We bought this house in the 7th Ward which contractors told us to tear down

We bought this house in New Orleans 7th Ward. The house had a lot of issues and the owner needed a certain amount of money that made us have to dig deep to make the deal work. While there were a lot of issues, the two main ones were the termite activity and the Stucco. The termites had been very active and had worked their way from the bottom of the house to the top floor and caused a lot of damage. The Stucco used on the exterior of the house was an even bigger issue as it had taken on moisture and was cracking and coming away from the wall. While stripping the Stucco and replacing isn’t a huge problem by itself, the issue is the wood root and termite activity that having all that moisture in the walls had caused.

The first contractors that we inspected the property with advised us that it would be much better just to tear down the property and build a new one. Our seller needed a certain amount of money though and if the house was a tear down we could only pay lot value which wouldn’t have worked for him. We have a huge network of contractors and rehabbers so went deeper into our network. We ended up partnering with another rehabber who had a solid plan to salvage some of the structure and make our numbers work.

This was an excellent outcome as our seller got what he wanted, we were able to save a house that had a rich history and we had a good project to work on with our partners.

If you have a house that you are thinking of selling in the Greater New Orleans area then we may be a good fit to buy it. We buy houses direct from homeowners for cash so you don’t need to make repairs or pay realtor commissions. We are easy to work with and even if we don’t end up buying your house we are still happy to talk about your options and help out your situation. If we end up being your buyers then you will have your house sold fast.

You can watch the video of Steve in the property or read the video transcript below…

Hey, this is Aussie Steve from Home Buyer Louisiana. We’re here at a property that we’re purchasing in Orleans Parish. We’re actually closing on this one tomorrow.

I’ll show you around a bit. It’s got a lot of termite damage, and it’s been a tough property to close on because of the condition. I’m here on the upstairs level, and you can see even up here the termites have done serious damage. That means they’ve eaten through downstairs and come all the way up here.

There’s damage all around. But honestly, that wasn’t the worst part. The real problem was the stucco on the outside. If you live in New Orleans or anywhere in Louisiana, please don’t use stucco—it’s not ideal in this climate with all the moisture and humidity. Moisture gets trapped behind the stucco, separates it from the wall, and causes wood rot. Termites love that kind of environment.

So that created a lot of problems. The first contractors I brought through the property told me I’d need to tear it down. That was a big issue because the seller needed a certain amount of money, and if we were just paying land value, it wouldn’t have worked for them.

Thankfully, I have a great network of rehabbers, investors, and real estate professionals. I brought a few people through, and we figured out a way to make it work. I partnered with someone experienced who’s willing to take on this job. They’ll be able to use the existing structure—even though it needs a lot of work—and not tear the whole thing down.

That allowed me to pay enough for the seller to be happy. That’s one of our rules at Home Buyer Louisiana—if we’re not both smiling at the closing table, we don’t want to do the deal. We want our sellers to be happy when they get that check, and we want to feel good about the deal too.

Another rule we have is that everyone we speak to should leave in a better position than when they came to us. Of course, if we can buy your property, that’s great. But even if we don’t, we still want to help you understand your options. If the deal doesn’t work for whatever reason or you’re not happy with the price, that’s totally fine—we still want to provide value.

So if you have a property in Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, St. Tammany, or St. Bernard, head over to HomeBuyerLouisiana.com. Tell us a bit about the property—we pay all cash, cover the closing costs, and can close fast, even if it’s damaged like this one.

Give us a call. We’d love to chat. Thanks so much!

Project Update: We were able to save this house and repair it for new tenants. You can see the project update video here