Want a new life, is Arkansas the place to live? (Little Rock: fit in, 2015)

Yorkie_Mom · 12-04-2006, 08:03 PM

Hi, We are from Minnesota, and we would like information as to where we would fit in best, and be able to afford.
It would be my husband and I, our 12 year old daughter, and two little Yorkies.
We would like to find a house close to what we would be able to sell ours for, and that is around $70,000 to $80,000, we would consider even around $100,000 if we could find the right place.
The house we would be interested in would be a three bedroom, double garage, and at least 1300 sq ft or bigger. I don't know what areas to look into, so could use some help.
Moving out of Minnesota, has been our choice now since my husband has gotten injured in a forklift accident that has left him disabled, after working in the same factory for 32 years, he has since applied for SSD, I myself am disabled due to fibromyalgia, and the start of RH, I just won my disabilty case so I will also be on SSD.
My daughter needs a good school, with the hope she will meet new friends as she has here now, she will be going into 7th grade. We would also like better weather then what we have here in Minnesota, way to cold, and to many mosquitoes.
I hope some one can help us on our quest to find our new home. If anyone can help, or need more answers to questions, I will do the best I can to help narrow down our search. Thank you!!![/color][/b]

[color="Blue"][b]I forgot to add that my husband would like the size of town close to the same size we live in now, and that is 1900. Thanks again.

woopig_sooie · 12-05-2006, 08:30 AM

It should be quite easy to find a home for that price range in a town of 2,000 people or so. You can even find a few nice homes in that price range in Little Rock. You have a couple of different options in Arkansas. You can live in the "mountains" or in the "delta".

The delta of arkansas is mostly rural farming towns. Very limited shopping and chain stores, however most towns are very friendly and are full of local mom and pop shops.

"Mountain" towns in Arkansas are basically the same, however they are not row cropers. Most people are involved in the cattle or chicken business. Rural areas are littered with pasture land, and chicken/hog farms. The towns are very quaint and friendly, however are usually quite a ways from a decent sized town with a walmart.

First you have to figure out in what part of the state you want to live in. Once you determine that. Write back and we'll suggest some nice small towns for you.

Yorkie_Mom · 12-05-2006, 09:08 AM

Hi, We were hoping for a little scenery, with mountains, but not to cold, or to much snow. We don't want to have to drive far to get to a Wal-Mart, as that is where we do most of our shopping at, when you live on a budget, you have no choice.
I have been reading some of the post on Mountain Home, Bentonville, Bella Vista, Hot Springs, and Benton. We don't know what the weather or housing is like, or what place would be best.
We have even looked into as far south as El Dorado, and Texarkana, but again, we don't know if they would work or not. We don't want a lot of crime, and we would like to fit in with more whites then some other race, not to be mean, but just what we have been used to, and would feel more comfortable, fitting in.
I hope this helps a little more, if not let me know. Like I stated before, my husband wants a town the size of 1900 or more. Thanks for any help you can give.

woopig_sooie · 12-05-2006, 03:44 PM

Arkansas doesn't get alot of snow, mainly ice. But we really don't get that very often. However if it snows/sleets in Arkansas, you can bet that it is snowing in the NW corner. IE. Fayetteville, Springdale, Bella Vista and probably in Mountain Home, and Harrison. I think you would fit in best in the Ozark mountains since you are more comfortable with a predominately white community. Although not racist, North Central Arkansas is mainly white due to the fact that African Americans simply havn't moved away from the Delta other than to go to larger cities like Fayetteville, Pine Bluff, Little Rock, etc. I would suggest looking at Clinton, Greenbriar, Dover, Mountain Home, Yelleville, Harrison, Salem, and other towns in North Central Arkansas. You'll find lovely scenery in the "mountains" and should feel right at home. The farther north you go the more remote the towns are. All of the above towns have a WalMart or are within 20 mins. of one. Hope this helps

Yorkie_Mom · 12-05-2006, 07:04 PM

Thank you so much for your help, what town would you have better luck into finding a house in our price range? Also the size of house we want? I know in some areas you get more for your money and in others you get a smaller type house, so that being said what towns would we be able to get a nice comfortable house, and get our money's worth.
I would also like more information on schools, here we don't pay to register them, I know Iowa does, so can anyone tell me how the school system works, and what town you listed would be a good town for my daughter to go to school at? How are the summers in the towns you listed? I will start looking and see if I can get any information on some of them. I will be waiting for your reply, and thanks again.

