A Friend’s Stunning Renovation, 3 Blocks from Audubon Park
My friend Jill Dupré is a talented designer and artist who years ago fell in love with renovating and breathing new life into old homes. I’ve featured her makeovers on my blog before, and now I’m excited to share her latest beauty at 6125 Annunciation. Take a look at a few of the beautiful details: Attention to Detail that Captures the Imagination I love selling Jill’s gorgeous redesigns, and each one is more fabulous than the last. Her attention to detail is stellar, and she describes her visual approach like this: “My interior design style is quite mixed up. But somehow simple. I love modern, vintage, antique, Asian and hand-me-downs. All put together to create depth and soul.” Eclectic and appealing, her design work has been highlighted in Metropolitan Home, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyle, Food and Wine, Apartment Therapy, and Vie Magazine, just to name a few. I appreciate that Jill says this about working with me: “Tracey is always realistic and knowledgeable. Great instincts. Much appreciated.” – Jill Dupré Looking to buy, sell, or invest? Let’s talk.
A Love for Chihuahuas and Churches
A lover of Chihuahuas, I met Sara and Paul Costello when they desperately needed a new home for their two cute pups. The issue was their son’s allergies, so I stepped in to help. And we ended up co-parenting the dogs for 10 years :-) In 2018, Sara and Paul bought an old church at 818-820 Sixth Street and intended to make it a flip. But according to Sarah, “We peeled it back, decade by decade – doing the kind of work you would do if you were going to live in it yourself.” After the renovation, it boasted gorgeous finishes and furnishings, and became a distinctive venue that beckoned all sorts of interesting people and events, from weddings and dinners to performance art. Keeping it for five years, they also used part of it as studio space for themselves (Sara is a designer/decorator and Paul is a photographer). Selling an Incredibly Distinctive Venue Sara and Paul adored the property, but when they decided it was time to move on, they called me. They were concerned it would be a tough sell, but I knew it was a killer property -- unique and special in every way. In fact, I knew the process would be fun! And as soon as I got excited about it, they did, too. They worried about setting the right price and what the market could bear. But I appreciate that Sara thinks I have a “spidey-sense” about pricing, and that I knew exactly what that psychological number should be. She goes on to say, “Then it was like a lighting round. We were barely even sure we wanted to sell -- and in the blink of an eye, photos were online, and we had an offer on the first day.” Complications: From Furniture to Closing Dates That’s not to say that the whole thing was smooth sailing. Sara and Paul had a LOT of furnishings in the venue (Sara says they were ridiculously sentimental about everything), and there was a good bit of negotiation based on what the buyers wanted to include in the sale. There were also complications with closing dates; the buyers wanted to close before the end of the year, but Sara and Paul had clients getting married in the space on Christmas Eve. In the end, we had to move the closing date a few times, but thankfully, it worked out well for everyone. I’m humbled that Sara and Paul had this to say about working with me: “Tracey’s a character. We’re not from here - but we came from New York and she lived in New York. So she speaks our language. But she’s also completely New Orleanian – she’s got both sides of that coin, which is helpful for people who aren’t from here. I also loved that I could ask Tracey anything about the contract that I was unfamiliar with. Sometimes you don’t want to sound dumb, but I had to ask, for like the 4th time, how something worked. She was so patient, even though I asked her over and over again. She’s soooo trustworthy, too. It’s such an honor to work with her.” - Sara “Tracey is so professional. There were so many complications, but she kept plugging away until it was solved. She never gets rattled! And she has an incredible demeanor for the work she does. She has a great way of handling it all. She kept the deal on track for everybody. Everybody got exactly what they wanted out of it, even though sometimes it was dicey! What it boils down to is, you’re in very, very good hands with Tracey.” - Paul
The Design Transformation of an Off-Market Fixer-Upper
Ellen Sitkin and her husband Ben lived in Brooklyn for 15 years, but after having their second child, New York City started to feel overwhelming. While she’s from Boston, and he’s from Birmingham, New Orleans was a place they’d always been charmed by – and decided to call it home. They can both work remotely, so that helped make the transition to living and working in New Orleans (and spending summers in Maine) a reality. “It’s such a nice balance, and we’ve worked really hard to put ourselves in a position to make it possible.” Finding A Diamond in the Rough Moving to New Orleans in 2018, they rented a place sight unseen, in order to get a feel for the city before deciding where to buy. Having renovated old houses before, they were looking for a project – and settled on the Irish Channel as their chosen neighborhood. Knowing that they wanted a fixer-upper with historic details, a large yard for their daughters to play in, and a location within a mile radius of work and school, they came to me to help them find a diamond in the rough. Says Ellen, “Tracey seemed like a good fit because she was native to New Orleans but had lived in New York for a long time. So that immediately made me feel like she’d understand our situation.” And I was happy to help. With my knowledge of the Irish Channel and my ability to source off-market properties, I knew of a Chippewa Street house on a double lot that had great potential. And I knew the owner was interested in selling. In fact, I’d shown it to a few other clients, including friends of Ellen’s. An Amazing Renovation Explains Ellen, “I’m a graphic designer, and I dabble in interiors, so for me, I wanted a house that was at least 100 years old, that I could really make my own.” And after seeing this one, she concluded, “Given my design background, I had enough vision to say ok, we can turn this into something.” It would end up being the biggest renovation they’d ever tackled, but it turned out so beautifully that it was recently featured in Domino magazine. What My Client Had to Say I absolutely love that Ellen had this to say about me: “Tracey’s amazing. I remember meeting up with her to look at a place, and she was decked out in her Saints gear and gold high tops, and I was like, I love this woman! She’s so cool, she’s so easygoing, and she knows her shit. From day one, I immediately trusted her. She had lived in NYC for a long time, so that felt good, and she’s super connected here, knows the city, the neighborhoods, like a good real estate agent should. And the fact that she knew a lot of the nuances about the neighborhood – like all those details you need when you’re trying to find that special place – that made it just feel right.” Photo credit: Jacqueline Marque
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