Best place to live in Arkansas? (Little Rock, Fort Smith: relocating, smog, for sale)

[Greenmon]

We live in No Central AR- Yellville,(funny yes and Near Flippin AR!)- Horses are all over - not condidered an asset by most! (dependin on your talent or needs ofcourse)- we happen to like Horses, and one of our good neighors, pasture two horses, on our 3and a half acres part of the year. They have cattle so they need a little extra room. I have seen many areas driving through AR to Raise Horses, so look thru the internet and Take a Tour! Best WIshes, Greenmon and Denise--ps many great people we have met,and helpful here.

[TROUTMAN]

Bre, you need to check out Ashflat ARK. it is in north central arkansas. Small town but big hearts and plenty of room for your horses. Every weekend there is something going on at the arena in town. Big cattle country also. And there is plenty of water, Spring River, South Fork River, Strawberry River and many chreeks. Check it our on the web. Good luck

[Rachela]

True
I am very sorry to hear that ravenasque and others have found their experience in Arkansas so negative. As a native from Arkansas i really do enjoy it here. I am from a small town between Little Rock and Hot Springs. Both cities are very nice to live in or visit. If you want lake or riverside property and want to retain some semblance of metro life you are right Hot Springs is probably your kind of place. There are lots of gated communities there with great shops and outdoor activities. Most are right that there is not near as much to do in Arkansas compared to other states but for many that is part of the appeal. Hiking, Fishing, water activities, and such are in abundance here, where clubs,a large selection of exotic restraunts and such are not but the area is making lots of progress.
i can suggest that before you make a final decision whether or not to move anywhere visit for a couple days, that way you can go on your gut and not someone elses view of the area. Other people are not you they may or may not have the same intrests and hopes for your new place of residence.
Some things you may not know about Arkansas is that in the Hot Springs area for decades famous and prestigious people would vacation in the area to visit the springs, President Franklin for example visited often. Also Lake Ouachita is the 2nd cleanest lake in the United States, many states have lakes that are very nasty but all of our lakes are quite pretty. They are right in that our weather does go to extremes it is very humid in the summer but the spring and fall months are quite pleasant. I hope you find this info helpful Good Luck on your possible move!

[Earlypearl]

Hot Springs is a very decent place with nice lakes and recreation. Downtown and around the race track are a bit seedy - but there are nice restaurants all over town. I moved here two years ago from San Jose, to Fayetteville. I would recommend Northwest Arkansas, although the same slow pace and backwards attitudes prevail here in good measure. This is a small state with very little excitement - unless you are an avid hunter. NWA is close enough to Kansas City, Dallas, and a few other metro areas where there are city amenities. Overall Arkansas is a good place to move to slow down. The cost of living is not that great when you factor in lower incomes, and back-assward tax structure. All groceries are taxed at around 9 to 11% depending on the area. There are other nasty "surprise" taxes, like 22% rent a car tax (lol). The politicians are awful! The mentality on taxes is highly exploitational. It's very much a serfdom here, and the "haves" seem to like it that way. Travel the interstates in Arkansas and you will notice large cars and suv's with special government representative plates zooming about the state at about 90 miles an hour. They don't even try to appear to care. Overall it's a beautiful place full of many nice people, many poor people, and a political system that resembles a third world country. I guess it's kind of a third world state......

[DebbyC63]

Northwest Arkansas is a very diverse and beautiful place. My husband and I recently moved back to our "home" after 20 years in the military. It's not as "natural" as it used to be, as so many people have been moving in. However, that is what has kept this area from being touched by unemployment, etc. as much as other areas of the country. Home prices have stabilized, there are "Now Hiring" signs everywhere, and you have the big city benefits of shopping, great golfing, shows at the Walton Arts Center, the University and its sports, etc., but you're not too far from rivers, lakes, hiking, etc. Personally, I don't want more people moving in, but I'd hate for people to get a false impression from some of the posts I've seen here. Come check it out!

[junkman18]

Originally Posted by Ravenasque

Hello,
I am currently living in Arkansas, I am originally from Southern California (I am not sure what section you were from, I resided in the Riverside area.), but moved out here due to some money problems. (Family resides here) I have lived here for about three years now...
I would strongly suggest not moving to this state. My reasons being the following, some may be subject to my own opinion:



1. Arkansas has very humid weather half the year (unbearably if you ask me, 70-90%, no breeze) while the other half is fairly frigid. (Ice, rain, sleet)



2. Arkansas may seem like a friendly state to some, and there are some people I have met that were very cordial. However, the vast amounts of people I have came into contact with were very rude, due to me being an 'outsider.' (They have told me this before, flat out in my face, AR residents in my experiences are NOT fond of people out-of state)
And upon informing them (if they ask where I am from), that I was from California, they said several demeaning things about me being a resident of such state at one time. There is a very big cultural clash here it seems.

