Request for comparative information on GT Hills, Washington & Eureka (Peoria: real estate market, apartment complexes)

[livonian]

I will be working in East Peoria and am looking for a safe family neighbourhood. While Germantown Hills is a well known area, I also found interesting information regarding Washington, Eureka & Matamora.

Can you please give your views on
1) Relative safe neighbourhood and the surrounding area
2) Cost of housing versus age of houses
3) High school ratings
4) Availability of short term rentals for initial period
5) Daily basic needs like groceries and restaurants

[linicx]

All of the towns offer safe neighborhoods and good High Schools. The questions for you is how far do you want to drive in traffic on ice and snow, and how far do you want to be removed from the nearest hospital? The age of the house is not as important as the quality of the build and how much money you want to pay for it. The old tyme carpenters had better quality supplies. Living in a new house in a new subdivisions does not indicate you have a well built home. Buy brick and make sure the basement has been back plastered and tarred before you sign the papers. Don't assume anything. Assumptions are expensive.

Do NOT buy any house until it passes a Home, a Mold and a Radon inspection.

E.Peoria and Germantown Hills have elegant expensive properties. Metamora and Eureka are probably the oldest of the new towns.. Germantown Hills is the newest in terms of age.., 35-45 uears old. Eureka is farthest from East Peoria and the most historic as Pres. Regan went to college there. Its a charming modern town with a few late 19th century buildings as does Metamora. East Peoria did not experience a big boom in growth and housing until Holt Manufacturing became Caterpillar Tractor company and WWII began in earnest.

Please remember when you move into any area, the smaller towns you desire tend to be clanninsh; some or worse than others, and also most of the activities in the area take place "somewhere else". In central Illinois it is Peoria.

One of the largest night time Christmas Parades and displays in America has been held in E. Peoria for a number of years. Look for FOLEPI the nutcracker mascot to appear in EP before Thanksgivinng. There is nothing wrong with any of the schools in any of the places you mentioned. The ratings are dependent upon the child and how involved the parents are with the school, with the child, etc.. You need to chat with the school principals or school at home. My children and I received a good k-12 basic education in these schools before going on to college.

As for rent, my sis pays $800 in Germantown Hills are a 1960s split level built on a hillside. Fondulac Drive and connecting Highview Road have bautiful, well cared for older homes and newer subdivisions. Eureka is flat. It is a mix of farm and homes. It is farthest from East Peoria., but it does have a hospital. You might also consider Washington or Lincoln.

My personal picks based on education, living in the area, traveling the roads in all weather conditions and knowing residents in these towns for more than a half-century is East Peoria, Havana, Lincoln and Washington. Lincoln has a hospital and a jr. college. Its farther than Eureka but you take I-55 to 1-74 and exit in EP; no two lane roads. The state does a very good job of keeping the Interstate plowed in the winter. The cost of living in Lincoln is less than in other areas and the cost of gas at the pump it lower too.

Take a week or ten days and spend some time in the area. Looks are very deceiving. Most realtors will have a list of rentals. The Journal Star in Peoria also lists rentals as does the Lincoln Courier and the Springfield Register.

Good luck and welcome home!

[runninfiend]

Originally Posted by livonian

I will be working in East Peoria and am looking for a safe family neighbourhood. While Germantown Hills is a well known area, I also found interesting information regarding Washington, Eureka & Matamora.

Can you please give your views on
1) Relative safe neighbourhood and the surrounding area
2) Cost of housing versus age of houses
3) High school ratings
4) Availability of short term rentals for initial period
5) Daily basic needs like groceries and restaurants

Sure. I'm from Eureka and know the area well.

1. All of the communities you mentioned are "safe," in that they are small and generally tight knit. Eureka and Metamora are traditional towns, while Germantown Hills is more an "area," and has boomed considerably. It is mostly newer residential development, few businesses.

As erroneously stated above, Eureka is not "flat," but actually has hills due to the fact that it was settled on Walnut Creek. Metamora is flat but a nice town with a square and defined downtown area. GH is largely wooded with rolling hills.

2. Eureka and Metamora proper are probably similar house price-wise. Eureka is diverse, with older smaller homes going anywhere from 90-150k, newer, larger builds 150k and up. It really has a wide variety. Older homes are in town, while the new development tends to be around Eureka Lake. GH tends to have newer, more expensive homes. My guess is that most range from 200k+, depending. Washington has a beautiful downtown with old homes. Lots of new cookie cutters on the 24 bypass. Depends what you want.

3 All are good schools. Eureka is an excellent school district with high ratings and good teachers. It's more of a rural feel than either M or W. For comparison, EHS is about 500 students as where M and W high school are closer to 1000+. GH feeds into the Metamora district.

4. E and M have limited rentals. W has a lot of apartment complexes and would be your best bet to rent short term.

5. E has few eateries. Pizza Hut, Hardees, Subway. Some good local places: Chanticleer, Family Restaurant, Peking Garden, Rosie's, etc. One grocery store: IGA. We are within 10 minutes of shopping in W. Metamora is similar.

W has the best variety of eateries and shopping. There has been a lot of growth in this area. GH doesn't have much. One grocery store, I think.

[linicx]

I stand corrected. As a whole central Illinois iis a mix of rolling hills, steep hills, creeks. smaller rivers and bluffs and spectacular scenery neatly combined with farms and ranches and flat prairie. Chatifleer in Eureka is an awesome restaurant that has good food and great service

You are moving into an area that is upscale, downtown, down home, histloric, friendly. worth exploring and there is enough planned events to keep you busy most years.

