The State of Real Estate
The April 2005 issue of St. Louis Magazine includes their annual ‘2005 Real Estate Guide.’ This magazine is mostly, in my view, a West County society magazine.
One agent is quoted as saying, “I am seeing people looking seriously at Lafayette Square. In one week, I did two sales down there.” In 2005 some people are just now waking up to Lafayette Square. Old St. Louis notion #1 – the city is “down there.”
The magazine promotes downtown lofts but from a different perspective than I am accustomed:
“In the heart of downtown, lofts have become the trendy and affordable way to downsize, while contributing to the revitalization of the Washington Avenue area. But the area is still not a guaranteed investment.”
To affluent county folks with 5,000sf McMansions I guess a downtown loft is both a downsize and affordable. Despite the number of lofts built in the last few years it doesn’t seem like demand can be met. But what is with the “not a guaranteed investment” comment? No real estate purchase is a guaranteed investment. Old St. Louis notion #2 – buying in the city is risky. If you want a risky investment buy a vinyl clad ranch in a subdivision 45 minutes from downtown St. Louis. The magazine quoted a real estate appraiser as a backup of this view:
“I’m having some concerns about lofts. I haven’t seen many resales yet. A lot of these folks are going to be transferred to other jobs. We’ll be able to tell in two to four years when the young, single families start having kids and move out.”
Old St. Louis notion #3 – people with kids leave the city if they can afford to. I know of people with school age children moving to downtown and midtown. Many families live in the city – sending their children to public, magnet, private, and parochial. Still others home school. The choices are many. For some city couples the lower property taxes in the city plus not necessarily having two cars more than pays for private schooling. Other parents find not spending hours driving to and from work or from subdivision to mall to industrial park gives them more time to spend with their kids and at their kid’s school. There is no substitute for parental participation.
“Another sizzling neighborhood is Maplewood.”
First, Maplewood is a municipality – not a neighborhood. People need to stop throwing the word neighborhood around so indiscriminately. Municipalities and subdivisions are not neighborhoods. Old St. Louis notion #4 – anyplace is a neighborhood. New Urbanists have developed a list of 13 elements that most neighborhoods have. Click here and scroll down to see the elements of a neighborhood. That having been said, Maplewood does contain some great neighborhoods.
“There are great deals to be had in neighborhoods such as Forest Park Southeast and Old North St. Louis”, states the article. Wow, finally something good. Oh wait, “but buying in these areas is risky, because while some neighborhoods, such as Lafayette Square, can safely be called revitalized, others have a more uncertain future.” Old St. Louis notion #5 – anything not mostly white is risky. Buying real estate involves risk. I’ll agree that FPSE and ONSL involve greater risk than say Lafayette Square. I don’t think it is necessary to keep reinforcing this idea. If we continue calling an area risky guess what, it will remain risky!
In their buy or rent section you are advised to rent if, “Your job requires a substantial amount of travel.” Again, I disagree. Many downtown loft owners travel. They enjoy being able to get to the airport via MetroLink. The connectedness offered by loft living and Washington Avenue gives loft owning travelers a sense of belonging when they are in town and excellent tax benefits. The two-page spread of sale stats includes median days on market. At 188 days downtown looks like things don’t move. Since many lofts go on the market as soon as the developer buys the building and establishes a unit price this is a bit misleading.
One of the biggest challenges in St. Louis is simply one of perception. This article does very little to change perceptions about the city. In fact, it reinforces the conventional thinking that has kept many suburbanites from considering the city.
– Steve
I think you need to send this in as a letter to the editor. I know I agree completely.
[Good point, I just emailed them a link to this post. – Steve]
Amen to all that, brother! I really appreciate your well-reasoned responses, when all I could manage was an “UGH!” I’m especially interested in debunking the whole “cities are no places for kids” myth, as my neighborhood is full of kids — some even school age, horror of horrors! — and we certainly hope to remain in the city if we are ever blessed with darling baby Darston-Moyles… Anyway, despite STL mag’s attempts to reinvent itself as hip and cool, let’s turn Virginia Slim on her head and say, “You’ve got a long way to go, baby.”
I never thought I would want to visit St Louis but the more I read / hear about the city the more I want to…. what’s happening on the street tells the story not the “old” media…
Keep up the great work.
[Thanks Joe, I think St. Louis has much to offer the visitor and new resident. Give us a try but keep in mind unlike your home state of Florida we have a thing called Winter. – Steve]