Showing posts with label Saint Louis Real Estate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saint Louis Real Estate. Show all posts
Friday, August 5, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Castle Ballroom Makes the National Register Weekly Highlights!
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT
Castle Ballroom, St. Louis, Missouri
Built in 1908 in the Renaissance style, the Castle Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri was designed as a dance hall and dancing academy. The dance hall was one of the major venues for social dancing and dance instruction in St. Louis prior to the dawn of the Jazz Age. By the 1930s, changing tastes in music and the nature of social dancing had transformed the city’s dancing scene into one that was driven by jazz bands rather than dance orchestras. Demographics had also shifted significantly by 1930 so that the city’s largest African American neighborhood had developed around the Castle Ballroom. For the next two decades the dance hall remained an important venue for African Americans in St. Louis. Although the last dance was held sometime in 1952, the dance hall still retains integrity and awaits restoration
Content was taken from this link : National Register Weekly Highlight
Monday, August 1, 2011
Accidental Gal for the Job
I am not sure how I became the Real Estate Agent who seems to get Saint Louis' "challenge" properties that just so happen to be on the National Register of Historic Places, it just seemd to fall in my lap. True, I have only really had 3 listings on the Register up until this point, and only successfully have sold one (so far). That is besides the point, kinda. My goal is to start moving more into the marketing, selling and preservation of these properties as a sub-niche is you will. After spending over a year on Sugar Loaf Mound, I think I can handle just about anything.
So here is the story:
One day, sitting at my old RE office I picked up the phone and it just so happened to be someone wanting to list their property. I was excited, I mean really excited. It is what every junior agent dreams of, getting the opportunity to list a property off of an office call. However, I don't think that I knew what I was getting myself into. The owner's daughter on the other end of the line, was wanting me to interview for selling Saint Louis' Last Remaining Prehistoric Native American Mound. How in the heck do you sell something like that? How do you come to a value? I mean, the house sitting atop the mound was probably worth $50,000. How much value did the mound itself hold? Does it's value increase because it was the last one? What made it vauable? Who would buy it? What would they do with it?
Nervous and a bit scared I took my broker with me. Truth be told, I don't think he was much up for the challenge (at the time) and was a bit puzzled himself. Not liking to say, "NO" he agreed to let me take the listing because I was chomping at the bit to dig into the history.
I allowed the owner set the price, and I went to work on Google-ing, researching and making phone calls. I soaked up all I could from the owners, neighbors, websites, archaeologists, the people at Cahokia Mounds, Landmarks Saint Louis, the National Registry Nomination and the list goes on.
Armed with all my info I had to now discover how to market the property. I mean my previous broker was a marketing whiz, but all the knowledge he had previously shared with me was how to sell residential property, and do it well. However, who in the hell is looking to buy a MOUND on Zillow? Survey says, "They're NOT".
In cases like this one it is best to contact all the historical preservationists and press you can. People can't buy what they don't have an awarenss of. The public will not help preserve what they are not aware of. Saint Louis' historical sites & properties are disappearing at an alarming rate. Luckily for me, there are TONS of people interested in a MOUND. I answered more phone calls, delt with special interest groups, Native American Ceremony Groups, Politicians, Press, TV crews, Preservation Groups, Native American Tribes , Bloggers & New Age Groups than you could shake a stick at. The open house had close 150 people through it.
SIDE NOTE: did you know that once information about a mound goes public you have to watch the property for looters? Much like people in Egypt that dig around in tombs and steal treausres? Well, YOU DO. There are actually groups of people who do this.
So , there is how I stumbled into this whole scene. Google Sugar Loaf Mound St. Louis. I dare you. You will see what pops up.
So here is the story:
One day, sitting at my old RE office I picked up the phone and it just so happened to be someone wanting to list their property. I was excited, I mean really excited. It is what every junior agent dreams of, getting the opportunity to list a property off of an office call. However, I don't think that I knew what I was getting myself into. The owner's daughter on the other end of the line, was wanting me to interview for selling Saint Louis' Last Remaining Prehistoric Native American Mound. How in the heck do you sell something like that? How do you come to a value? I mean, the house sitting atop the mound was probably worth $50,000. How much value did the mound itself hold? Does it's value increase because it was the last one? What made it vauable? Who would buy it? What would they do with it?
Nervous and a bit scared I took my broker with me. Truth be told, I don't think he was much up for the challenge (at the time) and was a bit puzzled himself. Not liking to say, "NO" he agreed to let me take the listing because I was chomping at the bit to dig into the history.
I allowed the owner set the price, and I went to work on Google-ing, researching and making phone calls. I soaked up all I could from the owners, neighbors, websites, archaeologists, the people at Cahokia Mounds, Landmarks Saint Louis, the National Registry Nomination and the list goes on.
Armed with all my info I had to now discover how to market the property. I mean my previous broker was a marketing whiz, but all the knowledge he had previously shared with me was how to sell residential property, and do it well. However, who in the hell is looking to buy a MOUND on Zillow? Survey says, "They're NOT".
In cases like this one it is best to contact all the historical preservationists and press you can. People can't buy what they don't have an awarenss of. The public will not help preserve what they are not aware of. Saint Louis' historical sites & properties are disappearing at an alarming rate. Luckily for me, there are TONS of people interested in a MOUND. I answered more phone calls, delt with special interest groups, Native American Ceremony Groups, Politicians, Press, TV crews, Preservation Groups, Native American Tribes , Bloggers & New Age Groups than you could shake a stick at. The open house had close 150 people through it.
SIDE NOTE: did you know that once information about a mound goes public you have to watch the property for looters? Much like people in Egypt that dig around in tombs and steal treausres? Well, YOU DO. There are actually groups of people who do this.
So , there is how I stumbled into this whole scene. Google Sugar Loaf Mound St. Louis. I dare you. You will see what pops up.
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