Help !! Fellow Illinois-ans (East St. Louis, Mount Vernon, Marion: for sale, real estate, city hall)

[CrochetCrazy]

My husband and I will be taking early retirement (very early retirment for me - as hubby is 10 years my senior) and would like to move to Southern Illinois. My father was born in East St. Louis and grew up in Carmi, IL. I am inviting any suggest, comments, suggestions and advice from anyone familiar with the Southern Illinois area as to a future good place to relocate. We are in Northern Illinois now.

I see reference to "Floodplain Maps" on the Internet concerning Southern Illinois. Okay, give me the bad news gently -- where are the floodplains (which counties do they involve)? What towns would be good to stay away from because of this?

How about Fairfield, Salem, Flora, Iuka, McLeansboro or the environs? Our first thought was between Mt. Vernon and Marion, IL but we are open to suggestions.

Jobs would not be a factor (we are leaving the work force). We are willing to go to a nearby big city every once in a while (othern than getting groceries) to do major shopping. We are especially are looking for a rural or farm community (I want to see corn fields from my window) and about 3 - 5 acres outside of town (not too far away from town, though). Maximum price: around $200,000.

Any advice or suggestions would be most helpful and appreciated.

Thank you.

CrochetCrazy

[thepizzaguy]

A while back I found an Illinois real estate site that listed farms for sale well within your price range. There are also so many cheap houses in southern Illinois, you could easily start a management company with 200K if you need so income.

[Drover]

If you're worried about flood plains, you can always get a flood zone determination on a house before you buy it. If you finance part of the purchase, a determination is required anyway for insurance purposes. Nonetheless if you're worried about floods, you'll certainly want to stay away from Cairo -- the city is basically walled in by levees to protect it from both the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers. Not to mention it's a ghost town anyway.

[HOWELL_STREET]

Dear Friends:

Why not consider Nason, IL? It is a very beautiful but small town that also includes many retirement folks. Nason, with a zip code of 62866, is located about one mile north of Rend Lake's northern shore. Nason is 11 miles SW of Mount Vernon. Also on the eastern shore of Rend Lake is a very nice state park known as Wayne Fitzgerald.
Vacant lots are available in Nason for about $1K each lot. A lot is about 150 feet X 50 feet and in many cases, can be purchased as consecutive / adjacent lots. That is what I have done with my own property. I own five consecutive lots that total very close to one acre of beautiful vacant land.
If interested in Nason, locate a realtor either in Mt. Vernon or West Frankfort, Illinois. I hope this helps you.

Best Regards,

CARTER GLASS

[Monarchs]

I grew up in Flora and lived there for 18 years. I still get back there often for work. I know the Fairfield, Salem, Iuka, etc., well.

[Juice13610]

Between Marion and Mt vernon is perfect for you. I'm 22 and lived here all of my life, so I absolutely deplore the area.

[tls1995]

Albion IL is a wonderful place to life. They are within easy driving of both Evansville Indiana and Henderson Kentucky. They have a IGA, Dollar General, hardware store, McDonalds, Subway, a couple gas stations and two funeral homes just to name a few of the businesses in town. They are only 1/2 hour from Carmi and the nicest people live there (and I'm not talking about my own family members that still live there). It sounds just to mean just what you are looking for!

[ddswinn]

Marion is a very nice little town.

Originally Posted by CrochetCrazy

My husband and I will be taking early retirement (very early retirment for me - as hubby is 10 years my senior) and would like to move to Southern Illinois. My father was born in East St. Louis and grew up in Carmi, IL. I am inviting any suggest, comments, suggestions and advice from anyone familiar with the Southern Illinois area as to a future good place to relocate. We are in Northern Illinois now.

I see reference to "Floodplain Maps" on the Internet concerning Southern Illinois. Okay, give me the bad news gently -- where are the floodplains (which counties do they involve)? What towns would be good to stay away from because of this?

How about Fairfield, Salem, Flora, Iuka, McLeansboro or the environs? Our first thought was between Mt. Vernon and Marion, IL but we are open to suggestions.

Jobs would not be a factor (we are leaving the work force). We are willing to go to a nearby big city every once in a while (othern than getting groceries) to do major shopping. We are especially are looking for a rural or farm community (I want to see corn fields from my window) and about 3 - 5 acres outside of town (not too far away from town, though). Maximum price: around $200,000.

Any advice or suggestions would be most helpful and appreciated.

Thank you.

CrochetCrazy

[orchidandiris]

May I add my support to another poster who mentioned Albion IL? You will find cornfields, and you will NOT find flooding! If it is small town peace and quiet you seek, it can be found here. All your basic needs can be met here, and the surrounding towns of Olney, Mt. Carmel, and Fairfield have hospitals, golf courses and community colleges, WalMarts and some of the other extras! Come and visit us! Call the Albion City Hall and make arrangements for our Mayor to give you a personal tour of our town. He will be happy to do that, and introduce you to some of the local people. We have several local real estate agents who could research available homes that might suit your needs. We would welcome you to our community!

[joee]

My vote goes for marion, i get a vote don't i , rolling hills just to the south and east, not too far from ky lake, smaller lakes galore, 2 nice little forest preserves, peach, apple orchards all over down on rt 51 & 127 south cobdon and jonesboro, no flooding problems, lots to offer down there.