I have a possible op out there. Tell me more than I’d get from wiki & google. Home prices, rents, real weather.
Reported for forum change.
ETA: My mom’s side of the family is from Bloomington. It’s a pretty boring place, in my experience. Can’t help you with the nitty-gritty like home prices, though.
I’m going to move this to IMHO; I think you’ll get more play there.
A friend of mine recently relocated to Carlock, IL just outside of Bloomington about a year ago (wife’s job opportunity). He’s from the south and I think he’s slowly going out of his mind due to boredom and long cold wiiindy winters.
Yeah, I was questioning my choice of forum.
There are two universities there, Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan. You would be about an hour from Champaign, home of the University of Illinois if you like Big Ten sports.
Otherwise, just a regular central Illinois town. Nothing exciting.
My Grandparents lived there when I grew up in Peoria - just a little under an hour away. It’s just a quiet little town in Central Illinois - not much exciting to tell but nothing bad. The people are nice and friendly so it’s a pleasant place to live.
In fact, it’s near normal.
I don’t know what the home prices are anymore, I’ve not been up there in over 20 years. But the weather is mostly nice in the summer - there may be a few 100+ degree days a year but they’re the exception. I’ve lived in the South too long now to comment on the winters - anyplace where rivers can freeze over is too cold for my tastes now. Even so, I don’t remember them as being all that bad when I was up there - and I certainly remember how awesome it was when spring got warm enough that I could go outside with only a light jacket.
:rimshot:
I used to go down to Bloomington pretty frequently, as I had a client down there (State Farm Insurance, which is, if not the biggest employer in Bloomington, definitely one of the biggest).
My experience is pretty consistent with what’s been posted: as it’s a college town, there is an area (near ISU) that has some funkier restaurants and shops, but otherwise, it’s a pretty conservative mid-sized Midwestern town. It’s surrounded by corn / soybean farming areas, so farming is part of the culture in the area.
another : rimshot :
B-town … well, they have an Olive Garden.
I’d say the winters are brutally cold and the summers are broiling hot, as a rule. This particular summer has been much cooler than usual.
You should look around on realtor.com for information about what real estate really goes for; ballpark figure for a 4 bed 2 bath kind of place would be $100K for an old house, $200K for a newer house. Cheap apartments probably in the $4-600 a month range, luxury ones $1000 and up.
Bloomington has its two universities and Champaign has the U of I, as mentioned upthread. There is train service from Champaign to Chicago or you can make the 3 hour drive. Bloomington is home of TheFestival.org, which is nice if you want to feel tony on summer evenings. There is a children’s museum. There is quite a nice airport, though last I heard it was on the chopping block because of those government budget cuts. I’m running out of other things to say about it.
You misspelled Avanti’s.
Yeah it’s pretty white bread plain.
If you’re into varied, authentic, ethnic cuisine or fine dining you’re gonna have to learn how to cook.
A humorous tale. I am a Disney fan, went to DW. They asked me if I ate at the Mexican pavilion in EPCOT. I said “Mexican food? In Florida?!:eek: You know what they call Mexican food where I live? Food.”
Anyone else with Bloomington info. How much are the monthly power & utility bills? Natural gas?
You aren’t going to have to get far out of bloomington to be in areas where the cost of living is only a few steps above the cheapest places in the country. Certainly possible within 30 minutes of Bloomington to buy a single family home for $100k or less. Electric is deregulated, so it depends on who your supplier is, but it is maybe 7 or 8 cents/KWH with delivery charges built in ? The important thing is that you are maybe 90 minutes away from the bolingbrook IKEA.