Cindy Rester's Real Estate Blog

Mandeville Seafood Festival Next Week July 3 - July 6, 2008

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:44:10 -0500

New Location! This year at Fontainebleau State Park!

Check out the official website at www.seafoodfest.com/

Great 4th of July Fun for Family & Friends!

Lacombe, La. Crab Cook-Off Festival This Weekend

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:36:37 -0500

This Weekend

June 28th: 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
June 29th: 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm
admission is will be $3:00 until 6:00 PM, and $5:00 after that time., kids 10 and under get in free

The primary purpose of the Lacombe Crab Cook-Off Festival is to provide an opportunity for local non-profit organizations, churches, and community organizations to generate funding for their various beneficial community purposes.

Lots of Food, Fun & Entertainment check out the festival web site at www.lacombecrabcookofffestival.com/

Welcome to Quail Creek in Mandeville La.

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:27:42 -0500

Beautiful 4 bedroom, 2 baths, approx. 2124 living area, 2 car garage ML#747608

This custom built home features a spacious great room with a wood burning fireplace, a wall of windows, wide plank wood floors & soaring ceilings. Kitchen with a working center island with a lighted pot rack, tons of cabinets & counterspace. Large master suite with huge trey ceiling with crackled painted crown molding and the image of a night sky.The lavish master bath features a hydro tub, seperate shower double vanities and a huge walk in closet. This sundivision offers a community pool, club house, tennis courts, baseball & soccer fields and is within walking or bike distance to the local schools. Much More to Offer - Call Cindy or Ada for Your Private Tour Today!

$269,000

For Sale in River Oaks Subdivision, Covington, La.

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:10:13 -0500

This cutom built - sophisticated home has everything for today's buyer! Enter through the elegant foyer into the great room with wood burning fireplace, built in entertainment area, wood floors and lots of windows. Entertain your guests in the fabulously appointed formal dining room with chair rails, wood floors and custom columns! The gourmet kitchen is every Chef's Delight - with Bricked in double ovens, granite counters, gas cook top, stainless appliances that include the microwave and dishwasher. Over the garage is a huge room that can be that wanted media room or playroom/office! This home also boasts a lavish master suite with a seperate sitting area, wood floors, step ceiling, seperate shower, hydro tub, double vanities and a huge walk in closet! This great floorplan also offers a seperate guest suite/mother in law suite. There are to many more amenities to list - so call today for your private tour!

4Bedrooms, 3 Baths, A Bonus Room over the Garage, 2 Car Garage, approximately 2965 living area

$399,999.00 ML# 737839

FEMA Unveils New Flood Maps for St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:29:54 -0500

Yesterday FEMA unveiled the long awaited new flood maps they were in progress pre Katrina and are now available for public views and coments prior to The Parish adopting them.

They are available for viewing at www.lamappingproject.com

A toll free help line has also been established for citizens assistance 1 (866)-751-3989

Hope this helps! It is extremely important if you live in St. Tammany to check it out it may affect your FLOOD INSURANCE

Cindy

Part 2 Continued

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:25:01 -0500

Ok! Let me try to begin where I left off yesterday.

My area of expertise in Real Estate is Residential Sales with a Speciality in New Construction.

I service a lot of different communities since we are a rural area - those area include, Mandeville, Covington, Abita Springs, Lacombe ( Home of the Crab Festival), Slidell, Pearl River, Bush & Sun in St. Tammany Parish.

In Tangipahoa Parish the communities are Hammond, Ponchatoula (Home of the Strawberry Festival), Bedico, Pumpkin Center, Springfield & Amite.

In Washington Parish the communities are Bogalusa (Home of the Paper Mill), Franklinton (Home to the Washington Parish Fair - The world's largest FREE Fair), Angie, Varnado, Mount Herman & others!

This area is bounded by Lake Pontchartrain to the South and the Mississippi border to the North. The I-12 & I -55 corridors runs right through the middle of our area.

Since the K thing things are a little different here. We now have more residents and business than before the K thing.

Our area had been in a housing boom with an extreme shortage long before the K thing. In 2005 when the K thing happened we did not have alot of inventory to sell to people who had lost there homes - This was the craziest time I have ever experienced in Real Estate.

You see here on the North Shore we did not have the flooding that New Orleans had - but we had extensive tree damage from high winds. We had homes that were totally destroyed from trees taking them out. There was a mad dash of people looking for homes - and they buying homes with a tree in the middle of it - because it could be repaired and was not under water. I know that sounds crazy - but it truly was happening.

For 1 month I lived in my camper with a generator - before we got our utilities back. I would get up every morning around 4am and go the office which came away unscathed (Our Corporate office and others were affected so we had lots of guests). We were thrown back in time to do our jobs because the MLS was down - our board office was flooded. So we searched a database that was outdated looking for homes for people and the phone service was extremely sketchy. To show properties in that first 30 days you drove to the home - 1. To see if it still existed 2. To see if the sellers still wanted to sell 3. What damage did the home have. I tell you this was a crazy time.

It took 6 months to get phone and internet service back to my home - so I worked alot of long hours at the office - some days I would be there as early as 6am and not leave until 10 or 11pm.

Now here we are almost 3 years later - I finally have the time to try to figure out about blogging.

So no more about the K thing. The next time I will tell a little bit more about our current market!

Have A GREAT DAY EVERYONE!

Whew Glad I got that out of my system!

My First Blog & Entry

Cindy Rester, Realtor (Prudential Gardner Realtors) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:31:31 -0500

Ok her goes!

A little about me - I am a full time Professional Realtor working the area called The North Shore. You may say the North Shore of what? The North Shore is an an area that is located to the North of the New Orleans area. It is also the north side of Lake Ponchartrain and is comprised of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes. Here in Louisiana we have parishes not counties.

We are a rural area that is considered bedroom communities to the city of New Orleans. When you cross that 24 mile bridge (longest bridge) you enter into a totally different world.

The life style is totally different than in New Orleans - we have lots of trees, large lots in planned subdivisions and a very laid back atmosphere.

I have lived and worked in this area for the past 10 years and have watched the communities grow by leaps & bounds.

Since Hurricane Katrina our area has gained lots of new residents looking for higher ground.

To be continued - I have to go to work, Wednesday's are our office meeting days.

If you are buying or selling give me a call.

My motto is You Can "REST" Assured with "Cindy Rester"