relocating to st. louis (St. Charles, Florissant: best city, sales, crime)

[kjohnston]

My husband and I are moving to St. Louis. We have a 16 month old daughter and a baby on the way. We are looking to buy a house for less than 200k. We would love to live in a family friendly suburb/neighborhood with good schools and possibly walking distance to shops and restaurants and of course safe.

What is Florissant like? Does University City have good schools? Safe?

Any suggestions/help would be great. Thanks!

[kjohnston]

just checking to make sure the reply works

[aragx6]

U City has some amazing areas, some nice areas and some not so nice areas.

Florissant near downtown is nice, the schools are average to slightly above average.

Where will you be working? What kinds of areas do you like? Newer or older homes? Is walkability important?

If you share a bit more about what you're looking for and where you'll be working we should be able to offer up some suggestions for you!

[moorlander]

I am very familiar with University City is one of the premiere areas in the St. Louis area. But it is a suburb of of contrast. A decent rule of thumb, though certainly not without exception, is to try to locate south of Delmar. UCity is safe.

The well to do families in Ucity typically send their kids to the public elementary schools but then to private schools for High School as the HS isn't the best. Not BAD but not the best. The University City Loop is one of America's great streets. One of the hippest and liveliest of streets.

[BoomBoxing]

In St. Louis, like most places, you have to compromise things like walkability, diversity, and good public schools. For example, I would say that the Southampton neighborhood in south city is the most walkable, family friendly, and safe neighborhood in the St. Louis area. You also could afford a nice house for 200k or less. But the city does not have good public schools so you either have to bank on getting into a magnet, charter, or pay for private school.

University City is a similarly great choice and although the public schools aren't quite as bad as the city, nobody would vouch for them as being anything better than adequate. Florissant has a nice old town area but is not anywhere near as "walkable" as U.City or Southampton and does not have great public schools either.

My advice is to find out what means more to you and find a good compromise. St. Louis city has some great neighborhoods that are walkable, safe, and full of amazing houses that you can get for less than 200k. But you have to be willing to go the charter, magnet, or private school route. Some of our charter/magnet/private schools rival the best districts in the suburbs, but it is not easy/cheap to get into the best city schools.

If you just want a good public school and that trumps all else, then you may have to give up on finding a really walkable suburb. Maplewood-Richmond Heights is a good compromise but their schools aren't amazingly good. Webster Grives and Kirkwood are very good choices but you will be close to being priced out at 200k.

[wustu87]

Another good area where you can purchase a 3 BR home for around $200K and be in a great school district and a somewhat walkable yet family safe area is in Brentwood, especially east of Brentwood Boulevard (Mark Twain Elementary area.) Note that here any 3BR homes for $200K will be fairly compact, older 3BR homes packed pretty tightly together, but the neighborhood is great for young families with little kids and the schools are superb. If you could spend a bit more you could get a newer or roomier 3BR home in the area but you are talking $300K or higher. But you can walk to the library, playgrounds, post office, churches, Starbucks, etc, and it is a very family oriented area.

[kjohnston]

Thanks everyone.
1. My husband is really interested in U City as it seems it might be closer to areas we lived in while in Chicago. I would like my daughter to attend a neighborhood public school, so if there are some good el. schools in U City that would be good.

2. I think walkability is important to us, but more so is an older n'hood with trees and a historic downtown, even if it's not within walking distance. We have been in the Dallas burbs for a little over a year and really don't like the sprawling farmland.

3. We are willing to downsize and know we will be since housing is much cheaper in Texas, it seems we will be looking at a small house if we look in U City, Kirkwood, Webster Groves etc.

4. Is South city part of U City? If not, where is that located?

5. I did look at some houses in Maplewood and it seemed nice.

6. My husband will actually be working in St. Charles actually a bit north of there. However, he travels a lot and works from home so usually goes into the office 1-2 times a week. It seems that St. Charles is more sprawling and further from the city

7. I'll have to look at Brentwood. Where is it?

Thank you Thank you!!! This is really helpful!!

[aragx6]

That's helpful info! Although I think some people here are a little harder on U City's schools than is probably fair, it's clear that it's important to check out each individual school as it's a mixed bag.

Maplewood-Richmond Heights is also a collar school district that I would call better than average quality and really pretty urban in places -- Maplewood has a nice downtown strip.

Webster Groves and Kirkwood (and some of the smaller municipalities nearby like Rock Hill) will put you in a very good school district and will have a nice older suburban feel.

South City is a blanket term for the southern chunk of St. Louis city, but there are many individual neighborhoods mixed in. None of the general matriculation public schools are going to be of a very good standard, but if you get here in time to join the lottery, you'll have a pretty decent shot of getting your kids into one of the qulaity magnet or charter options (it's much harder in Chicago).

Also, while St. Charles county is very spread out and mostly newer housing, Main Street St. Charles is one of the cuter places on earth and is very walkable, and the area around it has some lovely old homes. It's certainly worth a glance.

let us know if you'd be willing or interested in going the magnet/charter/private school route and we can give you more tailored city neighborhood suggestions.

[moorlander]

Try also the homes around Kwood. Like Brentwood, you'll pay more but you'll get a top notch school. Brentwood doesn't have a downtown but is very walkable and has the most neighborhood school system you can get. The HS is actually in a residential neightborhood. Very cool.

South City is in the city of St. Louis. Brentwood is an inner ring western burb. Just pull up a map on google and you'll see right were they are. I'd imagine your can find comparable homes for pennies on the dollar compared to Chicago. Lower crime too.

[cnult]

I live in U City so I might be able to help a little here:

1. U city is a great place to live, but finding a house for $200k and still sending your kids to the local school would not be what you are looking for. The two U City elementary schools that are good are Flynn Park and Jackson Park. If you can find a house in either of those areas you will be good for at least the next 10 years. My wife and I did a lot of research on this before we moved and that is the conclusion we came to.

2. You can walk to a lot of places in U City. The U City loop is very eclectic and has a great vibe. From the sounds of it you would love living near the Loop.

3. Kirkwood and Webster both have very neat downtown areas and lots of parks. Very good school systems. They can be a bit of a commute to St. Charles and to the airport. Traffic from those areas to St. Charles/airport would probably have some of the worst congestion in the whole area. If your husband can work at non- rush hour times then it won't be an issue.

4. South City is in St. Louis City and is most thought of as the area around Hampton Ave and Chippewa. Basically about a 1 mile +/- radius from that intersection. This is a great place to live and very walkable but you will have to look into private/catholic schools.

5. Maplewood would probably fit the best for the price range you are looking at. I have several friends over there and it is a great spot. I am not sure about the schools though. I know they were improving but I am not sure how the progress is going.

6. St. Charles is the exact opposite of what you said you were looking for. It is a very stereotypical Midwestern suburb with lots of strip malls and brand new, identical housing. They do have a neat downtown right on the riverfront but nothing around there fits what you were looking. U City/South City/Kirkwood would be the polar opposite of St. Charles.

7. Brentwood is the most centrally located of the suburbs. It has a great school system that is well funded by sales tax from local developments. Parts of it can get a little dated but that is probably the case for everywhere.