Anyone been to Holiday Shores?? (Chicago, Edwardsville: for sale, real estate, daycare)

[MANDOLIN]

I am curious to see if anyone has any info. on the Holiday Shores area located in Edwardsville, IL??? We are going to be relocating to the Edwardsville area and that area looked like a good area to buy a house. It looks very family oriented...but i would love to hear from any locals or people who've been there to see it. Any info. on Edwardsville would be great too. Good and bad....anything would be great!!

[AnimalLover]

We bought a house in Edwardsville for college daughter last year. We were told Holiday Shores wasn't a very good area anymore. I don't really remember any specifics, just that we avoided it. Daughter really enjoys the area. College campus is beautiful. Edwardsville is experiencing a lot of growth. I don't know my way around, but can give you info on someone who does if you want to email me.

[cjk]

My sister built her house in Holiday Shores. She loved it there. Her house will be going up for sale soon as she was in an accident and suffered a severe head injury. I used to stay with her quite a bit. I really liked the neighborhood and my children and I had a great time on Halloween and Fourth of July. My children attended Hamel school which is pretty close by and I thought it was one of the best schools that they have ever attended.

[smanos]

We built a roughly 3,000 sq/ft home on the lake in the Fall of 2005 (moved down from the SW Suburbs of Chicago) and absolutley love it in Holiday Shores. Not sure what the criteria are for the first person who posted a reply in regards to it "not being a very good area" are. If you are looking to be "on" the lake the property values are obviously more substantial than even that of a block off the lake. Most new homes being built on the lake from what I've seen start in the 300's or better.

I have to say that it has been very family friendly (I have two children under age six) with a lot of community involvement and events thru the clubhouse. The lake is very clean, well managed, well regulated and not "busy" for a small lake considering the amount of people with access to it. The drawbacks that I have seen since moving here are:

1. Some folks don't readily adhere to the leash laws and though we've yet to have a serious issue, we have encountered dogs while on walks that while not hostile, weren't anumals that should be left unattended. (just a pet peave of mine)

2. Some properties outside the lakefront lots aren't as well kept as they should be.

All in all we enjoy living in Holiday Shores. If you require immediate access to shopping, etc., and are used to the comforts of a 5 minute trip to the store, Holiday Shores probably wouldn't work. We do have a local convenient store for essentials but have to drive to Bethalto or Edwardsville for the big shopping, etc. If you can find a place on the lake, all the better. Especially if you like lake living and the ability to walk out the back door and onto your boat.

Edwardsville proper is great as well. The growth of the area and projected growth make Edwardsville a great place to be/live. We just chose the lake because it's something we enjoy and having the ability to fish, swim, waterski and enjoy evening pontoon boats rides make every day seem like a vacation.

[MANDOLIN]

Thanks you guys for the info. on Holiday Shores. We will be coming out from Seattle at the end of the month to take a look at the area and Edwardsville. A family member that lives in Missouri took at look at Holiday Shores and advised us to stay away. They said the houses on the lake are very nice, but if you aren't on the lake the houses are not upkept and some areas are pretty bad. We cannot afford $300k for a house, we are looking more in the $200K range.
We have been hearing a lot of good things about Glen Carbon. Does anyone live in that area and can tell me anything about it. I can't wait to get there myself and see things.
Also, if anyone has small kids and can tell me a good preschool in Edwardsville, i would greatly appreciate it.
Take care!

[CellarBelle]

Originally Posted by MANDOLIN

Thanks you guys for the info. on Holiday Shores. We will be coming out from Seattle at the end of the month to take a look at the area and Edwardsville. A family member that lives in Missouri took at look at Holiday Shores and advised us to stay away. They said the houses on the lake are very nice, but if you aren't on the lake the houses are not upkept and some areas are pretty bad. We cannot afford $300k for a house, we are looking more in the $200K range.
We have been hearing a lot of good things about Glen Carbon. Does anyone live in that area and can tell me anything about it. I can't wait to get there myself and see things.
Also, if anyone has small kids and can tell me a good preschool in Edwardsville, i would greatly appreciate it.
Take care!