mlrfo4 · 12-05-2006, 07:45 PM

It's getting harder to get a home 3br/2ba for under $100k in Mountain Home. You can find them in the surrounding towns; Gassville, Cotter, Flippin, Midway, Bull Shoals and you can find some in Mountain Home. She's right about the weather.............definately more in northwest then here. My sis lives in Bentonville and they get much more bad weather. What gets them goes north into Missouri..........wish we got a little more of it sometimes. Let me know if I can answer anything else.
Mike

Yorkie_Mom · 12-05-2006, 08:25 PM

Thank you, we will keep looking in those areas, I hope we will be able to find something, sounds like great weather to me. How are the summers there? Are they humid, and if so how bad? If you find anything let me know. Thanks!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlrfo4

It's getting harder to get a home 3br/2ba for under $100k in Mountain Home. You can find them in the surrounding towns; Gassville, Cotter, Flippin, Midway, Bull Shoals and you can find some in Mountain Home. She's right about the weather.............definately more in northwest then here. My sis lives in Bentonville and they get much more bad weather. What gets them goes north into Missouri..........wish we got a little more of it sometimes. Let me know if I can answer anything else.
Mike

woopig_sooie · 12-06-2006, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yorkie_Mom

Thank you so much for your help, what town would you have better luck into finding a house in our price range? Also the size of house we want? I know in some areas you get more for your money and in others you get a smaller type house, so that being said what towns would we be able to get a nice comfortable house, and get our money's worth.
I would also like more information on schools, here we don't pay to register them, I know Iowa does, so can anyone tell me how the school system works, and what town you listed would be a good town for my daughter to go to school at? How are the summers in the towns you listed? I will start looking and see if I can get any information on some of them. I will be waiting for your reply, and thanks again.[/b][/color]

I think Dover, Clinton, and Atkins would be your best bet to find a larger home for that price range. However I recently began looking to buy in the Conway/Little Rock area and you can find 3br 2ba 1400 sq ft homes with a 2 car garage for around 100k and up, if you know where to look and are patient. If you can buy in LR for that price, you ban buy almost anywhere in the State.

Schools in these smaller towns are "handicapped" due to lack of funds. We are a poor state and if reflects in our smaller school systems. My HS science classes were taught by the football coach if that tells you anything. However if you go to a larger community, you will be impressed. Greenbrior and Conway schools are among the States best, but you will have to live in a larger community if you want to send your daughter here. Dover has a good school as well, but is small. As far as the rest of the towns I mentioned, I don't know anything about them other than their sports programs.

Oh and summers are very humid and hot, even in the mountains which can be as much as 15 degrees cooler. It gets hot in May/June and last till Oct/Nov. A temp of 95 will feel like 105 due to the humidity. The previous poster was somewhat right about tornados. We don't have them every week. But in the spring and early summer we can have quit a few in the state. No where in Arkansas are you safe from tornados. Thats just a fact that we all learn to deal with. All schools have tornado drills, and many towns have weekly tornado siren tests.

JeffAtkins · 12-06-2006, 10:45 AM

Moderator cut: The post you're referring to was deleted
I live in Hot Springs Village, which is near Hot Springs and Benton that you mentioned in your post. I'd suggest that you go to Realtor.com and search for houses in all 3 places. I'm sure there are fewer available here for under $100k than Benton (zipcode=72015) or Hot Springs (zipcode=71901), but the nearby areas such as Jessieville, Fountain Lake, etc are lower than inside Hot Springs Village (zipcode=71909).

I didn't have a positive impression of the local school district until I went to last year's graduation. It took forever to go through all of the scholorship awards. By the time they finished, I was thinking I might be getting one!

One of the advantages of where I live is the mosquitoes and other critters. Its very rare that I get buzzed by a mosquito, and I'm outside all the time. We do have a LOT of spiders, maybe that is why there are so few mosquitos. We also don't have those "beetles" that are all over Little Rock. They call them beetles but if it runs like a roach and looks like a roach, its a roach!

modster · 12-06-2006, 08:44 PM

My family originally came from a little town in south Arkansas called Lewisville. I think it is around 1500 people. Sleepy little place but you are only about 30 minutes from Texarkana, which has good stores, shopping, restaurants, etc. The school district was combined with the town of Stamps, I have no idea if it is any good or not. There were a lot of neat old houses in that town and they were always dirt cheap. We sold my Grandmothers several years ago, around 98 or 99. Back then I think it was $28,000 was all we could get. It was a really nice house too, fairly large with 3 big bedrooms, 2 baths, a big formal dining, kit & breakfast & a huge screen porch that ran down one side. It sat on a quarter of a block with these monsterous pin oaks. It also had brand new centrals.

There isn't a lot there, but again you are not far from the stores in Texarkana, some in Magnolia & also Hope.