[debbie at bouontiful]

Eureka Springs would have more people, Holdiay Island sounds like what your looking for. I love both Eureka Springs and Holiday Island. My parents just bought in Bella Vista which of course is quite a lot bigger. I've look at land on Beaver lake in that area.

[suecen]

Debbie - just had to say I visited Galena for the first time a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. When I arrived I said to myself that it reminded me of Eureka Springs!!

[debbie at bouontiful]

That is funny. Loved Galena and when I visited Eureka Springs I said this reminds me of Galena!!! Neat towns!!

[McKeesCat]

My husband and I just came back from one week in our timeshare in Holiday Island (HI after this) and wanted to add some insights about HI and Eureka Springs. We discovered Eureka in 2004 and I fell in love and told my husband this was where I wanted to retire to. We found HI on that trip and after looking it over, impulsively bought a lot before we left . The plan was to put a manufactured home on it for long weekends and eventually move there. We ended up trading our lot for a timeshare in 2008. Why? HI newspaper tipped me to some issues HI has that deeply concerned me plus when we went back one year later I noticed a lot of homes for sale both in HI and Eureka, same as I did this trip. Far too many for such a small area. And herein is one of HIs biggest problems, not a lot of people know about it. So one of the best things about the area (isolation) can work against you if you buy a home or lot then want to sell. This trip, I picked up one of the local real estate booklets and was floored to see our favorite restaurant was up for sale, despite no realty sign outside. Plus many of Eureka's huge expensive Victorians are up for sale as well as several area homes. We also saw this in 2004 and 2005 trips, so it's not just the current economy. We had one of the best lots in HI and it was up for sale for a year and a half with not a nibble. We lost several thousand dollars in the trade but at least now we have a timeshare we can use.

This trip, we spent a full week there and I got a much better sense of what life would be like living in either HI or Eureka vs. vacationing. The enchanted spell the area has always cast over me faded before the week was over, as I saw at least three big issues that have made us think twice about moving there permanently. One is the corkscrew roads being dangerous or impassable in winter and how that could contribute to social isolation and minimize even necessary travel for several months out of the year. Because wherever you live in the area, you are going to do a lot of driving to get around. You have to drive them to understand what I'm saying. Then the lack of local specialized and emergency medical care will require traveling a good distance for treatment, difficult if not impossible in winter months. Last, how the at first wondrous and protective isolation of the area could backfire once one settles in and realizes just how out there you really are. We might leave the maddening crowd behind but so too, a lot of other things we now take for granted. I awoke our last day of vacation with an eerie sense of desolation and it made me glad to get back to the diverse offerings of our metro area, as annoying as it can be at times.

HI and Eureka are wonderful places but just know if you buy there, you can get stuck taking a huge loss on your property if you decide to leave. All in all, we've decided to save HI and Eureka for visits and look at other areas to move to. Wherever we go, we're going to rent for a year before we ever buy. Best wishes to you.

[DC at the Ridge]

The roads certainly are impassable if there is an ice storm, or even in some winter storms. But those events are relatively rare, and generally the area has warning that such weather is approaching.

Eureka Springs certainly isn't for everyone, and the tourist-based economy is particularly challenging for year-round residents.

[hydigger]

What was the biker incident?

[McKeesCat]

My previous post about HI and Eureka was not meant to be negative, only designed to try to spare people from making a possibly costly mistake as we did by encouraging them to think about issues before moving to the area, especially financial and medical. We are seniors and there isn't time left for any more mistakes and ours has made me extra vigilant against anymore in the future. And locals did not indicate to us that bad weather was rare, rather they told us that many a time bad weather has hit the area during winter and since they live there, we went by their info. Maybe they were trying to discourage us from moving there....LOL. I couldn't blame them for that, as I myself do not want to see it change as I LOVE the area. I am a Navy brat and retired Navy myself so I've seen a lot of places and if the Fayetteville VA hospital wasn't so far from HI, I'd likely be on the phone to a realtor in the near future. I haven't given up totally, I'm still manuvering to get us in the area but just where I haven't figured out yet. I'll keep searching.

[McKeesCat]

Originally Posted by hydigger

What was the biker incident?

Don't know the exact date, I think it was 2007, but six Hell's Angels were arrested on battery charges after a fight with the rival biker gang the Bandidos in the parking lot of the Gingerbread Antique building at 2:30pm on a Sunday resulted in 4 of the Bandidos being beaten and allegedly stabbed. 2 victims were critically injured and taken to Fayetteville's Washington Regional Med Center and the other 2 taken to hospitals in Eureka and Springdale. All survived but it's pretty scary to have that happen in a quaint little village like Eureka.

[jandjrau]

You bet I can tell you about anything you want to know about Holiday Island. I've permanently lived here for 14 years and owned/built my home with my husband about 28 years ago. [mod]snip[/mod]

H.I. is a GREAT place to live........all amenities abound. "Yes" Lots are cheap........in my estimation TOO CHEAP.........too many folks don't realize Holiday Island is here.....about 40 miles from Branson on one side, and about 35 miles from Bentonville/Rogers. NO CRIME here.....VERY safe to live here. We need to sale all the lots still in existence here. These lot prices include ability to hook up to a central sewer system and a public Well system for water. Mountain views......on end of Table Rock Lake....and about five miles out of Eureka Springs.

[mod]snip[/mod]