Best place to live in Arkansas? (Little Rock, Fort Smith: environment, property taxes, travel)

[TomFlint]

My wife and I are considering a possible move out of the hussle bussle, expensive Chicago area, and retire early. My sister lives in Harrison, she lived there, moved to Alaska and moved back to Harrison, she missed it. I spent time in Harrison and thought it had a nice downtown, enough shopping, and not too far from other nice places in NW Arkansas. And not have to hide indoors ALL winter.

We feel we could live comfortably on our investments. While empoyment is not our goal, I think Harrison might beable to suply my wife an accounting job. and perhaps I can flip some houses and maybe buy some rental properties.

Anyway just wondering if what I am thinking has any meritt?


Tom

[jtown,man]

Tom Flint.... I suggest you stay in Chicago. If you own, KEEP IT. Chicago is the BEST value for a city its size in the world just about.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by TomFlint

My wife and I are considering a possible move out of the hussle bussle, expensive Chicago area, and retire early. My sister lives in Harrison, she lived there, moved to Alaska and moved back to Harrison, she missed it. I spent time in Harrison and thought it had a nice downtown, enough shopping, and not too far from other nice places in NW Arkansas. And not have to hide indoors ALL winter.

We feel we could live comfortably on our investments. While empoyment is not our goal, I think Harrison might beable to suply my wife an accounting job. and perhaps I can flip some houses and maybe buy some rental properties.

Anyway just wondering if what I am thinking has any meritt?


Tom

yes, it has merit, if you like AR or that area and want to beat the busy life in Chicago, go for it. Our daughter and son in law live in the Dallas area. They plan on an early out as well. Right now they are looking at 5 to 7 years which will put him in his late 50s and her early to mid 50s. They plan on consenstrating on Bella Vista area or Hot SPings Village. We are getting ready to move (next spring) to the NW part of AR or NE OK.

Nita

[TomFlint]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Tom Flint.... I suggest you stay in Chicago. If you own, KEEP IT. Chicago is the BEST value for a city its size in the world just about.

Staying in Chicago is not an option. My realestate gain is what I would I would need to live on. Chicago is a great value and the Realestate has not dipped as poorly during the bad times. Guess its the "crossroads" of commerce for the country. however the cost of living is not that cheap, at least not in the community I am in, so if I move it may as well be out of the state.

Tom

[TomFlint]

Originally Posted by nmnita

yes, it has merit, if you like AR or that area and want to beat the busy life in Chicago, go for it. Our daughter and son in law live in the Dallas area. They plan on an early out as well. Right now they are looking at 5 to 7 years which will put him in his late 50s and her early to mid 50s. They plan on consenstrating on Bella Vista area or Hot SPings Village. We are getting ready to move (next spring) to the NW part of AR or NE OK.

Nita

I am hoping to move in three years when my youngest goes to college. I will still be in my forties and feel living with a cheaper cost of living we could take more little trips. And we'll be closer to the places we'ld like to visit, like Colorado, Arizona ...etc.

Thanks for your input

Tom

[Sam I Am]

Tom, I suspect in 3 years that Harrison will have been sucked up into the NWA boom and that it might be cost prohibitive to flip anything unless you bought it now. Prices are on the rise in that whole corner of the state.

I love Chicago - absolutely love it - but it's too expensive to live there, too fast-paced and too.......something, I don't know - but NWA is projected to be the most heavily populated area in the state in 10 years or less...if that projection holds true and the housing market doesn't absolutely crash, the boom up there will drive things to unrealistic proportions, and then if it ever does crash, watch out....I would say with the influx of retirees and baby boomers moving that way, though, that buying and flipping might be better than renting homes out. That's a wild guess on my part, but it seems the demographics are changing somewhat, and most people just want to own their own nice little home.

