Should my mother move to Fenton, MO? (St. Louis, Princeton: crime, house)

[showmestcharles]

Originally Posted by billiken

What exactly is happening in Kirkwood that will make us all not what to live there in 10-20 years? I'd love to know, considering the price of real estate, the great schools, low crime, thriving downtown area, and high income levels. You talk in your other posts about checking out restaurants and stores to get a feel for the area--there are a lot of nice restaurants, new grocery stores, shiny new cars, families, etc.

It's kinda like CWE, when you're there it's ok, but you drive a few blocks the wrong way and it's ghetto, and Kirkwood is only 10 sq miles so that's not hard to do. It's much worse than it was in the 90s too so it's probably going to continue to get worse. Kirkwood has always had a great reputation and people are still buying into that but it's a shell of what it use to be like in the 80s and 90s.

Florissant was a terrific place in the 70s and 80s too and now look at it

it's hard looking at an area and figuring out what it's going to be like in 20 years, you kinda have to look at what other areas around it were doing 20 years ago and see how people are moving. It'll be much easier to determine when the 2010 census info comes out later this year.

I wasn't bashing Kirkwood, I'm just saying it's not as good as Arnold for what the poster was looking for. If you like Kirkwood then by all means, go enjoy it.

[showmestcharles]

Originally Posted by BoomBoxing

He's clearly a crazy person.

Of course, clearly anyone with a different opinion must be crazy. Maybe I should go take my meds and lay down awhile.

[moorlander]

^This

So. Utterly. Clueless.

[BoomBoxing]

Originally Posted by showmestcharles

Maybe I should go take my meds and lay down awhile.

Maybe?

[aragx6]

Yes Kirkwood is the ghetto, but Arnold is paradise on Earth. You hit the nail on the head!

[stlcitygirl]

Hahahaha, man, this guy is a mess. Kirkwood is a very nice area.

[hhillstl]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Yes Kirkwood is the ghetto, but Arnold is paradise on Earth. You hit the nail on the head!

I know, right? I guess my friends who just shelled out a half million for a gorgeous victorian near downtown Kirkwood should have done their homework! Arnold is where it's at!

[flynavyj]

Personally, i think the guy is a bit off his rocker...but that said if urban sprawl continues to push areas around Arnold might look more attractive than new construction in Wentzville and further West. The commute time at non-rush hours from Arnold to Downtown is significantly better also, plus there are no bridges/rivers to deal with. This leads me to believe that depending on trends, a person could see impressive financial gains for purchase price vs sale price in a "booming" location like Arnold.

Typically speaking Kirkwood can have a high cost of entrance considering how much home you get. You'll be banking on the idea that the area will remain popular throughout your ownership (which it probably will). A couple major benefits of Kirkwood are it's location, and the lack of massive new construction, which would be a major detractor for Arnold if it ever expands to the levels that I-55 South of I-270 was designed to support.

[aragx6]

I agree with everything you're saying except that realistically not all that many of the folks who've moved out to O'Fallon, Wentzville and beyond actually work downtown. One of the reasons expansion in the STL metro has gone west and not south is because the majority of job growth has occured near the airport, in Maryland Heights and in Creve Coeur.

Well really it's a chicken or egg argument I guess -- did exurban residential development occur along the 70 corridor because of jobs or did the jobs move out there because of the exurban residential development? Whatever the answer, the simple fact is that I sure as hell wouldn't want to work at One City Place or at Boeing and live in Arnold. The commute would be awful awful awful.

If the city can bring new jobs to downtown, then I could see exurban development in the south picking up. It certainly has to the southwest along the 44 corridor -- like Eureka.

[ShadowCaver]

Regarding jobs, and their location... Jobs fell in St. Louis City, County in third quarter 2010