Good Suburbs of St. Louis (Florissant, Oakville: homes, neighborhood, buy)

[CellarBelle]

Do consider the Illinois side. I live in Edwardsville, and our schools are wonderful. We have a university in town, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The University brings in people from all over to instruct and educate. Nice bedroom community that is convenient, clean and growing. Good luck and welcome to the St. Louis area (a great place to live, coming from a native NC gal).

Originally Posted by mahalemama

Hi I am also in NC, raleigh. We are relocating in May of 2008 to STL and sounds like we are looking for the same things. We have a 4 year old who will be starting kindergarten so most important to us is the school system. I am white and he is indian so of course we are looking for a diverse area and also a safe suburb of the city. Have you found anything good yet???

[mahalemama]

Hi Cellarbelle
I am actually a native St Louisian. I lived there all through my 20's at least anyway. Back then I was young and single and childless. I lived in south city near Grand and I55. It was ok for me then but now with a young child I would not feel safe letting him play and walk around outside especially coming from the Raleigh/Cary area of NC, it is pretty quiet here. All my family is there and my parents are older and in bad health thus the move back. My boyfriend travels weekly with his job so we need to be close to or at least able to get to the airport quickly. I havent been back in a few years so I dont know how the areas have changed. I used to love the city because of the diversity so we are looking for a suburb that is diverse and in a good school system. We are a multi racial family ( I'm white he is east Indian ) so we are also looking for and area with at least some indian population. Right now we are thinking Ladue, Town and Country and Manchester area but we havent seen it yet. Planning a visit in March for our May end move. Any advice??

[CellarBelle]

I love the area you live in. My uncle lives in Hurdle Mills, and the whole family gathers at his place for Thanksgiving. So beautiful. I love the areas you mentioned below. Beautiful homes and good resale. I know it is a little pricey, but I would imagine it compares rather well with the Raleigh/Cary area based on what I hear about home prices there.

I can't give you an honest prospective on the racial situation, either. My husband and I are both white, so I don't know what it is like to be in a multi-racial family. Not something we have ever had to deal with. I will say that personally, I think that as long as you are living in a growing community that is seeing people moving in from other areas, you will probably be alright. But, as I'm sure you know, you will probably have the occasional ill-raised person that attempts to make you feel like a second-class citizen.

I would definitely look at the school report cards, test scores, etc. Visit GreatSchools.net to gather educational information. When you come out to visit, give yourself a little time to visit Edwardsville/Glen Carbon. Here is a link to "everything Ed/GC": TheAlliance of Edwardsville & Glen Carbon. You might find that the "bedroom community" feel is just what you like. Like I said earlier, the University gives us a little more diversity. I think you will be fine in any of the St. Louis suburbs that are growing and have good school districts. As you know, midwesterners for the most part are nice, mind-your-own-business kind of people! Good Luck!

Originally Posted by mahalemama

Hi Cellarbelle
I am actually a native St Louisian. I lived there all through my 20's at least anyway. Back then I was young and single and childless. I lived in south city near Grand and I55. It was ok for me then but now with a young child I would not feel safe letting him play and walk around outside especially coming from the Raleigh/Cary area of NC, it is pretty quiet here. All my family is there and my parents are older and in bad health thus the move back. My boyfriend travels weekly with his job so we need to be close to or at least able to get to the airport quickly. I havent been back in a few years so I dont know how the areas have changed. I used to love the city because of the diversity so we are looking for a suburb that is diverse and in a good school system. We are a multi racial family ( I'm white he is east Indian ) so we are also looking for and area with at least some indian population. Right now we are thinking Ladue, Town and Country and Manchester area but we havent seen it yet. Planning a visit in March for our May end move. Any advice??

[gy2020]

I moved away in 2006, back to San Antonio area. I disagree with some who say Illinois is bad. The entire time I lived in the area I lived in Belleville, Il and I enjoyed it. I was a renter. Had the same landlord the entire time. Mostly worked on the Illinois side. A few times I did work in St. Louis.
As far as home value I think O'Fallon is a great area and it is growing, has good schools. I worked in their district and enjoyed it.

