Moving to Saint Louis - Maryland Heights area..Help!!! (St. Louis: apartment complex, for rent)

[mystic97z]

i guess if you don't mind what your house looks like, these are 2 comparable prices i just searched on realtor.com

this one is in clayton, you would probably get ac/furnace that's old and outdated, metal windows, and baseboard, phone jacks, receptacles and switches that are all painted the same color and all painted to the concrete wall.


or this house in ofallon

[BoomBoxing]

You do realize that some people with older homes actually take the time out to care for their homes and update them, right? All else being equal, you honestly think the O'Fallon house looks nicer? I sure as hell don't, and I would expect most people (on here at least) would agree with me.

And you can't go just by price and think you will get an equal comparison of build quality of a house in O'Fallon versus Clayton. Clayton is one of the most, if not the most expensive place to live in the entire St. Louis area. People pay a premium to live there and for good reason.

[inahandbasket]

^ Mystic isn't a city guy, obviously....

Let him have the vinyl wrapped suburban house scene. Glad we're headed to U City to a gorgeous brick house in a beautiful neighborhood.

[moorlander]

Both of those houses are ugly.

[flynavyj]

Sorry Mystic, gotta side with everyone else.

There are always older homes out there that haven't been updated, but if you go into one of the most expensive areas in St. Louis, and find an older home, odds are it was taken care of by it's owners.

A few other things i typically notice about homes built in say the 1950's and earlier, vs homes built today...craftsmanship. With the exception of a couple 1950's homes i looked at in St. Louis most seemed to be built to last, and not built to "look good". Question, if you were to walk around the other three sides of the Clayton home, what material is it made out of? What if you do the same to the other three sides of the O'Fallon home? Did you also notice that you'll be sharing wall space with your neighbor in O'Fallon? (that home is a duplex/condo/villa) And coming from a man who once owned and lived in a half duplex, it's always great when the neighbors start arguing and you can hear it through your walls...lovely (even better when you can hear, other things ).

IF I had had the finances to live in Clayton, Richmond Heights, or the nicer areas of University City i would have been there in a heart beat. Close access to downtown, great neighborhoods, parks, shopping, restaurants, etc. But all things considered, i'd take 1950's area construction over modern construction any day. The front of the homes really should tell you all you need to know, "We put a nice facade on here to entice you in, but that's about as deep as it goes".

PS -

From where i'm currently living i always think it's kind of cool that there are three streets that make up my "subdivision". And in this subdivision there are no identical homes. From personal experience, that can make a huge difference when it comes time to resale...especially if your neighbors house is on the market at the same time as yours is...been there done that, (half duplex) and don't want to try that EVER again.

[moorlander]

That 2nd home looks like it was built in a corn field. An exact replica of the 140 other homes built on that same corn field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8StR...eature=related

[aragx6]

It's pretty clear, even from the small picture you posted, that that home in Clayton has updated windows. Why would you make that assumption?

And comparing a villa with a SFH is never an apples to apples comparison.

[mystic97z]

hey listen, i'm just starting crap for the fun of it because we always talk about it at work. like i said, i'm an electrician in the st. louis area. i work in chesterfield, ladue, clayton, u city, etc etc every single day for years and years. i just cringe when i go into u city and see phone wire stapled to the wall, and paint it's all painted over, wire, staples and all. god forbid i have to run wire in the basement, i hammer a staple into the floor joist and i have concrete crumbles from the plaster falling on my head. but i agree, take a nice home in ofallon, and put trash in it and the house will be trashy. but it will still have grounded romex, and drywall

[flynavyj]

I can see the appeal in doing work on newer homes and newer subdivisions, as opposed to ripping out knob and tube wiring and pulling down inline fuses to upgrade to a 200 amp service...I'd imagine that most of the work you do in newer homes will involve running romex so someone can mount their flat panel above the fireplace.

But that's the same of any industry. It's much easier working at a car dealership doing the first 40k miles of maintenance on a car, then coming back 20 years later and trying to diagnose and fix the same vehicle after everything has sat on it for 20 years...even if the brakes are new, and the car stayed waxed...some bolts still hasn't moved in 20 years.

I've always been torn on my house when it comes to the plaster walls. I love the character they give you, but i have very little experience dealing with, repairing, or modifying Lathe and Plaster...Hopefully, that will come with time. I did notice however than when the previous owners renovated the kitchen and bath they used drywall as opposed to more plaster, probably for the same reasons it's used so often today....But boy does the plaster keep sounds in one room.

[inahandbasket]

Originally Posted by mystic97z

hey listen, i'm just starting crap for the fun of it because we always talk about it at work. like i said, i'm an electrician in the st. louis area. i work in chesterfield, ladue, clayton, u city, etc etc every single day for years and years. i just cringe when i go into u city and see phone wire stapled to the wall, and paint it's all painted over, wire, staples and all. god forbid i have to run wire in the basement, i hammer a staple into the floor joist and i have concrete crumbles from the plaster falling on my head. but i agree, take a nice home in ofallon, and put trash in it and the house will be trashy. but it will still have grounded romex, and drywall

Are those exurban O'Fallon houses going to still be standing eighty to one hundred years from now like the houses in Shaw, Tower Grove South, Webster, Clayton, U City? I don't think so.

I get how all you're seeing is the updated wiring in a suburban tract house built ten years ago is so easy to access and repair; you're an electrician and probably a good one. But you're only 25 years old. You're too young to appreciate the overall superior bones of a house that was built one hundred years ago and is still habitable, moreover, is architecturally significant, esthetically beautiful and built to last.

Heck, in Europe, people are living in residences that are 500 years old.
Here's a story about a Swiss house built in 1287:
House of Bethlehem in Schwyz, built in 1287, is the oldest wooden dwelling in Europe. - swissinfo

Widen your perspective, young man and have a little less hubris, OK?