Hi again! Looks like you may have been here already. I just now saw your post. Hopefully, you liked the town. I did let you know that my kids went to Trinity Lutheran. Great preschool. The great thing about Trinity is they have a daycare there that you can utilize if you need an extra hour or two for running errands. The walk them over to the daycare after preschool and the kids have lunch and can play.

Also, a lot of my friends use(d) the YMCA. Their program has a good reputation and they do a lot of neat things because they have the Y facility to take advantage of. There is a preschool program at a Baptist Church in Maryville (right around the corner - about 5 to 10 minutes away), that has a very good reputation. One of my friends takes her daughter there right now and loves it.

Hope all of this helps and I hope you had a good experience when you came to visit!
jen

[MANDOLIN]

So, we haven't been there yet, we head out the last weekend of this month...i can't wait! Thanks for the info. on the preschools, i really appreciate it. Are your kids still going to Trinity? I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for all the great info. I think we are going to check out the Glen Carbon area too...looks to be pretty nice.

Thanks so much!!

[holishore res]

Not sure who just takes someone’s word that and area isn't good with out checking it out for them selves. We found this area on a map and started looking for houses. We lived in west county Missouri and couldn't find anything reasonably priced or new. The house off the lake ARE NOT UNKEPT AT ALL. This area is on a lake that is roughly 9 miles north of Edwardsville City center. The surrounding area is farm land.

We are a 10-15 min drive from several major shopping areas; they opened a huge shopping center in Edwardsville this summer 2007 that has a 24 hour grocery store, Best Buy, Ashley furniture, Borders, Michaels, Pet Co, etc... In addition to 2 large Wal-Mart’s and 100's of local owned specialty shops.

First of all this development is under an association and you cannot have an un-kept lot. We bought a 16 year old house that was spotless and the inspection was spotless - absolutely nothing wrong just minor issues that were fixed before we moved in. We paid under $170 for 1,600 sq feet, double lot, and 2 car garage. This also included many upgrades and a new addition.

There is a house for sale across the street from us on the lake for around $180K. The owner died and they need to sell, we check out the house and it's very nice. People around here take very good care of their home, they aren't as flashy with the landscaping as some areas but none the less this is a very nice area for the price. Not all the houses are $300K that is just a generalization and if you do some looking you will find something nice. There is a new development off the lake that has only high end high priced homes, check out Holiday Shores Reality, Bev George Reality; they are here at the lake and do the best job marketing the homes out here. Don’t just go by the small photo in the real estate ad, they are misleading but the homes are really worth looking at.

You can't get a home anywhere near a lake in Missouri for under $250K I know I looked for several months. Everybody that owns a home here has lake privileges – this a private lake. There are several well maintained beach areas, a huge club house, restaurant at the club house, and a marina/boat launch/bar.

We fell in love with the lake on the first trip. Maybe our standards aren’t as high as some other people but there are a lot of families here, this is a very friendly area, and I would say come out here and talk to people before you buy. You can email me it you want owliyz28@yahoo.com. I will send you photos and a copy of the monthly magazine that we get from the association.

[Chubbles]

Our family moved from Michigan to Holiday Shores. Having been around water all my life I didn't think that I was going to like living on a "man-made" lake. We loved it! My parents still have a house out there and still enjoy living lake side. When living in Michigan my mom would take all of us kids up state to spend every summer on Benway Lake and then return to the Detroit area a few days before school started...my Dad would drive up state every Friday afternoon and then drive back to the city for work every Sunday...he hated that kind of life. So when he relocated to St. Louis he decided to buy a house on the lake and never regretted one day...it was a vacation everyday after work; even in the winter. Get yourself a couple of boats (one to party on and the other to ski behind) and have a blast.

[Justa Mom]

If you're looking to live in a clean and regulated community similar to yesteryear that is close-knit, caring, has many social activities throughout the year, would like to actually know your neighbors, be able to enjoy a beach, fish, swim, join a waterski club, then Holiday Shores is for you. It is a community unlike anything you've ever experienced. It's not for everyone.