Scott AFB area info (Belleville, Shiloh: real estate, buying a home, buying)

[BrianZ]

I have seen a lot of threads and info about the Scott AFB area. It seems people have mixed feelings about Belleville. I get the feeling East Belleville is a decent area. We are considering buying a house around Lebanon Ave and GreenMount Rd, near the Yorktown Golf Club. its almost in Shiloh I guess. Can anyone tell me about that area? Our other choices were in OFallon and Shiloh. Thanks

[Linnie]

Hi Brian. As far as I know, that's not a problem area.

I've been all over Belleville by myself and never experienced any problems. We love the downtown area as well as Eckert's (big orchard)...we do hear of increasing problems in that West Belleville area though. Sad.

[mwhisel]

My husband is active duty stationed at Scott and I am in real estate. The best advice I can give to anyone moving to the area -- do your homework. The people on this forum are obviously doing their part to learn about their new area. If you are planning on buying a home, I would recommend finding a good Realtor that can help you make sure your new home is in an area that is maintaining or continuing to increase in value. School districts are a very important consideration, even if you don't have school age children yourself, if you plan to resell in a few years (the next time you PCS). Illinois has a great website called the Illinois Interactive Report Card (news) where you can look up all the schools and compare test scores and trends. This is a good first step to take. You can then research the schools further to find the one that is a best fit for your children. If you have further questions, or would like additional resources, feel free to send me a message.