Although I personally think its become a bit of a landmark, it seems the City of St. Louis just scored a victory against Jim Roos in the fight over his anti-eminent-domain sign in Bohemian Hill. the U.S. District Court apparently feels that the City was in the right when they told Mr. Roos he had to remove the sign in 2007.

Roos painted the sign on a building in the Bohemian Hill neighborhood, which is sandwiched between Soulard and Lafayette Square, when the City threatened to take away buildings from property owners in the to make way for the semi-defunct Georgian Square mixed-use development.

Three years later, the only part of this project to see the light of day has been a Walgreens, but many in the area fear that talks of the larger project will again be revived when the economy starts to turn around. No word yet on whether Roos will appeal the decision.

[St. Louis Post Dispatch]

Looks like Shaw’s newest restaurant has opened its doors. Focusing on homestyle, comfort food, Mama Josephine’s is located at 4000 Shaw. For more information, check out Mama Josephine’s own website or their page on UrbanSpoon.

Check out our previous article for more background information.

The vacant lot at 3506 Morganford was formerly occupied by a gas station. Last summer, Tower Grove South neighborhood residents made attempts at creating garden at the site, but other than that, the property has been idle since the gas station left. Like so many other sites around the City, the remaining underground gas tanks were a health hazard and hurdle for potential developers.

Looks like someone made a pet project of cleaning the place up because the gas tanks have now been removed. Crews from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources finished removing the tanks last week. Now that the site has been cleaned up, it will be interesting to see if the City can find any takers for this LRA-owned land. For more information on the property, check out the LRA for sale listing.

This property in the Tower Grove South neighborhood of St. Louis has been an eyesore for quite some time now. Rehab work has started and stopped a few times at the site already. Located at the SE corner of Oak Hill and Potomac, this 8,400 sq ft 12-family property is now in the process of being converted to a 6-family.

Plans originally called for the six units to be condos, but there is no word yet on which way the finished product will be for sale or rental. Regardless, considering the fact the building has been in need of rehab for over ten years, I’m sure the neighbors will be happy will the change.

So you’re on board with the idea that investing in real estate is profitable and think you have the right personality to be an investor? Great! Now comes the hard part: Paying for it. This is THE issue that makes or breaks your ability to be an investor. There are opportunities around every corner, but if you don’t have access to money, your investing days are over before they begin.

Unless you are going to owner-occupy a property,  you simply must be able to bring cash to the table. The days of 100% loan are long, long gone. Putting 25% is pretty much the norm for most loans nowadays. Not only that, but other than FHA 203K loans, finding a lender who is willing to finance repairs is nearly impossible. Most of the best deals on the market today involve distressed properties that need work.  So you’re e going to have to find the money to pay for fix-up if you want to be able to get into these deals. At least until the property seasons long enough to refinance.

Whether you are financing properties or not, the reality is that you are going to need at least $25,000 to do much of anything in this market. Even a $60,000 house or duplex is going to take $15,000 cash down to secure financing, and you’re going to be hard pressed to find something that doesn’t need at least $10,000 worth of work. If you can meet that threshold without overextending yourself, you can probably swing a deal.

So now that you know how much you need, assuming you don’t have a truckl0ad of cash sitting around, you’ll need to determine how you are going to get all that money together. Here are a few options in the current market: Read more

For the last two weeks I have been in a pretty upbeat mood. I had finally got my rehab project at 3969 Humphrey under contract and a smooth closing looked to be all but a sure thing.

Now, the contract has fallen through and the property is back on the market (a steal at $127,750 if you are looking for a house ) . So what happened? The appraisal came in last night. It came in at $101,000! For my gut-rehabbed house! All I can say is that the appraiser in question doesn’t know the area. Every single comp pulled was from south of Utah. Streets like McDonald and Fairview. Anyone that knows Tower Grove South knows that the area south of Utah is almost a different neighborhood. More appropriate comps on streets like Utah, Humphrey and Wyoming were ignored in favor of the lower values streets to the south.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the appraiser adjusted the comp prices downward because I only have a parking pad instead of a garage. That is all well and good, except adjustments are a two-way street. I replaced all the electric, plumbing, HVAC, windows and flooring my rehab. Was that the case for the comps? No. But the appraiser did not make positive adjustments on my behalf. It was clear that the man did not know the area and is totally unfamiliar with the concept that rehabbed properties are worth more than properties with 50 year old systems. According to this appraisers logic, the $20,000+ put in to update the systems was a financial waste.

