going to be moving to St Louis area end of September (St. Louis: real estate, apartments)

[ribs05]

HI every one. My wife and I will be moving to the St Louis area at the end of September. We are currently trying to find a place to live. The one major issue I am having is there are so many communities. I will be working downtown by the federal building. I am looking for about a 30 to 45 minute commute maybe a one hour commute would work too. I want to live in a safe place where I can walk down the street and not have to carry a weapon. We do not have kids yet but will in the near future so school systems need to be pretty decent. I would like to live by or near a lake. I have looked at Lake St Louis but it seems like there is a ton of restrictions and requirements. Is there any other lake communities around there? Also we are looking to spend around 165k for a house if that is possible. Also if any one know real estate around the area what price range should be the max I look at if I want to spend 165k. Thanks for your time and information.

[TGS]

Since you don't have kids, you might want to consider renting for a few months and looking at houses after you get here.

I can't tell if you would like to like by a small lake (there are plenty of subdivisions with little lakes) or if you want a place when you can actually take a boat out on the water. If you don't like Lake St. Louis, then the other good lake community where you can really use a boat is Lake Carlyle in Illinois. It is about an hour drive to downtown St. Louis.

[BoomBoxing]

You have a wide variety of options available to you so I would ask you what kind of lifestyle do you have? How old are you? What kinds of people do you want to live around? How much of your life do you want to spend commuting?

For your price range I would say being on or near a lake is not too likely. Other than that there are plethora of communities in the St. Louis area that meet your requirements. But from what I can gather thus far, you are a young childless couple and you work downtown. I would highly recommend the inner ring St. Louis county and south St. Louis. There are a variety of different options as far as that goes so once you post more about yourself I will give a more personalized recommendation.

[AJohnston_STL]

Please truly consider that first of all, there are plenty of safe city neighborhoods - so if you believe that you have to be 45 miles out of the city to enjoy safety, think again.

If you are coming from a small town rather than a city, please know that a 45 minute to hour commute sounds ok in theory, but it sucks when put in to practice. Trust me, I did it took. "Oh, no biggie, I like living over here on the east side. It's just an hour!" then week 2 comes and you are re-thinking your decision. Please also know that rain can meaning doubling your commute. It's a lot more fun to double a 20 minute commute than it is to double an hour long commute.

If you are coming from a big city, the traffic will be a non-issue.

[ribs05]

I am 28 years old and the wife is 25. We both love the out doors. We enjoy running and exercising. Also enjoy boating, fishing, hunting, riding atvs, and riding horses. We currently live in a community of maybe 300 people. I work in St Joseph, Mo now and it is roughly an hour or so drive and I have been making that commute for around 3 years. We use to live in Omaha, NE area so traffic is not really an issue for me. My wife wants to finish her 4 year degree down there is there any colleges for Accounting that is highly recommended. We also have a 85 lab for a dog so we need an apartment for now. I was thinking that renting might be the best thing for around 4 months or until we get a good feel for the city. We also like to go to the local bar and have a few beers but with my job I need to be in walking distance to the house or a cab I will not drink and drive personal reasons behind that. Thanks for all in the information so far. I had a friend suggest to live in Troy but that looks like one heck of a commute.

[BoomBoxing]

Sounds like you are a little bit of everything. I think renting for a few months is a great idea and will give you a chance to really explore the area and find out areas you like or dislike. With you working downtown and your wife going to college I think being close to the city core is a good idea. St. Louis has some great universities including Washington University, St. Louis University, U of Missouri St. Louis, Lindenwood, Webster and several other good schools. All have reputable accounting programs. I know several people including my sister who have gotten good jobs and CPA's after going to UMSL and they are affordable so that is a good option.

I work downtown and live in the southwest corner of the city and I cannot highly recommend it enough. I am close to everything, my girlfriend has a ~20 minute commute to UMSL and I have a 10 minute (or less) commute to downtown. I also can catch the metrolink and even bike to work and do those on occasion. We have numerous bars and coffee houses in walking distance and it is very safe. On the downside, the public schools are bad, which I don't care about because I don't have kids and won't have them for some time. But if you did live in the city you would have to consider sending them to a private school or one of the good charter schools.

