[TxMommy]

Hi i'm a single mom of two and have been looking to relocate to ar. Lived in tx all my life and think its time for a change. Tired of the tx climate and would like to get somewhat of the four seasons. Natural beauty and mountains. I'm not a big city girl maybe looking for a town bout 30 to 40 k population and close enough to Little Rock. I'm still young so every once in a while will be looking into the night life. Also what is there to do for family fun love the outdoors. I want a place where the schools are good and crime rate is low. Maybe a suburb town. Also would like to know the cost of living will be living in an apt for the first yr then looking into puchasing a home somewhere between the range of 125 to 150 k.Whats the wage rate there compared to tx higher or lower. Any info would help alot and maybe post some pics of towns.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by TxMommy

Hi i'm a single mom of two and have been looking to relocate to ar. Lived in tx all my life and think its time for a change. Tired of the tx climate and would like to get somewhat of the four seasons. Natural beauty and mountains. I'm not a big city girl maybe looking for a town bout 30 to 40 k population and close enough to Little Rock. I'm still young so every once in a while will be looking into the night life. Also what is there to do for family fun love the outdoors. I want a place where the schools are good and crime rate is low. Maybe a suburb town. Also would like to know the cost of living will be living in an apt for the first yr then looking into puchasing a home somewhere between the range of 125 to 150 k.Whats the wage rate there compared to tx higher or lower. Any info would help alot and maybe post some pics of towns.

TXmom, just a few suggestions and questions: Why near Little Rock? If this is a need you may want to think about Hot Springs Village, it isn't really near, but not too far away and very good schools as well as safe. The biggest problem, it is somewhat isolated so I am not sure how much of a social life there would be for a single mom. There are a few other really nice and safe burbs near Little Rock. Another suggestion would be NWA, but certainly that wouldn't be near little Rock. NWA, say Bentonville or Fayetteville are safe, have a young crowd and good schools. You will also get 4 seasons plus not as hot summers as in Little Rock.

You will have no trouble finding a decent house in your price range. It won't be a mansion but nice and safe. Salaries will be lower, depending on what your career is. That would be my next question, what type of jobs will you be looking for and what about your education, are you very marketable?

AR is a beautiful state, nice people and a low cost of living.

Nita

[stacieberry]

Benton is also a nice town. It is not far from little rock and it is a pretty safe town.
Also Hot Springs is nice too. You have your night life there. (clubs) and you have your family stuff too. (museums, mini golf, lakes and ect.)
I am not sure about houseing though or jobs.

[pau]

we moved to Greenbrier in October and have not regretted it at all!

I used to whine about missing California now I just brag about Arkansas.

The schools here seem good and crime is low. Greenbrier is about 4000 people and close to conway a larger city and the little rock about 40 minutes away.

You would have no problem finding a nice little home here and the utilities are far better than TAXES , I mean Texas.

I was in California for many years then moved to Texas in 2006. The utilities were so costly and especially the water it was starting to get us very badly.

Taxes are very reasonable here and so are the utilities.

good luck.

[PurpleLove08]

North Little Rock is right by Little Rock.
It's a safe city, IMO and the schools are good.

You can still have a good time (go to downtown Little Rock or even somewhere in NLR) and be safe in the "big city."

NLR has Burns Park which is great for kids, walking the dog, riding bikes, rollerblading, etc.

As for apartments........North Little Rock Apartments for Rent - AR - ApartmentGuide.com

Argenta Square is a very nice apartment complex. I love passing by there on the bus or the trolley when I make trips downtown by bus.


Maumelle is also another great option. You're close to LR, hardly any crime, out in the suburbs....

Maumelle Apartments for Rent - AR - ApartmentGuide.com

[marmac]

Originally Posted by TxMommy

Hi i'm a single mom of two and have been looking to relocate to ar. Lived in tx all my life and think its time for a change. Tired of the tx climate and would like to get somewhat of the four seasons. Natural beauty and mountains. I'm not a big city girl maybe looking for a town bout 30 to 40 k population and close enough to Little Rock. I'm still young so every once in a while will be looking into the night life. Also what is there to do for family fun love the outdoors. I want a place where the schools are good and crime rate is low. Maybe a suburb town. Also would like to know the cost of living will be living in an apt for the first yr then looking into puchasing a home somewhere between the range of 125 to 150 k.Whats the wage rate there compared to tx higher or lower. Any info would help alot and maybe post some pics of towns.

surprised that a "single mom" who is "still young" would mention ---wage rates--- at the very end of her post.

