Online Apartment Search (St. Louis, Benton, Craig: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[Chicago76]

Hello all. My wife and I are returning to STL in August. We have been doing some research on apartment/house rental with the plan being to rent for a year to get settled in the city before buying. We're looking for a 3+BR that accepts dogs, focusing on the following neighborhoods: Soulard, Lafayette Square, CWE, and to a lesser degree Benton Park and U-City.

We have located a few places online, but the pickings are fairly slim. We've tried: Craigslist, Zillow, the RFT, and the Post-Dishrag.

Are there any other good apartment listing resources we're missing?

There seem to be several apartmentfinder type websites, but they focus on large complexes rather than single family homes/townhouses.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[BoomBoxing]

Yeah larger rentals in the city are going to be harder to come by...especially in the areas you're looking. If you're persistent on craigslist you should find something. You will find more listings in the further south and southwest neighborhoods. If you really want a nice place in the neighborhoods you mentioned, your best bet is to just buy now. Btw my opinion as a non real estate person is to go for Benton Park. It's every bit as walkable and amentity-galore as Soulard and Laf. Square without the extra price tag. The best and safest part is north of arsenal and east of Jefferson.

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by BoomBoxing

Yeah larger rentals in the city are going to be harder to come by...especially in the areas you're looking. If you're persistent on craigslist you should find something. You will find more listings in the further south and southwest neighborhoods. If you really want a nice place in the neighborhoods you mentioned, your best bet is to just buy now. Btw my opinion as a non real estate person is to go for Benton Park. It's every bit as walkable and amentity-galore as Soulard and Laf. Square without the extra price tag. The best and safest part is north of arsenal and east of Jefferson.

That's kind of what I figured. Hopefully there is another online resource or two out there I'm unaware of. Two things that will prevent us from buying right now:

1-We really want to live in the area for a year to get a more current feel for everything. We're down there often enough that we're probably better educated about those neighborhoods than 95% of people living in west county, but we need to understand the neighborhoods better on a block by block basis--especially with a 2 year old.

2-My wife has secured a position in Midtown, but I have not gained employment yet. If my job is in West County, there is no way I want to buy a place in Soulard for example. Until we're both locked into employment, and things are obviously working out, I'm not dropping the bucks we want to for a permanent place...especially in this market when things are more difficult to sell if things don't work out.

[aragx6]

Keep an eye on redbrickstl.com. They own a lot of buildings in the nieghborhoods you're looking at. They only have one three-bedroom now and it's in Dogtown. Red Brick Management - St. Louis Apartments, Lofts, Office, Retail Spaces

Also, we just has another poster recently who was looking to move to the county and there were a surprising number of rentals listed on the MLS, so make sure you check out Realtor.com which lists them all.

Best of luck!

[Chicago76]

Don't know how I missed your reply, but thank you very much!

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Chicago76

Don't know how I missed your reply, but thank you very much!

You're very welcome. Keep us updated!