I’ve been obsessed with looking at MLS listings since before I bought my first home some 15 years ago. Now that I’m back in the market, I’m finding a few things are irking me.
First off: Dear New Orleans realtors, a driveway is not a garage. Stop listing a property as having a garage if it only has a driveway.
Second: On the topic of garages, I’m finding it near impossible to find a place in my price range with one. This bugs me. I don’t want to be coming and going with the fear of a carjacking. Been a common thread in crime reports of late- carjacking with firearm. I’d like to avoid this particular rite of passage in New Orleans living.
My cousin’s car was stolen out of her driveway minutes after she got out of it when we were teenagers. She only got it back because it ran out of gas a few miles down the road.
Third: Still on the topic of garages- am I willing to live in a different neighborhood in order to have one?
Fourth: Location is everything. Do I sacrifice certain property elements in order to be in the middle of everything? The other option is to be approximately 5 miles from where I want to be. My response to that? Meh.
The answer to most of these questions is easy: I need more money. That’s not happening, so it’s going to be a challenge to find the right place… and to make the right choices for my safety. Also to hopefully end up in a place that doesn’t need quite as much TLC as my current home has needed.
*And of course I’m installing a pool one way or another, but I’ve accepted I’m going to have to do that as opposed to finding a property with one. I will not suffer through a single Southern summer without one ever again.