I would think anything relating to a job or wages would be top priority and the determining factor when moving / re-locating.

[spanko75]

If you're from Centex, you'll hate Ar and want to move back within 6 months.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by spanko75

If you're from Centex, you'll hate Ar and want to move back within 6 months.

Maybe, maybe not, there are reasons people leave all parts of the country for a different atmosphere. What one loves another will hate. Maybe she has reasons for wanting out of Texas?

Nita

[stacieberry]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Maybe, maybe not, there are reasons people leave all parts of the country for a different atmosphere. What one loves another will hate. Maybe she has reasons for wanting out of Texas?

Nita

I agree! She apparently wants a change if she is looking into moving.

[Fasder]

I really can't see where Spanko could get enough facts to make a prediction, short of just throwing down a personnel opinion.

Breaking down your post into questions, here are a few comment/updates.

1). Tired of the tx climate and would like to get somewhat of the four seasons. Natural beauty and mountains.

If you live in Central Texas, aka Rolling Hill's, biggest thing that you will find differant is higher elevations and taller tree's. Not quite mountains of NM, AZ, CO, but still more mountain feel that rolling hills. Pretty much from I30 north from Texas/Ark line to near Little Rock. Above this line starting with Ouachita Mountains, then crossing AR River Valley, and upwards into the Ozark Plateau. South of I30, East, and North East of Little Rock will run you into the West Gulf Coastal or Mississippi Alluvial Plain ... or in other words River Bottoms (aka no mountains).

2). I'm not a big city girl maybe looking for a town bout 30 to 40 k population and close enough to Little Rock.

Well considering that there are only 5-6 cities in whole state over 40k, you will have lots to chose from in the smaller range. If you want to stay close to Little Rock and still have the "mountain" type feel and a still be a stand alone small town ... to me you only have choice of Hot Springs, Russellville, and maybe Conway (Conway is really considered River Plains). All the other communities are really suburb's of Little Rock, and you loose the feel of the small town much less the feel of mountains.

3). I'm still young so every once in a while will be looking into the night life.

Really depends on what you call night life here. Many of the small towns in Arkansas are very limited on night life ... as well documented on posts here for Arkansas. However, if you are into the rural - country music/bar type feel - you will be able to find small bar/road type houses.


4). Also what is there to do for family fun love the outdoors. I want a place where the schools are good and crime rate is low. Maybe a suburb town.

You are mixing a few things here, but on the school front, you can find good schools in the towns mentioned. In Hot Springs area, Lake Hamilton school system rates well, Conway and Bryant both have good school system as well as being close enough to be considered by a Texan as Little Rock suburb.

5). Also would like to know the cost of living will be living in an apt for the first yr

Apt's rates in Arkansas would be similar to what you find in most Texas city areas. Mid 550's for something small/simple to 1200/1400K for larger or newer types. You can find something cheaper but you get what you pay for here (aka lesser schools, options, benifits). Even in your smaller towns, apt's will pretty much avg to what you see in Texas. Dallas, Houston, Austin, etc ... I'm not counting here ... because you can find some really high end Apt's in these area's that are hard to compare to Little Rock.

Total aside here ... but you will not find high rise Condo/Apt buildings in Arkansas, like you find in Dallas/Houston. Akin to Dallas/Houston 15 story builds like the following link:

http://www.victoryresidences.com/index.html

6). Puchasing a home somewhere between the range of 125 to 150 k.

You can find homes in this range all over Arkansas but expect to find them to be either older homes or smaller than the avg ranch type Texas home. Arkansas homes will be smaller as a rule than in Texas, so expect to see lots of 1200 to 1800 SQ Ft homes in your price range.

7). Whats the wage rate there compared to tx higher or lower. A good known site (BankRate) is listed below, so you can compare wages between large cities in Texas and Arkansas. But wages in smaller cities in Arkansas will be lower than in Texas. You just do not have the population and industry in Arkansas to compare to Texas. Remember that the entire population of Arkansas is less than found in the Austin/Metro area.

Cost of Living comparison calculator