New Orleans real estate still under water

AP via Houston Chronicle:

Shannon Sharpe, a real estate agent in New Orleans for the past five years, spends her days trying to deal with her flooded house and searching for customers.

Business has been brisk, but since she returned to the city after Hurricane Katrina, it's all been taking new listings, not selling houses.

"I had six pendings when the hurricane hit," Sharpe said. "They're all gone — roof gone, flooding, whatever. Not in any condition to sell."

With her commissions blown away by Katrina and new buyers hard to find, Sharpe is now spending her nights working as a hostess in a reopened restaurant.

A real estate boom was predicted after Katrina, especially for areas of the city that did not flood. With a smaller supply of structurally sound houses and houses that did not stand in floodwaters for weeks, some real estate agents predicted 20 percent to 30 percent increases.

"If anyone can show me data supporting that, I'll be very surprised," said Mary Ann Casey, who has operated a Re/Max agency in New Orleans for 24 years. "I think if that happens it will be a long time coming."

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