There are also some great inner ring suburbs that have many of the great things I said about the city earlier, and some of them have some great schools. These include Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Clayton, Brentwood, Affton, and Maplewood-Richmond Heights. Depending on which community the culture can be more like typical suburbia (Affton) or very similar to the city (Maplewood, Clayton).

So I would recommend checking out these areas and parts of south city and see what you like and dislike. These areas will cut down on your commute so you won't be spending your life in a car and have more money for fun things. If you would like a more rural lifestyle with the ATV's/fishing then you would have to drive a bit (not too far) to go to areas that have those things available. But if you wanted to do that kind of stuff right around your house then you would have to move further away from the city and thus paying more in gas and spending more time commuting. Anyway that's a lot of info to digest so I will leave it at that

[DinsdalePirahna]

I live in Lake Saint Louis (City of Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, USA -- Welcome and Lake Saint Louis Community Association - Lakes & Vacation Style Living ). Lake Saint Louis makes living in Missouri tolerable for a California Transplant. LSL is about 40 miles to Busch Stadium. I make the trip 3 to 4 times a week and it is not an issue for me.

LSL is also very republican, very conservative and very safe (i think it is the second safest community in Missouri). I'm a west coast liberal and has not had any problems fitting into the area. Nice people here. Most seem very into leading healthy lifestyles

The Meadows is a new "Lifestyle Center" shopping mall. Because of the current economic environment I don't think it has lived up to its full potential. Maybe if they dropped an Apple store and a Trader Joes it would draw more customers.

You are not going to get a downtown/hipster coffee-shop and cafe vibe here. (Personally I don't really think it really exists -in the way that I am used to - in the entire Metro St. Louis Area). What Lake Saint Louis will give you is kind-of- sort-of- Beach Community atmosphere without the tourists.

Unless you are a total Hillbilly, the restrictions in LSL are fair. No junk cars in the yard, Keep your property maintained, our lawn Mowed, Don't cut down old growth trees unless they are dying, No outside sheds or out buildings. No Commercial vehicles in the driveway.No Fences between yards (unless you have a pool). You can still put up hedges if you desire. All 'restrictions" are designed to keep property values strong. If I can live with the rules anyone can

There is a Community association fee of $450 /year which is being voted on. It may go up to 700 /year, but will eliminate the boating registration fees and give a family unlimited access to all the amenities as well as fund a new club house on the Large lake with an indoor pool and fitness center. The Current CA Club house rivals many country and yacht clubs on the east and west coasts and has good food and decent entertainment.

165K is a bit low on the price scale unless considering a Condo. There is a home in my neighborhood that is not quite lake front but with a clear view of the lake listed at $209K. There are homes listed under 200K. Be careful when you do look at homes. If you want the lake amenities, your home has to be in the Community Association Boundaries.

[Marksman84]

[quote=DinsdalePirahna;10223838]I
LSL is also very republican, very conservative and very safe (i think it is the second safest community in Missouri). I'm a west coast liberaland has not had any problems fitting into the area.

Ah ha! Now I understand the basis for your negative, cynical perception on life. This would make sense. As well as your choice of verb tense!

[DinsdalePirahna]

I'm a poor keyboardist. Excuse me. And I see lots of poor grammar on these boards. I'm just as guilty as the rest.

And so what if i'm a liberal? and I do support some conservative values such as gun ownership and right to life.

The issue I have with the locals is that they are parochial locals. They care more about what HS you went to than what experience you can bring to their organization.

[Bostonienne]

May I jump in?

I'm coming in from the East Coast, definitely looking forward to the friendlier midwestern living that I've found in St. Louis! Looking for a neighborhood of young to middle age professionals, not particularly family oriented. Also thinking of renting for a while at first. I am going to look at loft apartments in CWE - the Taylor-Olive building and Field School - anybody have input on these? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!