People here are VERY religious, I don't know how you are, personally I am not religious, but since I am not, alot of people here are always in my face about it. I guess you could call them religious zealots. There's also a large margin of racists here. (some of my friends here that aren't from the U.S. are afraid of the residents of some towns)



3. Nearly everything here is out of the way. By that I mean, towns, cities & things are fairly far apart. I have to drive 16-20 miles into town just to grocery shop. The roads/highways here are fairly small and rural (they aren't exactly the best roads...) and due to such, you have to drive at a lower speed most the time to get from point a to point b. (It adds up especially when you're driving many miles to work every day) The 'big' cities in AR are significantly further (50+ miles), so unless you live in the bigger cities, or have a set plan, coming here without a job-- you are probably not going to be able to support yourself. (Unless you have money banked or another means of making money)



4. The income levels are very low. Jobs and such here do not pay much (and minimum wage is very low, which is what most jobs here pay), gas prices are still the same as California's, except you get lower wages with in exchange for the asformentioned amount of travel needed to get anywhere, you can literally go broke working. The population in this state is extremely low. (It's less than some cities in CA for instance, this entire state), which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you look at it. I look at it as a bad thing because that means less competition, less money & less options.

As far as properties go, property tax is almost nonexistant, other stuff is really cheap. But homes are not so cheap, anywhere you could get a half-decent job (bigger cities) you're looking at high $100,000 range to $250k+. Regular houses in out-of-the-way places are a bit lower, but not by enough to make up for the added gas costs. Most people I have met out here live in trailers. (I don't know your opinion on trailers, personally I don't like the idea of living in one, since their resale value is nonexistant, and they are eyesores in my opinion)



5. Business here is very difficult to manage. I don't know what kind of business you work at/own, but all the people who came here I have met and opened business have been either run out of town (literally, one had his building damaged twice by someone hitting & running with a vehicle, deliberately ) or just bankrupt from lack of business. I think it's partially due to the state is not wealthy so people don't have a lot of extra money to spend, and partially due to how the people are not accustomed to outsiders. (and therefore won't give them their business)


continued

If it's that bad go back to California! I also came in from California, And find none of the things you say to be true. But it may depend where you live at.
We love Arkansas and I am glad not to see BIG stors and big city junk. If we want big city stors we will go to thim. Yes, The weather if different than So Cal But its not that bad and we like it.

[clazzegirl]

Originally Posted by junkman18

If it's that bad go back to California! I also came in from California, And find none of the things you say to be true. But it may depend where you live at.
We love Arkansas and I am glad not to see BIG stors and big city junk. If we want big city stors we will go to thim. Yes, The weather if different than So Cal But its not that bad and we like it.

I agree with you Ravenasque. I to lived in Hot Springs about 20 years ago and was so glad to get out. You can't make a living there. Everything you said was true. I moved to Az after leaving there. If you get a chance get out. Leave it to the die hards. Good Luck

[kh501]

Best places....Hot Springs, Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers area.

[windyweatherford]

us "die hards" will glady take it.

[bkeast]

Originally Posted by true559

I live in CA and want to relocate. The politics here are to liberal(slightly left of Stalin and Moa). Energy costs,taxes and various fees are through the roof. So much so that I can not afford to conduct business here anymore. From what I see on the net, Arkansas is my kind of place. I love the outdoors and friendly people. I would like to live lakefront or riverfront and near some mountains. Im not too concerned about real eatate prices. Everything there seems reasonable to me. Can any of you guys or gals from Arkansas recommend a nice place to live in Arkansas? I guess what Im asking is, If you could live anywhere in Arkansas, where and why?

Thx

I didn't read all the other posts, so maybe someone already suggested this place, but my parents retired from California and moved to a small town in Arkansas called Mountain Home. It's located in the Ozarks, by the Missouri border, near three major lakes. They absolutely love it there, and have nothing but great things to say about it. The weather isn't too bad from what they say, and they talk about how friendly the people are all the time. And houses are cheap there as well. Hope this helps. Good luck.