by John Cane

Created on: January 26, 2009   Last Updated: February 03, 2010

In looking at affordable housing solutions in St. Louis my first instinct is to say that there are no affordable living situations here, but that is not entirely fair. There are a lot of affordable houses, but as with everything there are more things to take into account than dollar values.

As a bit of background, it will be useful to know that St. Louis has one of the highest crime rates in the country. I live in a solidly middle/ lower middle class neighborhood, and in the 6 months I have lived here there have been two people shot and killed near my home. One was a drive-by one street over, and the other was a police officer that was shot in the head while sitting in his cruiser. I bring this up because I wan't you to remember that unlike many smaller cities and towns, your personally safety is something you should strongly consider when choosing a home.

You should also know that St. Louis tends to come down on the liberal side of government administration. This means that there are a lot of free services to take advantage of, but it also means that the tax rate is pretty high and there are a lot of government hoops to jump through when moving into your home. I will outline some of these hoops shortly as they will be a consideration when you purchase or rent your home.

St. Louis is a rapidly changing city and there are areas that are fast up and coming and there are areas that are stagnating and sliding. The nice thing about the housing slump is that if you are buying a house, there are some good deals to be found, and if you can get into the up and coming areas you can still get a house that will increase in value of the next few year. We personally looked at Dogtown as an area that seems to be on the rise, but didn't really want to wait for it to get where it needed to be, but there are some great deals there right now. Where we ended up is University City which is a little pricier, but for the most part it is a nice part of the city with a younger crowd.

The Metro system works really well, but the bus system is a little suspect, and has been hit with some budget cuts, so if you are a public transportation type, I recommend trying to get something close a metro stop.

By the time you get to looking at a house, you have already probably done the math to figure out how much you can afford on a monthly basis. I would recommend you also take into account the relation of your work to your house as a financial concern. If you work downtown, you will definitely

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