moving to saint louis, need help for renting (St. Louis, Chesterfield: 2013, apartments)

[crumcreek]

hi:
We are a couple with a 7 year old child. We are moving to Saint Louis in June, 2013. We will stay for two years, so we would like some suggestions about renting a home at Saint Louis area.
We need to rent a two bedroom or larger in an area with good public school. It would be nice if we can rent a house or a townhome. Our budget is about $1000 per month.
We will work at Washington University, so we need to live relatively close to the University, ideally <30min commuting time one way.
We've never been to saint louis before. Any recommendations or suggestions will be very helpful. Thank you very much.

[wustu87]

If you are talking about just 2 years of elementary school for your child you have plenty of options. If you'd like a townhouse my first pick would be one in Brentwood Forest where your child would be at McGrath Elementary. You can also find a small house for rent at about $900-$1000 in the Brentwood area (near either McGrath or Mark Twain elementary schools). You can also find a 2 BR rental in the top rated Clayton Schools for around $1000/month but it is more likely to be an apartment and not a townhouse nor a house. For elementary school you could also consider Maplewood Elementary where you can get more for your money than in Brentwood (i.e. a slightly larger or nicer single family home for the same rent.) The Brentwood elementary schools are probably considered "better" schools, but in early elementary, I do not think it makes that big of a difference, and Maplewood Elementary is a newly constructed school in an improving, diverse and progressive district. There will be a ton of Wash U employees with small children in any of these areas (Clayton, Brentwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights) and that is definitely the area I would recommend. (Of course, I may be biased )

[moorlander]

Lots of faculty, staff, and grad students live in the Moorlands neighborhood of Clayton. You could walk, bike, or line up and take the bus to campus like dozens of others do each morning.

[glamatomic]

For your budget, I would try Creve Coeur. It's a safe, suburban area about 20 minutes from Wash U. Creve Coeur is part of the Parkway Schools district which is very well regarded. A quick search on the internet turns up plenty of options in Creve Coeur which may suit you (although like Clayton you may have to settle for a condo / apartment rather than a single family or town home- but you'd get more bang for your buck in Creve Coeur).

Another option worth trying is Maryland Heights- it's directly North of Creve Coeur and some is in the Pattonville school district and part I believe is in Parkway. Maryland Heights is more affordable than Creve Coeur, but it's still reasonably pleasant if you enjoy suburbia (I used to live there- it was very peaceful and I never had any problems).

There's a complex in Maryland Heights called Pheasant Run which always looked nice from the outside (although I've never seen inside their apartments) which offers 2 bed 1.5 bath trilevel townhomes for $990. Pheasant Run - Welcome Home | Apartments for Rent in Maryland Heights, MO.

Are you looking for more urban or suburban? Do you prefer older neighborhoods or newer areas?

Good luck with your move- and I hope you love it here!

[crumcreek]

Originally Posted by glamatomic

For your budget, I would try Creve Coeur. It's a safe, suburban area about 20 minutes from Wash U. Creve Coeur is part of the Parkway Schools district which is very well regarded. A quick search on the internet turns up plenty of options in Creve Coeur which may suit you (although like Clayton you may have to settle for a condo / apartment rather than a single family or town home- but you'd get more bang for your buck in Creve Coeur).

Another option worth trying is Maryland Heights- it's directly North of Creve Coeur and some is in the Pattonville school district and part I believe is in Parkway. Maryland Heights is more affordable than Creve Coeur, but it's still reasonably pleasant if you enjoy suburbia (I used to live there- it was very peaceful and I never had any problems).

There's a complex in Maryland Heights called Pheasant Run which always looked nice from the outside (although I've never seen inside their apartments) which offers 2 bed 1.5 bath trilevel townhomes for $990. Pheasant Run - Welcome Home | Apartments for Rent in Maryland Heights, MO.

Are you looking for more urban or suburban? Do you prefer older neighborhoods or newer areas?

Good luck with your move- and I hope you love it here!

Thank you. I am sure Saint Louis is a very nice city. I've never lived in any mid west city before. It could be a different experience.
I would prefer suburban. I will be pretty happy with any area quite, safe and have a good elementary school for my kid.
I did go to check the property you mentioned. It looks beautiful. Also i found another property that fits our budget which is called Woods Mill Park Apartments and Townhome. The address is 13487 Post Road Chesterfield, MO 63141. Do you happen to know this property? It is close to the four seasons country club according to google map. I can hardly find any ratings or reviews about this place online.

[crumcreek]

Thank you all so much for the great info.
It looks like if i choose to live in any of the following areas mentioned (Clayton, Brentwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights), i can take the advantage of public transportation. Is it safe to take the metrolink train or biking in those areas during late night or early morning? My husband needs to take shifts.

[moorlander]

Metrolink is plenty safe, especially in this area. Like I mentioned above, many of the WashU folks take the bus. Here is a link with the bus info http://parking.wustl.edu/around.htm

Here is a map from Bike St. Louis with both MetroLink and bike St. Louis routes.

Bike St Louis Map

[Dawn10am]

The MetroLink is generally safe, but I always use extra caution at night. It's not dangerous per se, but there do tend to be more shady people on there after dark. I've only ever taken it at night from CWE to Downtown, which is the heart of the city, so I can't really speak for the stations out in the county. I'd imagine there'd be fewer...um..."eccentric" characters out there.

Biking is also fine. I'm too much of a wuss to bike on major streets, but on the side streets it's perfectly safe. Just be sure to invest in a flashing LED tail light and a head light for nighttime biking.

[wustu87]

Personally, I take the Metrolink to and from the Wash U campus every day, and frankly I feel that is safer than commuting on the highways or mid county streets. I always get a kick when I hear people talking about public transportation being "unsafe", since I know I am statistically much more likely to be injured or in a costly accident driving on the roads with all the crazy drivers than I am safely sitting on a Metrolink train or Metro bus. Or even getting my car dinged around or near campus is not an issue for me. There are a lot of distracted and not so experienced drivers around Wash U campus causing a number of accidents on the parking lots and nearby streets. Not having to deal with your own vehicle around campus can be a plus (as well as saving the $500/year in parking fees!)