After over 24 hours of steady rain and constant swirling wind that kept pushing water again and again against the Mandeville Lakefront shoreline, the walking and biking path bridge that currently spans the Ravine Aux Coquille adjacent to Lakeshore Drive in Old Mandeville is in need of repair from Hurricane Isaac’s effects. As part of the network of walking, biking, and riding paths that wind throughout the entire Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain – the Tammany Trace – this pedestrian bridge is a highly trafficked piece of real estate in the area and could be dangerous to residents and visitors alike if it were to fall into disrepair. Originally a corridor for the Illinois Central Railroad, the Tammany Trace is now a hike and bike trail that spans from downtown Covington, through Abita Springs, Mandeville and Lacombe and ends in Slidell. Also, a separate equestrian path parallels the Trace in several places.

That is where the Mandeville City Council comes in. The Council has just approved a contracted bid by Sealevel Construction Inc., of Thibodeaux for $235,964 to completely replace the bridge. Because the damage was incurred by Hurricane Isaac, 75% of the cost will be covered by FEMA funding. Residents of Old Mandeville are deeply

concerned about the implications of any construction that may be done in and around the lakefront area and for good reason. During the over 24 hours of rainfall during the hurricane, the Mandeville lakefront received over 4’ of water which stayed for the duration of the storm. The recently constructed downstairs bar of The Lakehouse,  originally a restaurant and casino built on the lakefront in the 1800’s, was completely demolished and swept away, leaving nothing but studs sticking out the floor where the bar once stood. And this is an “every time occurrence” for this location no matter what sort of structure is constructed on the bottom floor of the restaurant.

Because of this and other extensive lakefront flooding, such as the flooding of Fontainebleau Park and the renovation of the beach and facilities there, there is currently a study being performed by GEC Engineers to address and provide options for the problem of storm surge on the lakefront throughout St. Tammany Parish. To be on the safe side, Mandeville city engineer Henry DiFranco assured concerned citizens during the Council meeting that the bridge project would have no impact on GEC’s recommendations, but he said he would discuss the issue with the engineers before work began on the bridge.

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As Pelican Park, a “staple” landmark in Mandeville, Louisiana, approaches  its 25th anniversary, St. Tammany Parish and Mandeville are partnering up to honor its family tradition by approving a road expansion as well as an expansion for the Park itself.  An alternate entrance to the park was announced at a news conference held by Pat Brister on July 15th.  Along with a 2.5 mile road which would begin just east of Forest Brook Subdivision on 1088 and go the northern end of Pelican Park, some of the rest of 296 acres of land, the purchase that is about to be completed between St. Tammany Parish and the state, will be used for an expansion of Pelican Park itself.  The land which encompasses land that was in and around the old Southeast Louisiana Hospital campus just east of Pelican Park may be sold to the Park in order to expand it just before the 25th anniversary.

The new road will extend from 1088 to the current Hwy. 190 entrance.  There are plans to combine the new entrance and the old entrance to allow access to the cut-through road as well as Pelican Park.  The road will go completely around the east side of the park, so plans are also in the works to possibly create a new entrance on both the north side and mid-section of the park.  This road will also ease traffic on Hwy. 59 and 190 as well, roads currently used by residents in the densely populated area between 1088 and 190 starting in the West at Hwy. 59 and going to Interstate 12 on the East side.

“It has been a quite congested area going in and out of Pelican Park for years . . . and this will relieve that pressure,” Pat Brister said at the news conference at the parish government complex. Other attendees of the news conference included Mandeville Mayor Donald Villere, City Councilman Rick Danielson, Parish Council members Reid Falconer and Maureen O’Brien, and Pelican Park Director Kathy Foley.  The construction project budget is approximately $11 million with design currently being solicited.  Construction work should start by Fall of 2015.

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In a move that aims to lighten up the lending standards for national lenders and banks, Melvin Watt, the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has authorized 3 changes in the FHFA rules pertaining to the purchase and buyback of loans on the open market.  These rules are aimed at reducing the risk to banks and lending institutions as listed below:

1. Banks will not be responsible for mortgages paid by borrowers consistently on a monthly basis after a 3-year time period even if borrowers are late twice on payments during that time period.
2. Lending institutions who undergo the new underwriting spot checks will likewise be off the hook for liability on these mortgages.
3. Lenders will not be expected to cover the cost of a bad loan, if the mortgage insurer instantly denies the mortgage insurance claim.

With high hopes, Watt went on to claim that he expected the relaxation in these crucial rules should increase home sales and new homes sales by 5% in 2014.  Economic analysts also adjusted their home sales numbers from $4.96 million to $5.21 million which will exceed 2013’s sales numbers of %5.07 million by 2.8%.

The reason that the implementation of the new rules is so critical to the recovery of the real estate market in the United States is because the cost to “buy back” all of the bad loans made on subprime mortgages from 2001 – 2007 was the reason for the government bailout of the major banks on Wall Street.  This caused banks and lenders to tighten up their own credit standards in addition to new Federal standards for credit for buyers of new homes.  The banks and lenders now use what are called overlays to “overlay” the Federal credit standards for programs such as FHA loans, which are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  In fact, the money given to these two lenders to bail them out has helped these organizations reach record sales during the real estate recovery.