[BUalumni]

Originally Posted by livonian

I will be working in East Peoria and am looking for a safe family neighbourhood. While Germantown Hills is a well known area, I also found interesting information regarding Washington, Eureka & Matamora.

Can you please give your views on
1) Relative safe neighbourhood and the surrounding area
2) Cost of housing versus age of houses
3) High school ratings
4) Availability of short term rentals for initial period
5) Daily basic needs like groceries and restaurants

If you don't mind me asking, is there any specific reason(s) why you are not considering moving to East Peoria in the first place? It isn't overall as safe or with the level of schools that others do, but it has far more commercial prospects than the others. In any case, a commute from the others into EP will not be difficult in anyway.

1) All of these towns are very safe with just your basic kind of small town crime. Nothing to worry about there. Eureka has a small private college that may tend to have increase numbers slightly on a town wide crime report, but I wouldn't worry about it. East Peoria has a large two year college that more than likely does the same, so just keep that in mind.

2) I can't give you exact numbers of the cost of housing in Eureka. My best guess would be more expensive than EP, considering that most people that move to Eureka are looking for a well established, tree-lined street sort of feel. I know it is growing, so new housing can be found.

Washington has much of the same kind of feel, but the town is spreading out with new subdivisions, which is kind of sad. Many people refer to Washington as "Mayberry", and once you drive through you will understand why. Their are some wonderful restored, older neighborhoods close to the square, and throughout the town. As you can imagine though, these tend to in hte higher end of the town's real estate market.

GH will be the most expensive overall, with many older wooded lots on the bluff, with lots of newer housing seeming to pop up everywhere. Most of this tends to be in the upper market for the Peoria area, with most of it going for no less than 250K, and ranging into the seven figures. Not really that "hometown" kind of feel that Eureka and Washington have, but more of a rural/suburban feel, if that makes any sense. Newer housing here will more than likley be more than the older.

3) All three have excellent high schools. You really can't go wrong with either of them. I know Metamora (GH) has a great football for a school its size. There are some people that do not like it because it tends to have a grade school that filters in that isn't so great. But the majority of the feeder schools are of the same quality, if not more so, than the high school. The GH schools would be in this category. Washington, again, has excellent schools, but I think there might be one or two grade/middle schools that filter in that might not meet certain standards. I believe they just broke ground, or maybe even finished contruction on a new school over in that area, so keep that in mind. Eureka also follows the others, but is smaller, and has more of that "country" feel to it. Which is prefectly fine as long as you want that.

4) I can't help you there. If you are looking to rent, I'm sure EP would be a better market to look into, but I know Washington does have a market for that as well. GH is more for the already established family looking to invest in the town for many years.

5) Washington would have much more than either Eureka or GH. But remember, we aren't talking a long drive here. All of these towns are within just a few minutes of each other. Eureka is more out of the way to be sure. But Germantown is just up the hill from EP as is Washington. The latter has an expanding commercial district with you typical shopping "stuff". GH is limited, but like I said, even getting into Peoria during rush hour shouln't take more than 30 mins at the worst.

[linicx]

I don't know if I agree totally with your assesment of East Peoria. I graduated EP, so did my brother and our children. None of us suffered from lack of education or things to enrich our lives. East Peoria is quite large when compared to Eurkea or Metamora or Germantown Hills. And just like other towns, there are areas in which to live that are more desirable than others. There is no perfect town in America; ya gets what ya pay for.

East Peoria has two major streets. Main and washington. Main Street connects Pekin to Metamora. Traveling East on Main, once you cross the RR tracks you'll be on what is called Caterpillar Trail which becomes Il 116. On your left is the river and on the right are bluffs. FonDuLac Drive is on the the bluff overlooking the river. Continue East and pass the casino and McCluggage or Ironworker Bridge (US 150) and go up the hill going into German Towh Hills and then Metamora.. When you return and reach the bridge you want to go left on 116 to US 24. You will pass ICC college campus. When you reach US 24 you can turn East to reach Washington and Eureka or turn West to return to East Peoria and pass the High School and Central Jn. Hs.. I venture to say that any area between the high school on Washington (and East) and the bluff is a safe area to live. Washington Street begins at where Caterpillar was once very active and basically ends at Eureka. US 150 intersects with Wasthington Street and ends in Morton. There are some nice areas that are closer to Morton, too. Springfield Road also intersects with Washignton Street. It also has some nice areas.

[BUalumni]

I'm not saying that EP has bad schools in anyway shape or form. But, in comparision to Metamora and Washington, EP does tend to perform at a "lower" level, in comparision. That is not to imply that you are a low level contributor to society just because you graduated from the EP school system. I would have little dispute with sending my kids to East Peoria High, when compared to sending them to Woodruff or Central. But one of the huge selling points for Wash and Meta is their school systems. When you ask most people why they chose to live in almost any town outside of Peoria, it is because of the schools. I chose Dunlap because it has a terrific freshman academy. Our friends chose Tremont, because it is more out of the way, and has a nice sports program that they want their son in. To each his own in the end. A huge selling point for EP is its location, and a reason many I know tend to live there. But in the end, it really matters what we as parents to do cultivate that love learning that schools should give. Without that, your children stand little chance for acadmic success in the long run. Again, I have no problem with EP schools, and look forward to spending some time in EP as the winter months come upon us.