Possibly moving to Collinsville. Anyone live near or have been and have any advice, tips? Where to live, where to avoid, etc...

I would recommend living in Collinsville or south. Living north of Collinsville means that you have to head south on the interstate toward St. Louis and getting caught in the morning rush hour. If you live south in say Fairview Heights, O'Fallon, or Belleville you will have a nice reverse commute.

All these towns are 20 minutes to downtown st. Louis, and the Metro east area has developed a ton in the past 5+ years with more shopping, houses, etc. In fact, I am sure that some of the subdivisions had a number of foreclosures that would lead to good buys. If you live in Belleville, live on the west side of town. And towns along I-64 do not start getting safe until Fairview Heights. Do not live west of Fairview Heights or Belleville as this area suffers from East St. Louis overflow.

If you have kids, you might want to think about South County on the MO side. IN general, the schools (imo) aren't very good on the IL side or in STL city. When you get to St. Louis, you will be amazed at the number of catholic schools, and they succeed in large part due to ****ty schools. I went to SLU high and consider it the best, but you'll need to do a lot of researc if you have kids.

If you are single/no kids you may want to explore living in the STL if that suits you. Downtown (washington Ave., Laffayette Park, Soulard).

Be sure to know why Stan Musial is the third part of the trinity, why don denkinger is the anti-christ, and that CUBS stand for completely useless by september. Go to crown candy for a BLT and vanilla shake, and when you hae a free night with nothing to do the next day, go to fast eddie's and tie one on. Just don't leave with any of the chicks you meet there.

thanks for all the info!

and I have no kids. Going straight out of college.