The Queen Of Algiers Point
- Elisa Cool Murphy
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 33 minutes ago
If you’ve ever met Darcie Braai, you know the calm she brings with her. The kind that feels like Spanish moss dancing on a rare welcome breeze — steady, familiar, and unmistakably New Orleans.
I met Darcie when she joined our team, back when Cool Murphy was still more idea than brokerage. She was working full-time for Ochsner, raising two boys, and keeping everything running while her husband, Rocky — who insists it’s pronounced Toosdae, not Tuesday — was away on a turnaround. She managed it all with humor and focus, never looking rushed, always somehow making space for everyone else.
A Home That Holds Its History
This year, her own home landed on the cover of Preservation in Print. That’s not small. Around here, it’s a kind of knighthood — the Preservation Resource Center’s way of saying, you’re helping keep the soul of the city intact.
Her 1896 four-bay Victorian shotgun in Algiers Point tells the story of what’s possible when someone loves a house enough to listen to it. Sunlight shifts across old floors; color-dipped shelves hold rows of glass bottles her family unearthed while renovating — medicine vials, inkwells, fragments of another century.
When NOLA.com wrote about their discovery of more than a hundred artifacts buried in the backyard, they captured something essential about her. Darcie doesn’t just preserve what’s beautiful. She restores what’s forgotten.
Roots That Cross Oceans
Darcie was born in Roatán, Honduras, and moved to the West Bank when she was three. Her family still lives on the island, and that connection — between land and sea, heritage and home — runs through everything she does.
She grew up understanding that belonging isn’t about one place; it’s about how you care for every place that claims you. Maybe that’s why she sees homes differently. To her, a shotgun on Pelican Avenue and a cottage on a Caribbean hillside share the same truth: the best homes aren’t perfect, they’re personal.
A traveler at heart, she’s visited more than fifteen countries and once conquered her fear of deep water by becoming PADI certified. Now she dives reefs off Roatán whenever she can. That courage — to go deeper, literally and figuratively — shows up in her real-estate work every day.
The Hard Part Is the Best Part
Darcie will tell you she’s an HGTV fan — a self-professed mega-fan — but she’s quick to laugh and say those shows skip the good part. “The hard part,” she says, “is where people grow.”
That’s where she thrives. Whether it’s a first-time buyer staring down a long inspection report or an investor trying to breathe life back into a blighted double, Darcie loves the puzzle of it. She knows how to look past the chaos and see potential — where the bones are good, where the risk is worth it, where the story can be saved.
It’s the same instinct that made her an invaluable Algiers Point real-estate expert. She’s not afraid of work that takes vision. And she brings the precision of her Ochsner background — systems, process, compassion — to every deal.
The Heartbeat of Algiers Point
When she’s not showing homes or combing MLS data, she’s helping lead the Real Housewives of Algiers Point, a community group that’s become one of the neighborhood’s backbones. They organize events, fundraisers, and small-business drives; they check in on neighbors; they keep the character of the Point intact.
She also serves on the board of Confetti Kids, the volunteer-led nonprofit that cares for the parks, parades and children’s programming in Algiers Point.
Through that work, Darcie’s become more than a familiar face. She’s become part of the rhythm — the laughter on the levee at sunset, the friendly voice calling across a porch.
A Changing Tide
There’s a quiet shift happening in Algiers Point. New homeowners are looking for someone who understands both the past and the potential of these streets, and they’re finding her.
Recently, a seller called Darcie to take over a listing — a symbolic moment in a market once ruled by the old guard. The message was clear: the future belongs to those who do the work differently.
Darcie’s rise isn’t about flash or noise. It’s about trust earned one conversation at a time.
Her listings move because people feel seen, understood, and taken care of. That kind of steadiness changes a neighborhood.
Why People Work With Darcie
Darcie believes real estate isn’t about quotas or transactions. “Too many Realtors see clients as a quota,” she says, “but clients are people with values. Their time, money, and feelings are valuable.”
That’s what her clients remember. She listens. She notices. She guides people through the hard part and makes them feel brave in the process.
When I call her the Queen of Algiers Point, it’s not because she claims the title. It’s because she embodies it — the balance, the work, the grace.
She’s built her career the same way she rebuilt her home: with integrity, curiosity, and love for what endures.
If you’re searching for homes for sale in Algiers Point, or simply wondering what makes this side of the river feel so alive, look for the woman whose calm carries like that rare welcome breeze.
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