Olivette south of Olive (St. Louis, Ladue: crime, new home, neighborhoods)

[mklein49]

Hi All,

I'm very excited to be moving back to the St. Louis area. I grew up on the Illinois side of the river in a small town. I've since lived in Houston and now Seattle.

In St. Louis, I'm going to be working at Boeing near the airport and going to grad school at WashU. I was in town over the weekend looking at places and neighborhoods and enjoying the heat . It seemed like in Olivette south of Olive there were quite a bit of tear downs. Some of which were replaced by very expensive homes. It seemed like a nice area to me. I'm leaning towards buying new construction in that neighborhood now.

Can anyone offer any opinion/thoughts/recommendations on this area? It seemed like the farther north I went towards Page it was not as nice. Is Olivette generally safe? Are there areas to avoid?

Thanks

[Azalea City Man]

I am not familiar with Olivette, but have driven by there a few times and it looks safe. Keep in mind, I was only driving down Olive from 170 to 270 and did not venture off the main road. Locals will probably better answer the question than I.

[RickMG]

If you're looking for crime statistics on anywhere I would suggest looking at the actual statistical websites and not go by what someone tells you as they will either like or dislike an area and thus their answers are a little prejudiced towards how they feel. Olivette is mostly in the Ladue School district and a very nice area. There is an area there just south of Page that has always seemed like it was economically challenged, but I attribute that to it bordering the railroad tracks and thus, property values around tracks normally are much lower than the norm. I've never felt anything but safe in that area, but as I mentioned, that's my opinion.

As for purchasing new construction over there, which is mainly happening in the Indian Trails neighborhood, my feeling is they are not a good investment at this time unless you get one heck of a deal as there are a lot of homes that in this market are not going to be torn down for quite awhile which leaves you with a new expensive large home in a neighborhood of inexpensive homes that are worth what the lot alone might bring thanks to people tearing some down and building mcmansions. This was a great idea when they started doing this as the area was ripe for it, unfortunately the markets changed leaving those homes (not the area) in limbo.

[wustu87]

I'll agree that Olivette north of Olive is still "safe", but it is definitely not as nice of an area as the neighborhoods south of Olive. But on the other hand, that makes the northern area probably the most affordable neighborhood of homes in the Ladue School district. One unusual thing about the neighborhoods north of Olive is that the children there do not all attend Old Bonhomme Elementary as one would expect, but some must go all the way to Spoede, Conway or Reed Elementary Schools. Check the school boundary map at the district site to see what I mean:

Ladue School District - Boundary Map (http://www.ladue.k12.mo.us/aboutus/map.html - broken link)

If you are commuting to both Boeing and Wash U you should also try to stick on the eastern end of Olivette where you can hop onto I-170 and be either location fairly quickly.

We were looking at Olivette this Spring when we were shopping for homes, and there is quite a bit of new construction available south of Olive, but those homes tend to be fairly expensive. We actually prefer the older ranch homes ourselves and Olivette has a nice stock of those homes which are much more affordable ($300K to $500K for the nicer ranches south of Olive whereas most new construction south of Olive is $600K-$1.2M). Believe it or not you can buy a 50 year old ranch, and not knock it down and actually live in it!

[RickMG]

Originally Posted by wustu87

Believe it or not you can buy a 50 year old ranch, and not knock it down and actually live in it!

It's almost unbelievable that some people don't realize that, isn't it? Great statement!

[STLnative]

I live in the area you all speak about, south of Olive in Olivette. Most of the 'tear-down' activity is west of me in the Stacy Park area off Old Bonhomme behind the Elementary School. Drive around back there and you will see lots of tiny shoebox homes (2 BR on a slab) nextdoor to million $$$ huge mansions. It's changing fast back there. I'm a bit west off Dielman where the homes are much larger but we're seeing some of that tear-down stuff here as well. There's a new home right behind me that was built last spring and is going for just under a mil, gorgeous place but with the economy it has not sold. In my mind, can't beat this area. Centrally located, quiet and safe. Hope I never need to sell mine but recently divorced and ...?