New Orleans Property Inspection: The Floor That Was Ready to Give Way

Before you buy a rental here, a real New Orleans property inspection is the difference between an investment and a disaster. Let me tell you why.

I once managed a small apartment building at the corner of Josephine and Constance. Nice enough property, generating rent, no obvious problems. Then one day the tenant mentioned the floor felt soft. We pulled up a section of the flooring to take a look, and what we found underneath stopped me cold. Termites had been through the subfloor and into the framing. Nearly every floor joist under that 1,200-square-foot unit had been eaten hollow. The chimney had begun to sink. The building was far closer to a structural failure than anyone walking through it would ever have guessed.

That property looked fine. It rented fine. And it was quietly rotting from underneath. I think about it every time an out-of-state investor tells me they are about to buy a New Orleans property they have only seen in photographs.

Why You Cannot Skip a New Orleans Property Inspection and Buy by Email

I understand the temptation. The numbers look good on a spreadsheet, a local agent assures you it is a great deal, and flying to Louisiana to crawl around under a house is the last thing a busy person wants to do. So the deal gets done over email, and the buyer inherits whatever the previous owner was hiding.

Here is the truth after 40 years: the person selling you the property and the agent representing that sale are not the people who will tell you what is wrong with it. You need your own eyes, or the eyes of people who work for you. Never buy a New Orleans property sight unseen, and never rely on the seller’s word about its condition.

The person selling you the property is not the person who will tell you what is wrong with it. That is what your own inspection is for.

What a Real New Orleans Property Inspection Actually Checks

A standard home inspection is a starting point, not the finish line. On an older property in this city, I want my own tradespeople looking at the things that actually cost money:

• Structure and termites — under the house, at the joists, sills, and framing. Termite and moisture damage is the single most expensive thing this climate produces, and it hides. The LSU AgCenter has published extensively on Formosan termites in Louisiana, and it is worth understanding what you are up against.
• Electrical — is a 100-amp panel trying to do a 200-amp job? Are there still fuses instead of breakers? An underpowered or outdated electrical system is a large, non-negotiable expense.
• Air conditioning — how old is the system, and what refrigerant does it use? Units running on the old R-22 refrigerant are near the end of their usable life, and replacing them is not cheap. It also matters for compliance now, since the city’s Healthy Homes rules require cooling that keeps bedrooms below 80 degrees.
• Roof, windows, and doors — the weather envelope. In this city, water always finds the weak point.
• Plumbing — the supply lines and the sewer lines both. I have opened up properties where a renovation crew bypassed a sanitation line entirely because they did not understand the code.

I once walked a four-plex where a prior crew had removed structural rafters during a lazy renovation. The exterior walls had started to splay outward — leaning toward 85 degrees instead of standing square at 90 — and the roof was slowly coming down on itself. The owner wanted me to list it and manage it. I told him the truth about what it would take to make it safe, and I walked away from the job. Some properties are not a deal. They are a liability with a roof.

The Tell That Should Make You Walk Away

Here is a shortcut from four decades of doing this. If a seller or their agent gives you a reason you cannot get under the house, cannot get a termite inspector in, or cannot have your own electrician take a look — walk away. Legitimate sellers of sound properties do not put roadblocks in front of an inspection. The resistance is the information.

The same instinct applies to the person you hire afterward. Ask whether they hold a current Louisiana broker’s license, which you can verify in seconds through the Louisiana Real Estate Commission. A manager who has actually crawled under houses will tell you things an agent working from a listing photo never could.

What Skipping a New Orleans Property Inspection Costs You

The math is simple. Spending a few days in New Orleans with your own inspector, electrician, and air-conditioning contractor before you buy might cost you a plane ticket and a few hundred dollars in fees. Skipping it can cost you a five- or six-figure repair you never budgeted for, on a property you cannot easily sell. I have watched investors make that trade the wrong way more times than I can count.

Once you own it, the same eyes matter every month. Careful property maintenance and rigorous tenant screening are what keep a sound building sound. You can see everything we handle on our services page, across 27 New Orleans and Metairie neighborhoods.

If you are considering buying a rental property in New Orleans and you want someone who will tell you the truth about what you are actually looking at — not just what will close the sale — call David directly at 504-232-1672.

David Coxe is a licensed Louisiana real estate broker and the owner of Coxe Property Management and Leasing. He has managed residential property in New Orleans and Metairie for over 40 years. Call him directly at 504-232-1672.