Relocating

[Brickmama]

Why don't you try downtown? It's close to all major interstates and your wife can walk to work. I would also recommend looking at Lafayette Square which contains some beautiful Victorian homes.

FYI-STL is a big city and plenty of people live inside the city limits.

[flynavyj]

Good news Bryan, 300-400k will go a long way in MOST of St. Louis, and should be able to get you into just about any of the larger "cities" in St. Louis. I say cities because St. Louis has more than 90 different municipalities all laying claim to some sliver of the metro area.

For your 300-400k budget i think you could probably price yourself out of Maryland Heights, not because you don't have the funds,but i don't think the majority of housing options in Maryland Heights SHOULD demand a 300k+ asking price (Only one home popped up in my 300-400k search of that area, and i think they want to much and it's just a nudge over 300k). Creve Coeur has some really nice spots too, and i'd recommend taking a peak through there...Once again some of the older homes are probably not worth 300+, and the homes in areas that are being torn down and McMansioned are probably going for more than that now.

If you're wanting older homes, a great community feel, I'd recommend Kirkwood (considering your commute). Webster Groves (while still an awesome community) will be a slightly longer commute, probably about even with the Tower Grove area. To be honest though, living around the botanical gardens and commuting to Maryland Heights/Earth City area isn't going to be that bad. You'll be going against traffic, and at the most you'd probably be looking at 20-25 minutes of highway driving...Might be worth looking into also.

To Citygirl,

I'm not arguing with you on people living in the city...But if you took a look in the history books, St. Louis once housed over 850,000 residents...and it's not the city "shrinking" that made that change....There are currently 350,000+ residents living in the city of St. Louis, and hopefully that number will continue to improve but there are numerous other metros with a population density that would blow St. Louis out of the water.

And upon research, i redact my statement....St. Louis actually has a huge population density based on it's incredibly small square mileage size....over 5000 residents/ sq mile.

[psteinx]

Yeah, 300-400 will go a long way in this area, especially if you aren't too concerned about school districts (because your kids will go private).

Lots of Catholic churches and schools about. Don't have much specific advice for you there (I'm Lutheran).

I think your basic framework (east of 270, north of 44) is probably sound. Kirkwood, Webster, maybe Brentwood, Clayton, U-City. I don't know Olivette well, but that might be ok.

And of course, look within the city itself. A buck goes far for housing within the city, in part probably because of the poor reputation of the schools (not really an issue for you). Look Central West End and near Wash U. Basically anything south of Delmar should be a candidate, I think.

[psteinx]

BTW, Zillow.com and Google maps are your friends, and Realtor.com is helpful, too.

[Bryanmdunn]

I have been utilizing both Google and Zillow pretty extensively. Another Question with the recent flood in Nashville, and noting the Mississippi and other rivers, What flooding issues are there in St. Louis Area?? Does anyone know where I can find flood maps???

[psteinx]

Flooding can be an issue in the St. Louis area. We've had various floods over the years (though some areas that have been flooded now have better levees). Flooding can come along any of the major rivers (Missouri, Mississippi, Meramec), and many of the smaller waterways as well.

For the most part, it's a street by street, block by block issue. There probably are flood maps available, though I don't know where, but a lot of it will become obvious when you're on the ground looking around. Probably only 1-5% or so of the residential housing is likely to have an issue with river flooding, but it may not be totally obvious which 1-5%. As with most areas, you also have to be aware of local drainage and slope issues.

As a reference point, my house is about 0.5 miles from the Meramec river. In early 2008 (I think that was the timeframe), there was major flooding, which had some secondary effects (water backed up through drainage systems and secondary creeks). We had a temporary lake about 150 feet from our house. Our house is up on a bluff, probably 50 vertical feet up from the highest the water got, so there was no real danger to our house, though the primary route to access our house was out of order for a few days (there was a back way).

Looking only at Google maps, you would be hard pressed to separate our house from structures that were more threatened. On the ground, it would be clear which houses are high up, though if you didn't know the area, you might not suspect that the local creek would flood/backup like that from a river that's fairly distant (and on the other side of an interstate from our house).

Mostly, I wouldn't worry about it until you've found a few houses that you are interested in. Then I would imagine there would be ways to check for specific dangers to those houses.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by Bryanmdunn

Thank you to everyone for your input, your comments have my wife and I very excited about moving to the area. Looks like I will be up in about 7-8 weeks, living in temporary housing before my wife finalizes her job and comes up with the kids in late spring/early summer. This will give me time to look at areas, houses and churches and hopefully we will decide on housing before the rest of the family moves up. Now that my announcement at work is coming out, I am getting more from others about things they know about St. Louis, but I still don't know anyone from St. Louis so please keep the remarks coming.

To answer MUTGR's questions I would say we would like to be in and around the 300-400's and not sure we care about the age of the home. The house I grew up in was built in the 20's and the house we are living in now is 10yrs old. There are pros and cons with both an older home and living in a new house the burbs. We are both so sick of our commutes now that I think we may stay closer to town based on your information. If I had my dream it would be a new house in an old part of town or a old house that has been renovated, but I am not sure that we can afford that.

Looking at maps, real estate, schools, and keeping our commutes in consideration I think we want to stay east of 270 and for the most part north of 44. The Shaw Neighborhood around the Botanical Gardens looks awesome but it may be a longer commute than I want. Kirkwood, Maryland Heights, Creve Coeur, Webster Groves areas all seem promising with housing options for both our commutes.

I still think that the Church/School we choose will have a lot of bearing on where we end up. We don't want a mega-church with a ton of parishioners where no one knows one another, we want a church with a strong-tight community with a pastor/father we can relate to. I have spent quite a bit of time on the Archdiocese website, but from what you are all saying, most of the churches/schools in the areas we are considering are similar and it may boil down to personal preference.

Thanks again for all of your assistance, again any additional information is still appreciated.

I'm biased, but check out Kirkwood, Glendale, and Webster. Should find options in your price range, mostly older but some newer. Also, lots of good parishes to choose from, including St. Peter in Kirkwood and Mary Queen of Peace in Webster, just to name two, but there are several others in the area.