RE: Real Estate Podcast

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (00:01)
While the headlines say, buy your real estate prices are sliding, the real story is a massive 43 % surge in buyers hitting the streets in January. Is this a market crash or the best window for affordability we've seen in years? We're diving into the Houma-Thibodaux numbers next.

Ben Harang (00:33)
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the RE Real Estate Podcast. My name is Ben Harang I'm here with my co-host Clint Galliano. How you doing today Clint?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (00:44)
I'm doing wonderful, Ben. How you doing?

Ben Harang (00:47)
Clint, I'm doing terrific. We're on a Thursday afternoon, doing our 70th episode. It seemed like we started yesterday, which was we started a year and a half ago, it feels like. It is a year and a half ago, yeah, when the idea germinated. here we go, we keep coming back for more, I guess. are we talking about today, Clint?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (01:01)
Just about, yeah.

All right, we are talking about our market update for January data. And we're going to be covering numbers for the whole Bayou Board of Realtors and Houma & Thibodaux individually. We're going to try and take this into a, I guess, do it a little bit differently than we've done in the past. In the past, we've just kind of

recited the numbers and provided a little commentary. So we're going to take this and maybe a little bit deeper discussion and pull some insights aren't necessarily displayed where they jump out at you. All right, so the first thing we're going to cover is the price drop or an opportunity. So some key data points that

regional median sales price is a little bit over $206,000. That's down 10.3 % from January of last year. Now our pending sales are up 132. So that's 43.5 % increase over last year. And the housing affordability index is up to 141.

That's an almost 20 % increase. So that seems like a nebulous number. But the basics are is if the housing affordability index was 100, that means that on average, the income that the average person brings in is enough for them to live on and cover their expenses.

as it gets above 100, then that shows that the housing is cheaper than the maximum you can afford. So with it being at 141, that's almost 50 % higher than breakeven. So that's pretty neat.

Ben Harang (03:22)
It is.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (03:23)
while we may have some wage increase, ultimately it's the lower prices that are driving that housing affordability increase.

Ben Harang (03:35)
We're not seeing a market crash. Some people sitting on the sidelines say, I'm going wait until the market crashes, then I'm going to go buy everything up. Well, the market is not crashing. The market is correcting. And the correction is the median price is down 10%. But with that kind of demand, the prices are not going to stay down. Because real estate is a function of supply and demand.

So if you think you're wanting to buy a house in 2026, now is probably the best time of the year to get in on it before the spring kicks in and more buyers even come in into the market. So you have a window right now, I think that is unique.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (04:14)
I Right now, also with the increase in affordability, it's kind of a green light for buyers who were priced out in 24 and 25, that were just priced out of the market. Some of that is also due to interest rates coming down a little. They're back to more of ⁓ a normal level.

than what we saw in 23 and 24. I think that's an opportunity. It's, and it'll kind of, I guess, thaw out people that were frozen with the 3 % mortgages. And if they needed to sell and buy a new home, they were looking at a 7 % mortgage or higher. And without, you know, with lower rates, then that's another.

Another reason why people may be moving.

let's talk about the tale of two cities. It's our favorite topic when we're doing market updates.

Ben Harang (05:11)
Hill or two cities.

It is in, you know, we said before I'm sitting in my office in Thibodaux Clint sitting in his office in Houma We are probably less than 12 miles away and sometimes it feels like we're in different, at least different time zones because of the differences. But I think there's reasons why it happens and

there's good aspects of both markets. price of the median house in Houma is $179,500 with a 6.88 month of supply of houses to sell. Generally considered six months plus or minus of inventory is a balanced market, so Houma's trending towards a buyer's market.

but they're still pretty balanced. Thibodaux in the meantime, the median price is $252,000 with a 4.12 month supply of inventory. So we're well into a seller's market in Thibodaux

And on a surface it's like, whoa, there's a $70,000 difference between the median price of homes in Houma and in Thibodaux. And I think that has to do with all of the new construction that goes on in North Lafourche. When we say Thibodaux we're using the 70301 zip code, which is North Lafourche.

And DSLD for their marketing strategy has decided to build their houses in Lafourche Parish in North Lafourche rather than Terrebonne.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (06:43)
They do have two neighborhoods in Terrebonne Parish, they're what, like nine or 20, or not 20, but nine or 13 DSLD neighborhoods in the Thibodaux area.