As far as work - yes, I think your wife will be able to find something in that area....as long as she gets her foot in the door before the other 600,000 people do :-)

[TomFlint]

WOW, I like the idea of a boom! Not afraid of it, in fact my wife being a "City" girl would be happy to see the growth. In Chicago we like the convenience that a population offers, yet are fed up with the negatives.I don't watch the nightly news, its always the same: murders, child predators, gang activity ...etc

Since I lived my life here, Chicagoland represents a rat race to me. I think by taking myself out of here to a slower community I can reprogram myself to a new lifestyle.

Thanks Sam



Tom

[Stormcrow73]

Has 412 been improved enough to make Harrison not feel completely isolated from NWA? The drive is about 70 miles and it used to take me well over 90 minutes to make it with little to no traffic and I drive like a bat out of he!! whenever I can. I got the Madison county tickets to prove it to!! Harrison isn't going to be a part of that boom. The only boom Harrison is going to experience is retirees until either 412 or 65 are turned into 4 lane divided and there's just no reason for that. Anyway, the NWA boom is over along with the rest of the country. In fact, NWA is probably 12 months from major price corrections: The Morning News: Business : Housing Prices Expected to Fall

[Sam I Am]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

Has 412 been improved enough to make Harrison not feel completely isolated from NWA? The drive is about 70 miles and it used to take me well over 90 minutes to make it with little to no traffic and I drive like a bat out of he!! whenever I can. I got the Madison county tickets to prove it to!! Harrison isn't going to be a part of that boom. The only boom Harrison is going to experience is retirees until either 412 or 65 are turned into 4 lane divided and there's just no reason for that. Anyway, the NWA boom is over along with the rest of the country. In fact, NWA is probably 12 months from major price corrections: The Morning News: Business : Housing Prices Expected to Fall

I guess if you're going to Fayetteville it's going to take that long - but there's still Jasper and Berryville.....and they will have the spillover from NWA.

Housing prices are falling everywhere - but in areas where there is a major influx, you will continue to see them hold steady or increase to some degree. NWA is experiencing the major influx now....at this very second prices may be down some, but NWA was cheap, cheap, cheap for a very long time - they're probably only coming up to where they should have been. Some places are grossly inflated, like Dickson Street in Fayetteville....Eureka is overpriced in some areas but has been for a while......it's all what the market will bear, and as more retirees and baby boomers move to these areas with their little 401K and stock option plans, they'll be able to bear the higher prices.

I think the bottom will drop out in Little Rock in a major way with the big companies relocating or being bought out. NWA is up and coming - if I lived in Little Rock, I would be concerned...but I don't :-) So maybe wait a little while, Tom - maybe the pickins will be better. I'm no economist, though, can't tell you what the trends are - but I know in the River Valley, although things are taking a downward turn today it sure has been up for a while, primarily due to the out-of-staters who are retiring here because of the tax base. We bought 6 years ago - a historic home in Russellville, 3000 square feet, completely restored...paid $117K. Sold it for $175,500 five years later 0 Bought at less than $40/sq ft., sold at around $60 sq ft. We're buying the house next door to it now - 2000 sq ft., $135,500 - purchased 6 years ago for $89K......those numbers aren't likely to change substantially over the next period of time because Russellville went from being a sleepy highway truck stop town to a bustling little township all it's own.....so we vary by $5-10 square foot - it's still WAY cheaper than most places.

[TomFlint]

Well I have three years set as my goal, so by then we'll see where this housing correction is going. We are due for an overall recession, and this housing slow down might be the warning sign. Chicago area does not seem to get wacked as badly, I think its central location and tranportaion hubs help. So as long as my values hold here it won't really matter what AR does, it'll still be much cheaper and we're downsizing out of a 750k house(12k re tax).

As far as Harrison, from a retirement point of view and my Sister being there, it won't matter, I'll still be close to nice places for day trips, canooing, fishing ..etc

I visited Harrison over a 30 year time period and everytime I said to myself, "this place has grown", yet still has that town square charm.

Interesting reading here and I am learning alot.

Tom