Good Suburbs of St. Louis (St. Charles, St. Peters: new house, neighborhoods, good schools)

[Inoxkeeper]

Check out Fenton if schools are important. Rockwood is a great district.

[SashaBlue]

Tell me about Florissant.

[migrating]

Florissant has a very nice community center with a pool, B.B. courts, theater (stage) and probably more. We don't live there and only know about it because we take the kids there for some of the theater productions. They are always enjoyable, this year we saw Charlotte's Web, Berenstein Bears,
Dr. Suess (sp?). Last year we saw Anne Frank, Casey Jones, Junie B. Jones... Mostly kid oriented entertainment during the day. I am not sure if they have evening productions.

[SashaBlue]

Theatre and art sound great! Florissant seems to be family-oriented from what you described. What about the job market, shopping, housing prices, and schools?

[migrating]

I don't want to miss lead you. I don't think of Florissant as an 'artsy area'. That is just the only thing we have ever gone there for and I think it is nice of the community to offer it. But, I could be wrong. Does anyone else have more information on this?

[jmpdk3]

How about the New Town area in St. Charles?

I moved to St. Charles about 4 yrs ago from WI (but am a native ST. Louisan-we live off Elm St but not in New Town-they just built it in the last year or so). We love it here. Excellent schools. Nice people. Good ecomonic area. Nice house for the price. Close to shopping and only fifteen/twenty minutes from all that downtown has to offer.

You should consider traffic wherever you live but esp St. Charles and anywhere west of it. Hwy 70 gets extremely backed up-east bound in the a.m. and west bound in the p.m.. There is hwy 370, which is totally underused. 370 connects hwy 270 and hwy 70. (New Town is right off of hwy 370).

It's good that you are checking things out. When we first moved here, we tried Warrenton (closer to our ground and the area my husband works mostly in) but HATED it. Drugs, teen suicides, schools sucked...the list is too long. My kids say it was the worst, most depressing 6 mos of their lives.

Best wishes and good luck to you!
Jane

[dawnaz_70]

Ballwin is a great city close to downtown St. Louis. We moved here 3 yrs ago with no family and have developed a great network while our son enjoys an excellent public school. I would look at homes closer to 44 with the construction occuring for 2 yrs on 40 if you are communiting.

[liveit2day]

In response to the questions regarding "Good Suburbs" in STL, it simply depends on what you are seeking. I grew up in South St. Louis and then in O'Fallon and I have family living in all areas of the city.

Personally, if you can afford Webster Groves, I would go there. That's assuming you will be working near downtown. Webster Groves is clean, the houses are beautiful, and people are generally friendly. However, there are so many clean, safe and welcoming suburbs . . . St. Charles Co. may have a rep. for being "far, far, away" but when you have such a large movement of people there, one has to begin questioning "What is going on that people are seeing?" My father commuted to his downtown office from O'Fallon, MO for near 15years and he said the trick to commuting was all in your timing. It tool him approximately 40 minutes each day-plenty of time for him to listen to his favorite sports show and also catch up on his books-on-tape.

A few personal recommedations (please remember there are many more than this) for suburbs: Kirkwood, St. Louis Hills (in the city and GORGEOUS HOUSES), Ladue, Chesterfield, Webster, Ballwin, Ellisville, Oakville, Clayton, O'Fallon, St. Peters, St. Charles, Creve Coeur, Frontenac and the newer neighborhoods in Florissant.

Honestly, you will find "good schools" everywhere (if this even effects you).

STL has many private schools that have excellent repuations! (I am a product of one of them!)

One last point, St. Louis is like one big, small town and people are generally very friendly, in ALL areas of the city. Most people are fairly down-to-earth (there are always exceptions everywhere) and the city itself if VERY family friendly offering many free entertainment venues. Practically every night of the week during the summer has a free concert in a park!

Hopefully you will come to enjoy the city as many of us do and please ignore the lame advice given that people in certain areas are uppity. You'll find that type of insecurity in any city.

[aminah]

I was reading this post, and noticed that a comment was made about St. Charles being a driver's nightmare. That is NOT true because my family recently moved to O'Fallon Mo. It is ALL highway anywhere you go, and there are not too many people out where we moved. We bought a 4 bedroom 3 1/2 bath home, with a finished basement (AND a second kitchen) for less than $300K. Our house is 3,000 square feet, and worth the commute. The neighborhood is quiet, and pleasant. There is literally NO TRAFFIC on Hwy 40, and traffic on 70 does not last long. I would not live anywhere else, and highly recommend it. I grew up in Webster Groves, but would NEVER move back there. The school district is okay, but the nice homes are over priced with little square footage.
I don't particually care for St. Charles to live, but O'Fallon, Mo. is GREAT!!!!

Originally Posted by Jerry Lauder

Webster-Kirkwood are great, and pricey but not over-priced. Most of our suburbs are not over-priced, but the urban core within the St.Louis city limits is a bubble market that will collapse. St. Charles is a drivers nightmare at all times too many people too few roads and bridges. Maplewood-Richmond Heights and University City school districts drags the quality of life ratio down, avoid-prices are inflated!

Ballwin, Ellisville and Wildwood or nice, yet traffic and commute delays can be fustrating to anywhere at any time. People are much more snobby than Webster-Kirkwood with out any right or reason even compared to Blue Blood Acres from Clayton west to Town and Country.

Look at the southern suburbs of Oakville and Concord, zips 63129 and 63128. Very safe, family friendly and full of eazy to reach amenities in community and throughout region.

It may seem like a long trip to North County, but I-55 to and from Downtown is rarely going less than the speed limit even during peek rush. Downtown to North County is an easy reverse commute. The 270-255 loop during rush hours is also not bad compared with other major regions. Also, the far left interstate lane is like the German auto-bahn. Unlimited speed never endanger yourselves by going too slow. Always move right if someone is gaining on you!

Make a good real estate decision, make sure you buy low and can sell high. That means avoid areas with minorities, select a Catholic parish and school with a good reputation, Stay out of St. Louis City, Illinois, St, Charles or Jefferson county.

Expect to sell in 3-7 years. Transplants rarely become part of the social fabric they don't feel welcome and give-up and relocate again.

[cd_stl]

There are some great home with great schools in the ballwin/ellisville area. I lve in st louis city and have not had a problem with crime but I have no school age children. Good luck!