The overlays that lenders and banks have put in place require buyers to not only qualify for the loan for their new home with proof of consistent income in the form of check stubs and income taxes, but also, they cannot have a debt-to-income ratio that exceeds 36%.  The relaxed credit standards for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow an FHA-backed loan of up to 43% debt-to-income ratio.

“It means a restart for the real estate recovery,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc. “We’re not going to get back on track until we start making credit more available to potential buyers.” He said he expects Watt’s moves to spur “meaningful” sales growth.

Another bit of good news from this meeting is that unlike his predecessor, Edward Demarco, Melvin Watt has committed himself to working with banks and lenders, keeping an open line of communication, and even hoping to ease some of the regulatory practices of the previous administration.  This along with steady interest rates and less liability to lenders and banks, which will be implemented on July 1, 2014, should help to convince the lenders and banks to loosen up slightly on the almost impossible credit standards now required of new home buyers and home buyers as well as those existing homeowners who are interested in refinancing.

Ron Lee Homes, a new home builder in St. Tammany Parish has been in the real estate business in the Greater New Orleans area for over 20 years.  We have relationships with our local banks, lenders, and title companies, and we would be happy to direct you to a few banks and lenders that could help you get pre-qualified for your new home purchase.  Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com for more information.

 

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In order to promote business in Old Mandeville and unincorporated Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish, the St. Tammany Parish Council amended a zoning designation from 2009 which originally gave a block on both sides of Highway 59 the NC-4 (Neighborhood Institutional District) zoning.  This zoning allowed small commercial businesses to establish locations in these areas.  These types of businesses included dance and music studios, weight loss studios, learning centers, churches and day care centers.  While these types of businesses have popped up all around Highway 59, and business is booming, the problem began with new home buyers and home sellers trying to conduct “residential business” in this same area.  Highway 59 from Lake Pontchartrain to Abita Springs has always featured a mix of residential and commercial properties.  So, when the real estate market in St. Tammany Parish began to become active again, home buyers and sellers alike were stymied by their mortgage companies and banks who would not issue a loan on the land that was zoned NC-4.

The reason for the lack of lending was because of the zoning.  A bank would not lend money to a residential location in the NC-4

zoning because it had a commercial designation.  Because of this, the residential property in this area became essentially worthless.  The St. Tammany Parish Council amended this detrimental mistake in a quick and efficient vote on March 6, 2014, without any discussion.  They voted to approve the new language describing the NC-4 zoning to include residential properties in this zoning.  This would make it so that a zoning of NC-4 would include residential properties as well as commercial properties.  Normally a measure approved by the Council takes 15 days to become active, however, the Council waived the waiting period and made the measure immediately active.  Banks, lenders, buyers, and sellers will now be able to immediately push through any loans that were outstanding before the Council put it to a vote.

Even though the immediate cause for concern for the vote by the St. Tammany Parish Council was the area around Lafitte St. south of Florida Street on Hwy. 59 in Mandeville, Louisiana, apparently, the problem exists for the NC-4 zoning in many other parts of St. Tammany Parish as well.  This vote was crucial to freeing up the commerce of residential buying and selling all throughout St. Tammany Parish.  Hopefully with this vote, residential real estate will once more thrive in St. Tammany Parish.

 

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Known to have one of the most established, networked clientele in the Gulf Coast Region, NOLA Lending Group, LLC will bring to

the table a massive portfolio of consumers, real estates professionals, and experienced sales & marketing staff to its purchase by Fidelity Homestead Savings Bank.  In the last 2 years alone NOLA Lending Group did $1.25 billion in mortgage loans for purchases and refinances in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama.

On the northshore, NOLA Lending Group, LLC has corporate headquarters off of the West Causeway Approach in Mandeville, Louisiana in St. Tammany Parish.  As a win-win move for both companies, Fidelity Homestead Savings Bank will be opening their business doors to the opportunity to be able to sell their new home loans and sales purchase loans, as well as their refinancing loans on the secondary market.  In the past, the bank has taken a a very traditional approach to mortgages by managing their loans and processing payments for mortgages in-house.  With the purchase of NOLA Lending Group, Fidelity Homestead will now be able to start selling some of its existing portfolio on the secondary market.

“It’s a situation where two organizations can come together and match up expertise and strengths to complement each other,” McRee said. “Two solid organizations running different business models but combining forces.”

The reason for the purchase, according to McRee, was because of a 100-year-old model for Fidelity Homestead that was completely

shaken to its foundation with the dramatic decrease in interest rates earlier this year.  Long-time customers whose loans were being serviced in-house by the bank quickly moved to other loan companies both in-state and out-of-state to refinance their loans for these historically low rates.  Fidelity held $308.8 million in single-family to four-family mortgages as of Sept. 30, 2013, down from $518.7 million in loans total at the end of 2008.

In addition to instantly having access to the secondary market, Fidelity mentioned that one improvement that they will be looking to implement in the loan application process for NOLA Lending Group will be to focus on new customers that will have loans that are attractive to secondary market buyers who are looking for low-debt-to-income ratio customers.  Richard LaNasa and Ashton Noel, managing partners at NOLA Lending, will continue to oversee the operation as executive vice presidents and will serve on Fidelity’s senior management committee. The bird’s eye view of the purchase shows two established, strong companies joining together to complement each others strengths to cover more territory and successfully service more customers across the entire southern region of the U.S. including the Greater New Orleans area.

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