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Old 05-26-2007, 10:15 PM
 
Location: Plainfield, IL
11 posts, read 46,696 times
Reputation: 10

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I was going to suggest Ottawa as well. It has one of the most beautiful state parks in Illinois. It's also not too far from the city, if you'd like to visit.
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Old 07-16-2007, 05:40 PM
 
474 posts, read 2,531,198 times
Reputation: 114
Default Please Look At Nason, ILLINOIS

You sound as if you belong in Nason, Illinois. Its zip code is 62866 and located about one mile north of beautiful Rend Lake. Nason is about eleven miles south of Mt. Vernon. There are many vacant lots available for purchase in this sleeper town. You can buy a lot for about $1K and then build a very nice house there. The town even permits mobile homes providing they are not over ten years in age. After ten years, the mobile home must be moved out of town.

Best Regards,

Carter Glass

Last edited by mdz; 07-16-2007 at 08:40 PM.. Reason: sorry, can't advertise
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Old 07-16-2007, 05:48 PM
 
202 posts, read 268,413 times
Reputation: 27
Any of the small communities in the Illinois Valley may fit the bill, as others have mentioned...including, but not limited to, Ottawa (state parks, check, community college, check, rental of non-apartment complex homes or portions of homes avaialable, check, access to good midsize towns in any direction, check). The only thing I would be prepared for is a bit of a frustrating cultural/intellectual scene...it's rural/small towns, and it's lovely, serene, and people are pretty nice, but a young, liberal couple may be dismayed at the notable redneckish element, conservative bent in some areas, and a good amount of "I seen" and "I done" to contend with.
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Old 07-17-2007, 09:15 AM
 
1,464 posts, read 5,488,589 times
Reputation: 410
Quote:
Originally Posted by M TYPE X View Post
Paxtonian amuses me to no end with his advocacy of Ford County.

Young couple, doing well, but no Chicago: Peoria area maybe? Bloomington-Normal, possibly.
I would give Bloomington Normal two thumbs up!

For a young couple without loads of money who are looking for a moderate sized city to live where you are GAURANTEED there will be jobs; Bloomington is the place for you. Small towns with populations under 20,000 are nice and all, but good luck getting a job where you won't be something like a truck stop waitress wearing pineapple earrings making about $7 an hour. At least Bloomington has plenty of jobs where you could start a career at companies such as: State Farm Insurance or Country Companies' world wide headquarters or Mitsubishi where once you are in, you are set for life.

Housing in Bloomington is VERY diverse as well as it's stock of apartments due to it's close proximity to the two universities. The twin cities are known as being "a college town", yet they still have a whole city located all around the colleges (Illinois State and Weslyan) where there is ample shopping, recreation, and great dining therefore making the idea of Bloomington Normal being just a college town a total falacy.

Schools in Bloomington and Normal both are of top quality and for the teens; Heartland Community College acts as a great college to prepare young ones for their scholastic career in a university setting at a later time. Heartland Community College

Here are a couple of links for you to look at so you can see the classifieds for yourself and make your own judgement as to if the twin cities are for you. Pantagraph.com | Central Illinois News, Sports, Classifieds and More

Last edited by mdz; 07-17-2007 at 11:08 AM.. Reason: can't link there from here
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Old 07-18-2007, 11:21 AM
 
2 posts, read 7,564 times
Reputation: 10
Check out Bloomington/Normal. You can get a nice house for $1200 a month, instead of renting!

We also have MorraineView State Park 20 min away in LeRoy and Comlara, a county park near Lake Bloomington.

I grew up in Chicago and have been in Bloomington/Normal for the past 20 years. It is the PERFECT place to raise a family and if you can't find things to do, you're just not looking! We are within a few hours of Chicago, St Louis and Indianapolis. We are within an hour of Peoria, Springfield and Champaign. There is a dinner/theatre in Goodfield (20 min away), which is AWESOME and so well priced with great food. I have met people that come there from Joliet and the suburbs of Chicago since they don't have to deal with the traffic and was told the food was better and the show A+. We have a zoo, great schools, sports clubs (volleyball, basketball, etc), as well as all city wide sports you can imagine....basketball, tackle football, ice hockey, soccer, skateboard parks, gymanstics and dance, volleyball, softball and baseball, etc. I should know my kids have partaken in most of them. We have club sports (volleyball, basketball etc) and many available thru two awesome park districts as well.

We have a new Cultural Arts Center and a new Ice Center/colloseum, which offer concerts, minor league football and hockey team games.

As for colleges, we have Illinois State University, Illinois Weslyan University (both with awesome libraries), Heartland Community College and Lincoln College. The school sytems are some of the best in the country and the Private schools rank high too! Largest Employers are State Farm Corporate office, Country Companies corporate offices, the universities, Mitsubishi plant.

When I first moved here, I agreed to do it for my hubby's job that transferred us to the area with the intention of living here two years before moving back to the city (Chicago). We have now been here 20 years (by choice, my hub changed companies to do it) and have loved it ever since.

It is the fastest growing area in Illinois. When we moved here, there were 70,000 people in both Bloomington and Normal. I believe the number has doubled now.

We have 3 major malls and numerous strip malls with other towns not far away for more shopping. Our two major hospitals are St Joes and BroMenn.

We have a good mix of nationalities and races and MANY churches of different denominations.

I would just say, come up and check us out. I'm sure you'll be glad you did
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