Moving to St Louis

[waitman]

Hopefully someone here knows St Louis well and could give me a little advice on my move there. I'm looking for a decent neighborhood to move into of course. I know nothing about St Louis, other than the arch, the Cardinals, etc... I will be transferring/relocating to the Maryland Heights, Lackland Road area for employment and housing close to there would be ideal if possible. I would like to keep rent up to 1k a month in a decent neighborhood and hopefully bigger than a Volkswagen. Anyone with knowledge of the area that could point me in the right direction, I would be eternally grateful. The employer is rushing this and wants this done by the end of this month, June. Thanks in advance people.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Welcome! I expect you'll definitively find something nice within that budget. I sm still at work so I can't provide more details right now but basically South and West areas is where you want to stay. Avoid Eastern and Northern parts of town like the plague.

 

[brianmanahan]

not ferguson

 

[CurrentlyPissed]

St louis is one of the best cost of living cities in the states. You'll find plenty of locations around Maryland heights. I wouldn't stress it too much.

 

[glenn1]

Hopefully someone here knows St Louis well and could give me a little advice on my move there. I'm looking for a decent neighborhood to move into of course. I know nothing about St Louis, other than the arch, the Cardinals, etc... I will be transferring/relocating to the Maryland Heights, Lackland Road area for employment and housing close to there would be ideal if possible. I would like to keep rent up to 1k a month in a decent neighborhood and hopefully bigger than a Volkswagen. Anyone with knowledge of the area that could point me in the right direction, I would be eternally grateful. The employer is rushing this and wants this done by the end of this month, June. Thanks in advance people.

Was moved there as part of a corporate relo in 2008 so I can relate. I'm more familiar with the city southside (Hampton and Chippewa area) and more west side suburbs like Maryland Heights but can give you the flavor of most parts of the city if not specific real estate recommendations. The part of the city you'll be in is near a large pocket of ethnic restaurants and shops on Olive, and alos the mall and other Creve Coeur area merchants. Feel free to ask away with any specific questions you might have.

 

[smackababy]

Stay as far away from East St. Louis as possible. It's in Illinois, but it's bad.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Well, considering I live right down the street from Lackland, I could tell you all kinds of stuff. PM me if you have any area specific questions. My father works for Bunge NA in that same area. Honestly, you can't really go wrong with anything SOUTH of Lackland, but heading North is where it gets a little sketchy... I'd be happy to help however I can!

 

[glenn1]

Well, considering I live right down the street from Lackland, I could tell you all kinds of stuff. PM me if you have any area specific questions. My father works for Bunge NA in that same area. Honestly, you can't really go wrong with anything SOUTH of Lackland, but heading North is where it gets a little sketchy... I'd be happy to help however I can!

Good advice. Basically if you live in St Louis city or county then you want to stay south of Page Avenue and north of Gravois, see map below. Anything outside that green zone and you're in some pretty sketchy shit. For example, a reasonably famous STL landmark is Crown Candy Kitchen and literally a block or two away from it there are city blocks where literally half the houses will be abandoned and in some state of collapse, awaiting the city to have the money to condemn and demolition it.

If you're considering a particular neighborhood in the Green Zone I can probably give you a sense of what it's like.

 

[Zstream]

I lived in STL for 30 years now... Give me a PM and we can chat. There are plenty of nice apartments in Maryland Heights, Creve Cour, Chedterfield, Saint Charles etc.. I'd look at the new apartments in Saint Charles 5th street area as they're building around it and it has some nice places to eat. It's an easy drive to Maryland Heights

 

[Bubblehappy]

Never lived there so can't help, but *do* frequent The Drunken Fish. It's a hella-good time.

 

[PricklyPete]

Lived in Creve Couer for 2.5 years while on a project (about 7 years ago). Loved running around Creve Couer lake in the mornings. Spent most of our time between Clayton and Forest Park, so personally would live in that area over Creve Couer. Clayton is really great location as the city goes, but is pricey.

Have relatives who live in an amazing home near Central West End which is just North/East of Forest Park. Another great area, but crime is definitely worse in that area vs. Clayton.

Creve Couer/Maryland Heights is much more "suburban" than Clayton/Central West End... So how much you like those areas will depend heavily on how much you like suburban vs. city-like living.

The mansions west/south of Clayton are pure ridiculousness.

