looking for rural home close to St. Louis (St. Charles, St. Peters: how much, taxes)

[desertwilite]

Hiya folks.

I am feeling the need to move back to the area after living in Tucson for the last 30+ years and I'm sure a lot of things have changed. Any suggestions on areas to live if you own a couple horses and used to living a rural lifestyle? My folks are in Fairview Heights, but we will possibly be employed at Boeing in St. Louis. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,
Desertwilite

[aragx6]

Guess it's going to depend on how much you can spend. Rural is still possible, but it can be pricey if you want to have an easy commute to Boeing.

It's easy enough to find rural north of that area (i.e. Orchard Farm) but flooding is going to be a major issue.

Are you looking for acreage?

Edit: Thinking about it more, i think you really need to look on the Illinois side. Traffic through the 'burbs will kill you if you head west or south, you'll get flooding up north, so east out near your folks is probably your best bet.

[desertwilite]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Guess it's going to depend on how much you can spend. Rural is still possible, but it can be pricey if you want to have an easy commute to Boeing.

It's easy enough to find rural north of that area (i.e. Orchard Farm) but flooding is going to be a major issue.

Are you looking for acreage?

I don't know the regulations there but I only have a bit over an acre now and am allowed my 2 horses. So I don't need a huge area (would be nice though) but I sure don't want flooding. Yuck. I would stick to FH but the taxes there are killer. I'm looking under 200k.

desertwilite

[aragx6]

I don't know specifics about horses and the acreage regulations regarding them, so i would definitely try and look into that further.

But, assuming you need about an acre, I suspect O'Fallon, MO will be your best bet on the Missouri side, but you're definitely looking at over an hour commute.

Even with Illinois' taxes, you might find that the difference in cost on the Missouri side makes Illinois seem more worth looking into.

[desertwilite]

I assumed housing was pretty reasonable on the MO side. But I just dont know the area anymore and was a teenager when i lived there so ....(didnt really care either!) I thought O'fallon MO was pretty close to the boeing site. Maybe I'm not taking traffic into consideration. I guess a plus on the IL side would be proximity to the Metro line though.

[aragx6]

When you lived here 30 years ago St. Charles was the end of the universe, but that's no longer the case. Over 100,000 people flood onto 70 everyday out that way and the traffic right around the Hwy 79 exit gets pretty bad.

Housing costs have really skyrocketed in St. Charles county in the last 10 years too -- my mom's home right on the edge of St. Charles/St. Peters has more than doubled it's value since they bought it in the late 80s.

[desertwilite]

Dang. Too bad I couldn't have bought some property BEFORE I moved away!!

[WalnutPark829]

check out unincorporated florissant (63034) plenty of areas in the old halls ferry, douglas road, vaile, old jamestown etc. areas with acreage and horses and also very near boeing and within the $200,000 price range.

[desertwilite]

Hey thanks Aragx6 and walnutpark829 for the guidance. That will give me some help in where to start. I will soooo miss the great weather here and the proximity to the ocean, but I really miss the trees and lakes and great people back home!

[kshe95girl]

there are a slew of folks that work at Boeing, and live in Sainte Genevieve County, there is an organized carpool..... its a thought.