New Orleans Newbie - Zip Codes?

[Brendan Sullivan]

Hi Folks,

My wife and I have lived in NOLA (Uptown) for the last year and will be diving full time in to local real estate investmenting in January. I'm both new to real estate and New Orleans so we've got a lot to learn but I'm excited to be transitioning from analysis to action and jump right in. Before we start dumping a bunch of money into marketing I wanted to get some opinions on zip codes and / or areas more expierenced local investors prefer. I like investing in the city because we currently live there and it seems like there alot of great opportunities, but as a newer NOLA local I would hate to end up buying a property I can't wholesale or rent because it's not in the right area. Flood zones & higher crime areas tend to be some of my concerns with investing in the city. I am also looking at the Metarie / Kenner area as a possibility to elimate some of those concerns, but don't want to make a mistake of missing alot of good opportunities. Would love to hear your thoughts on where I could get the most ROI for my marketing dollars and what zip codes you prefer to invest in (in or out of the city.) Thank you!

FYI I will be attending the NOLA REIA meeting on 10/18 and would love to meet you & chat more if you'll be there.

[Braden Smith]

HI @Brendan Sullivan. I am a local investor and a licensed realtor. Welcome to BP! This is the best real estate investing site on the web. You will find that it contains an absolute wealth of information. If I can answer any questions for you, feel free to reach out anytime.

As far as zip codes in NOLA go... you can't really go by zip codes in our area. As you may have noticed, things can change drastically from block to block in New Orleans. So in any given zip code there will be good areas and bad areas. We have a very unique, and challenging real estate market in the New Orleans area. We have the lake to the north and the river to the south, so there is only so much land in between. 

In order to choose a farm area, you need to decide what your strategy is for that farm... is it wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold, etc? Once you choose the strategy you can then choose a farm area based on your goals. For example, if you are looking to wholesale or flip you will want to target an area that has a good bit of activity. Driving the neighborhood is an easy way to do this... if you see a bunch of dumpsters in driveways and on the street where renovations and new builds are happening it is pretty safe to say that area is hot.

Here are a few links that may be helpful:

https://destinationgno.com/

https://www.nola.com/neighborhoods/2015/04/new_orl...

https://www.nola.com/300/2017/07/where_yat_good_qu...

This one is meant to be funny, but it is actually fairly accurate:  https://judgmentalmaps.com/post/98323841965/neworl...

https://nola.curbed.com/maps/new-orleans-neighborh...

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/la/new-orleans/r...

https://realestate.nola.com/realestate-news/2018/0...

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/artic...

https://crime-heatmap.herokuapp.com/

Good luck and happy investing!