[Kristynwy]

I am a western girl, not CA, but I have lived in Oregon and traveled to Washington, Idaho, Montana and currently reside in Wyoming.

We are hoping to stay here in Wyoming because we love it so much. But, even though it is booming here the housing is in a serious shortage.

So my husband that is originally from Kentwood,La and has an aunt in Omaha,Ar was trying to consider a "backup" place to live in case things fall through in Wyoming.

I have never been down South. I know there are some pretty place and some nice communities to live in.

I am really nervous though about it, cause I have not a clue. I really don't like ticks and chiggers sound scary to me. We have ticks here in Wyoming that I didn't have growing up in Oregon. But they aren't excessive either.

What makes the homes so much lower down there? We were looking in Harrison and saw homes in the 40,000 and 50,000 dollar range...

My hubby currently makes 17.00 and hour as an HVAC Technician, are the wages similar there?

Any helpful info. you have about the area, cost of living, wages, housing, ammenities ect... I would be glad to hear it..

Thanks for your input in advance

[Sam I Am]

What makes it so much cheaper here is the lack of high paying jobs - the cost of living has to be somewhere in the ballpark with income, and there are more people who are NOT living the fine life than who are.

You will find housing costs vary widely from Harrison to even Fayetteville. I would think employment opportunities would be decent anywhere in north Arkansas - I've never seen an HVAC guy standing in the unemployment line - but I don't know about the pay scale. Someone else might be able to help you with that.

Use the search feature at the top of this page in the center - do an advanced search for "Harrison" in the Arkansas forum, or "Fayetteville" or wherever you want...I think you will come up with a lot of info on those areas that may help you make a decision. One thing is for sure - you will have chiggers, you will have ticks (if you're in the country), and you won't have bitterly cold weather for months on end....and you will have hot and humid in the summers. Weather is the one thing we can't do anything about...be prepared!

[thordrop]

my brother looked for work here in hot springs and found people paying 15 and hour. Housing is slowing esp. in fayettville. Here to the housing market is starting to show signs of slowing down.
We are not as bad as florida or michigan, but the days of selling homes at higher prices each year is not the case, I have watched many homes sit on the market not moving for a year now.

[Kristynwy]

Thank you very much for your replies ... I have done a search also and found more info.

I did research on the average wage in Boone County, the county we are looking at, and it said on Average $15 for entry level and $18 for experienced, which my husband has both electrical and HVACR experience..

Thanks again

[Stormcrow73]

Not sure if you'd be overly concerned about this or not, but Boone is a dry county. No sales of alcoholic beverages are permitted. Boone won't even permit private liqour licenses for clubs some other dry counties do. So if you want any beer or anything, you'll have to drive to Missouri (or I guess Yellville now that Marion is wet) to get anything. It's right about 30 minutes one way to either place.

That said, Harrison is a great community. Still very small and somewhat insulated. Shopping and dining is fairly limited but you still have a decent variety. If you love your Wyoming winters then you'll be very disappointed by Arkansas. You typically get 3 or 4 snows a winter, usually with a good bit of ice mixed in with it and the snow rarely stays on the ground more than a couple of days. You can certainly get good long cold spells and in NO. AR LOTS of windchill but compared to Wyoming it'll probably seem like nothing.

[Kristynwy]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

Not sure if you'd be overly concerned about this or not, but Boone is a dry county. No sales of alcoholic beverages are permitted. Boone won't even permit private liqour licenses for clubs some other dry counties do. So if you want any beer or anything, you'll have to drive to Missouri (or I guess Yellville now that Marion is wet) to get anything. It's right about 30 minutes one way to either place.

That said, Harrison is a great community. Still very small and somewhat insulated. Shopping and dining is fairly limited but you still have a decent variety. If you love your Wyoming winters then you'll be very disappointed by Arkansas. You typically get 3 or 4 snows a winter, usually with a good bit of ice mixed in with it and the snow rarely stays on the ground more than a couple of days. You can certainly get good long cold spells and in NO. AR LOTS of windchill but compared to Wyoming it'll probably seem like nothing.

Thanks for your reply. I didn't know it was a dry county. I have heard of dry counties in Arkansas so I was aware it may be an option. Thanks for verifying that for me. I drink wine on a every once in a while occasion, but other than that, not much. So we will just have to commute and that is not a problem to us.

The community I live in is small also, and the dining situation similar, so that part won't be too different.

I will miss the Wyoming winters, but as long as I get a few small snowfalls, I am a happy camper. We get lots of windchill here too lol, in fact single digits here tonight.

We love it here, but there is a major housing shortage due to the energy boom, and houses are a lot more reasonably priced down there to. Dh of course misses the south, cause he was born and raised there. He likes it here though too.

He may be flying out there for an interview pretty soon, so I will keep everyone posted on how that goes, and what he thinks of the area. Hopefully I can fly down with him.

Thanks again for your info

[bmr79]

i dont know if by now you have moved or not, but i can tell you that i work with people in the hvac industry and for an experienced person he could make that or better. it really is a great town

[flintlock]

Fayetteville USED to be a nice place to live. Not any more. Industry has moved in Moderator cut: edit I think they moved there to get away from the crime up north and have screwed Fayetteville up too in the process. The traffic there is terrible, manly due to over crowded streets that were origionally intended for a small town. It has been a few years since I have visited that area, but a friend of mine who lives not too far away, says I would not recognize it. Fort Smith would probably be a better place to move to if your intentions are to relocate to that erea of NWA. The school systems are OK if you have youngun's, and there are a few things to do there. However, I am a country boy and if the population is over 1000, it's too big for me.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by flintlock

Fayetteville USED to be a nice place to live. Not any more. Industry has moved in Moderator cut: edit I think they moved there to get away from the crime up north and have screwed Fayetteville up too in the process. The traffic there is terrible, manly due to over crowded streets that were origionally intended for a small town. It has been a few years since I have visited that area, but a friend of mine who lives not too far away, says I would not recognize it. Fort Smith would probably be a better place to move to if your intentions are to relocate to that erea of NWA. The school systems are OK if you have youngun's, and there are a few things to do there. However, I am a country boy and if the population is over 1000, it's too big for me.

The OP topic was directly related to HARRISON, not Fayetteville, not Fort Smith, not NWA.

[Sam I Am]

Don't know about anyone else, but I do not consider Ft. Smith as NWA. In my mind it is the river valley, sorta kinda.

To the OP - excellent houses in the $50K range aren't all that common...and they look better on the internet than they really are. Don't get mislead by what you see on the blue screen. However, if you are handy and can fix up a place without hiring it out, you may just find you a diamond in the rough that would be perfect for you.

I think lower housing costs are part of the reason for the influx to the south these days, but the old saying about "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is" still holds down here. Our cost of living is most likely lower but only a trip here might separate the wheat from the chaff on that one. If you've never been to the south, welcome and we hope you enjoy your visit/move...I am sure there will be some culture shock involved, but I think you will find this a lovely place to call home!