Ben Harang (06:45)
Day of two,

Right, they have some in Terrebonne, but the bulk of them in Thibodaux. you know, Clint and I were talking, preparing for this about the, going through some data and something I saw was.

If you have the opportunity to buy the new house with the warranty versus a resale house for the same price, it's a no brainer. We have that conversation all the time. buy a DSLD house three years ago and they're still building that house in the same neighborhood that you bought in three years ago. You're not going to get any appreciation until DSLD finishes building in that subdivision. And they move on.

So there's dynamics that are good for both places. You don't have the selection of new homes in Houma that you have in Thibodaux, but the resale, you might get a better deal in Houma, depending on where you live. So don't let the prices or the market drive where you're going to live. You want to live where you want to live for a reason.

Once you decide that, go find the best deal you can, whether it's a new construction or a resale, to fit your needs. And make that house your home for three to five years while the market does what the market does. And you're going to wake up one day and decide you might need a little bigger house. You might have more people living in your house with you. Some children might have come along. And then go buy your next house. Buy your first house first.

and live in today's market and make a house work for you.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (08:25)
Now, that's some solid advice. So some other things that I think are contributing to the difference in price point with Thibodaux is insurance. Insurance is kind of a hidden factor in home value. Typically, and especially because of the new construction homes, you're going to wind up paying less insurance than Thibodaux.

in general because it's further inland from the coast. So that applies. So you may a higher price overall for a house, but your insurance costs have a really good chance of being lower. And so that equates to a lower monthly note.

It might be more expensive, but it might be cheaper because you have a lower escrow. And the other thing is just overall, it's generally a much lower supply, so there's less choice. So sellers can be picky about what they'll accept to sell a house.

Ben Harang (09:18)
in.

The reality is we had Hurricane Ida in August of 2021. Insurance went through the roof. Availability and affordability were big problems. We're in February of 2026. We are starting to see the insurance prices moderate. Not the flood insurance, but the homeowners insurance has more competition.

We might not see a lot of it this year, but it's certainly trending for more companies to be writing homeowners insurance in Louisiana and the more companies that are writing it the more competitive the premium it will be So I think there's there's reason for some optimism on on that front I'm thinking you might see it more in 27 on a renewal

than you will in 2026, but it's certainly headed that way. So even if the premium is a little high the first year, you can look forward to hopefully some premium decreases in the next year or so.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (10:38)
Yep, indeed. So.

Thinking about the future a little bit, we could potentially be experiencing a pending explosion some key data points. There's a 43.5 % increase in pending sales regionally. New listings are up.

nine and a half percent. So 185 new homes were listed and that's for the month of January. So that 43 % jump is a leading indicator. That means houses are being moved now will be in the closed sales headline for March and April. And with the inventory check, we've got 887 homes for sale in the Bayou region. So that's up 4.6%.

It looks like the lock-in effect is starting to fall apart, really. People are finally willing to list their homes again. So for the first time in years, we kind of have a healthy amount of choice. After years of almost no inventory available and crazy prices and things like that, you're not forced into the only house on the block.

You know, there's a lot of choice available no matter where you're looking at.

Ben Harang (12:01)
I had a conversation with somebody last night, a friend of mine, has a house listed with another agent and they were bemoaning the lack of activity and the pricing and whether they were going to sell it or rent it. And I was dancing gingerly and he was pressing about what I thought.

And I said, you and you and I have talked about this Clint, don't just keep driving the price, pay the closing costs, make it attractive for the buyer to pick your house because they do have more options now. So the buyers can be pickier now, it was the sellers were picky, well now the buyers can be picky on the housing, on the houses. So.

When you have somebody in there, you can position your house to be the next one to sell by offering the closing costs. And he said they had a showing this weekend and he was gonna wait until after that showing to see what happened to offer the closing costs. I said, no, offer the closing costs to the people that are interested in your house. Because if you do it after,

you might catch him after they found another house that was paying the closing costs. So I know they're you know, I'm gonna wait and see and hopefully this one won't need the closing costs. Offer to pay the closing costs and get the house sold. So I'm gonna get off my soap box. can position your house to make it sell without giving it away. And that went off on a tangent. I'm sorry, Clint, we broke out.

our world.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (13:22)
That's alright. That's

some solid advice. The majority of what we've been talking about is for buyers, but that's some valid advice for sellers.

some of the things to, I guess you could say the homework. We haven't handed out homework in a while. If you're a buyer, stop waiting for the crash. said it earlier. Crash isn't coming. This is a correction. People say, well, this happened back when, and that happened back when, and this is happening now, and that might happen now, and this is not.

