Relocating options: Moberly, St Joseph? (Kansas City, St. Louis: real estate, low crime, houses)

[curlykramer]

Hello,
My husband and I live in the Pacific Northwest and are contemplating relocating to Missouri. We are considering St. Joseph and Moberly and are planning to visit next year. Any comments on these and similar towns?
We are interested in places with lots of history, old houses, beautiful natural resources, low crime. Also, we have no experience with the tornado issue. Is that a big concern in Missouri?
Thank you.

Curlykramer

[GraniteStater]

St. Joseph is a much bigger town than Moberly and is located right along the Missouri River. St. Joseph has a lot of historic old buildings, and will likely experience some growth in the near future because of its proximity to the Kansas City metro area.

[northbound74]

Most towns in Missouri date from the early to mid 1800's, and a lot of them have nice, old neighborhoods centered around the town square....if it's the county seat.
I've only driven through Moberly a couple of times. It didn't seem like much, but maybe I should have taken the time to drive around a little. St. Joseph, like a lot of towns along the Missouri river, is very historical. Lexington is another town I would recommend for what you are looking for.
Missouri is quite fascinating, historically. I wouldn't confuse it with New England, it just isn't as well preserved as that. The towns that are the county seats seem to be more well preserved. They love their old courthouses around here. The towns that aren't county seats are more hit and miss. Being from the Pacific Northwest, you might prefer northern Missouri to souther Missouri because of the culture. Southern Missouri has bigger hills and more trees, though. The southern part is also fairly touristy because of Branson and the lakes.
Most of Missouri would be considered safe as far as crime goes. Stay away from the bad parts of Kansas City and St. Louis, and you'll be fine. The only thing about small towns that I would be concerned about is the good 'ol boy politics. It's pretty bad in some places, but usually just in the really small towns (less than 10000). I understand that meth is a problem in many rural areas, so I'd watch out for that, too.

Tornadoes.
Buy a house with a basement or a storm shelter. Watch the weather on TV when it's going to be bad. The chances of your house actually being struck by a tornado are fairly slim, they'll tell you, but I'm not naive about it. It's not Oklahoma, but it's not the west coast, either. Much more similar to OK in that respect, unfortunately. I would much rather put up with tornadoes than a lot of other natural disasters. If you're paying attention to the weather, you'll have plenty of time to get out of the way.

FYI, the extreme southeastern corner of Missouri is right on the New Madrid fault. The largest earthquake to ever hit American soil was recorded there in 1811-1812. It was a series of quakes felt all the way back to the east coast.

[kareybear]

I didn't see a whole lot of historial parts in Moberly. Some place looks run down but other just look like a town. But then again I don't go looking for it. Nothing special about that town. I drive to Moberly once a week to do my shopping at Wally World from Macon. Downtown is interesting but other than that. Nothing to it. I like the fact Moberly has a drive in movie theater. Moberly has a beautiful huge park that has a small train that rides around the whole park. Great for kiddies. You would have to come check it out to see what you think. Personally if you want a small town feel I would move to Salisbury, Huntsville, Marceline etc....

[northbayeric]

As is with me, St. Joseph could very well be what you're looking for, based on your post. I had the great opportunity to visit it for the first time last month and immediately took to it after having gotten a lot of information about the town on the Internet (including all the past forums here; scroll through the pages here and in the Kansas City forums for more St. Joe info), and by subscribing to the Sunday edition of the local newspaper, the St. Joseph News-Press.

Near St. Louis is the town of St. Charles. Maybe it's because I grew up near St. Charles that I'm gravitating much more toward St. Joseph. The freeways that serve St. Charles, especially I-70, get pretty congested, whereas in St. Joe, it's wide open. State Highway 370 that goes through northern St. Charles is a very good alternate freeway. It is the location of Missouri's first state capital and has a great historic shopping district. Both cities are located at different points along the Missouri River, and crime is low in both places too. Beware of St. Joseph's Midtown area, which has had some crime issues mainly affecting those who know their perpetrators. It still isn't anything like what you find in larger inner cities. I looked at an old house about five blocks east of Midtown's eastern edge during an early evening (decided not to make an offer on it) and found the neighborhood to be very quiet and peaceful--perfect for walking your dog around.

For more info, just look for any post written by StJoeFanatic. Click on the name and then select "Find all posts written by StJoeFanatic" for excellent inside information on St. Joseph. Some of this person's posts are in the real estate forums when she was selling her old house and moving to a newer one in town. But you can get great info from StJoeFanatic from the other Missouri and Kansas City forums. Ditto for MoNative34. I'm not sure about the 34 part, but I know MoNative is at least part of the name. This individual resides in Buchanan County where St. Joseph is located.

Weather? It seems like St. Joe is susceptible to strong winds at times, especially during the cold winter months. Some large thunderstorms at other times of the year, but tornadoes that inflict property damage are pretty darn rare. St. Joe has all kinds of old houses that date back between 1880 or so and the early 20th century. All the best to you, and I hope you find a place you're very happy with! Go ahead and Google "St. Joseph, Missouri" and see what you think.

[GraniteStater]

St. Joseph also has low temperatures that are much colder than the surrounding areas. This is because the town sits in the Missouri River valley. Low temperatures have been recorded lower than -20F in the winter during some years at the airport automatic weather station.

[northbayeric]

Originally Posted by Plains10

St. Joseph also has low temperatures that are much colder than the surrounding areas. This is because the town sits in the Missouri River valley. Low temperatures have been recorded lower than -20F in the winter during some years at the airport automatic weather station.

Fairly hard winters, with wind chill factors sometimes as low as 60 below zero probably. It'll make the spring season that much sweeter! Thankfully in recent years it hasn't stayed this cold for days on end, but there will be periods where you'll just need to stay inside as much as you can and ride the cold snaps out. Not like along the Pacific coast or up in Vancouver, that's for sure!

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by northbayeric

Fairly hard winters, with wind chill factors sometimes as low as 60 below zero probably. It'll make the spring season that much sweeter! Thankfully in recent years it hasn't stayed this cold for days on end, but there will be periods where you'll just need to stay inside as much as you can and ride the cold snaps out. Not like along the Pacific coast or up in Vancouver, that's for sure!

The winter weather can be highly variable. It could be 50F one day and then two days later the temperatures could be 40 degrees colder. Sometimes the area can be affected by chinook downsloping winds during the winter, but the cold airmasses usually win out. Spring and fall are very nice, however. This is especially true along the hike/bike trails near the Missouri River and other parks.

[carlym]

Northbayeric sounds like you've done some homework..For the bad part of St. Joe would that be between Mitchell and Messanie? Which streets East to West? Have you found LiveSearch? Great site! If I see a house online I like, I put the address in-under people versus business, etc. zoom in & click birds view. You can rotate completely around & feel like you're right there! Check it out.

[northbayeric]

Pretty close: St. Joseph's Midtown area is framed by Frederick Ave. on the north, Mitchell Ave. to the south, 12th Street to the west and 22nd Street to the east.

I have not checked out LiveSearch yet; thanks so much for the tip! I'll have to give it a try.