[StBernard] Hundreds of 'For Sale' signs dot St. Bernard blocks

[Westley Annis]

Hundreds of 'For Sale' signs dot St. Bernard blocks

06:06 PM CDT on Sunday, May 24, 2009

 Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News

mrodriguez at wwltv.com 


CHALMETTE, La. - Liz Stroebel makes her living off of selling homes in St.
Bernard Parish. 


"We do have a lot of homes on the market," Stroebel said. 

A housing market that is now saturated with "For Sale" signs: nearly 200
homes for sale in Chalmette alone, in a price range between $55,000 and
$290,000. 

Some of the homes that have been re-modeled since the storm sit empty.
Stroebel said there are definitely sellers and potential buyers, but getting
the two sides to close a deal has become much harder in the last year. 

"With just the state of the national economy and the mortgage crisis, we are
having a little harder time with financing and getting people approved, than
we have in years past, that's for sure," Stroebel said. 

It is a national credit crunch that is making it harder for local buyers to
be approved for home loans - producing a major roadblock for a parish that
is still traveling on the "Road to Recovery." 

"The situation in St. Bernard is, that have we probably two, maybe a little
bit more than two years, of stock for home buyers," said St. Bernard Parish
President Craig Taffaro. "That's coupled with 350-400 vacant rentals right
now within the parish." 

In order to make sure all the homes for sale didn't become homes for rent,
St. Bernard parish passed an ordinance, which limits the number of rental
homes allowed in a certain zone. None of the parish's housing zones have
reached the 20 percent limit yet. However, Taffaro said several of them are
getting closer to maxing out on the allowed number of rentals. 

"Once a zone reaches a 20 percent capacity of rental properties, that zone
basically will be shut down to converting homes into rental properties," he
said. "And as we monitor that, we'll be able to stabilize the rental market,
within each of those housing districts, so that we don't overdo it and we
don't oversaturate the market any more than it already is." 

In the meantime, Liz Stroebel tries to look on the bright side of today's
real estate reality. 

"You can really get a great home for an unbelievable price right now," she
said. 

In June, the St. Bernard Parish planning commission will hold a public
hearing for permit applications needed to make a home a rental property.
That hearing could end up pushing some of the housing zones into the 20
percent limit on rental homes in an area.