New Orleans Newbie - Zip Codes?

Question

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 · Answer

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!

Matt D. · Answer

Welcome to NOLA.  I live just outside the city, but I'm there every weekend.  I'm obsessed with nola real estate.  There's a science to it that I love, but the patterns are not as obvious as I've seen in other cities.  I used to spend hours driving through the neighborhoods appreciating the architect and design of the houses here.  It wasn't until later in life that i realized I could make a career from it, so I'm currently in transition from someone who has made money off real estate projects to an actual investor.  A lot of people say its a tough market to be in, but personally, I think our duplexes and multiplexes are our golden gems.  One of the first things I did when i moved back to the area a few years ago was track rental prices around town.  I'm a data-driven/spreadsheet kind of guy... and I thought for sure finding the correlation between rents and zip code would be blatant, but as mentioned above, there's no simple way to break the city apart because things change from street to street.

I have a few private investors that what me to include them when/if I decide to do my first project in nola.. but i feel i still need to network more and get a better feel for the market first... glad I found this site and have been wanting to make it to one of the REI meetups.  Maybe I'll venture out to the meeting tomorrow, although I'm not sure the topic is best for a newbie.  ::)

Braden Smith · Answer

You're welcome. Shoot me a PM with your contact info. I'd be happy to chat with you about this over the phone.

Jermaine Beasley · Answer

I just stumbled onto this post I invest in Nola real estate as well. I bought my first property a year ago and looking to get more. I have been researching creative financing to help with that any suggestions?

Brendan Sullivan · Answer

Thanks Braden. Grateful to have a community like BP.

What areas are you liking right now?

New Orleans Newbie - Zip Codes?

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