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Old 02-08-2015, 05:49 PM
 
18 posts, read 37,413 times
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Haven't posted anything since my husband and I visited Hot Springs last spring. We loved it and really enjoyed our time there. The whole general area was delightful. After having spending nearly a month in the Hot Springs area, we are serious about buying a home there. Does anyone have any credible information about crime in Hot Springs neighborhoods. Someone who supposedly knows a lot about the city said that certain areas are high crime and to avoid them. He was not too specific except about some areas off Park Ave. Does anyone have any insight into this area? Are there other areas we may want to avoid? We are planning another trip to H.S. very soon, hopefully to find a house to buy, so it would be great to have some additional knowledge before we travel. Thanks for any information you may have to share.
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Old 02-08-2015, 06:00 PM
 
Location: The Natural State
1,221 posts, read 1,888,652 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by margy View Post
Haven't posted anything since my husband and I visited Hot Springs last spring. We loved it and really enjoyed our time there. The whole general area was delightful. After having spending nearly a month in the Hot Springs area, we are serious about buying a home there. Does anyone have any credible information about crime in Hot Springs neighborhoods. Someone who supposedly knows a lot about the city said that certain areas are high crime and to avoid them. He was not too specific except about some areas off Park Ave. Does anyone have any insight into this area? Are there other areas we may want to avoid? We are planning another trip to H.S. very soon, hopefully to find a house to buy, so it would be great to have some additional knowledge before we travel. Thanks for any information you may have to share.
Do you have any school age kids? That will make a difference.
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Old 02-08-2015, 07:49 PM
 
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Hi, Old Fossil, [Love your chat name, by the way!]

Thanks for your reply. No, our kids are all grown, so schools and such are not a consideration for us. We like the charm of older homes a lot and it seems that these types of homes are mostly north of downtown. Look forward to your insights.
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Old 02-15-2015, 09:19 AM
 
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Hot Springs has many dilapidated areas. There are also many uppity areas that tend to have much better police protection and hence much safer. If you are retiring, Hot Springs Village is a nice community but they do have POA dues and lots of regulations. Crime in HS is not out of hand. As far as downtown charm, there are some very nice older houses but sadly the areas are are being swallowed up by the rest of the inner city demise. The local newspapers tend to report DWI's, drug arrests (mostly people who possessed regulated drugs without a prescription, a felony here), and domestic stuff. There are of course gangs in some areas but there is in every city. My personal feelings about Hot Springs is it is a town allowed to run down. It had potential but the local mentality is anti-tax so nothing gets repaired and the community dilapidates. It's pluses are the lakes, camping, golf, and nice scenic areas and it is affordable. Neg's are the summer heat, congested traffic especially when Horse Racing season is full swing.
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Old 02-15-2015, 05:53 PM
 
Location: The Natural State
1,221 posts, read 1,888,652 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by margy View Post
Hi, Old Fossil, [Love your chat name, by the way!]

Thanks for your reply. No, our kids are all grown, so schools and such are not a consideration for us. We like the charm of older homes a lot and it seems that these types of homes are mostly north of downtown. Look forward to your insights.
While there did y'all go up on Prospect Avenue? There are lots of "old" restored homes up there, from high $ multistory to more traditional homes that would be considered "old" as far as age and architecture are concerned, and most of them have been restored and/or well maintained. Although I have lost contact with him, a doctor friend lived up there in a restored home and loved the home as well as the neighborhood. If you have Google Earth and haven't already done it, you may take a tour of the area with both sky and street view. That will show you a lot.

Come on and enjoy. Although I have never lived in H.S., I have worked there several times, always enjoyed it, and often thought that if circumstances permitted, I'd like to live there.
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Old 02-15-2015, 10:29 PM
 
Location: Hot Springs, Arkansas
389 posts, read 1,215,322 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by margy View Post
Haven't posted anything since my husband and I visited Hot Springs last spring. We loved it and really enjoyed our time there. The whole general area was delightful. After having spending nearly a month in the Hot Springs area, we are serious about buying a home there. Does anyone have any credible information about crime in Hot Springs neighborhoods. Someone who supposedly knows a lot about the city said that certain areas are high crime and to avoid them. He was not too specific except about some areas off Park Ave. Does anyone have any insight into this area? Are there other areas we may want to avoid? We are planning another trip to H.S. very soon, hopefully to find a house to buy, so it would be great to have some additional knowledge before we travel. Thanks for any information you may have to share.
I live in Hot Springs not far from Lake Hamilton. We have lived here about 3 and 1/2 years having moved from Texas.

