All Forum Posts by: Bob Hines

In St. Louis City, the Occupancy Permit is good for 12 months no matter how many tenants you have in that time period. I'm not sure how they work in the County, it may depend on municipality? All of mine are in the City.

I'm sorry to hear about all of your evictions, in 7+ years I have only had one and that was a pretty crazy story. Where are your properties located and what is your screening criteria?

Stick with the 50% rule over the 2% rule. 50% will guide you well where the 2% can lead you off track and into bad investments reaching for a higher on-paper yield. St. Louis offers many deals over 1.5% and even a good number over 2% but you need to analyze each property and know your area to make sure those numbers can actually be attained. The Tower Grove area offers lots of opportunity and lots of pitfalls, do your homework and you will do fine.

If you're new at landlording, you will soon figure out that tenants in St. Louis will freeze if it's less than 80* during the winter and will melt if it's warmer than 65* in the summer. I have no idea what would happen to them if they were ever to encounter those 15* in the middle.

A tenant emailed me last week saying that the thermostat was set at 79* but it was only 72* by another thermometer. I was tempted to respond "You're welcome" but decided against it. I went and changed the filter and she was much better. Same thing, 1920s brick building with old windows. I don't know why they want it so warm? 

If they don't like the electric bill, ask them how much their gas bills used to be during the winter. Lots of tenants prefer all electric units to avoid the gas bills (or have unpaid gas bills they are running from). I prefer all electric too as I can have heat during the winter and tenants are less likely to go without electricity than they are having the gas shut off.

Turn keys in St. Louis are a bad idea. Last week I drove by a 3/1 brick house listed for $25k that was in good condition, occupied, 2 car garage nice yard and would rent for $800-$850.....and I kept on driving. Not a good area. Not an area that will come back anytime soon (St Louis is block by block and some blocks in that area have potential but this wasn't one of them). Been on the market for months and resale would be really hard in the future and tenants would probably be Section 8 only and even at that, bottom of the barrel Section 8 too. But it sounds amazing on paper! Would be a decent buy for twice the price on paper. It always sounds good on paper.

Part of the decision of where your next property should be based on where your current one is. St. Louis isn't that big that you can't get properties all over the place but it sure is nice when they are all close to each other. It's also nice to focus on one area and get to know the market really well instead of scattering all over. U City and Tower Grove have a lot of differences being different jurisdictions and a different pool of tenants. I lived in South City for 10 years so I lean more to Tower Grove. I now live in St. Charles and have looked at other areas to invest in but I keep going back to the city with one of the big reasons being property taxes. Right now I average less than 1 month's rent (0.90 for 2015) for property taxes in the city. Other locations I looked at in the county and St. Charles averaged 1.5-2+ month's rent for property taxes. That is a big difference in profitability.

Congrats on your first one and good luck on the next one(s)! If you have any questions I will gladly share what I know.

$1400-$1500 for rent in St. Louis City? Really? That's your problem. Do you need granite and 4 bedrooms now that you have a baby? There are many great areas of town that you can rent for less than that and many good areas you can rent a house for nearly half of that (I know because I rent them out)!

If it's just you, wife & baby; a 2 bedroom apartment could easily be had for less than $1000 in Dogtown, west of Hampton, West of Kingshighway, Shaw, Holly Hills, Carondelet, St. Louis Hills, Tower Grove South, The Hill and all of those are great areas and a good place for a family. You could find many apartments for around $800 in most of those areas. If you want a house, you could probably rent a house for less than $1400 in in each of those areas as well. I have several houses in good parts of Dutchtown that border some of those great areas that rent for $750-$900.  

Safety is a feeling. Look at actual numbers and statistics. Come to the understanding that bad stuff can happen anywhere-randomness (even the County). And then you will realize there are actually few places in the city where bad stuff is common.

My guess, is that with your quote of $1400-$1500 for rent, is that big and/or trendy is important to you. The only way that trendy pays off in St. Louis is if you can walk or ride your bike everywhere and are saving $600-$700/month on not having car payments/insurance/gas/car repair expenses.

If you truly want to get into REI and out of the rat race, you're going to have to get out of the rat race and start saving money. Fortunately St. Louis offers a wide selection of affordable rental options.

I always sign that agreement with my broker (usually after I bought and she needs to clean up her file to get paid but we are friends outside of RE too). I see where they have spots that can be filled in with those numbers but ours isn't filled in. Although I will usually get her some gift cards for my lower priced properties and if she has to do a lot of work. 

I would find another agent. If you're looking in Old Town St. Charles, the purchase price will be high enough for them to make a decent commission at 6% or even 5%. You could negotiate these points but if they are trying to pull that crap, I would be worried about what kind of agent they are. 

Now, maybe it is different in that you are an out of state buyer and that the agent has been burned by lots of 'tire-kickers' that they show around and don't end up buying anything. I could see a fee to recoup costs in that case. But to guarantee 7% in a pricier area AND $295, they're doing a money grab and I would move on. If you were buying cheap North County properties, I could see some minimum commissions set as you can buy $10k houses there. This doesn't seem appropriate at all for where you are looking.

It took months of joining half the block together, getting the Alderman & NSO involved to get a problem property on our block into nuisance court.  I don't believe one fight landed you there.  It takes a long list of complaints to make it there.

Check your contract.  I want to say that everything I have bought I specifically had to sign off on what inspections I wanted and what I did not-in fact, I think it is part of the standard contract that most real estate agents use in Missouri.  

Do not contact this woman again.  If you have a lawyer, maybe talk to them now.  If you don't have one, I don't think I would get one unless and until you get sued and served.  You will have to be served in person so they can't take you to court behind your back.  Most likely she is bluffing and if she does contact a lawyer(s), they will not take up the case.

I assume it's a sure thing St. Louis will build a new stadium.  It seems like the city is a sucker for any bad idea that comes along.  Now whether the Rams are the team that plays in it is the big unknown.