Monday, October 15, 2007

My take on the tour

Loft Real Estate in St. LouisThe Downtown Living tour seems to be like taking a drink off a fire hose; both for the participants as well as the workers. According to the Downtown St. Louis Partnership's Matt Schindler, there were over 1200 people registered. There was many more not registered, just walking the route looking at open houses.

One thing that those in my profession look for is the number of people who want to buy (or rent) downtown. They gauge the success or failure of the tour based on the number of true "prospects."

I disagree.

The best thing about the downtownt living tour is that it gives so many of the people who don't want to live downtown a perspective on living that they may not experience otherwise.

Getting the general public to see what downtown living is all about is important! Occasionally I hear about people wanting to live downtown and getting flak from parents, co-workers etc. The tour is for these people. We need to continue to encourage people to check out the urban lifestyle whether they are ready to climb aboard or not. So many people in St. Louis stillSt. Louis downtown living tour
look at downtown living as such a novelty. It's scary how slow some people are at accepting changes.

As for the prospective buyer's, I'm more afraid than happy for them. The loft tour really is like getting a drink from a firehose. Many of the people we met were overwhelmed this weekend. Overwhelmed and caught in the hype is not a good position to be in when making such an important decision.

One positive note though, the loft district is finally looking like it's growing up. Most loft districts start out with the young and creative class building up and preserving the city, followed by the more mature owners coming in behind to add stability and clout. If this tour was any indication, the more mature buyer has found out about downtown. My guess is that they'll be coming soon.

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