3 Houses sell in NorthWest Carrollton

2500 JOLIET - HOUSE - WITHDRAWN - NOT SOLD
8237-39 APRICOT - HOUSE - 2010 Damage Est 43.12% - Sale Price $40,000
8505 PRITCHARD PLACE - HOUSE 2010 Damage Est 33.93% - Sale Price $49,000
8518-20 PRITCHARD PLACE - HOUSE - 2010 Damage Est 53.91% - Sale Price $41,000

Read the article from the Times PicayuneBrisk sales of abandoned properties at recent New Orleans Redevelopment Authority auction
Published: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 11:44 AM
Updated: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 5:18 PM
By Michelle Krupa, The Times-Picayune

Here are a few quotes:
"...the latest bulk sale aimed to unload the most desirable NORA-held properties -- many of them designated as historic -- across neighborhoods where the real-estate market has been humming..."

"With 537 bidders registered and 94 bids accepted, NORA and city officials and even the auctioneer who ran the sale have trumpeted the single-day effort as a sign that interest in restoring dilapidated properties remains strong in a city where one in four housing units is blighted or vacant.

Total bids exceeded $3.5 million."

"NORA officials and preservationists noted that parcels that included structures drew strong demand, calling into question the wisdom of widespread demands for NORA to raze most storm-damaged buildings. Those calling for demolition theorized that vacant lots would generate more interest from buyers and would not scar the landscape as badly as vacant, boarded-up homes."

View Auction Action in a larger map

Green: Property sold at or above appraised value
Yellow: Property sold below appraised value Red: Property didn't sell
"There was a huge tidal wave of people pushing to demolish" all of the properties NORA acquired through the Road Home, Sathe said. "But these properties are so much more marketable with structures."

"The presence of salvageable structures, especially ones with historic character, on those lots could create a modest windfall for the city, while boosting the chances that the parcels will be returned to commerce over the long haul, Tipper said."

"Brad Vogel, of the local office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, pointed out that several homes that sold at the NORA auction for around $30,000 apiece resemble in condition and location other buildings that have been authorized for demolition.

"If a better effort were made to market some of the properties that are going through to demolition, I think you would see more people looking to snap those up," Vogel said.

In addition to maintaining the architectural fabric of neighborhoods, Vogel said saving historically significant abandoned properties from the wrecking ball also increases the chances that a lot ultimately will house an inhabited building again.

Particularly in the city's oldest neighborhoods, tearing down homes leaves slender parcels. "It's just harder to get people to want to build a new house in a old narrow lot, but the historic charm of the old house often overcomes the narrowness of the old narrow lot," he said."