Blog > Blog > 2008 > August

August 14, 2008 at 3:54 pm

Following a couple of delays, and still with a few strings attached, the purchase of my new home and office was finally closed today. I was reluctant to post much about it until I closed, but now its open season. This image is a picture of the front facade of the building. Many of the others I have taken have personal items of current and former tenants, but those included should give you an idea of the makeup of the building. Read more

August 14, 2008 at 3:17 pm

I’ve been dropping tidbits about this project for months so I figured it was about time I produced some more details. Especially since this Benton Park West microbrewery will finally be open soon.  I managed to meet up with owner Mike Glodeck yesterday and finally got a chance to take a look inside. Read more

August 14, 2008 at 2:45 pm

I’m not the right guy to review the quality of a restaurant so I figured I would point you to someone more qualified. Joe Bonwich just reviewed the Stable in the Post Dispatch and you can see it for yourself here. I was happy with my food during my one visit there for dinner, but I really entjoyed the late night atmoshpere, which I sampled twice. The outdoor seating area looks to be about done and business seams to be booming. If only they would get their in house brewing and distiling up and running.

August 13, 2008 at 5:56 pm

I posted on this 39 unit condo development a few months ago and I thought it was time to give an update. Still no exact date for when the project will be done, but judging by the look of things it should be done soon. Street level retail is still in the works for the section of the building that fronts Jefferson, but there is still no word on any tenants. Read more

August 12, 2008 at 3:50 pm

This is probably old news to most of you, but if you don’t already know about Google’s new Street View feature on Google Maps you’re missing out on a valuable tool. This new feature actually allows you to see photos taken from virtually every street in a densely populated area. You can even zoom in and pan up and down streets. It’s pretty amazing.

So what does this have to do with investment real estate? Simply that it can be a time saver. You can now preview any block (I think) in South St. Louis from this site. Many times when I take a client to see a building, they decide by simply driving down the block whether they are interested or not. Now you can get a least of symbolance of this from your computer. Even if you would never use it for that purpose, its still fun to play with. Check it out for yourself.

August 11, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Other than which building to buy, the most important question to ask yourself when investing in real estate is “How am I going to pay for this?” If you’re loaded with cash and have a ton of equity built up in your house and other investments, this is a pretty easy question to answer. But for most of us, things aren’t quite so simple. Read more

August 11, 2008 at 4:08 pm

I was just looking through all the articles I have written since I started this blog and I was astounded at how rarely I talk about financing. Since it could be argued that it is one of the most important parts of investing in real estate, I consider this a pretty glaring omission. One that will be remedied starting today.

One thing I will point out, however, is that I am certainly not an expert in the field of loans and financing. I’m good with numbers and such, but I always have felt that questions related to loans are better left to the specialists. The one thing I forget about sometimes is that even though I am not an expert on the subject, I am certainly not a layman. I see the trends and that’s what I will be discussing from here on out. My goal is try to post something about financing trends and news each week to keep you up to snuff. I have a few other ideas, but it will be a few weeks before I have a change to flesh any of these out. If you have and suggestions I’m all ears. In the meantime, you can see my first attempt at this effort here.

August 11, 2008 at 10:43 am

I was hoping to post pictures of my new office and home this afternoon. I was originally set to close last Thursday on the property, but the commercial tenant still hadn’t vacated and we had to push it to today. Now it looks like we have to delay it again. For another week! Seems that the fates are against me. Sometimes real estate transactions can be so frustrating.

August 7, 2008 at 6:15 pm

Hopefully Sage’s Art House project will be getting start soon, but in the meantime I thought I’d share the updated website on the project. We need more of  this kind of developmentin town. If you have no idea what I am talking about check out my previous post on the subject.

August 7, 2008 at 5:47 pm

One of the most common questions landlords face when managing their apartments is whether or not to allow pets in their property. We all know the negative side of having pets: they can pee on the carpet, scratch hardwood floors, chew on cabinets corners… You get the idea. But if you don’t consider the positive aspects of allowing them in your rental units you could be selling yourself short. Read more

August 7, 2008 at 1:44 pm

We’re now entering the home stretch of the project. And it couldn’t come any sooner. We’re looking good on our overall budget and profit margins, but things have taken longer than we hoped. We won’t be done in a week’s time, but the only thing left will be minor finishing projects. At least I finished floating out the original plaster walls. Read more

August 6, 2008 at 6:12 pm

After spending years in limbo with title issues (it was a DHP property if that means anything to you), 4101 Magnolia is finally getting another chance to shine. This former 24 apartment complex just off Tower Grove Park will soon be transformed into condos. The project will be marketed as Magnolia Place. Read more

August 5, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Since Ballpark Village is finally underway (note the sarcasm), I guess its time to think about the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Or at least, that’s what Major League baseball seems to think. The Post Dispatch just revealed the logo for next year’s big game. Its kind of sad to think that we’ll be happy if the Village has even gotten off the ground by then. At one point, the first phase was supposed to be done by the game. Just trying to keep things in scale.

August 4, 2008 at 10:04 pm

The Post Dispatch is reporting that the Cardinals will begin site work on the future site of Ballpark Village on Tuesday, August 5th. I was listening to the ballgame on the radio the other day and Mike Shannon kept talking about a big announcement coming this Tuesday. I was hoping for something a little more than this, but I guess its better than the status quo. Check out the article for yourself: Work could begin soon on Ballpark Village site

August 1, 2008 at 10:46 pm

I was doing a little more research on the new federal housing legislation after posting about it this afternoon and I ran across an interesting concept on the Cato Institute’s website: Get rid of Fannie May and Freddie Mac. Not something that had really crossed my mind, but the author makes some pretty good points. You can take a look for yourself here. I doubt it would happen, but it could work.

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