Interesting from Bloomberg
Flipping Houses in New Orleans
House flipping -- buying a home and reselling shortly thereafter for a sizeable profit -- was a popular activity of real-estate speculators during the heyday of the housing boom. Those days appear to be over in many parts of the U.S., but in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, it is a growing occupation, says Bloomberg.com. About 100,000 single-family homes were damaged by last year's storm season, and now, renovations have begun on 34,000 houses, the Web site says.
One local flipper, who plans to make a living renovating and reselling New Orleans-area homes, says he can make a gain of 80% for three or four months of work on each residence, the article says. "If you're a regular person who knows how to swing a hammer, opportunity is jumping up and down in New Orleans," the Web site quotes one local real-estate broker as saying. Small-time handymen and speculators aren't the only ones getting into the act -- Home Depot Inc. has opened a few area stores in response to demand for construction materials, and home-builder KB Home is building houses in the region.
Not sure if PBLS is in the game or not.
