[TN-rox]

Hi, can anyone tell me anything about southern AR? After hearing so much about the economy declining it doesnt sound like a very reasonable place. Is there anything good about southern AR? If so what? Are there any good towns that are safe and have plenty of outdoor recreation/ nice state parks? We were thinking of moving to Arkadelphia, Magnolia, Texarkana, Sheridan, or even Stuttgart. How is the crime and growth of these areas? Any info. would be greatly appreciated!!!Thanks!

[Kahaustin]

[i]Well i live in south AR Are you looking for good place to live, or a good place to live & work,Sheridan is a nice quiet town , just not a lot of jobs there, Stuttgart not bad, more job offerings, Arkadelphia,Hot Springs area both nice places to live. This will help you find out all the demographics on each of the cities/towns you have asked about and many others, its my favorite tell all website. Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[TN-rox]

Thank you Kahaustin! Wikipedia was a big help!

[J Arp]

Unless you enjoy solely existing off Wal-Mart and McDonalds, avoid Arkadelphia. If you are looking for a small town with absolutely nothing to do- no jobs, and two colleges.. then go ahead.
Are you young or older? It would probably be a great place to retire considering Lake DeGray is close by along with two small rivers, Caddo and Ouachita, but for anyone under 40-50 please save your self and go somewhere else.

Arkadelphia is -not- one of those charming little college towns people see on TV and movies. This seems to be a pretty common misconception with soon-to-be freshmen looking at OBU or HSU for higher education that wish to stay away from larger party schools. I have nothing bad to say about HSU itself, though alot of people believe Ouachita Baptist University is a key factor in the stagnant growth of the town and I can't really say I disagree. If you are college bound and want to finish your 4 year degree plan on time then I can't imagine it being difficult to lock yourself in your dorm room or apartment and crank out all your homework. Its not like you will have anything else to do.

With that out of the way...

The bad thing about Sheridan is if you can't find a job locally, the two closest towns are Malvern and Pine Bluff. Not exactly economic power houess themselves-- not to mention the crime of Pine Bluff.

I don't know enough about Stuttgart or Magnolia to really comment on those.

Texarkana would be my choice out of those with Hot Springs being close second if you like the touristy atmosphere of a racetrack, bars, good variety of restaraunts, etc.

[TN-rox]

We are in our thirties and were also wondering about the schools in Southern AR. Arkadelphia seemed pretty nice when we visited a couple times, but J Arp, your right about solely existing off of WalMart. However we are kind of used to that in the smaller town we live in here. We were also wanting to have a good parcel of land, maybe 20+ acres. Does anyone know how cheap the land is in southern AR? Thank yall so much, this is so helpful! Please keep posting!

[J Arp]

Arkadelphia is supposed to be a pretty good school system. I don't have kids so I don't have any personal opinions.

I'm glad it sounds like you plan on building your own house...

I don't consider the land here to be terribly cheap despite being in a poorer area of the state....depends on what area you are looking at of course, and where you are coming from as comparison. I'm from Northeast Arkansas and I can easily find cheaper land and/or houses in the Jonesboro/Paragould/Trumann area. (Nicer houses, too AND Jonesboro has TWO Wal-Marts, AND a Sam's...oooh ahhh...)

You can find plenty of acerage around Arkadelphia to buy, though.

Lots of land and a house is what I've been hunting for lately myself, but the hard part is finding a house that doesn't need 10-20k (or more...) worth of work. Then again the longer I live here the more I want to move so I guess its a good thing I haven't jumped on such an investment.

I don't know if it is considered advertising, but I have a link to a pretty handy MLS site I can post. They've always got some decent chunk of acerage listed by someone. MODERATOR: Yes, it would be considered advertising...sorry, no postings, please

[TN-rox]

Arkadelphia is definitely a possibility...I currently live in Tennessee and its becoming so crowded. People from everywhere are moving there, and its starting to lose some of its country, southern feel. I cross the river(Mississippi R.) to Arkansas all the time for vacations and love the still uncrowded, scenic charm. Is Arkansas growing really fast too? Hows the housing market in general? Although we might just build our own house...
Here (West TN), its only a matter of seconds before the best houses are taken up, and land is becoming scarce and expensive- I really dont want an area thats growing crazy fast as I like to put it. I like the rural areas and Southern AR seems to have plenty of that... Ive been to Jonesboro, seems to be growing very fast.. Can you still find good acreage around there thats not too expensive? Thank yall so much for your help!

[J Arp]

Northeast Arkansas is growing steadily, but not nearly as fast as Northwest Arkansas. Last time I was in NEA I noticed quite a few houses for sale...Maybe they are all moving to NWA?
The larger plots of land in Jonesboro area are probably out in Bono, Brookland, and other outlying areas. They're still close enough to Jonesboro to where it isn't a big inconvenience to go to town. I would consider property around Paragould as well considering it is only 20-25k people and about 30 minutes from Jonesboro.
Everyone seems to be bailing out of their houses right now in Arkadelphia...maybe its the market *cough boring town* and all those ARMs resetting *cough no jobs* I don't know.
You are looking for rural though...Arkadelphia is pretty rural. Any available acerage would probably be around Gurdon, Joan, Friendship, Bismark, Donaldson...the -really- rural areas around Arkadelphia.


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I appreciate the reply from the Mod. Most forums it seems that the mods say nothing until you've stepped over the line then they go in and just click delete delete delete without saying a word.

[TN-rox]

I agree about NW Arkansas. Its growing too fast for us at least, thanks for all yall's posts. Are there any other suggestions on a good, safe, rural, place to live thats got plenty of good land for sale in Southern Arkansas? Thanks!!!

[paramour]

I have to concur with everything J Arp has said about Arkadelphia.

Concerned about growth? The town has decreased in population by approximately 5K+ people in the last several years. This may not seem like much until you realize that you're talking about small numbers to begin with. The town has claimed that they're going to build themselves up and increase its attractiveness for many, many years now. It's not happened yet, and I seriously doubt it ever will any time soon.