Stephen Keighery has an unusual reaction when he walks into properties that make most people cringe. The peeling paint, structural damage, and decades of neglect that send traditional buyers running actually make him excited about the possibilities ahead.

After more than 200 transactions through Home Buyer Louisiana, Keighery has developed what sets successful investors apart from the rest: the ability to see beyond current conditions to what a property could become. This skill represents more than simple renovation planning. It’s a complete reimagining of how value gets created in real estate.

A Different Way of Looking at Real Estate

Photo Courtesy: Home Buyer Louisiana

Most buyers touring a distressed property create a mental list of everything that’s wrong. Broken HVAC systems, outdated kitchens, and foundation concerns. Each problem adds up to reasons why the property isn’t worth pursuing or why the price needs to drop significantly.

Keighery processes the same information through a completely different lens. Walking through deteriorating New Orleans homes, he focuses on original architectural elements that others overlook. “We see the old fireplaces, which are very New Orleans,” he explains. “We see the details that are great because we see the vision of what it will be. We don’t care what it looks like now.”

Those historic details like crown molding, heart pine floors, and the tall ceilings characteristic of the city’s older homes represent hidden value that poor maintenance has simply obscured. Once a property reaches move-in-ready condition, there’s no opportunity left for an investor to add value. The work has been done and the margin captured. “When the houses are that diamond in the rough, we can come in and fix them up and make them shine,” Keighery notes. “That’s how we can add value, and we make money because we’re doing that and adding value to the properties.”

Beautiful homes suit homeowners. Distressed properties create opportunities for investors with the vision and capability to transform them.

Understanding the Stories Behind the Properties

Keighery’s perspective extends beyond physical structures to the human circumstances they represent. Every distressed property connects to someone’s challenging situation, and recognizing that reality changes everything about how acquisitions get approached.

“People would be surprised at just some of the situations people are in and how they live,” Keighery reflects with clear empathy. He’s worked with families living without utilities after losing a parent, residents drawing electricity from neighboring properties while managing without running water. These circumstances don’t reflect poor choices but rather situations that have overwhelmed people dealing with loss, financial strain, or inherited complications.

This understanding reshapes the entire transaction dynamic. “We don’t judge,” Keighery emphasizes. “We enjoy helping them move on, getting them a cash offer so they can turn that asset into cash.”

Each property represents a family stuck in years of probate complications, homeowners trying to move forward after personal loss, or heirs managing inherited properties they feel disconnected from but are responsible for. Investors focused purely on transactions tend to pressure sellers and optimize only for their own returns. Those who recognize the human element approach negotiations with patience, respect, and genuine problem-solving rather than simple value extraction.

Creating Value Rather Than Just Finding It

Keighery’s approach challenges conventional assumptions about real estate value. Most people think of value as something that exists inherently in properties, as if well-maintained homes in strong neighborhoods are simply worth more by nature.

The reality is more nuanced. Value gets created through specific actions and capabilities, not just discovered. A distressed property in a struggling neighborhood is no less valuable; it’s a different type of opportunity requiring different skills to unlock.

This is where Keighery’s background in building the Hipages Group in Australia becomes relevant. That company created value by solving matching problems in a two-sided marketplace, connecting homeowners with contractors. Real estate wholesaling operates on similar principles, linking distressed sellers with investors who can add value through renovation.

Home Buyer Louisiana doesn’t simply buy low and sell high. The company systematically creates value by addressing problems others avoid. Complex succession issues? The team has developed processes and attorney relationships to navigate them. Title problems from generations of informal property transfers? They’ve built expertise in clearing these complications. Properties in conditions that make traditional financing impossible? They have capital and systems for all-cash purchases.

This problem-solving capacity generates returns, not just buying at favorable prices. “We take those houses that are like that, and we revitalize them,” Keighery explains. “It fixes the whole area up.” Individual property transformations contribute to broader neighborhood improvements, enhancing the value of future investments in a compounding cycle.

Why Louisiana’s Complexity Creates Opportunity

The ability to see potential where others see obstacles provides a genuine competitive advantage, particularly in Louisiana’s distinctive market. The state’s legal complexity involving succession issues, title problems, storm damage, and hyper-local pricing creates barriers that national investors struggle to overcome.

“I quite like this market for myself because it’s hard for people to enter,” Keighery acknowledges. “The national companies and bigger players, it’s really hard for them to come in.” The complications that discourage others create space for investors with local expertise and systematic approaches to handle them.

While Home Buyer Louisiana has built data-driven processes for evaluating properties remotely, the real advantage isn’t technological. Walking into a deteriorating house and immediately identifying what makes it special, understanding what the neighborhood values, knowing which renovations will generate optimal returns, that comes from experience, local knowledge, and a fundamentally different way of processing information.

Building Communities, Not Just Portfolios

Perhaps the most significant aspect of Keighery’s approach is how it shapes his relationship with the communities where he invests. Investors focused only on transactions tend to extract value and move on. Those who see potential in both properties and neighborhoods build something more sustainable.

“We get a lot of satisfaction going in and fixing those properties up and revitalizing neighborhoods,” Keighery shares. This reflects genuine appreciation for transformation, not corporate messaging. Taking abandoned or neglected houses, restoring their character, and returning them to productive use creates value for everyone involved: sellers who can move forward, neighborhoods that gain renovated properties, and eventual buyers or renters who get quality housing.

This alignment, where business success requires positive community impac,t represents the most durable form of competitive advantage. Home Buyer Louisiana thrives not by outmaneuvering competitors but by creating value others can’t, solving problems others won’t, and recognizing potential others miss.

Scaling the Vision

As Keighery expands operations from New Orleans into Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, this distinctive perspective becomes even more crucial. Each market presents unique opportunities requiring local insight to identify and systematic capabilities to capture.

“We still feel local even when we’re not,” Keighery explains about the expansion strategy. The transferable asset is the vision itself, the ability to spot undervalued properties, understand neighborhood dynamics, and see transformation potential that others overlook.

In an industry often characterized by short-term thinking and extractive practices, Keighery’s approach offers an alternative: patient vision to identify diamonds in the rough, systematic capability to transform them, and ethical commitment to create value for all stakeholders. That perspective, seeing potential where others see only problems, might be the most valuable asset any real estate investor can develop.

About Stephen Keighery 

Stephen Keighery is the founder of Home Buyer Louisiana and a real estate investor with over 200 deals across Louisiana. After helping build an ASX-listed tech company in Australia, he relocated to New Orleans and applied his two-sided marketplace expertise to transform distressed property investing. 

He’s an active mentor in the Louisiana real estate community through the New Orleans Real Estate Investors Association and Westbank Real Estate Investors group, and invests in early-stage companies through Gulf South Angels.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional financial, legal, or real estate advice. Real estate investments, including the renovation and transformation of distressed properties, carry inherent risks and may not be suitable for all investors. It is important to conduct thorough research and consult with licensed professionals, including real estate agents, attorneys, and financial advisors, before engaging in any real estate transactions or investments. Investment outcomes can vary based on market conditions, property specifics, and individual circumstances.