NEWORLEANS — Large conventions and small meetings have steered clear of theCrescent City since the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. So just howpleased was the region to host the recent National Association of Realtorsannual convention?
Talk abouta holiday present … it was also the biggest real estate story of the yearbecause of its impact on the ravaged region.
“Ifelt like painting a huge blue ‘R’ on top of the Superdome and renaming it theNAR Dome,” said longtime native Arthur Sterbcow, executive director ofLatter & Blum Realtors, a New Orleans-based residential chain. “In thepast year, the president of NAR has visited more often than the president of theUnited States.”
Approximately25,000 members of the nation’s largest trade organization attended businessmeetings, political forums, and educational and training sessions over fourdays at the Morial Convention Center and injected more than $34 million intothe New Orleans economy.
The confabwas the first major event in the city — other than New Orleans Saints footballgames — in more than 14 months. From cab drivers to hotel desk clerks,bartenders to tour operators, the city appeared grateful and relieved that aconvention crowd had finally returned.
Thebustling, energetic scene at the convention center was in direct contrast tothe sadness, destruction and frustration vividly portrayed in news reportsduring the first days following the Aug. 29, 2005, catastrophe.
While thisis a city of hope, despair definitely lingers. Several neighborhoods in St.Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward have few residents and even lessbusiness activity. For example, only 100 of the 1,600 hundred homes in the HolyCross neighborhood are occupied, while another 200 have trailers in the yards– temporary residences as work continues on the main home, according toStephanie Bruno, a representative from the Preservation Resource Center.
“Wethought it was very important to keep our pledge to New Orleans,” said PatVredevoogd Combs of Grand Rapids, Mich., NAR’s new president. “We heardrumors that people would get sick, that there would be safety issues, that therooms wouldn’t be ready. We had several research teams visit New Orleans sinceJanuary and not one person reported that they felt we should move theconference.”
Many ofthe attendees brought their work boots and signed up to help in the city’srecovery effort, which included a Realtor-built Habitat for Humanity home,framing other homes, cleaning and beautifying City Park, sorting books at thepublic library and spiffing up De La Salle High School.
Sterbcow’srealty firm lost 24 of its 28 offices as a result of “the storm.” Hereported that all 28 are now open and doing business, an example of theresilience of many local operators.
“Whatother areas of the country often don’t understand is that on Aug. 29, 2005, 1.3million people in the New Orleans area got an eviction notice,” Sterbcowsaid. “I would estimate that about 1.1 million have come back. But we needmore businesses here because we can’t get people into homes without jobs.”
Even withthe massive rebuilding effort, many local residents and rehabilitationsupervisors still are handcuffed by snafus in the recovery system. There arestories almost daily about an unfulfilled insurance claim, incorrect buildingmaterials order, and the lack of timely, skilled laborers. One report detailedhow a temporary living trailer finally arrived on an owner’s front yard but theowner had no keys to the unit.
Thebiggest challenge for homeowners — especially those displaced by the storm –is the skyrocketing cost of homeowners insurance. For example, James O’Bourne,a section editor for the New Orleans Times Picayune and a member of thenewspaper’s team that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage ofHurricane Katrina, saw his homeowner’s annual premium jump from pre-Katrina$800 to more than $5,000 on his new home.
O’Bourne,one of 13 newspaper newsroom staffers to lose their homes as a result of thefloods, was given a three-month respite on his mortgage payments from hislender. However, he still needed a place for his family of four to live. Hedecided he could not afford the cost of holding down two homes, plus creditcards and other family expenditures, so he sold his once-flooded home to aneighbor who was rehabilitating other homes in the O’Bourne’s Lakeviewneighborhood.
“Icame out OK on the real estate, but we had a lot of contents that were notcovered,” O’Bourne said. “Of course, you can’t replace the personalthings.”
So manythings still need to be replaced here — from homes to infrastructure toconvention business. The Realtors chose to keep their convention pledge and thiscity will never forget it.
TomKelly’s new book “Cashing In on a Second Home in Mexico: How to Buy, Rentand Profit from Property South of the Border” was written with MitchCreekmore, senior vice president of Houston-based Stewart International. Thebook is available in retail stores, on Amazon.com and on tomkelly.com. Tom canbe reached at news@tomkelly.com.
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Copyright 2006 Tom Kelly