congested stretches of Interstate 10 and has resolved to trade in their house for a place closer to the city,” the T-P wrote.
According to the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation, St. Tammany Parish is the fifth largest parish in the state and has been the fastest growing parish since the 1970s. Will high gas prices reverse that trend?
America’s dependence on oil has become a major political issue recently, leading Congress this year to consider lifting a ban on offshore drilling.
In Louisiana, where the oil and gas industry has long been prominent in politics, energy is a big issue this election cycle, too.
The issue has popped up in the race for Louisiana Public Service Commission District 1, which includes the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi border, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, most of Jefferson Parish and parts of the Lakeview and Uptown in New Orleans.
This week the New Orleans-based Alliance for Affordable Energy published the results of questionnaires it sent to the four candidates. The questionnaires asked them about issues such as global warming, nuclear power and alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.
Bloggers are also talking about energy and its role in Louisiana elections.
One blog refers to the “oil-supported” race between Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans, and Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy, a Republican.
Today, former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown brought up the subject of oil in a column, “Should Louisiana Secede from the Union?”
Some excerpts from his column:
The federal government continues to shortchange Louisiana on virtually every federal program, from hurricane recovery funds to a fair shake on offshore oil royalties.
Louisiana has been groveling for years to get a bigger slice of the offshore oil payouts. Louisiana officials declared a big victory last year when the feds agreed to give a pittance of $20 million a year for the next 10 years.
Over the past 200 years, Louisiana has been in a marriage of convenience. In 1913, the state entered this marriage with the rest of the US, and got a lot out of it. They received access to the American markets, and the flow of goods through New Orleans. It was a two way street and benefits flowed both ways. But by the middle of the 20th century, the bargain disappeared. Both the oil and the royalties flowed out of Louisiana with little to show in return.•
To keep young professionals in New Orleans, The Idea Village last month launched the 504ward initiative to connect youth with employers.
There’s even a contest open to entrepreneurs with business ideas that retain 23- to 35-year-olds. A video about the contest is on YouTube.
The initiative has been well received by some. The Black Googlers Network, for example, said it assisted with the development of the launch plan for the 504ward business plan competition.
A fairly heated discussion is underway about the perceived elitism of the goals of 504ward — that it overlooks the contributions and needs of indigenous New Orleans activists, that it represents age discrimination, that it’s targeted at attracting new arrivals rather than retaining lifelong residents of New Orleans, that it treats a troubled city as a temporary “laboratory” for career advancement rather than a place to plant roots.
Then there’s this comment Sebastian posted to the CityBusiness blog today:
Careful. We have these young professionals a.k.a. Yuppies coming out the yazoo here in San Francisco. They add nothing to the culture, except ridiculously higher rents. They have no regard for the historic and contempt for those unlike them. In other words, they’re exactly what New Orleans doesn’t need.•
In a blow to New Orleans’ global reputation, the city has been named one of the top five murder capitals in the world. No other U.S. city made Foreign Policy magazine’s list, which was published last month.
The other cities on the list are Caracas, Venezuela; Cape Town, South Africa; Moscow; and Port Moresby, Papau New Guinea.
The magazine describes the five cities as “in a class all their own when it comes to brutal, homicidal violence.” It calls New Orleans “the most deadly in the United States.”
Here’s the description of New Orleans:
With its grinding poverty, an inadequate school system, a prevalence of public housing, and a high incarceration rate, the Big Easy has long been plagued with a high rate of violent crime. Katrina didn’t help. Since the hurricane struck in 2005, drug dealers have been fighting over a smaller group of users, leading to many killings. On just one four-block stretch of Josephine Street, in the city center, four people were murdered in 2007 and 15 people shot, including a double homicide on Christmas day. A precise murder rate is hard to pinpoint because the population is swelling quickly, approaching its pre-Katrina numbers. Whether you use New Orleans’s own figures or the FBI’s, however, the city remains the most deadly in the United States, easily surpassing Detroit and Baltimore with 46 and 45 murders per 100,000 people, respectively.•
