low budget housing (St. Louis, Florissant, University City: foreclosures, rent, condo)

[zach_33]

Suppose for a moment that you were a single adult, with or without a partner/roomate, but you had no kids or parents to care for, and you wanted to buy a servicable single family house (by serviceable I mean it is more or less move in ready, no major repairs needed to mechanicals, roof, foundation... windows and doors all fully functioning, no major water damage, etc) with the following requirements:
1) house needs to be 2 beds, 1 bath, call it 800 square feet minimum-- single family detached, not a condo, not a trailer or modular home.
2) total cost is $50k or less.
3) Crime is not rampant - drug sales/usage not out in open, residents do not uniformly put security bars on doors and windows, own fighting dogs and multiple hand guns. Average, law abiding person would feel safe walking around the block at 9:00 p.m. (for example) or sitting on the front porch to have a couple beers on Friday night.

I have my own ideas about where I would look, but I am curious to hear others opinions. Could be metro St. Louis or other areas.

[BoomBoxing]

50k is pushing it. I think you would have to go the foreclosure route and stick with north county, south city and south county. It probably wouldn't be in the best condition, but the bones of the house might be decent and if you're handy, then you can take on the cosmetic stuff.

I know a couple that bought a house close to my old one in North Hampton, which definitely meets all your requirements, for around 70k in 2009. It needed significant work but it wasn't anything structural.

[glamatomic]

DH & I ultimately spent a fair bit more than $50k but we did see a lot of houses around the $50k mark. However, as we decided we wanted to be in our home for a while, we were a bit fussier with our requirements (ie: double garage, 3 bed, 2 bath, finished basement) so the houses around the $50k mark weren't really an option for us.

We did however see a lot of decent properties at this price point with the needs you're describing.

Areas I would look at would be Ferguson and Florissant. Obviously there are good and bad areas of both- but I have been really pleasantly surprised with Florissant. There are still a lot of awesome little subdivisions here, very affordable and perfectly safe.

I think $50k for a safe / good neighborhood in the city with a 'no maintenance / updates required' house may be pushing it a bit. A lot of the listings and houses DH & I looked at around this price point in the city needed a LOT of work

[meredithhr]

Parts of 63111 would fit your needs quite nicely; as would parts of South Tower Grove park (63116) and 63110

[flynavyj]

Florissant would be high on my list as well, specifically some of the homes in old town where I've seen foreclosures at that price point. I've also seen homes 2Bd 1Ba homes in St. Ann going for just a bit more than that in good condition, some needing work much cheaper. There was a 2BD home needing work for $25k a few blocks over, and a small 2BD in "As is condition" don't know exactly how bad the condition was, but it was $10k...at that price, i thought of just buying the thing myself, if it hadn't already been under contract. grrrr.

[zach_33]

Interesting. @ meredith - For sure south city has some gems. I have seen some small homes in Tower Grove South list for right around $50 that seem totally livable - like off of Oak Hill, south of Utah, but not too far south. I didn't see them up close though, they may have needed major repairs, but I don't think so. Carondolet and the Patch also have some good candidates, but there are neighborhood "micro-climates" down there, particularly in the lower rent districts, with general perceptions of safety varying from block to block, maybe more so than TGS.

@ boom - You are right, Noho and Soho seem like a stretch - maybe too nice

@ fly and glam - Florissant sounds interesting. What boundaries define Old Town Florrisant, and is that a walkable area? I don't get up that direction often. I did some volunteer work at Central Elementary in Ferguson. The houses around there looked very nice, but the kids in the school - man, those were some tough little kids! I hear Ferguson has a nice restored business district, as well.

@ fly - sounds like you are ready to be a landlord! At those prices, I don't blame you.

[meredithhr]

For 63111, the closer to Bates- the better it seems. A property that we were thinking of buying as a rental- it was a 2 BDR off Wilmington that was 900 sq feet, very little work and it had an asking price of 21k. We submitted the offer too late, and I am still kicking myself over that one.

There are some good deals out there- but they do not remain on the market for very long at all.

For Tower Grove South- agree on your targets. It's a nice area, and as you get farther from the park (but not past Chippewa), you'll find some great blocks.

[jribe]

Here's a few i saw- pretty much anything in the price range is going to require some work- but these don't seem too bad:

7724 Dale, Richmond Heights $64,000
2536 Bredell, Richmond Heights, $54,900
2144 Mccausland, Richmond Heights $48,000
7809 Ahren University City $42,0000
1131 Birch University City $47,000