The Rotary Club of Ville Platte heard from Realtor Lana Manuel Soileau at their noon luncheon meeting today (Tuesday). She was the guest of Rotarian Darin Bordelon.

    Lana works for Keller-Williams Real Estate and is based in Opelousas. She and six real estate agents sell properties throughout Acadiana. She concentrates in Evangeline and St. Landry parishes.

   In Evangeline Parish,, her firm has increased 89 percent in sales of property over the same period a year ago. However the average sale price has decreased because people are moving out of town and property values have decreased.

   She said “Ville Platte is a great town and there is so much great potential right here if people could work together and re-grow this town.”

   She shared with club members the advantages of listing your property with a full service real estate agent over selling it directly.

   Lana credits social media for the great majority of her business.

   In other business, the club heard from two students who just returned from the  Rotary summer camp known as Camp Rylla:  Callie Pitre and Darrelyn Lachney. Both received Rotary Club scholarships. Pitre plans to attend U.L. Lafayette majoring in psychology and Lachney will be attending LSU Eunice for nursing.