My opinion is that one has little to fear if they live south of the by-pass and frankly I am dubious of all of the alleged crime that is north of it. The local paper seems to dwell on the various low-lifes who are in and out of prison and the jailhouse. But as far as being dangerous, I don't really see that.

There are some buildings that need to be demolished just north of the historic area. That is an on-going problem and there has been a lot of foot dragging that is tied up in politics and ineffective administration. In time that will be taken care of.

What kind of home are you interested in? I can possibly lead you in the right direction. I knew of and believe it is still on the market a wonderful home that is currently a FSBO that can be bought at the right price. It is in a small POA just off of Burchwood Bay. I've been in it and it is very, very nice at about $200K. If you have deeper pockets, you can buy in the Forest Lakes area and those run from about $250K to $400K and near the very nice hospital and doctor's office. The well equipped Y is just down the road. If you get down near the lake, expect to pay through the nose. There are homes down there for $4 or $5 million if your pockets are deep enough.

I wouldn't waste my time looking to the west of the downtown area. I'm guessing that is probably where some of the bad actors are at. But honestly and truly, I just don't see rampant crime as particularly disturbing. JMHO for what it is worth.

Some people like Hot Springs Village. That's also worth considering but is not in Hot Springs itself. It is the largest gated community in the United States. Worth considering.
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Old 02-16-2015, 12:57 PM
 
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Another area of town, that you could look at, is 70 West. There are a lot of newer homes off of Marion Anderson, Rock Creek, Majestic Lodge - although Hill Wheatley Park is nearby, and a lot of crime happens there - and South Moore and North Moore. Areas I would personally avoid, is anything off of Albert Pike, and the 1000-2000 block of Central and East Grand if you're looking for a home.

Crime is mostly drug-related or break-ins, but I don't feel unsafe living in Hot Springs or the surrounding area.
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Old 03-01-2015, 09:36 AM
 
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Thank you to everyone who responded to my post. I haven't checked this forum in over a week, because I had not seen any replies. Fortunately, my email apprised me of these replies. You have all shared valuable insights which we will duly consider before we make any purchase. We did not feel unsafe in Hot Springs while we visited there, though we did see the occasional suspicious looking character, kind of giving off the drug vibe. Other than these few occasions, we did not observe anything even remotely disturbing. Do any of you have any information about the neighborhoods in the Mineral Street area? There are some properties for sale there at reasonable prices, and we wondered about the type of neighborhood in this section and if it is prone to crime. Appreciate anything you can share.
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Old 03-08-2015, 09:53 PM
 
18 posts, read 37,413 times
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Are streets off Albert Pike high crime areas? I don't know that section very well. The blocks you mentioned off Central did seem a bit seedy in some places. What about the streets off Park Ave, such as Mineral? The older homes up that way look nice, but I know that some areas of Park have drug and other issues.
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Old 03-09-2015, 05:13 PM
 
2 posts, read 4,258 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by margy View Post
Are streets off Albert Pike high crime areas? I don't know that section very well. The blocks you mentioned off Central did seem a bit seedy in some places. What about the streets off Park Ave, such as Mineral? The older homes up that way look nice, but I know that some areas of Park have drug and other issues.
There are some nice homes off of Albert Pike, but anything past the McDonald's near the Taco Bell isn't worth the time, and is very seedy, in my opinion. The area of Albert Pike near Hobson is the area of Albert Pike I would completely avoid. I don't know much about about the Park Ave. area, since I'm not in that area of town a lot, but I would take a look on Google Maps to see the surrounding areas.
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