[stlterp]

Seems that a lot of the East Asian population is out in West County, particularly the Chesterfield Valley area...there was an article in the Post-Dispatch about this a couple of months ago. There are a lot of Indian professionals working at places like MEMC, Wash U, Pfizer and others.

[bksmo]

We are moving to STL from KC. We are married professionals in our late 20's with no kids yet, but we will be starting a family soon. Basically, we want to live in an area that is as close to downtown as possible, while remaining in a nice and safe area. Also, we only know a few people, so we would like to live somewhere where people know their neighbors, young professionals live, etc. Our budget is around $200k. We are trying to make a smart choice and buy in a good area ... this is our first home. So, for resale purposes, I suppose schools are a consideration, although I know STL (like KC, MO) prefers private education to public.

We currently live in Brookside (close to the Plaza) in KC. For anyone who knows KC, what areas in STL are similar to Brookside or Prairie Village?

Thank you for taking the time to help us out! We appreciate it!

[mercedes1]

bksmo - I am a KC native. I grew up in Prairie Village, got married and owned a home in Overland Park. The areas that are similar to Brookside and Prairie Village in STL would be Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Glendale, Oakland, Brentwood, Maplewood. Living in STL is much different from living in KC. If you like Brookside and PV, I think you would like these areas. Unfortunately, I can't give you much guidance regarding the public school districts. I have heard good things regarding the Maplewood School District. STL is very much a private school town especially in these suburbs. Your biggest problem will be your real estate budget. $200 in these areas will be limited and will be homes that need work, but the resale value is very good for the suburbs I have suggested, and these suburbs have much charm with unique architecture. Kirkwood, in particular, is a very friendly, walkable suburb. Webster Groves is home to Webster University which I'm sure you are familar with as there is a campus in KC. The university really adds to the ambience and cultural climate of the town.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

bksmo-

It probably varies slightly depending on the situation, but I've heard that it's best to get a private school. $200k for a house may be tight, but you can probably get a decent one for that price in the city, not sure about the suburbs. Lafayette square has beautiful little houses known as "painted ladies" which are pretty, but may be pricey. I also don't know about schools in Lafayette Square.

Once you pick a neighborhood, there may be pictures of it at Urban St. Louis - View Forum - Photography - Showcase St. Louis It would give you an idea of what it looks like anyway.


There's some Lafayette Square, but it may be a bit pricey.

Here's some Soulard


I don't have suburb pictures much. St. Charles is apparently family friendly, but kind of bland from what I've heard.

Urban St. Louis - Index may help as well. The above pictures are from Urban St. Louis. Good luck!

[WhyteWing]

I am currently living in South County and can say with authority that it will meet your needs... Newer housing and good school systems.

Housing opportunities are solid in the Tower Grove area and surrounding neighborhoods but schools in that area have a bad rep (they may deserve the rep or not... I don't have children of my own so cannot speak from personal experience). There are magnet schools in the city, though, and there may be other options that I haven't heard about.

The StL area housing market is stable compared to other parts of the country - it never had the "shoot for the stars" up-swing so the "down-turn" has been less severe. I would avoid the Soulard area, though, because IMHO those properties have priced themselves above the stable market prices.

Best of luck,
WW

[anr_black]

To BKSMO:

For your price and stage in your life, I would suggest the city. My husband and I live with our two kids in South St. Louis in the Southampton neighborhood. We love it. We pay for private school for our son in school, but find that even with that cost, we still pay less per year for the size of home we have then we would anywhere near the city. Since you don't have any kids yet, it would be at least 5 years before you would have to worry about that anyway.

We have a great walkable neighborhood here and people are very friendly. We know all our neighbors by name on our end of the block and are mins. away from everything.

Now is a great time to buy a house. I noticed that prices have stabilized for my neighborhood, and seem to be on the rise from last year.