Page 146 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2026

FINAL SAY
GLYNN
ILLICH
My wife Iana Illich and I started Southern Paradise LLC as a family-owned and operated real estate development company in 2001 servicing the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I am a life-long resident of the Coast. My education is in Software Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi. Before my career as a real estate developer,
I worked as an engineer from 1985 to 2000 in San Diego, California. In parallel with engineering, I owned two successful business: a software consulting firm and four large, upscale child educational centers.
Southern Paradise LLC is based in Long Beach, and services the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast. We build custom and speculative residential homes, catering mainly to out-of-state (mainly Louisiana) retirees. Most are looking to downsize from much larger homes, but still want the same attention to detail and workmanship.
We were inspired to start our company after seeing the devastation of Long Beach after Hurricane Katrina. There was no housing south of the railroad tracks and no custom homes to meet the demand of Louisiana resident relocating here. They were looking for something with that old NOLA cottage-like charm, and higher-end. We met that need, and have not stopped since then. Our work is nestled all along the Coastline now. When you drive along Highway 90 and see the cottage-like raised homes, most of those are ours.
My business philosophy is workmanship, attention to detail and service after completion. The demographic we sell to demands it.
There is a shortage of homes in the $100k-$225k range. The reason is the high cost for materials, labor, and land along the Coast. The labor pool has decreased dramatically, making it a supply-and- demand issue with remaining labor. The Coast does not have a large labor pool of contractors needed to build a house now, therefore we have to pay more to get quality help. That drives the cost up. We sure wish the high schools would require each student to learn a trade
as an elective (framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical, concrete, etc) before graduating. That would help us so much.
It’s hard to look into the future and predict about real estate. It really comes down to interest rates and the overall economy. It’s out of our hands to some extent. We all know what happened when interest
rates were lowered in the three and four percent range a few years ago—it went crazy. We could not keep up. Now that rates are higher, it has changed the industry, along with challenges for realtors, closing attorneys, supply chains, and those associated with this business.
But, I am optimistic about our area and people moving here. People always retire to areas of lesser crime, near the water, and warmer climates. We have all three!
Owner, Southern Paradise LLC
146 | March 2026
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