Relocation to St. Joseph (California, Oran: real estate, property taxes, housing)

[StJoeFanatic]

Originally Posted by christina0001

I met someone from St. Joseph's yesterday and he raved about it - was totally homesick! Do most people who live in StJo also work there or do they commute to KC? Do most people who work in StJo live in StJo or do they live in the 'burbs?

I would say that a majority (around 59% or so) actually work "in" St Joseph and the immediate surrounding area and around 41% commute to Kansas City or other outlying areas (which is only 35-40 miles away-all interstate travel)

As far as the "burbs" there really is no such thing here in St. Joseph. You either live "in" St Joseph, or you live in another City (like Gower or Agency or Savannah) all very small towns, with their own infrastructure, shopping, etc.

And yes, when people leave, they usually miss it very much. And for those of us who did not grow up here, but ended up here anyway, we could never be happier!

[christina0001]

The pictures my DH and I have found online of St. Joseph have won our hearts. We will definitely be visiting this fall when we visit KC.

[christina0001]

QUESTION: this website lists St. Joseph, MO as a top city with a declining population (#73 on the list). Why is the population declining?
http://www.city-data.com/top33.html

[gayleinAZ]

Christina,

I've been to St. Joe's twice and by no means am I an expert on the city but I do have PICTURES!
If you'd like I can forward them via Yahoo to your e-mail address for you to take a look. It's New England in MO! Wonderful historic homes, big churches, wide open spaces, peace and quiet and all the stuff everyone who lives there can expound upon. I especially LOVED the river park. It's a bit noisy with trains whizzing by, the river on the other side of that and an overpass, but once you get absorbed into the park everything just sort of fades into the back ground. Oh and have them describe the BELTWAY to you. YUmmmm it was beautiful in July when I was there.

Anyway - if you are interested in the rather BIAS pics I took just let me know. By the way where would you be relocating from?

[christina0001]

I PM'ed you with my email address. Thanks for the offer! My DH and I are moving from NJ.

[RCL]

I am relocating from California and looking for a smaller midwestern town that's close enough to a large city. Was looking around in Missouri and stumbled upon this forum. I have seen pics of St. Joseph before and read about it...and I like the enthusiasm of this board. There are a lot of towns on here getting a bad rap.

Can any of the people from St. Joseph please elaborate a bit, are there any areas of St. Joseph to avoid? I see homes for sale that are 30K or under and I wonder if these are in an area that is good or bad...or perhaps in St. Joseph you don't have bad areas? I know that there are many small towns where you can get a home in a safe area for around 30K, but St. Joseph being larger, I don't know if you have any unsafe areas. A fixer-upper is fine, as I have done a total rehab before, but as long as it's in a safe neighborhood that's what I'm most concerned about. Also, racial demographic doesn't really mean much to me, coming from CA where it's very racially/ethnically diverse...I don't care what "color" a neighborhood is as long as people are nice, and friendly, and NOT pretentious, then again my highest priority (after affordable) is safe. Thanks very much.

[gayleinAZ]

You know I had one person tell me that St Joes was stodgy and stuck in the past with no future. If 30 somethings are willing to move there and start raising their families etc it would seem that St Joe's is trying to make a come back and that people are beginning to recognize the fact. This person suggested Springfield as and up and comer, and that sounds reasonable, but sometimes ya' got to root for the underdog especially when it's only 30 minutes from a major airport.

[gayleinAZ]

You sound like me! Fed up with the too rapid growth of Phx and the violence in general. You take your life in your hands just driving to work in the morning. St. Joe's is a cute little city that reminded me of New England. I loved the river, then again we are land locked and any water is RARE and facinating to me. If you'd like I can send you the pics I took of St Joes and the area when I was there in both April and July. Don't let the date stamps on the pics throw you off - there were....technical difficulty on my part and not understanding what my camera was telling ME! Anyway - there are a few more people on this post that actually LIVE in St. Joes and can tell you all the attributes better than I can. I hope you find your NIRVANA - I felt very safe wandering all over St Joes by myself. It was kinda hard to get lost, but drivers will be DRIVERS when you end up going the wrong way on a 'one way street'. Or in Kansas for about 5 minutes.
Good thing the traffic at it's height didn't seem like a drop in the bucket compared to PHX. Good luck!

[gayleinAZ]

Whoops sorry I was addressing this to RCL - but I can send the pics to anyone who'd like to see them!

[StJoeFanatic]

Originally Posted by christina0001

QUESTION: this website lists St. Joseph, MO as a top city with a declining population (#73 on the list). Why is the population declining?
http://www.city-data.com/top33.html

In the past several years, we have had some major brand new housing developments pop up in areas outside the City limits, which has caused a shift in population outside the City proper. The City is working on annexation of these areas. Also, those numbers are from 2000 to 2002.... that was 4 years ago. This community has changed a great deal in that time frame.
We have new industry and TONS of new housing, as well as shopping opportunities that have all occurred actually, in the past 2-3 years.
So, I would say at this point, St. Joseph is going the complete opposite direction.