Speculators Cash in on Rebuilding Boom
Before Hurricane Katrina, Kyle Curry edited film in a New Orleans production studio. Now, he lugs a toolbox as a hands-on real estate speculator, capitalizing on one of the hottest housing markets in the nation.
“This is my new career,” says Curry, 45, standing in the muddy front yard of a 1920s bungalow-style house he’s rebuilding — and plans to resell at a profit — near Loyola University in the city’s Uptown district.
Curry is one of an army of small-time house “flippers” reaping big returns for themselves even as they help spur the New Orleans real estate market’s recovery. Some 100,000 single-family homes in the city were damaged by flooding that accompanied Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. The cost of repairs may climb to $8 billion, says Jay Brinkmann, an economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington.