We know what a house does
after you close on it.

That's the most common thing we do. Underwriting a property is a lot more useful when the person running the numbers is the same one who'll have to hit them. We'll give you a realistic rent range, a rent-ready punch list, and an honest read on whether the deal works. If you buy it, it goes straight into management with no gap and no second onboarding — marketing can start before you close.

Yes. Plenty of clients are buying a home to live in, and they get the same attention. The difference is that we look at every house the way a landlord would — what the roof and mechanicals have left, what the ongoing costs actually look like, what would need attention if you ever rented it out. That perspective is useful whether you plan to rent it or not.

On what's actually selling in your neighborhood right now, not what an automated website estimate says. You'll see the comparable sales the number came from and how each one was adjusted, so you can push back on it. If your expectation and the market don't line up, you'll hear that before the listing goes live rather than after sixty days of silence.

Each path carries a different number. Selling occupied opens you to investor buyers and keeps rent coming in while it's listed, but it narrows the buyer pool and means scheduling showings around a lease. Selling vacant reaches owner-occupants, who often pay more, but you carry the property empty. There's also the lease itself to work through — deposit transfers, estoppel details, and what the existing tenant is entitled to. We've handled both and can walk you through which likely nets more in your situation.

By pulling comparable rentals in that specific submarket — not a metro-wide average — and adjusting for condition, layout, parking and what's actually leasing right now. Rents in the St. Louis area can shift meaningfully within a mile, so a number built on a ZIP code average isn't worth much. The figure you get is the number we'd list it at, which means we have to live with it.

Vacancy and turnover, almost every time. A pro forma that assumes twelve months of rent and no make-ready between tenants isn't a forecast, it's a wish. After that: maintenance reserves, the cost of getting a unit rent-ready before it lists, and the occupancy permit and inspection several municipalities in this area require before a tenant can move in. We build all of it into the numbers before you make an offer, which sometimes means telling you the deal doesn't work.

Brad Touchette, a licensed Missouri Realtor®. All residential real estate brokerage services are provided through CityScapes Realty, which gives you full brokerage backing and MLS access. Property management is provided separately by Touchstone Property MGT-STL, LLC. You work with the same person either way.