Possible move to St. Louis Area (St. Charles, Chesterfield: middle-class, real estate, apartment complex)

[straightener]

I have been combing through this forum, but I have some specifics that I haven't seen addressed for my particular circumstances. I may be getting a job offer in St. Louis, and having never been in the area, I am really looking to do some research now so I know where to start looking should this opportunity become reality.

First off, I am paranoid about flooding. Having been in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, I never, ever want to experience that on a personal level. What areas should I look to that are on higher ground, or away from flood planes? And I don't trust levees all that much, either.

Commute time really isn't a big deal to me - I will most likely have a company vehicle, but at the same time I don't want to be on the road for hours at a time just to get home.

I would be coming from an area with a hugely depressed housing market (Buffalo, NY), so housing prices are higher just about everywhere else in the country. My taxes are outrageous in NY, so the less I pay in taxes the more house I can afford (townhouse/condos are also viable). To guage what I am in now, I live in a very nice neighborhood, suburban village, cape cod style house, assessed at 133,000, and I pay $4000 in property and school taxes every year. Hoping MO is a bit less than that.
Really don't have a housing budget in mind because I just can't estimate what I can afford. I do make a good wage but if this happens I will be the sole income for a while. Renting in the short term is not out of the question, either (would prefer to rent a house/townhouse style place as opposed to an apartment complex).

I have a young child who will be school age very soon (2 1/2 years). A great school district OR good private schools (I was a product of Catholic schools, so this is something I will strongly consider) are important as well.

Lastly, every metro area has high crime/ depressed areas. I obviously want to avoid places like this.

Any helpful advice on what areas I should start looking in would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Jeepin79]

Where in St Louis is your potential job going to be? Downtown or in one of the surrounding suburbs? This will help narrow down the best places near where you will be working.

[aragx6]

First the flooding issue. I don't blame you on that- 1993 was very scary for all of us. Katrina def. evoked some of those old memories for me. Thankfully, most of St. Louis isn't in a bowl the way New Orleans was. There are small towns along the river that were hit worst and I remember the riverfront in St. Charles was completely flooded, but we lived up on a bluff so we weren't affected.

If you don't trust levees stay away from Chesterfield Valley to be sure. All of that was completely flooded in 93 and now there it's the site of the longest outdoor strip mall in America (Guess they're really banking that it was a 500-year flood!!!!)

Maybe someone else knows a little better about exactly where to avoid. Here's a map of the affected areas in 93, but not sure how helpful this will be: http://www.ewgateway.org/pdffiles/ma..._web300dpi.pdf

If you like Catholic schools you'll love St. Louis. It's a very heavily catholic area and many of most highly-regarded schools in the area are Catholic. It's also great that you haven't crossed out parochial schools as a possibility because that allows me to suggest that you look closely at the city of St. Louis.

There has been a lot of gentrification in St. Louis and a lot of younger families are not calling some of the gorgeous city neighborhoods home. And in fact, housing prices are typically lower in St. Louis, mostly because the public schools still keep some families away.

I would look at Tower Grove South. (Check out their Web site) It's a beautiful area filled with 100 year old single family houses that can be picked up for good prices. Property values are only going up there. You also are walking distance to the shops and restaurants of Grand, which is the nicest way to spend an evening, plus walking distance to the gorgeous Tower Grove Park (broken link) as well as the Botanical Gardens

It's a wonderful place to raise a young family- and your commute would be nearly non-existent if you were working downtown.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask!

[aragx6]

Here's an example of what you could buy for 150k in Tower Grove South: Single Family Home - 4207 Hartford St, St Louis, MO, 63116 - Realtor.com

Maybe someone else will be able to give you a better idea than me on taxes.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I think Aragx mostly summed it up. Tower Grove South and East are pretty good neighborhoods, as are Soulard and Lafayette. I think the Central West End is typically more for young singles. The Hill and Dogtown are nice areas as well.