2006 to 2008. This is not the late 70s, early 80s. This is today. Okay, so there's not a crash coming. There's affordability now. You know, you've got options. Prices have come down a little bit to where they were over the last three years, four years.

So there's real opportunity to get a deal on a house. And then sellers, on your side, on average you're getting 97.4 % of the asking price. In other words, what homes are being listed at, on average people are paying 97.4 % of that. So buyers are back.

but they're savvy, they're paying attention and they're not necessarily going with whatever the list price is. to reiterate what Ben said, price it right and it'll move. It may take median 114 days to get it sold, but if it's priced right, it'll be way less than that.

Ben Harang (15:06)
The, you know, one thing we haven't really talked about, with the, you mentioned earlier about the people with the 3 % mortgages, they're starting to list their houses and they are because life goes on. You know, people said they were bragging they had two and three quarter percent rate. And I said, I hope you like your life and your family because you're not gonna be able to move. Well, life goes on and things happen and.

So obviously some of those people are now in a position where they want to sell their house. But what some of those loans, not all of them, but some of them have is an assumable mortgage. So if you have a two and three quarter, three percent loan and the loan is assumable, it's a pain in the neck to do, but you can hang the assumption of your current mortgage to the buyer.

and your house will absolutely go straight to the top of the list if the mortgage is in fact, assumable. And buyers, you can ask if mortgages are assumable. A lot of people don't know whether or not they're assumable, but some of them, some of those 2 3.25 3 % mortgages are assumable. So that's just something to drill down into to determine whether or not it's assumable.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (16:21)
touching on that also is I know that I had this attitude of, it's an assumable loan. So the buyer can buy it at whatever the loan balance is. That's not the case. There will be, or I'd say probably 95 % of the time there's equity involved. And so the sellers are looking to

cash out some of that equity with the sale. So the buyer will have to get those funds to make up that gap between the loan balance and the market value for the home. But ultimately, it's still a better deal for the buyer if they can pull that off because their note's gonna be way cheaper than if they went out and got a loan at the current rate.

Ben Harang (17:14)
Right, if the loan is $200,000 and the price of the house is $300,000, if you go get a mortgage today, you're still paying $300,000. But if you can assume a $200,000 mortgage and pay the $100,000 with a HELOC or some other kind of loan, it still costs the $300,000, but you get a $200,000 balance at a 3 % rate.

So it's worth drilling down to see if it's even possible.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (17:45)
Yes indeed. All right. So let us know if you like this market update, if you like us covering it in this style, or you want us to go back to just reading the numbers off the report and talking about what we see. Seriously, let us know. Let us know what you think. We're going to do this again in March, somewhere around the between the second

first and second week of March. We have to wait for the numbers to come out, but once we've got them, we can do another update. This is also an off cycle episode, but we may release it in cycle. Possibly so. We'll see how that goes. But if you like what we're doing, go to rerealestatepodcast.com, like, share, comment, and subscribe.

You can access our YouTube channel from there. You can listen to individual episodes or you can subscribe from your favorite podcast app. whether it's the Apple podcast app or a podcast 2.0 compliant podcast app or if you like our I heart radio or Spotify or

Ben Harang (18:50)
Spotify, IHORT.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:00)
We're on all the channels, so you can find us anywhere you look for us. ⁓

Ben Harang (19:07)
Did you

say they can find us on rerealestatepodcast.com?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:11)
That's right, RERealEstatePodcast.com.

Ben Harang (19:16)
That's what I thought you said. All right. All right, Clint.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:17)
That's what I was saying. So go

check it See what you think. Give us some feedback. And you know what? We hadn't said this in a while, but if you got questions, you can go to RERealEstatePodcast.com and click on Ask a Question and ask us a question. And we'll answer it on another episode.

Ben Harang (19:38)
all right Clint, another one in the can. Have a good one.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:41)
Alright, you too, Ben Bye bye.