Looking for a nice area to live around Litte Rock (Little Rock: relocate, real estate)

[jamie1]

We are being relocated to little rock area from the Chicago suburbs. We could use some help on nice areas to live. We have three children 3,4 and baby. We are looking for a nice yard and a neigborhood were there are other childern. a 4 or 5 bedroom house would be nice and close to a lake is a bonus. I'm use to traffic and driving 40 minutes a day to work now so i'm sure traffic is not as bad in little rock. Any suggestions would be great thank you

[Sam I Am]

You could be mistaken about the traffic, depending on where you will be working. Maumelle is a very nice lake, but there's no swimming - just boating...and there is the community of Maumelle on the north side of the river which has all price ranges of homes. There's also daycare there, and a very good school system in place. In Little Rock proper, the public magnet schools have been developed for when your children are older.

On the south side of the river and Lake Maumelle is Hwy. 10, which is developing very rapidly. There are some super expensive neighborhoods (The Ranch), but as you come in toward town there is Chenal - parts of it are pricey....then coming back east would be Pleasant Valley, River Ridge, Robinwood, Leawood....all very family friendly, wonderful neighborhoods. If you want a real neighborhood feel and depending on your finances, Hillcrest and the Heights are both very popular, but the prices have pretty much gone through the roof. Hillcrest is a little younger, more "hippy chick", very diverse - the Heights has an awful lot of "old money" living there.

You are about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from Heber Springs, which is gorgeous and a very popular lake to the northeast. Going south, you end up in Hot Springs, where there is Lake Oauchita, Lake Catherine, and Lake Hamilton. Catherine would probably be the least used. Also, further south is Lake DeGray down around Arkadelphia.

If you can give me a wide price range I can probably help you more. PM me if you'd like and I can give you some referrals on agents to work with in the areas above, or anywhere other than North Little Rock, which I just don't know much about in spite of being raised in Little Rock and spending 45 years there!

I would say for your housing needs that Pleasant Valley may be your best bet - this was a development in the early 1970's but the homes are bigger. The area went through somewhat of a stale phase several years ago when people moved to Chenal, but can provide a lot of bang for your buck. There are all sorts of homestyles there and many of the houses have the number of bedrooms you are looking for.

Hope that helps some - again, feel free to PM me!

[Retired_Guy]

Maumelle is nice, so is Conway. If you live in west Little Rock (the only place to live in town), or in any of those towns, figure out the schools first. I moved from Chicago some many years ago and that's lesson #1 - schools.

[eric1]

the Heights is the best neigborhood in Little Rock in my opinion its the center of the city and is like a little self contained village. the price per square foot ranges from $175 to $300+ per square foot. West little rock is newer and is relatively more affordable per square foot. It depends on how much you want to spend, do you want acreage etc. What Suburbs are you coming from? I lived in Lake Forest for a couple of years and downtown Chicago for about 5 years.

[jamie1]

Thank you for your help

[anjoe]

It's close to Little Rock and has Lake Maumelle...Hot Springs is about 1 hour from Little Rock and has beautiful lakes around.

[gavinsgrandnana]

Conway is a great place to live.

[Qtipper]

HI Jamie~
Here is a repost I just did. We have children ages 2 and 4. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is gonna be windy:
We are moving to Sherwood. After EXTENSIVE (6-week visit and 4 months online!) research of the area here is what I can tell you.

If Benton/Bryant weren't so far away from the AFB they would be our #1 choice!! They are friendly, growing, open to newcomers and have great schools. There seems to be a lot more families with children. We just fell in love with the charm of these little communities. But, unfortunately they just weren't an option.

Conway would be our other #1. ADORABLE town with lots of growth, great schools, wonderful universities and lots of churches. People love newcomers and are excited to share anything and everything about their town. The real estate is super reasonable and the new subdivisions are SO nice. But, this would be a 40 - 60 minute commute and that is just OUT of the question for us. Some would laugh at that, but we are all about close to work and quickly home to family. It's just how we are.

Maumelle would be choice #2 but, again, the commute was just too much. We wanted Daddy HOME right after work. The people are so welcoming. There is diversity, the lake is right there if you are an avid sportsman. Real estate in Maumelle is a little more expensive. One thing...if it's cheap, the reason is it's probably by the railroad tracks. Make sure you LISTEN to a train while you check out the real estate. They are noisy, but manageable. Resale can be difficult. I think the trains go through the area like 4-5 times/day.

The Chenal Area of Little Rock is beautiful and close to everything. There is also some great shopping close by. If we were city life kind of people, oh, I would LOVE this area!

If you like Older, but charming, The Quapaw Quarter of LR is too cute.

Everyone warns about the Pulaski County Special School District, but after further probing the truth is there are good schools and not so good ones, just ask around.

As for Cabot...my vote is no. BUT, that is for personal reasons. If you look at the statistics you will see that it is a mostly white community. As a matter of fact a realtor told a friend of ours that "we don't have any of THOSE people (referring to black people) here, so Cabot is quite safe!" No, I am NOT kidding!!!!! But, I am sure as times change, this will change too!! The sad part is, real estate is really reasonable there and resale is rockin' and the schools are very good.

We were torn between NLR and Sherwood. NLR seems to have better schools, but there is open enrollment, so we are hoping that is an option. Sherwood is a cute community, but it doesn't have the pizazz and flavor of the Little Rock Metro type life. There are good areas and not so good areas. There aren't a lot of grocery stores and other types of businesses/restaurants etc. But, real estate is cheaper and LR is only 15-20 minutes if we need it. Also, the little community of Sherwood we are living in is SUPER close to all kinds of private schools and the Air Force Base which is where my husband works. We FELL head over heals in love with the subdivision and it's close to the church we really like. So, some might say we settled for Sherwood, but we really like the community. We are truly pleased. People are friendly, easy-going, super receptive to military families and open to different races and newcomers.

That my novel, the skinny, scoop and the 411. Take my .02 for what it's worth. If you have any more questions feel free to pm me!

Blessings~
Qtip

[ready to move on]

West Little Rock is pleasant. I would recommend getting an apartment in the West Little Rock area and then you can take time to acclaimate yourself to the LR area. You will be amazed at how cheap it is to live here and how much easier it is to commute here , but be prepared to give up the cultural advantages and diversity of a big city.

[kitty71]

My best friend just made a MAJOR move to AR from western Canada. They looked at 30+ houses and settled on a house in Maumelle. She has been living there now a little over a month - and really likes it. Beautiful setting, and only about 15 minutes to the city.