Good Suburbs of St. Louis (St. Charles, St. Peters: crime, houses, job market)

[aplong]

Thanks for the Chesterfield and Creve Coeur referrals. What are your thoughts about Kirkwood? Schools and quality of life are our two top priorities... Thanks again.

[aplong]

Any thoughts on Kirkwood...? Thanks.

[rcefstsfecr]

aplong, I would personally suggest that you look into the Rockwood or Parkway School Districts (Fenton, Clarkson Valley, Ballwin, etc.). They have great schools and I would think that they have the space you would need for the horses. The only downside is that it might not be the easiest drive to Maryland Heights from these areas.

[leahj224]

I lived in St. Louis for 20+ years and loved every minute of it! Welcome!

Aplong, Kirkwood is a beautiful area, but it would difficult to find enough acreage to keep horses. Looking further out into West County would be your best bet for land. Wildwood is lovely, too.

[stltova]

Try the metro east area, especially with the Highway 40 construction.
Millstadt is a wonderful community and a good school. You can get to Maryland Heights in 40 minutes, even in traffic. And, there is a lot of land for your horses!
Good luck!

[KCWKEN]

"Good Burbs" and some other advice...

If you're looking at living West and you're budget is $250K, I'd suggest Ballwin, or if you can go farther west, try for Eureka and/or anything in the Rockwoods school district. West County has the reputation of being the wealthy, white-collar, upper-middle-class area of St. Louis metro.

If you're going South, then you have a lot of options for nice homes at reasonable prices in safe neighborhoods, with good school districts like Mehville, Affton, Lindberg, etc. South County is the "white, middle class and blue collar" area of St. Louis metro.

If you're working in North County, buy a home in St. Charles or maybe Maryland Heights... There is NOTHING positive going on in either the real estate market or school systems in North St. Louis County. My prediction based on schools and demographic trends is that a lot of the new housing developments in North County will actually depreciate in value... Look at once great school systems like Hazelwood, Ferguson/Florissant... not to mention Riverview Gardens or Jennings... it's not a pretty trend up North.

If you're thinking about going east, go as far east as you can... East St. Louis and immediate vicinity is notoriosly dangerous, economically depressed, and run by corrupt officials. Don't even get off the interstate in East St. Louis... Maybe Granite City, Edwardsville, Columbia (IL), or Godfrey (far Northeast) are okay, but I haven't been there for years.

St. Louis City is a mixed bag... If you have kids, forget it! The St. Louis (City) Public Schools are a disgrace and frankly downright dangerous. However the City has great attractions like the Zoo, Cardinals Baseball, Rams Football, Forest Park, Muny Opera, Fox Theatre, the Symphony, Mo. Botanical Gardens, etc. If you are young couple with no kids, gay, single, retired etc... there are some great places to live, especially if you stay south of Hwy 40 (I-64). Look at awesome old manses off South Grand, quaint little homes on The Hill (near I-44 & Kingshighway), or in Dogtown (across I-64 from Zoo), or gentrified areas like Lafayette Park, Central West End, or older blue collar strongholds like St. Louis Hills, or the south end of Hampton Ave / Carondolet Park area.

The St. Louis area has something for everyone, you just need to know what you're looking for, and have a good sense of direction.

[blushadow]

Originally Posted by AKA FLEX

Have you considered East St. Louis??

This person IS JOKING!!! East St. Louis is very crime-ridden, and not safe at all!

[razzy]

To the original poster: If you are working in North County, I'd suggest Edwardsville, Illinois. It is more of a small town than a suburb, but they are building lots of new houses out there, plenty of shopping, and its only 20 mins or so from North County (depends on where in NC, though).

[CellarBelle]

Originally Posted by BSL63087

Anyone know of any pretty nice suburbs of St. Louis that have a lot of newer houses (anywhere from brand new to about 10 years old or so) and a low crime rate?

Any help is appreciated.

Great suburb on the Illinois side. We are experiencing healthy growth, and we just passed a bond referendum to build new schools. We have SIUE and a YMCA that is one of the largest in the country. The schools are outstanding! I have 2 in school here - elem age, and I'm very happy. Moved here 4 years ago from Texas, and couldn't be happier. 30 minutes from driveway to a seat in Busch stadium. Can't beat that! Housing prices are reasonable. Post if you want more info!

[migrating]

We relocated to MO around three years ago. We ended up in a small community in Pacific, MO 63069. It is less than a mile off of interstate 44 around 4 miles west of Eureka. We are right outside of St. Louis Co. in Franklin Co. and our taxes are very low in comparison. Our neighborhood is very family oriented with common ground, a stocked lake with fountain and walking trail, community pool, sidewalks (1 mile around the circle for walks) with (still young) maple lined streets. It takes us around 15 minutes to get to 270 and it is a beautiful drive! The schools have a A+ rating and many people rave about them. There is also a wonderful catholic school in the area (you do not need to be catholic to attend). We homeschool our kids, mostly because of attachment parenting and relocation issues, but they play with great neighborhood kids who attend the above schools.

The subdivision is considered desirable and prices range from the high ones to the high twos for very nice family homes. We are on the market right now for 279,000 and have 2872 sf 5bd 2.5 bath with nice upgrades. There are other homes in the area on the market right now as well. I am not just trying for a sale, all though that would be great!!! I just think people would be pleased with this area which is often over looked because they think it is too far away. Do a search and see if it is worth looking at. You get alot of home for your money! If you want more info, email me and I'll try to help.