I am frustrated, but I am not worried. There are quite  a few other interested parties coming forward that can see the realities of the property. That can appreciate it’s REAL value. But take my lesson to heart. Don’t just assume the appraisal on your transaction will go smoothly. Common sense does not always rule. Assume that the appraiser doesn’t know the area and make sure you do a little homework and prep some comps of your own prior to the appraisal. Send these over to the appraiser to help point them in the right direction. Some of the more headstrong in the appraisal trade might take offense to this, but with ludicrous appraisals popping up from time to time, it is clear that some are in need this kind of direction.

The grass is always greener, right? When you hear so many stories about people making a killing on real estate, it can be hard not to feel a little envious.  There is no doubt that real estate can be very profitable,  just don’t fool yourself into to thinking that it is easy money. It isn’t.  When it comes to real estate investing, it takes a lot of work to be successful, and not everybody is cut out for it.

The so-caller “real estate experts,” publishing books and producing television shows about real estate investing, tend to show you the rosy side of things. They are trying to sell their books or get you to watch their show, so why shouldn’t they? They probably wouldn’t  do too well if they scared you off with doomsday scenarios. But if you are considering taking the plunge from watching others invest in real estate for entertainment, and actually doing it yourself, you need to wake up to a harsh reality: Investing in real estate is not easy. Read more

Over the past few years, the St. Louis Board of Alderman have debated the prospected of a vacant property registration system numerous times. One bill almost passed about a year ago. Not taking no for an answer, Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett brought the issue back up recently. The new bill corrected many of the issues with the previous versions, but many in the real estate industry felt the bill still had unfair aspects.

Apparently, the Board of Alderman did not agree. I have been unable to officially verify this, or who specifically voted for it, but the bill passed this morning. From now on, whenever a property is vacant in the City of St. Louis for at least six months, and has recorded code violations, it must be registered with the City. The owner must provide their contact info and pay an annual $200 fee.  The provided information will then be placed on a  publicly available database. There will be some exceptions to this, but I still don’t know at this point if there were any last minute alterations to the bill before it was passed. Check back for more details and implications soon.

For more, check out the official Bill #322 website.

Real estate investing can be a lucrative and rewarding enterprise. It can also be a frustrating and profitless exercise. You could write a 1,000 instructional book on all the dos and don’ts of investing, but perhaps the first and most important question to as is simply “Why?” “Why should I invest in real estate and not put my money in savings or stocks?”

The most important benefits of real estate investing are related to the generous return on investment and the ability to control your own destiny. Real estate offers a great way to make significant profits quickly for the self-starters out there. Here is a detailed breakdown of some of these benefits: Read more

Even in the best of economic times, real estate developments fall through all the time. In a recession, this trend can become an epidemic. One seeming victim to this trend is the proposed Pelican Place project at 2232 and 2256 South Grand in the Compton Heights neighborhood.

The Planning & Urban Design Agency of the City of St. Louis published development details back in August of 2006. The former YMCA building at the site was to be torn down and replaced by a mixed-use development. The historic Pelican building at the corner of Shenandoah and Grand was to be restored to historic alignment, which would have seen the removal of the the ghastly 1-story addition to the north. The plans looked pretty great.

In 2007, demo began on the Pelican building and leasing signs for the finished project went up. Things looked like they were on the fast track. Unfortunately, over the following two years, nothing seemed to happen. Other than the grass at the site becoming overgrown.

In May 2009, the St. Louis Post Dispatch was reporting that the project was still moving forward with Snap Fitness as the anchoring tenant in the 37,000 Sq Ft project. Nearly one year later, the site remains untouched. The poor economy, as well as the sluggish sales at the nearby Compton Gate Condos seem to be the likely holdups.

Thankfully, the surrounding area has continued to improve in terms of residential development. Once things start top loosen up economically, this project seems to stand a good chance of actually coming together. In some form or another. South Grand between Arsenal and I-44 has become a pretty nice stretch, but a project like this could really push things over the edge. Hopefully something gels sooner rather than later. Here is a look at the current site.

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