 

[waitman]

Thanks all for the responses and offers of help. I may be hitting some of you up with a few questions. I'm just limited in time right now, I do appreciate the feedback. Thanks again everyone

 

[DaveSimmons]

Air conditioning, you will need it. Also: "Winter is coming."

100+ heat in summer, heavy snow and ice in winter. Be prepared. Blackouts happen now and then too, so flashlights / LED lamps, extra blankets, bottled water.

 

[PricklyPete]

Air conditioning, you will need it. Also: "Winter is coming."

100+ heat in summer, heavy snow and ice in winter. Be prepared. Blackouts happen now and then too, so flashlights / LED lamps, extra blankets, bottled water.

I actually liked a St. Louis a lot (lots of beautiful old architecture, Forrest park is great, etc.), but the weather sucked...kinda worst of all worlds IMHO. Humid. Super hot in summer. Super cold in winter. Sorry OP...not trying to poop on your new location.

 

[waitman]

I'm thinking Houston which may be my other option is looking better than St Louis. At least the winters are mild and the pay is better. Last minute negotiations begin soon. They don't want to pay quite enough for me to relocate to St Louis, maybe they will. Where I am at right now is hotter by 1 degree F. and more humid by 12% than St Louis and more humid 10% and a couple degrees cooler than Houston. I'm melting already. A slave to the money then you die. It's a bittersweet symphony!

 

[PricklyPete]

I'm thinking Houston which may be my other option is looking better than St Louis. At least the winters are mild and the pay is better. Last minute negotiations begin soon. They don't want to pay quite enough for me to relocate to St Louis, maybe they will. Where I am at right now is hotter by 1 degree F. and more humid by 12% than St Louis and more humid 10% and a couple degrees cooler than Houston. I'm melting already. A slave to the money then you die. It's a bittersweet symphony!

To each his own, but I would live in St. Louis everyday of the week over Houston. I have a sister who lives in the Woodlands (suburb of Houston) and that city just doesn't do it for me. Way to hot/humid for my liking to begin with...and nothing about the guilty grabs me at all.

 

[midnight growler]

St. Louis is a great place to live when you ignore the sensationalist headlines. The bad areas are easily avoidable. St Louis City is separate from the suburbs which really skews stats against the whole area.

Traffic is a lot better than what I hear about Houston and cheaper cost of living has already been mentioned. The area you're looking at is in the middle of good suburbs, but still in a pretty central close-to-everything place.

But if pay is going to be an issue, that's what you have to figure out first.

 

[glenn1]

To each his own, but I would live in St. Louis everyday of the week over Houston. I have a sister who lives in the Woodlands (suburb of Houston) and that city just doesn't do it for me. Way to hot/humid for my liking to begin with...and nothing about the guilty grabs me at all.

Spent time in both and I would choose St Louis as well. I don't know the OP preferences but Houston exceeds my upper control limit for what size of city I prefer living in. St Louis is pretty much perfect for me, enough cultural attractions and such to remain interesting while not feeling like I'm living in an anthill like you would in Chicago, NYC, etc.

The one thing I will say was that midwest and STL culture took a bit of getting used to for this boy after having spent most of the rest of my life on the East Coast and travelling around in the military (mostly California and southern states plus the sandbox countries of the middle east). You'll be forced to follows news about the Cardinals baseball team because that's all anyone cares about for 5 months of the year. Plus the folks definitely have a bit of an inferiority complex WRT Chicago. But you'll likely adore some of the "only in St Louis" things like Ted Drewes, or being able to go to the Zoo and other city attractions for free.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Ted Drewes

- I do miss that frozen custard. So tasty.

Also, if you use the New York Alphabet ("F'n A, F'n B, ....") learn to tone that down. At least when I lived there speech was almost expletive-free.

 

[waitman]

Well, the offer was upped a little and after considering it and the advice from you people, I think I'm going to make the move. One problem I have is a pit bull looking dog and I see a lot of places have outright bans and possibly just because he looks like one. I don't know that I could re home him, it about killed us both just to put him up in a kennel for a few days and he's not quite a year old, so I expect him to live quite a while longer. He's, healthy, very social, loving, well taken care of and chipped I'm looking at some places tomorrow afternoon and have to leave out by Sunday, noon-ish, so hopefully things will work out. Thanks to everyone for all the input and advice, I really do appreciate it. This happened so fast I wasn't ready for it, heck I'm still not. I do have a tendency to use profanity at times, so I will keep that in mind. Thanks!