But I agree with Aragx. I think Tower Grove South will fit you just fine. It's pretty affordable (moreso than Lafayette I think) and it's a beautiful area with Tower Grove Park and the Botanical Gardens there.
Tower Grove South | An active and vibrant neighborhood on St. Louis' near south side
TGHNA: WELCOME TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
St. Louis Neighborhoods gives you a little bit of info about each neighborhood. Old North St. Louis is on the way up, and it has some beautiful homes there, but I'd be careful choosing a neighborhood. You'd probably need to find which neighborhoods are best. Some are fine, but this is the area hit hardest by blight and crime. It's not a bad place to live apparently, just do your research first.
I've heard that Gravois Park is about the roughest neighborhood of South St. Louis.

[straightener]

Thanks much for the replies - the job would be downtown, so I will begin researching the areas you suggested to me.

What are the taxes like in the St. Louis area? From my first post, you will see what I am paying - 4 grand on a 130,000 assessment. Any generalizations that can paint a picture of what I can expect to pay, both in the city and suburbs, would be great.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

About Your Property Tax Bill: How Your Tax Is Calculated

The Total Tax Rate in the City of St. Louis for 2004 is
7.3007 per $100 of Assessed Valuation.

Real Property is assessed at: Residential 19% of Appraised Value
Agricultural 12% of Appraised Value
Commercial 32% of Appraised Value

Maybe that'll give you an idea.

Personal Property is assessed at:
Cars, Trucks, Boats, Planes, etc. 33.3% of Appraised Value
Furnishings, Jewelry, etc.not taxed
Manufactured (Mobile) Homes 19.0% of Appraised Value
Farm Machinery 12.0% of Appraised Value
Historic Cars & Planes 5.0% of Appraised Value
Crops (Grain) 0.5% of Appraised Value
Other taxes
About Your Property Tax Bill: Year 2007 Tax Rate

[oscottscotto]

If you want the suburb feel (which is fine, I am not judging) ... Tower Grove, Soulard, or Lafayette are not for you like some have mentioned. West County is very nice. Or, try Brentwood or another area out that way. Still wouldn't be more than a 15-20 minute drive downtown ... until the lower 64/40 construction next year. Or, you could try a suburb that is more toward the 270/70 area and take the back way to downtown (70 which would be 20-30 minutes). I'm basing all this on the fact that you said you don't mind a commute.

[TGS]

The Tower Grove area is great. There are plenty of families and it is close to downtown. The housing stock is incredible, and there are fabulous restaurants along Grand and Morganford. However, there is a problem with crime that you may or may not be comfortable with. The Tower Grove neighborhoods themselves are pretty low crime, but they are right next to some really depressed areas and some people move in and get disillusioned quickly. The same goes for Soulard and Lafayette Square, which are right next to some affordable housing projects. None of this has deterred me from living in those neighborhoods, as my gorgeous house and great neighbors are worth the proximity to the bad areas.

The real hub for middle-class families in St. Louis City is further west, in the area west of Kingshighway and south of Highway 40 (also known as I-64, but most people here don't call it that). The neighborhoods are Dogtown, The Hill, Clifton Heights, Northampton, Southampton, Lindenwood Park, St. Louis Hills, Princeton Heights, and Tilles Park. Generally they encompass the 63109, 63139, and 63110 area codes (though the part of 63110 east of Kingshighway and North of I-44 is not great). Here is a good website that you can enter in an area code and do a map search: Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate
I do know people who have moved after a few years of living in Tower Grove or Soulard because of the crime, but I don't know of anyone leaving these neighborhoods because of crime.

These areas also have great Catholic schools. St. James the Greater is in Dogtown, St. Ambrose is on The Hill, Epiphany is in Tilles Park, St. Katherine Drexel is in Southampton, St. Joan of Arc is in Northampton, and St. Gabriel and St. Rafael are in St. Louis Hills. Any of these schools would be a good choice.

Since you don't have to worry about schools for next year, it would probably be best to rent for a year to figure out which neighborhood is your favorite. They are all a little different from each other. I think that the best rental area for a young family is in the neighborhood of St. Louis Hills. If you look on a map, it is the area around Francis Park and Wilmore Park in the 63109 area code. There are plenty of small houses and duplexes for rent, but they usually don't stay on the market for long. There is virtually no crime, the houses are beautiful, and there are great parks for the kid. The commute time to downtown is minimal, and you would also be close to a Metrolink station that goes directly into downtown.

Good luck!

[straightener]

Thanks everyone - great info. Just have to do some research now and sit back and see if this job happens or not!