Blog
The St. Louis BRRRR Strategy: Brick Two-Family Edition
By Jason Taken · Principal, Jaken Finance Group
St. Louis BRRRR on brick two-families — buy at $60K–$140K, rehab masonry-first, refi to Missouri DSCR at 70%–75% LTV. Full worked math.
The BRRRR playbook — buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat — works best where three numbers line up: cheap entry, real rents, and an appraisal that supports the refi. St. Louis brick two-families line up all three better than almost any asset in the Midwest. Here is the complete playbook.
Why the brick double works
St. Louis built tens of thousands of side-by-side brick two-families between 1890 and 1940, mostly in South City. Today that stock trades:
| Stage | Number |
|---|---|
| As-is acquisition | $60K–$140K |
| Rehab (masonry-first) | $40K–$75K |
| Renovated appraisal | $140K–$215K |
| Gross rent (both units) | $1,750–$2,400/mo |
Two units per roof means the rent stack carries the ratio, and the brick construction — properly repointed — outlasts every mechanical inside it. The Bevo Mill corridor is the classic stacking lane; Dutchtown runs deeper basis with softer blocks.
The worked example
Real numbers from the pattern we fund through the St. Louis hub:
- Buy: $92,000 side-by-side double, one unit vacant, parapet cracking — funded on Missouri hard money at 87% LTC, 9-day close, 10.75% IO
- Rehab: $58,000 — tuckpointing and parapet rebuild first, box-gutter relining, dual furnaces, kitchens and baths
- Rent: $1,095 + $1,050 = $2,145/mo gross on 12-month leases
- Refinance: appraisal $198,000; Missouri DSCR at 72% LTV ≈ $142,500 — retiring the $150K all-in with modest cash left in
- Repeat: equity recycled into the next double on a walked block
Coverage math at refi: gross $2,145, vacancy 6%, property tax ~$160/mo at reassessed value, insurance ~$210, maintenance and management ~$290 → NOI ≈ $1,355 against debt service ≈ $1,050. The ratio clears with margin.
The three St. Louis-specific gates
1. Masonry first
Tuckpointing runs $8–$14/sq ft, parapet rebuilds hit five figures, box gutters fail invisibly. Get the masonry bid from a masonry contractor before LOI and put it in draw one. Files that treat brick as “no exterior scope” stall at draw three, every time.
2. The jurisdiction line
The City of St. Louis and St. Louis County split in 1876 — separate assessors, recorders, and permit offices. Comps never cross the line, and neither do permit assumptions. City files need the Certificate of Inspection; county files need the municipality’s own re-occupancy inspection (Ferguson’s checklist is not Florissant’s). Schedule at rough-in — see the North County guide for how the yield corridors handle it.
3. Reassessment honesty
Model property tax at your purchase price, not the seller’s bill, with 10%–20% contingency. The refi ratio that cleared on the seller’s homestead assessment and fails on yours is the most preventable dead deal in the metro.
Timeline reality
| Month | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 0 | Close on hard money (7–14 days from contract) |
| 1–4 | Masonry + mechanicals + unit one turn |
| 4–6 | Unit two turn; occupancy inspection scheduled at rough-in |
| 5–7 | Lease-up, staggered so one rent always flows |
| 7–9 | DSCR refi on executed leases and passed inspection |
Nine months buy-to-refi is honest for a first file. Operators who compress it do so on permit sequencing, not construction speed.
Where it goes wrong
- Cross-corridor comps — Tower Grove South premiums on Bevo files inflate ARV $30K–$60K past what the appraiser will sign
- Lease-up optimism — corridor lease comps set the rent, not listing aspirations; stagger the two turns
- Reserve breach — 6–8 months IO reserved; the permit queue, not the rehab, is what usually eats month eight
- Skipping the historic-credit question — on qualifying gut rehabs in register districts, Missouri’s 25% credit changes the math; read the historic tax credit guide before demo
Managing brick stock after the refinance
The BRRRR cycle does not end at the refi — and brick two-families reward owners who budget the long game. Put a small masonry reserve in the post-refinance operating model: tuckpointed elevations hold for decades, but parapets and chimneys want inspection every few years, and box gutters that were relined rather than replaced eventually come due. The good news is that properly maintained St. Louis brick is close to indestructible compared to frame stock — no siding cycles, superior fire ratings, and insurance carriers that generally price masonry construction favorably. Owners who front-loaded the masonry work in the rehab typically see their maintenance line settle well below frame-equivalent portfolios by year three, which quietly improves the very coverage ratio the refinance was underwritten on.
The compounding case
Each cycle recycles roughly the same capital into a door that cash-flows $250–$400/mo after debt service. Two doubles a year on walked blocks is a realistic pace for a disciplined operator — that is four units annually without new capital raises, in a metro where the entry basis forgives learning-curve mistakes.
Run your scenario: St. Louis hard money · Missouri DSCR · STL flip rankings · (833) 264-7776
Rates, terms and conditions offered only to qualified borrowers and are subject to change at any time without notice. All loans are subject to full underwriting. Jaken Finance Group only finances non-owner occupied investment properties.