Mandeville Trailhead Community MarketWhen: Every Saturday, 9:00am – 1:00pm
Saturday Dates in December, 2014
December 6, 2014
December 13, 2014
December 20, 2014
December 27, 2014
Where: 675 Lafitte Street
Mandeville, LA 70448
What: A Farmer’s Market and Craft Market held at the Mandeville Trailhead.
For More Information, call 985-845-4515 or E-mail mandevillemarket@gmail.com.
Covington Trace Community MarketWhen: Every Saturday, 9:00am – 1:00pm
Saturday Dates in December, 2014
December 6, 2014
December 13, 2014
December 20, 2014
December 27, 2014
Where: The Pocket Park
400 Block of East Gibson
Covington, Louisiana
What: A Farmer’s Market and Craft Market held at the Covington Trace Trailhead.
For More Information, call Sheryl Landry, 985-898-0686.
When: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Where: LSU Tiger Stadium
N Stadium Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
What: Saturday’s Lineup:
Kenny Chesney
Brantley Gilbert
Tyler Farr
Colt Ford
Kristian Bush
For More Information, Call 504-410-4100.
Christ Church 25th Anniversary
Third Sunday Concert Series
A Christmas Brass Spectacular
When: Sunday,
December 21, 2014
5:00pm – 7:30pm
Where: Christ Episcopal Church
120 S. New Hampshire Street
Covington, Louisiana 704337
Wine & Hors d’oeuvres Reception Following Concert.
What: Contact Margaret Mashburn at mmashbur@bellsouth.net or Click Here for More Information.
Based on building permit data, price information, and employment statistics, monitored metro areas and smaller towns are running at 90% of what is considered a normal housing economy according to the National Assocation of Home Builders / First American Leading Market Index (LMI). The LMI was established during the Recession to monitor the recovery of a selection of markets throughout the United States from the catastrophic results of the Recession. According to the numbers in November, 66% of these markets showed improvement and 7 new markets either returned to “normal” or exceeded normal activity and growth year-over-year.
“The markets are recovering at a slow, gradual pace,” said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly, a home builder and developer from Wilmington, Del. “Continued job creation, economic growth and increasing consumer confidence should help spur pent-up demand for housing.”
The top market in the list of the 350 select markets chosen by the NAHB is Baton Rouge, Louisiana which has already returned to normal activity and is now exceeding all expections. The LMI score for Baton Rouge is 1.39 which means that it is 39% better in housing growth and employment than its normal market levels. In the list of the top ten markets which have LMI scores that either meet or exceed normal levels, New Orleans is also included in that list, making Southeast Louisiana a “booming” recovery zone when it comes to real estate.
“An uptick in the number of single-family permits, which is currently only 44 percent of normal activity, is the key to a full-fledged housing recovery,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “In the 17 metros where permits are at or above normal, the overall index shows that these markets have fully recovered.”
Luckily, building permits overall rose 1.4% nationwide and are up 8.8% in the South. A testimony to how well the Greater New Orleans area is doing economically is the fact that the unemployment rate nationally is at 6.1%, in New Orleans it’s 5.1%, and in the 2nd quarter of 2014, St. Tammany Parish’s unemployment rate dropped over 20% from 2013’s unemployment rate to just 4.4%. Building permits in St. Tammany Parish rose to 315 for single-family homes in the 2nd quarter of 2014 which is a 23.5% increase year-over-year. Also, new home sales went up by 11.1% year-over-year in the same quarter for St. Tammany Parish as well. This speaks strongly as to how much real estate affects the economy, even locally in the Greater New Orleans area. For More Information about building a new home in St. Tammany Parish, contact local builder Ron Lee Homes at 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.
The Covington Farmer’s MarketWhen: Every Wednesday, 10:00am – 2:00pm
Wednesday Dates in December, 2014
December 7, 2014
December 14, 2014
December 21, 2014
December 28, 2014
Where: The Covington Trailhead
419 N. New Hampshire
Covington, Louisiana 70433
The Covington Farmer’s MarketWhen: Every Saturday, 8:00am – 12:00pm (noon)
Saturday Dates in December, 2014
December 6, 2014
December 12, 2014
December 19, 2014
December 26, 2014
Where: Downtown Covington
600 Block of N. Columbia St.
Covington, Louisiana 70433
St. Tammany Parish Home Builders Association’sWhen: Tuesday, December 9, 2014
9:00am – 10:00am
Where: Iberia Bank Board Room
850 N. Causeway
Mandeville, LA 70471
What: Sales & Marketing Meeting
St. Tammany Parish Home Builders Association
Presents
Sip & Savor Wine Dinner
When: Tuesday
November 18, 2014
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Where: Keith Young’s Steakhouse
165 Hwy 21
Madisonville, LA 70447
Join us for a Wine Dinner to benefit Randy Noel Campagin for NAHB Third Vice Chair
Tickets are $110 each and space is extremely limited.
It seems that the faster that you keep up with the latest, state-of-the-art technology, the faster technology changes. Builders both nationally and locally in St .Tammany Parish are learning very quickly that they either have to stay abreast of their knowledge of high-techn options and accessories for the new homes that they build, or they may lose potential home buying clients. At Ron Lee Homes, there is a constant stream of education and educational courses
and seminars that are offered by the National Association of Home Builders, and both Ron Lee and Nancy Lee of Ron Lee Homes continually are attending these classes and courses in order to stay on the cutting edge of building technology.
Informational articles are also helpful to advise and inform both builders and home buyers alike about the latest trends in technology and how these trends affect the real estate market. Below is a list of up and coming products that are being offered as high-tech accessories or necessities for new homes being built.
1. Lighting by Bluetooth: Technology has advanced so much that you can now build a network throughout your home where all of your lighting and light switches are on what is called a mesh network. Each part of the network works off a node that “talks” to the other parts of the network, and the network can be accessed through Bluetooth and any smart device. When using this network, you can install a new light switch by sticking a new plate to the wall by using double-sided tape if you would like.
2. Talk to Your Home: As you may or may not already know, there is technology out there that makes it so that you can control your thermostat, alarm system, lighting system, and garage door openers by using a smart device like a smart phone, tablet, or pad. The systems are already “wired” or networked together and you can access them by using an app. The newest technology makes it so that you can use a language processor like Siri to “talk” to your home. You simply speak the commands into your smart device, and then that device talks to the systems in your home.
3. Low Power Wifi: This is a fairly new development on the market . The idea behind this device which is a super long-lasting “battery” that has Wifi capability, is that it will “retrofit” existing features of your home which use batteries and turn them into “smart devices.” One of the examples of this product is called the Roost. The Roost is installed in your smoke detectors, and if smoke is detected, it sends a notification to your smart device. This is just one of the many ways that such a device could be used to retrofit existing appliances and features of your home.
With technology moving, it seems sometimes, faster than the speed of light, it is the goal of Ron Lee Homes to stay on top of the latest trends and to be able to troubleshoot solutions to make the technology in the new custom home that you build with us user friendly for you and your family. Contact Us Today to discuss your technology needs. Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.
