Looks like my wife had a big job interview in St. Louis.  Atlanta fell thru and I am still wishing (and praying) for Florida, but if I have to move to MO I need to get a little more information.  My wife will work at one of the private universities (Washington, St. Louis) which are fairly close to the central part of the city.  I'll probably also work at one of those universities but I might check out U-MO-St. Louis for employment (I am in IT).  Where should I buy a house?  I have heard the city of St. Louis is now mostly ghettoized and I want to avoid high crime and high taxes and bad attitudes so I will be in the suburbs.  I also will not live in Illinois!!  My dream home is a fairly large house with 5 acres but I will have to settle for something under $300k.  Any recommendations for neighborhoods?  Is the rush hour traffic terrible?  Should I try to locate near the Metrolink (rail)?  I don't like a long commute, but I'll do one to avoid life in the ghetto.

I have heard that the gun show scene is pretty lousy in the St. Louis area, is that true?  There is concealed carry there now, though, so that is a big plus.

Luckily I like the Cardinals, Budweiser, Clydsdales, and the Arch.

Thanks,

GunLvr

Anyone?  Was my post that obnoxious?

Don't worry dude, I'm sure some other folks will chime in soon.  You won't see too much daytime posting here

If you really want a house on some land,  you might want to look out my way.  I'm in Washington, which is in Franklin county.  Small town living, but the city is less than an hour in normal traffic.  $300,000 will get you something really nice here.  

I work with a guy who does IT work in the city for his day job.  I'll check with him and see what he knows.

edit to say:
DOH!!  Did it again! +1 Free post for the wife again
ShakyJake

I have plenty of info about St. Louis and Wash U. In a hurry right now, will reply with details soon.
Also talk to DK-Prof, he works at Wash U and can help you there.
BRB
Ok, back now.
The dirty truth about St. L is it runs on racism. Everything around here is divided along black and white lines. Remember that and everything will make sense.
Now about the area, DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER LIVING IN ST. LOUIS!!!!! It was ranked as the most dangerous city in the country last yeaar by www.morganquitno.com/ For what you want, 5+ acres, nice house etc, consider Jefferson county. St. Charles (where I am from) is too crowded and getting expensive though compared to Md. everything here is dirt cheap.
Wash U is a good place to work, my GF worked there for awhile and DK-Prof works there now (I think) However when you visit the school do not go more than a few blocks north, you run into bad areas that way. UMSL is in a similiar area but not quite so bad. Il. is nice for property costs but very poor for us gun nuts. I would keep to MO. Missouri is pretty good for gun owners as long as you don't live in the city/county of St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson county are much better. The whole CCW thing is screwy right now but I am sure will be better soon. It is a long and twisted tale involving activist judiciary, racial divisions, etc and is too long to get into in this post. Mo. does allow class 3 funstuff! Not only that but joins us in one of our MoDCC shoots and you can play with one, just talk to Jeff or John at CMMG.
Anyway, you might want to talk to these folk for more info, many of us work and some of us live in St. Louis and will be more than happy to give you the inside scoop.

St. Louis insiders; (From what I can remember)
Hkocher
Kpel308
ShakyJake/DiabolicalChicken
DK-Prof
GaryM (Me)
Kudra18 (My GF)
82Airborne (Just left for Ft. Benning, he is a soldier now)
Umm... others too but I just can't remember who all they are.
Feel free to IM/Email for more info,
GaryM

Oh yeah, metrolink, stupidest mass transit system ever designed. Only one route, goes from downtown to the airport with about 20 stops. Thats it, no connections, travels along a single route going back and forth, it is impossible to believe how incredibly stupid it is. Coming from the east coast where there is real mass transit you will be more than disappointed, you will be flabbergasted at the complete idiocy of it.
I can't say enough bad things about metrolink or our other waste of mass transit dollars, the Bistate bus lines..... Gawd, they are both such a waste.

dont mean to hijack the post, but i couldnt resist

hes just mad because i have a cooler name than he does



+1 free post for the hubby


btw, gunlvr, i have only lived in MO for a year, from NC, and i LOVE it--lots of things different and better than uptight east coast--these guys like to shoot big and often--come join us!!!

diabolical_chicken

Quoted: Don't worry dude, I'm sure some other folks will chime in soon.  You won't see too much daytime posting here If you really want a house on some land,  you might want to look out my way.  I'm in Washington, which is in Franklin county.  Small town living, but the city is less than an hour in normal traffic.  $300,000 will get you something really nice here.   I work with a guy who does IT work in the city for his day job.  I'll check with him and see what he knows. edit to say: DOH!!  Did it again! +1 Free post for the wife again ShakyJake

Washington is getting big, too. Move to Union. Most of my family lives in Franklin County.  I am out visiting about every other weekend.

If you want real small town move to Union, St. Clair or Truesdale.

Thanks for the info!  I was pretty sure that St. Louis proper was like Baltimore only in the midwest.  My wife will probably insist that we live in St. Louis County because she hates a long commute even more than me.  I'd really like to be out in an area like Franklin or St. Charles.  It's great to see there are a bunch of AR15 people out there.  St. Louis sure isn't my first choice but my wife really wants a professor job.

