Moving to St Louis - have questions!! Please help!

mrsmartin

So my hubby and I will most likely be moving to STL sometime this fall/winter.  He works for Wachovia Sec. (who bought AG Edwards) and looks like we will be accepting the job - like 95% chance.
We are coming out to visit in mid-April - have never visited STL before!  So I am excited - but also a little nervous!
He will be working downtown - and we are city people.  I could not live in the suburbs!  So we are looking to rent for atleast a year to see how the transer goes and to figure out which areas we like best.  I have been looking online and some of the Loft apartment look really cool - but I am unsure of the downtown area.  I also heard the Central West End was a nice area.  Can anyone help - we are meeting with a realtor when we come out - but I would like to tell them what areas we are interested in before we come. 
Thanks so much!! 

hugitout

CWE is a great area! There are a lot of shops and places to eat and hang out. I would actually argue that it is more user friendly than actual downtown. Downtown doesn't even have a grocery store right now! I think working with a realtor is a great idea as they will probably have a really good grasp of what is available at any given time. Sorry I'm not of much help. We have a couple friends who live downtown, but they are still single and spend most of their money on beer instead of food etc.

lilmufish

Welcome to the STL area! I noticed in your bio that you're from the DC area.  Lucky - for - you, you're moving to a lower cost of living area so that should *help* find more affordable housing when you guys move to the big STL. April will be a nice month to visit because teh flowers are coming in bloom and there will be some warm days here and there.    Don't forget to bring an umbrella!

Our downtown, is a little different than other cities' downtown areas so definatly I agree with you to rent for a year to see what you'll like. 

All my single or younger married couples with no kids who live in the CWE LOVE living there. Personally, if you're looking to start a family, i'd check into local school districts or private schools and not just the area.

I would keep an eye on: http://www.thenewi64.org.
One of our main highways in the area hwy 40 (Known toeveryone else in the country as 64), has completly shut down a stretch of the highway to expand it for the next two years. When you're looking to rent/buy make sure you have a clean route to your DH's workplace.

What field are you looking to get into?

mrsmartin

Thanks for all the help - and advice - anything helps since we have never vistited STL!

I am hoping to stay in the Real Estate Industry when we move and have been researching companies online.  Colwell Banker seems to be a big name.  Does anyone have any insight into how the real estate market has been in St Louis? 

Thanks for any help.

The CWE sounds fun!!

Pil

Hi!!!  I'm on the same boat as you are.  We live in San Diego and are considering moving to MO, but we're looking into St Charles, St Peters or maybe O'Fallon (houses with some land and more family oriented), I posted a few questions and a poll a few posts back, maybe you can get some ideas from the replies (the poll was about the favorite spots in STL for different things), they also told me that I could get more info on stlforums.com or something like that (you can check the correct web site on one of my post). HTH :-)

SraGO

While I also recommend CWE, there actually is a grocery store downtown (city-grocer.com) and there are some really nice areas around the Botanical Gardens.

MrsBeckermann

Welcome to 'The Lou'! I agree with everyone else that CWE is a great place. I wouldn't recommend really living in downtown either. But there are a lot of wonderful places you could find in the CWE and you are close to a lot of fun things around there. Congrats on your possible move! How exciting!