[hidigger]

I love Eureka Springs, and also Hot Springs. We ended up moving to Florida but miss Arkansas. Florida is nice, but its a fast paced busy area. I am more in tune to the Arkansas area. Hows hot springs real estate doing?

[rmissourimule]

Originally Posted by hidigger

I love Eureka Springs, and also Hot Springs. We ended up moving to Florida but miss Arkansas. Florida is nice, but its a fast paced busy area. I am more in tune to the Arkansas area. Hows hot springs real estate doing?

You can find some nice homes here at reasonable prices. Probably a buyer's market at the current time. May change after the election. There are some really nice garden homes if you are interested at reasonable prices.

I've been to Eureka Springs many times when we lived in Springfield, Missouri. It is pretty, historical but personally I doubt if I would want to live there year round.

Hot Springs is about 36,000 population. Not too big; not too small and it is easy to get around. Few regrets and I don't miss the blast furnace of Texas.

[Miata_Joe]

Rmissourimule, it sounds like you lived in Texas at some time (your blast furnace comment is spot on).
How would you compare the taxes & cost of living?

[rmissourimule]

Originally Posted by Miata_Joe

Rmissourimule, it sounds like you lived in Texas at some time (your blast furnace comment is spot on).
How would you compare the taxes & cost of living?

I will preface this by telling you that I'm originally from Missouri having lived in Springfield for 26 years. We moved to Palestine, Texas in 2001 and left last year. I left Missouri in large part due to the periodic ice storms that followed the I44 corridor and I just sick of the cold weather and snow. For many years we were quite happy in Texas and we could tolerate the heat and fire ants for the most part and we lived in an excellent area. But 2011 was the year that broke my will. It was a horrible drought and as you probably know we had the wild fires all over the place and I just decided to pull the plug. And I dumped nearly 500,000 gallons of water on our trees to keep them going. The lawn burned to a crisp.

If not for last year we would probably be still there. We were well established and otherwise happy with good neighbors. Sometimes I wonder if this was the right move. And then this year the drought affected Arkansas and most of the mid west but eventually we survived it.

As to the cost of living, it is low. Prices are comparable to what we were paying in Texas. The price of homes is also roughly comparable and this is a good time if one is so inclined. I read in yesterday's newspaper that the housing market was on the upswing and Hot Springs would be the last to feel the impact of increased demand. If I had had it to do over again I would not have bought the house we currently live in. The changes that we need to get it to the shape we want are not inexpensive although it is otherwise perfectly livable and in a good area. But when one looks at the improvements, painting, etc., that can get expensive. With that in mind we have a contract on a nearby house that meets our requirements but is contingent on selling this home. At this point nothing has happened.

As to taxes, we pay about $650 on this house. In Palestine it was about $1,350. We got the homestead exemption in both cases. But in Arkansas the sales tax is higher and we have a state income tax where Texas did not. For the short time last year we lived here we paid $1 in total that was computed by TurboTax. And we also have a personal property tax. Haven't seen the bill on that either. So to answer your question, I would say I can provide a better reply after we do our taxes and see the size of our personal property tax. On balance, so far as I now know, I would say it would be somewhat cheaper in Texas. But then again, we don't live in a blast furnace. And this area is quite scenic which as you probably know in Texas is not for the most part. According to researching on the internet, both Arkansas and Texas are regarded as low tax states. Utilities are quite reasonable in my opinion.

I will say this. If your financial condition is sound, I would urge that you look at the new "garden homes" that are being built nearby. Those run in the $225 on the low end to $400K on the top end. But they are VERY, VERY nice. I've watched them being built from the ground up. They also have some of these up in Hot Springs Village but we ruled that out because it was so far from shopping and doctors. But they do have a lot of on-site facilities there and golf is the big deal there. This is the largest gated community in the U.S. according to what I have been told but it wasn't for us although very pretty.

It all comes down to what your needs and wants are. Hope this was helpful.