Moving to St. Louis for work - Need Help on where to live (St. Charles: homes)

[NewtoStLouis]

Hey all,

I am moving to St. Louis and was wondering what suburbs are good in the area? I'll be working downtown near the baseball stadium. Our purchase price for a home should be around $300-$500k, though I hope to be closer to the $300's. I want to be in a safe area, somewhat close to work (10-20 miles away), nice sized home (4 bedrooms). Any good ideas?

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by NewtoStLouis

Hey all,

I am moving to St. Louis and was wondering what suburbs are good in the area? I'll be working downtown near the baseball stadium. Our purchase price for a home should be around $300-$500k, though I hope to be closer to the $300's. I want to be in a safe area, somewhat close to work (10-20 miles away), nice sized home (4 bedrooms). Any good ideas?

Newer home or older home? Subdivision or older inner suburb? Commute time is also important - mileage is one thing but commute time depends on traffic flows. Also, your budget would cover a lot, but depends on bedrooms (just realize you gave that), size, and lot size. 4 bedrooms, I assume you have kids? Schools are usually an important factor. Generally good school school districts that are probably in your price range would include Parkway (west county), Lindbergh (near south county), Rockwood, Oakville, Kirkwood, Webster, Brentwood. Stretches price wise would be Ladue and Clayton. St. Charles County school districts I think are generally decent.

I'd suggest looking at west county which would include areas like Ballwin, Ellisville, Chesterfield. Your commute from downtown would most likely be out 40 (also called 40/64).

Might also look at Crestwood (older), Fenton (newer), mostly out 44 from downtown.
A direct route south from downtown is Oakville.

If you like older homes closer in Kirkwood, Webster, Glendale, Brentwood come to mind.

Farther out is St. Charles County. You might be 20 miles from downtown but your commute would be longer.

Of course, many live on the ILL side too 10-20 miles from downtown.

[FrankMiller]

You may wish to consider inner-ring suburbs along the Metrolink line (Brentwood, Maplewood, Shrewsbury), if you think you might like to commute via public transit. Aside from that, I like a lot of the suburbs along 44, and I think 44 is a little better than 64/40 traffic-wise.