Soulard vs. CWE (St. Louis, California, Benton: sale, rental, condo)

[Bobster]

The DeBalivere neighborhood hasn't made it back yet, but has been on the edge of doing so for a long time now. I haven't checked prices over there, but I do think that it would be a viable consideration.

[TGS]

Have you considered the area around Tower Grove Park and South Grand? It is very family-friendly and significantly less expensive than the Central West End. The two blocks west of Grand and between Arsenal and Utah are particularly desirable due to their proximity to all of the restaurants and shops.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Tower Grove East is a nice area apparently. Pretty affordable, too.

Here's a cute 3 BR a couple blocks east of Tower Grove.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate
$158,999

[bissit]

Oh man, I knew I would some great responses here. Yes, Tower Grove East seems very affordable. I like that I can rent in the area if I must. Sooo, I suppose its CWE, TGE, and Soulard.

What's the time to get to Webster Grove from that area?

Its great that Yahoo Maps shows the boundaries of the neighborhoods. Its making this search so much easier.

I just can't wait to get out there. Beware, I think a lot of us Californians will be out there soon.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

The weather might be a shock.

Just to warn you. I live south of St. Louis. Last Sunday it was 70 degrees.
Monday night it snowed, went back to school Thursday, snowed again, and we were out today.

But prices are better here.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

According to Google Maps Tower Grove East to Webster Groves is about 10 miles (depending on exactly where and takes about 16 minutes). You should be able to take highway 44 to work (not sure how bad the traffic is).
Soulard will be about 12 miles and 17 minutes, depending on the area (apparently Google has neighborhoods because I just typed in Soulard)
The CWE should be about 10 miles and 17 minutes. All of these will depend on highway 44.

But that's just using Google, and it doesn't take into account traffic. I hope that helps.

Really there are a lot of great neighborhoods in St. Louis, and CWE, Tower Grove, and Soulard are included in that, so I hope you find what you're looking for.

Check out Urban St. Louis - View Forum - Photography - Showcase St. Louis for some pics.

Go to Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate
Under more search options you can click on "single family home" and it'll let your search more specifically, if you'd like to.

You can search by price, number of bedrooms, county (or the city) and number of bathrooms as well as style of housing. Then you can search by school district, subdivision, and address, but you probably don't know all that, so I wouldn't worry about it. So, I would just search by price, # of bedrooms, and city.

There are a lot of homes listed, even search just $225k-$275k pulled up over 100 entries, the rest which can't be shown. Because of that, I would suggest searching in intervals of $25k and being specific about # of bed and bathrooms. You can also click "map this property" on the left and find properties in that area. Good luck!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Here's a nice 3 BR, 2.5 BA, Webster Groves. 100-year-old cute brick home with 2-car garage. $269k According to the site you also get tax abatement. When a historic home is rehabbed the owner only pays taxes on the property before it was rehabbed (what it was worth), so your property taxes probably won't be as high as it would be with a newer home. The tax abatement lasts 10 years. The schools are city schools, but private schools may be in your budget. Click "map this property" to see its location and other properties for sale around it.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

This one is the same price ($269k), 4 BR, 3.5 BA. It's about a mile north in the Compton Heights neighborhood. The house looks more luxurious, with 3 fireplaces rather than one and 1 more bath and 1 more bed. You'll have to ask someone about the Compton Heights neighborhood. You may not want 4 bedrooms, but if it's the same price as some of the 3 BR ones it's worth a look. Then you could have a guest bedroom or use it for something else.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

This one's about a mile south of Tower Grove Park, $269k, 4 BR, 3.5 BA, 95-years-old
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

$259,900 3 BR, 2 BA, almost a mile south of Tower Grove Park. If you look on the map you'll see that the house to the left, and the house next to the house on the right of it are for sale also.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

$250k, 4 BR, 3 BA, Brand-new home. About a mile north of Forest Park and about 1.5 miles West of University City. The neighborhood is listed as West End Estates.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

4 BR, 2.5 BA, about a mile east of Tower Grove Park $275k 113-years-old
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

$275k, about half a mile south of Tower Grove Park 4 BR, 2 BA, 3k square feet Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

Soulard, 4 BR, 3.5 BA, 1/10 of a mile from Ray park/playground (might come in handy) $275k, 117 years old. about half a mile to Soulard Park (on Coldwell Banker's Map, not Google's, corner of 10th and Lafayette, Julia goes through it. 4 fireplaces
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

$275k, 3 BR, 2.5 BA, about a mile south of Lafayette Park and a mile north of Benton Park, as well as 2 miles east of tower grove, a mile from the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, and smaller parks such as Reservoir Park, Lyon Park, Pontiac Park, Cherokee Park, Gravois Park, Fox Park, and Terry Park within 2 miles. 1884 home
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

$275k, half a mile south of Forest Park, 3 BR, 2.5 BA
68-year-old home
nearby smaller parks: Frisco, Clifton, Franz, Vigo, Concordia
Nearby hospitals: Forest Park Hospital, Barnes-Jewish, St. Mary's Health Center,
Also nearby: Washington University (3.5 miles), Tower Grove Park (2.5 miles)
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

4 BR, 2.5 BA, .2 miles south of Tower Grove Park. 114 years old, 5 year tax abatment
if you map it, you'll see 4 similar homes on the same street.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

I think that's enough for tonight. Anyway, there's a wide variety of homes available right now, so it's a good time to buy a home. Good luck!

[anduarto]

Wow, STLCardsBlues1989, you've done your homework. Is there a fee for this service? Some great homes with some great prices!

I started to mention Webster Groves, Clayton, U City in my last post but I didn't want to make Bissit's head start spinning. Lots of great neighborhoods in St. Lou and surrounding environs.

Curious to learn more about Tower Grove. I always thought it was a very pretty area. Tower Grove park is, of course, wonderful. When I was a kid we'd pass through the area often on our way to Grand Ave but never spent a lot of time there.

I heard it went through a pretty steep decline in the 80's and got a little rough in spots. Is that true or just the usual exaggeration one hears about St. Louis city?

Also, has it really coalesced as a "neighborhood"? Part of what is so distinctive about Soulard and CWE is that they really do have a coherent character with central, lively business districts within easy reach of residential areas. Is that true - or becoming true - in Tower Grove?

Did it go through a rough patch? Is it coming back? Has it arrived?

Really love to hear more about this beautiful area and it might help Bissit sort things out too

Also, where exactly is Compton Heights? Was there several times but I was a kid and can't remember exactly how it's situated. Talk about a beautiful neighborhood! Doesn't it abut Tower Grove?

Thanks in advance for all the info.

Gee, still leaning toward that CWE though.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

According to maps Compton Heights is just northeast of Tower Grove. Compton Park/Reservoir is right there.

[bissit]

So if I'm looking at $175k and under, am I in for a shanty around TG East and South? It seems that I could get something decent from what I found on Gundaker. I'm just looking for something about 1500 sqft and 2 or 3 bdrms. This would be a starter home.

I also found some duplexes that need a bit of fixing but it doesn't look too bad. Consider that I'm paying $1100 for a 700 sqft apt in Sonoma County and that's about as cheap as it gets.

And yes, I'm rather nervous about the weather but after all my life in California, its time to experience seasons.