Where are you investing in St. Louis

[Frankie Woods]

Fellow investors!

Which areas / zip codes are you focusing on in St. Louis.  My properties are concentrated around Gravios park, but I'm looking to expand into better class neighborhoods.  I feel as if Benton Park West / East and Fox Park are great places, but it's getting hard to find good deals.

[Chris Long]

Originally posted by @Artie Shau:

Hey Frankie,  since I'm currently just starting out my personal investing markets that I'm getting familiar with are in my general vicinity.  I'm looking at Pattonville school district... Bridgeton / Maryland Heights / Saint Ann.

I'm hearing that studying where the residency rates are increasing along with understanding which businesses are establishing / expanding can be a great source of insight for understanding where the housing demand will be.

Would love to catch you and some of the other local folks at a meetup sometime.

 I am a huge can of the area you are talking about. It is great for those commuting to St. Charles County (fastest growing area in the region), the expansion of Westport Plaza has reinvigortated the nightlife in the area and the new World Wide Technologies headquarters is going to be great for the region.  Convienant access to major job centers and a much lower price point than suburbs directly to the south make it very attractive to renters and great for cash flow.  I have three thoughts I think anyone investing in this area should consider. 

1.  Proximity to highway 70 and 270 has a huge impact on demand and large effect on rental rates/home prices. 

2. Part of Maryland Heights and the unincorporated areas surrounding it are in the Parkway School District which is signifcantly better than Pattonville making this the most attractive place for flips in my opinion.

3. St. Ann has safe, well maintained great areas. There is a high crime section 8 type neighborhood within a few blocks of all of the good neighborhoods and knowing the area is super important. Comparable sales in the area can be very misleading unless you know the area.