Early in my real estate career, one of my mentors told me an analogy. “Neighborhoods are like mutual funds and individual homes are like stocks,” he explained further, “values rise and fall independently but they all have an effect on the overall quality of the neighborhood.” By the same reasoning, the overall value of the City of St Louis can be based on the quality of the individual neighborhoods.
One thing that’s interesting about the urban renaissance in St Louis is when people are looking to relocate to St Louis City from the surrounding area, its amazing how little they know about the options they have. Working with buyer’s Downtown and in the Central West End, there are some folks that start by looking at the chic urban condo or loft. In the process of looking, we talk and start to uncover that they really aren’t wanting the “community lifestyle” of a condominium project, but still want a walkable, urban experience. That’s when the fun begins! Putting on the tour guide hat and helping people learn about what neighborhoods are out there and what sort of feel they want. It was the lack of knowledge about city neighborhoods that was really what inspired the creation of this blog.
One time, a St Louis County resident that grew up in Dutchtown was with me in the car. I asked them, “what do you think about Compton Heights?” They replied that they hadn’t ever seen the neighborhood. Having grown up exactly 2 miles away, and living in St Louis their whole life, I was both suprised and frustrated. We took a drive through the neighborhoood and they were amazed by the stunning mansions and beatifully winding streets. They weren’t looking to buy a mansion, but now they know that they exist in South City.
Last week I was showing homes in the Skinker-DeBallievere neighborhood when I passed Greg Freeman Park. I was glad to see a park named in his honor in his neighborhood. I was reminded of a truly motivating speech he had given about the need for city residents to identify and embrace the diverse groups of neighborhoods in Saint Louis City. At the time, most city residents couldn’t readily identify more than a few specific neighborhoods. Rather than St Louis neighborhoods, overall regions, “Southside”, Northside” were used. Since that presentation, public knowledge of the different neighborhoods and their gentrification have increased. Still a lack of understanding exists.
Lately, in selling St Louis City Real Estate, we cross neighborhood lines, and do our best to explain where we are and what makes that neighborhood special. We’ve also been working with many folks that work hard within their own neighborhoods to make things better every day. Our goal in the next year is to work to highlight these city neighborhoods and the activity going on to rebuild them and make them more livable for all St Louisans. That is the point of our ongoing series ‘City Neighborhoods 101.’
Look for more information coming soon!
STL CITY LIVING 