Laura Schulze, early childhood education junior, has been jokingly asking her dad to buy her a house since she was a freshman.He always replied with a sarcastic, “OK.” But Schulze was surprised when, at the end of the fall semester last year, her dad’s biting “OK” turned into a confident, “Let’s go for it.”A Metairie native, Schulze lived in a residence hall since she stepped onto campus. She wanted a house that was close to the University.Even though many say the housing market is close to bottoming out, Schulze’s dad was confident.U.S. second quarter home prices dropped 4.8 percent compared to second quarter prices of 2007, according to a government report issued last month by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.National home prices fell 1.4 percent from the first to second quarters of this year, according to the report.Despite the discouraging figures, Baton Rouge home prices are faring well compared to other major cities. The study covered prices of existing homes and refinances. Baton Rouge prices this year have increased by 0.17 percent from the first quarter and by 2.88 percent in the past year. Louisiana home prices increased by 2.7 percent in the past year.Compared to states like California, Florida and Nevada — where home prices dropped by 15.8, 12.4 and 14.1 percent, respectively, in the past year — Baton Rouge and Louisiana as a whole are doing well.”You have to look at real estate locally,” said Tigue Bonneval, Coldwell Banker One real estate agent. “The bigger cities are getting the most attention. Baton Rouge is doing just fine — to me it’s healthy and stable.”Bonneval said local home prices have not had the appreciation seen after Hurricane Katrina, where the average home price increased by nearly 13 percent from 2005 to 2006. Hurricane Katrina was an exception because houses were in higher demand after the storm, Bonneval said.”After Katrina, people were paying top dollar,” Bonneval said. “Since then, things have settled down. We are definitely not at a stand still — [the market] is just not at the pace it was in ‘05 to ’06.”Although Bonneval thinks the national market is close to bottoming out, he also thinks the national media’s “doom and gloom” attitude toward the housing market is misleading.”The Baton Rouge market is actually an excellent market to be involved in real estate with right now,” Bonneval said. “I’m having one of the best years I’ve had since I’ve been in real estate.”Bonneval said the best advice he can give a college student looking to buy, sell or rent in the Baton Rouge market is to make sure to find a knowledgeable realtor. Schulze echoed his sentiment.”[My real estate agent] did a lot of my hard work,” Schulze said. “She treated me very professionally. I felt completely involved.”Schulze looked at about 25 properties in person and several hundred online. When she found a property she liked, she called her dad to look and possibly make an offer.”It was the biggest emotional rollercoaster,” Schulze said. After she fell in love with one of the first homes she looked at, Schulze’s parents made an offer on the house. The owners then decided not to sell. “When it didn’t work out it was devastating,” she said. “But everything worked out in the end.”Schulze is now living happily in her new home which is 15 minutes away from campus. She and her roommates, as she describes, are “renting” the house from her parents. The property turned out to be a great investment, Schulze said. Her two brothers will also use the house when they enroll at the University in the next few years. —-Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]