Thanks,

GunLvr

Maryland Heights/StL Co. near Creve Coeur lake is the place to be. Easy commute to Wash U or UMSL(under 20 min.).  Expect few if any traffic jams during rush hour to get to & fro those places.  You need to move  into Parkway or Rokc wood school districts.  Housing on average $210-280K.  You will not find acreage under $300K.

There are quite a few gun shows on both sides of the river and in my opinion good.

I live in central St. Charles county.  If you want to spend $300k you can easily get 3 to 5 acres with a new home - on the order of 3500 square feet.

When I get some time I will try to add a more detailed post.

Your general guideline should be to look for a place west of Lindbergh at worst, and preferably west of I-270.

You might consider teaching at Lindenwood in St. Charles, St. Charles County Community College in St. Peters, Maryville near US 40/I-64, or Webster U, also.  There is also a small community college just east of Union on Highway 50, but I don't know much about it.  UM-StL is located about 5 miles east of Lambert; marginal neighborhood, IMHO.

Metrolink works okay for St. Louis - it beats hell out of driving down town.  Besides, it shows that there is hope that the region can actually pull off a big project besides the 1904 World's Fair.

I only work here, I ain't from here and sure don't claim it as "home".

I second everything GaryM said.  I am a police officer in the district that borders Washington University(they have their own department).  Part of the campus is in the city, part is in University City and part is in Clayton.  The city itself is completely ghetto with a few small pockets of nice areas(wouldn't live here if I couldn't carry, don't know how anyone else did prior to the concealed carry).  I only live here because the department has a residency requirement and I like my job.  The area around St. Louis is quite nice though.  If you have any questions send me an E-mail.

I live in Webster Groves and it takes me about 15 minutes to get to work.  You'll not find a lot for under $300 unless you move west of 270.  I'm not sure where the one guy thinks you can get a house on 3-5 acres in St. Charles anymore.  New Melle area I guess but even that land is going up really fast.  The commute from St. Charles County is 45 minutes on a good day, more likely an hour plus to Wash U.  If you want a short drive, you have to pay for the covenience.  A nice compromise would be to buy a smaller house that borders a park, inside the hwy 270 corridor like I did.  I have a 5 acre side yard that I don't have to mow.  Do you have or want children in the future?  If so, school district is a big issue.  Be happy to help you any way I can, just let me know.  I also belong to 4 different shooting ranges, so I can assist there as well.

Like my post says, I live in central St. Charles County, and I guarantee there are still plenty of places for sale out here, in fact there are more homes on the market now than in a while.  Commute to Lambert is about 35 to 40 minutes, probably 55 to Wash U. unless I-170 is backed up (which is every day during rush hour).

I also live in central St. Charles county.  Nice place to live.  Some decent gun ranges near by.  For 300K you can get something very nice with acreage.  I drive downtown and I work in IT.  Not many IT jobs inside the I-170 ring.  There is a technology corridor in St. Charles along Hwy 40/I64 with Master Card, Citicorp, and other places.  I highly recommend staying out of St. Louis and St. Louis county.  I would estimate your drive from St. Charles (40 & Hwy 94) on a bad morning to be about 50 minutes and on a good morning 35.  About the same coming home depending upon the time.

Thanks for the information about St. Louis.  It looks like I will have to forget about St. Charles County since my wife won't put up with a commute more than 30 minutes.  I'll let you know if she gets an offer, then we'll have to figure out what school district (although the kid(s) will probably go to private school so we might want to locate near good private schools).

GunLvr

My colleagues at Wash U. live all over the place.

You can either live really close - in the Central West End, for instance or in University City, or in neighborhoods right by the university.  There are really nice places in these areas, but the areas can change radically in a few blocks, so you have to have a realtor who will be straight with you (or you can rent for 6 months and take lots of time to look around).

Lot of other good places are neighborhoods like Webster Groves, Kirkwood - which are not too far of a commute.  If you're loaded, you can live in Clayton, Ladue or Frontenac - still pretty close to the university, but really expensive area.

The western suburbs are where I and some of the other faculty in my area live - like Ballwin, Chesterfield, Ellisville an Wildwood (closer in than St. Charles).  Traffic along Hwy 64/40 however HAS gotten worse in the past few years.  My schedule allows me to work around rush hour, but if I had to deal with rush hour it would suck - so your wife may not go for the far western burbs.

Feel free to send me an email or give me a call or something if you want some more opinions.  However - I don't really have much of a life or get out much, so there are probably LOTS of neat neighborhoods in the area that I am completely unaware of.

If your wife will commute no more than 30 minutes, then it's the city for you.  The suburbs are 40+ minutes to SLU or WashU.

Find a good agent.  They may find something close to what you want, but it will need work.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the information.  If it looks like she is going to get an offer I'll contact y'all again for a little more help.  

GunLvr

Man, 5 acres and a house for $300,000?  Damn that sure makes me appreciate what I have out here in Holden...

Oh yeah, I don't live in the St. Louis area but I can tell you one thing, avoid the Ghettolink.

Like all public transportation it is used only by those who MUST use it.  Draw your own conclusions.