All Forum Posts by: Eric Castelli

@Robert E Samuels - Happy to provide my two cents on this.  Please shoot me a PM and we can chat further.

Thanks,
Eric

Thanks @Kyle Eckert! 

I have been investing in 2 families in South St. Louis for many years and have done a pretty good job building out my "team" of professionals.  Yet, the one resource I have been able to find is a professional & reliable maintenance/handyman company.  I have tried multiple "handymen", and they all seem to be unresponsive, unreliable, or just do poor work.  As a result, I have been dealing with all maintenance and unit make readies myself.  Does anyone know or have reliable company (not just a guy and a truck) that I could rely on for all my maintenance requests and unit make readies in South St. Louis? I am totally fine paying a monthly retainer and a generous rate just to know I have a company I can trust to be responsive, professional and do good work.

Thanks in advance for any references here!

Thanks,
Eric

On my two families in south STL, I generally see the following:

-Sewer/MSD - around $90/mo per property
-Water/Trash - around $175 per quarter (or about $58 per month)

All my tenants pay gas and electric so I can't speak to these exactly.  In the times these are in my name due to a vacancy or I am rehabbing a unit, I usually see a combined total between gas and electric of $100/unit/month (higher gas in winter, higher electric in summer).

For insurance, I usually pay around $100/mo, but only insure for purchase price.  Taxes generally run around $100/mo as well.

Hope this helps.

Eric

Sure thing - shoot me a PM and I can provide my realtor's info.  She is a rock star and an investor herself.

Thanks,
Eric

@Megan Greathouse - I don't have a go to electrician, but for plumbers I have used several in the past and Sure Fix in Dutchtown rocks!  Ron the owner is a great guy and he and is team always get someone over the same day and do great work.  Definitely a great resource for South City!

@Yair Gafni - Do you live in STL or just looking from an outside perspective?  Also, are you looking from a flip perspective or a buy and hold one?

@Jerald Sander

I have heard the 7' requirement tossed around regarding a space qualifying as a bedroom in St. Louis City in general, but not sure on the section 8 side of things.   From a city perspective I have heard that the space above 7' qualifies as livable space and anything below is excluded.  However, I am not sure how accurate this is and whether this applies on the section 8 side of things.  My guess is that when it comes to section 8, this might depend on each office/region, and may not be federally regulated. In either case, I'd reach out to the local section 8 office for the official verdict on this.

@Alex J Walk - No problem.  I invest solely in South City but am 100% focused on cash flow.   Again, not trying to dissuade you from the East Side, just trying to share my experience.  Happy to connect further and meet if you'd like.  Just shoot me a PM.

@Alex J Walk- I live on the East Side and spent the better part of a year analyzing small multi buy and hold deals here.  Ultimately I came to the conclusion that the real estate taxes on the IL side and lower inventory make it darn tough to make work.  I have met some folks who do, but I ended up just investing in STL where the taxes are low and inventory is high and haven't turned back since.  Not trying to discourage you from investing in IL, but just wanted to share my learning experience.