About Jesse
I chose this city on purpose. I help other people do the same.
I go to every Mardi Gras parade I can make it to, every festival I can squeeze in, every pop-up and local spot worth talking about. A perfect Saturday is a morning walk through Mid-City counting street cats, a coffee at Sacred Grinds, an afternoon thrifting down Magazine Street, and the Canal streetcar downtown after dark. I'm not just someone who sells real estate here. I'm someone who is genuinely, fully in it.
I came to New Orleans to study music industry at Loyola University New Orleans, where I graduated with honors in philosophy. I'd always loved music, I just realized I didn't love the business of it. The philosophy department pulled me in and never let go. If you spend enough time with me, you'll notice that self-awareness and the willingness to see all sides of a situation come through in everything I do. I'll always play devil's advocate for you, even when it's not what you want to hear, because my job is to make sure you're making the right decision, not just a decision.
“I went from refusing to do it to refusing to do anything else.”
I grew up outside Philadelphia, fell for this city young visiting my aunt, and begged my parents to move us here. They didn't, so I made it home the first chance I got. My aunt, MJ Sauer, has been building, renovating, buying, and selling real estate in New Orleans since 1999, and for years I swore I'd never join her. When I finally took the leap, I realized everything I cared about lived inside this work.
Today I'm a licensed REALTOR® and property manager with Urban Vision Properties, a boutique team at Keller Williams Realty New Orleans. I work alongside James Howell and my aunt, MJ Sauer, a broker with 20+ years in this market. Together we run a full service sales, leasing, and property management operation — managing a portfolio of more than 50 units, including furnished mid-term rentals (my specialty), long-term leases, and a select few short-term rentals.
I bought my first home at 23, rented out half of it, and lived in the other half. Now I rent out the whole thing and cash flow every month. I've been a buyer, a landlord, an investor, and a homeowner ever since — which means I've sat exactly where you're sitting. I don't just talk the talk. You get me as your point of contact and a full team behind every transaction.
The team behind every deal
Backed by Urban Vision Properties.
Urban Vision Properties started with founder MJ Sauer, who moved to New Orleans in the mid-1990s to earn a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans. She earned her real estate license in 1999, and in 2002 founded Urban Vision as a building and renovation company, restoring homes across the city's historic neighborhoods.
After Hurricane Katrina, MJ earned her broker's license and Urban Vision became a full real estate brokerage, helping owners, buyers, and fellow agents navigate a transformed post-Katrina market, while its building side kept restoring damaged properties and bringing them back to life.
Two decades later, Urban Vision is a full-service sales, leasing, and property management team operating as part of Keller Williams Realty New Orleans. Today the team is MJ Sauer, James Howell, and Jesse Coleman, managing a portfolio of 50+ units across the city alongside their sales and buyer-representation work.
When you work with us, you're not just getting one agent. You're getting MJ's two-plus decades of New Orleans real estate and renovation experience; James Howell, a longtime agent and New Orleans native whose deep knowledge of the city's history, culture, and housing stock, along with his genuine care for every client, shows in how hard he works to get buyers and sellers to their goals; and Jesse, the next generation carrying that same standard forward. All of us, behind every deal and every property we manage.