Moving to Edwardsville, IL (O'Fallon, Glen Carbon: environment, real estate, showing)

[MANDOLIN]

My husband will be taking a job in the Edwardsville area and I know nothing about the area except for what i've found on the internet. He is from the Missouri but I am from WA state and how lived here all my life. We are in our late 20's with two young kids. What is there to do? How are the preschools and schools? Any info. would be great. Thanks so much!

[CellarBelle]

I moved here 4 years ago when my husband was transferred. When we moved here, I had two kids in preschool, now they are both in elementary (public schools). I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the schools here!!!! We left a great community in Texas after living there 11 years and were concerned that we would find a town we loved as much as our town in Texas. Now, we wouldn't go back!

And speaking of schools... the community just passed a bond referendum and they will be building some new schools in the area. Just another good sign of the health and growth of the area.

Edwardsville has a great new YMCA, SIUE is here and the town is healthy and growing. Lots of new stores and restaurants coming into the area.

I started a women's winetasting club here, Goshen Cellar Belles, 3 years ago, and through that I've been able to meet lots of ladies from the area. I have to tell you, there are some great people here and it is nice for people that are transplanted here. Many of the people here in our age with kids have lived in other areas of the country. Some are originally from here, some are not. But the nice thing is everyone is warm and inviting.

If you want info on preschools, let me know. My kids had a great experience at Trinity Lutheran, and I have friends that have their kids in the program at the Y, other parochial schools and even a home preschool program that is wonderful.

Also, FYI, I am a REALTOR, so if you aren't working with one, I'd love to help. BUT, I'm not pushy, and I just love to tell people about my experience moving here and share information. So... don't worry that I'm going to work you to try to get you as a client. Ask me any questions and I'll be happy to answer - whether you need a REALTOR or not. I did a lot of research before I moved here, and I know what it is like not having a clue what to expect from an area. Everything from determining who to use for a pediatrician to who is a great hair stylist can be overwhelming.

Let me know if you have any questions!
-jen

Originally Posted by MANDOLIN

My husband will be taking a job in the Edwardsville area and I know nothing about the area except for what i've found on the internet. He is from the Missouri but I am from WA state and how lived here all my life. We are in our late 20's with two young kids. What is there to do? How are the preschools and schools? Any info. would be great. Thanks so much!

[MANDOLIN]

Ya, let me get your number and we just might look you up. We are wanting to look at a bunch of homes when we come in (last weekend of April). There are several areas we are looking...Glen Carbon, Edwardsville itself, maybe Troy, and maybe even O'fallon or Shiloh. I think we will probably want to stay in or close to Edwardsville though. My husband is going to be taking a job as a seed salesman and his territory will be up North, so we don't have to be close to the city. However coming from Seattle, i need to be in city of at least 20,000....with lot to do with the kids.
Anyway, when we bought our house that we are in now in WA we used a buyers agent and didn't have a good experience and we basically found the house without his help but since we had signed an agreement he got money. My husband has his real estate license and his dad in Missouri is an agent, so we know all about buying and selling a house. However we are going to need some help since we don't know the area at all. We would love to find someone who could spend that weekend showing us around to a bunch of houses and really be looking out for us since we don't know the area. However we really don't feel comfortable signing any buyers agent agreement. We would for sure make sure that whoever finds us a house would then be our agent and then we would for sure sign any kind of paperwork.
I don't know if that is anything that you might be interested in. We've been looking at a bunch of different people, but we would love to get your number if this is something you might be interested in helping us out with.

I would also love to hear about a good pediatrician and any other good insights you have on the town. I would also like to hear more about the wine group....sounds like something right up my alley

Take care,
Amanda

[strat1969]

Greetings! We are also moving to Edwardsville, IL from Seattle (and looking for good contacts/info). Small world I guess. We looked at several areas before settling on Edwardsville. It seems to have everything and is growing (great schools & 2 YMCA's). We ruled-out O'Fallon because there was, in our opioion, too much house building happening that would eventually impact the schools and overall look of the area. We also looked in Troy, GC, & Shiloh, before falling in love with the house that we're closing on in a week.

We're hoping we can settle-in as well as we did in our Seattle neighborhood.
We had frequent neighborhood get-togethers (BBQ's, Game Night, Playdates, etc.).

Time will tell. We just need to survive the flight out on Saturday.

[MANDOLIN]

Originally Posted by strat1969

Greetings! We are also moving to Edwardsville, IL from Seattle (and looking for good contacts/info). Small world I guess. We looked at several areas before settling on Edwardsville. It seems to have everything and is growing (great schools & 2 YMCA's). We ruled-out O'Fallon because there was, in our opioion, too much house building happening that would eventually impact the schools and overall look of the area. We also looked in Troy, GC, & Shiloh, before falling in love with the house that we're closing on in a week.

We're hoping we can settle-in as well as we did in our Seattle neighborhood.
We had frequent neighborhood get-togethers (BBQ's, Game Night, Playdates, etc.).

Time will tell. We just need to survive the flight out on Saturday.

Hey there! We should definitely hook up! It would be nice to know someone else in town from the Northwest. From what i've seen i think Edwardsville will be a great town. Do you have kids? I have two little ones (3.5 and 1) so we are eager to get to know other families in town. We love having people over for bbq's and playdates, so let me know if you are up for that and we can hook up. We'll be heading out the first week of June and we close on a house next week.....exciting! How'd the plane flight go??

[mary ellen]

Good morning, all.
My husband may be getting a job in St.Louis, MO (west side I believe). I'm looking for great family communities within commuting distance for him. I have decided to try and see if anything in Illinois may fit the bill - can you recommend any towns and how long would his drive be? We can spend btw 400-525K. Thanks for any advice!

[mboogy]

We are also looking for great Elementary/preschools. We have been using GreatSchools.net to find/compare schools. Some of the best schools in West County in St. Louis were still coming up with poor test scores. Edwardsville seemed to be much better, much higher scores. My daughter is in 1st grade in a school with only about 360 kids. I'm hoping for that type of close knit environment for her. I was also looking for a family friendly, neighborhood get together type of place. Is Edwardsville that place? I've heard downtown St. Louis is about 30 minutes away? Is this true? My husband will be working there. Also, I love wine!

[jojojohnson76]

^^ The only thing I can answer is, yes, downtown STL is a 25-30 min drive. It is a great area to be in.

[pandatacular]

I know that in the area I live in Glen Carbon, the families are very close and everyone is very nice. Edwardsville and Glen Carbon run right into each other, blink and you don't realize you're in the next town! :]

Originally Posted by mboogy

We are also looking for great Elementary/preschools. We have been using GreatSchools.net to find/compare schools. Some of the best schools in West County in St. Louis were still coming up with poor test scores. Edwardsville seemed to be much better, much higher scores. My daughter is in 1st grade in a school with only about 360 kids. I'm hoping for that type of close knit environment for her. I was also looking for a family friendly, neighborhood get together type of place. Is Edwardsville that place? I've heard downtown St. Louis is about 30 minutes away? Is this true? My husband will be working there. Also, I love wine!