Real Talk.

Getting your home ready to sell isn’t one giant project. It’s a sequence—and doing the right jobs in the wrong order can cost you time, money, and a whole lot of unnecessary stress. Before you spend Sunday turning your closet into a boutique, let’s talk about what actually needs to happen first.

Shopping the Labor Day sales? Start with what’s actually worth buying—then keep saving with simple homeowner habits, an AI maintenance prompt, repair tips, and a few tricks we’ve learned after years of walking through New Orleans homes.

What finally motivates someone to buy a home? What if the answer was a little white rescue dog? For Veronica and Matt, finding the right home meant letting go of the idea that their first home had to be their forever home—and instead asking what would make life better right now.

Some seasons have nothing to do with the weather. As New Orleans enters art season, we're reflecting on why creativity, preservation, neighborhood history, and community are all part of the same conversation—and why great neighborhoods are built by the people who care for them.

Sometimes the most interesting question isn't where a neighborhood begins or ends. It's what happens when you invite people to experience it instead. A reflection on houses, community, creativity, and why the best places can't always be explained.

No two people process information, make decisions, or experience home the same way. In this personal reflection, Elisa Murphy shares why curiosity, empathy, and asking better questions lead to better real estate experiences—and better outcomes for everyone involved.

Why do real estate deals fall apart? It's often not the inspection, financing, or even the house itself. Learn how uncertainty, assumptions, and confidence shape transactions—and why protecting confidence may be the most important job a great agent has.

David Ogilvy once said, "The consumer isn't a moron. She's your wife." It's one of my favorite quotes because it manages to be funny, provocative, and useful all at the same time. Like most good observations, it isn't really about the thing it's supposedly about. It's not actually about consumers. It's about people. More specifically, it's about the dangerous habit of assuming that people who don't think like us must not be thinking at all. If you've worked with clients long

Think ChatGPT or Zillow can tell you what your home is worth? Here's why pricing a New Orleans home is far more complicated—and human—than any algorithm can predict.

A seller who believed his historic home wouldn't sell. A 150-year-old Esplanade Avenue home that sat on the market for six months. A ballroom waiting to be understood. A kitchen full of tiny chickens hiding a secret above its ceiling. A Bridgerton-inspired ball that brought the house back to life. And a buyer who discovered it all through Instagram. The story of how understanding a home—not just marketing it—helped 723 Esplanade sell for $1.5 million, in record time, and with

Or more accurately: why you probably shouldn’t let it lead. I was sitting an open house recently during one of New Orleans’ historic home tours when I started playing a private little game of hide-and-seek with myself. Not with the buyers. With ChatGPT.

I wrote Prepped to Sell because I wished there was something sellers could read before or after our first consultation that would help them feel less overwhelmed and more empowered. Over years of client conversations, listing launches, marketing strategy, and real-world experience, I realized we had already written the book—we just hadn’t pulled it together yet. This is that bridge between feeling stuck and making moves.

She’s the person who knows what form is missing before anyone else catches it. She knows who sued whom for what ten years ago and why it matters now. She understands the systems, risks, and institutional knowledge that quietly protect both clients and agents every single day.

Yes — legal commercial short-term rentals still exist in New Orleans, and yes, there is currently still a path to purchase and operate existing compliant commercial STR properties. This post explains that path and who can help.

Bridgerton’s architecture isn’t fantasy. See how New Orleans Greek Revival homes capture the same symmetry, drama, and historic presence.

Every homeowner has a project that lives louder in their head than it does in real life. I’ve now seen it enough times to give it a name.

Carnival season is here. Discover where Team Cool Murphy is actually buying King Cake in 2026—from longtime favorites to new spins across New Orleans.

I’ve repeated the line for years: “Homes in New Orleans sell in the spring.” Then I started questioning it. This piece is what I found when I stopped relying on folklore and started tracking buyer commitment instead. It’s January 28 — and the season may already be underway.

Paris had La Belle Époque — the moment when the world finally saw what had been there all along. New Orleans is having that moment now. I’m calling it Authenticism: a return to good old things, real materials, and homes that still carry their stories. If you’ve ever loved brick, plaster, old wood, and rooms that feel like they’ve been lived in… this one’s for you.

We used to pray for rainy days at Six Flags because the lines disappeared. House hunting works the same way. Here is why rainy open houses are a secret weapon.