Moving to Conway, would like some info. :) (Little Rock, Hot Springs: apartment, rentals)

[poppazudo]

Wife and I will be moving to Conway in late summer (job at UCA).

Can anyone clue me in a little bit about areas in Conway, I don't know a lot about the town. We'd ideally like to have a little bit of land, but for now living in town with a pretty big yard would be great.

Are there any local farmer's markets in Conway, and/or "hippie" food stores?

We're looking forward to this adventure.

I used to spend summer camp at Subiaco, and the mother in law lives in Hot Springs Village, so we are familiar with the state (and like it!).

Thanks for any info!

[bchris02]

Conway is a great suburban town that has good schools and low crime. The only problem with it I have is the commute to Little Rock, but if you don't mind that then it can be a great place to live. Conway essentially functions as a suburb of Little Rock even though it is 30 miles away with mostly undeveloped land in between. Since you are working at UCA it wont be too much of an issue. Conway has seen major growth in terms of retail and restaurant offerings in the past few years, so you will only have to go into LR if you are wanting upscale offerings. Good luck with your move.

[poppazudo]

Originally Posted by bchris02

Conway has seen major growth in terms of retail and restaurant offerings in the past few years, so you will only have to go into LR if you are wanting upscale offerings. Good luck with your move.

Thanks!

Yeah, it sounds like they've started to loosen up a bit with the booze in the past couple of years, which in my opinion is a good thing. I really enjoyed the fried catfish at Mike's Place, too.

We're relocating from Northern California (don't jump to conclusions, we're not CA natives, but it is pretty beautiful here with Napa, Tahoe, Yosemite, and the coast all within a few hours), and we're pretty stoked about the cost of living in AR. Houses are actually :gasp: affordable!!

Plus, the outdoorsey stuff is pretty good, too!

[Aporkalypse]

Originally Posted by poppazudo

Thanks!

Yeah, it sounds like they've started to loosen up a bit with the booze in the past couple of years, which in my opinion is a good thing. I really enjoyed the fried catfish at Mike's Place, too.

We're relocating from Northern California (don't jump to conclusions, we're not CA natives, but it is pretty beautiful here with Napa, Tahoe, Yosemite, and the coast all within a few hours), and we're pretty stoked about the cost of living in AR. Houses are actually :gasp: affordable!!

Plus, the outdoorsey stuff is pretty good, too!

Cost of living is great in Conway and you have a pretty good diversity of housing in a small area. A lot of faculty at UCA and Hendrix live in Little Rock or Maumelle, a LR suburb, and do the reverse commute, it's not bad.

The shopping and dining areas used to be awful there. That is improving quite nicely.

For a good time outdoors try Petit Jean Mountain State Park, 30 min west of Conway. Trust me on this one.

[poppazudo]

Originally Posted by Aporkalypse

Cost of living is great in Conway and you have a pretty good diversity of housing in a small area. A lot of faculty at UCA and Hendrix live in Little Rock or Maumelle, a LR suburb, and do the reverse commute, it's not bad.

The shopping and dining areas used to be awful there. That is improving quite nicely.

For a good time outdoors try Petit Jean Mountain State Park, 30 min west of Conway. Trust me on this one.

Thanks!

Are there any lousy parts of Conway, or areas prone to flooding (my hosts when I visited mentioned that heavy rains can inundate parts of town). Generally, I think some of the older homes looked great. Compared to Cali prices, we're really enthused about the prospect of :gasp: owning a home! :lol:

[strumpeace]

Originally Posted by poppazudo

Thanks!

Are there any lousy parts of Conway, or areas prone to flooding (my hosts when I visited mentioned that heavy rains can inundate parts of town). Generally, I think some of the older homes looked great. Compared to Cali prices, we're really enthused about the prospect of :gasp: owning a home! :lol:

The only part of town I would avoid is the area not-so-affectionately known as Cowtown. That's the section of town between Oak and Siebenmorgen off I-40; if you come into town from the east, you can see the area, and it's pretty clear from the interstate that it's not a good place. However, it's a very small section of town (only six or eight blocks or so).

Renter-occupancy is much more prominent in Conway than in any other community I've ever known. If you're looking to buy, I would recommend that you look in some of the older, more established parts of town. The garages-with-houses-attached that are prominent in the western part of town are 1)aesthetically horrid, and 2)likely candidates to become rentals at some point.

Flooding -- Considering that Conway's infrastructure was built to accommodate a town of 15,000 and that Conway is now 54,000, there are problems with storm drains all over town. Just two weeks ago, I had a meeting in the Pine Street area and found a cemetery there completely underwater. Years ago, when I lived off Country Club (west side of town), my street flooded every time it rained hard. I never hear of the waters reaching people's homes, though. And I would suspect that the newer subdivisions probably do not have these problems much at all, as their infrastructure is going to be better.

Overall, Conway is a cool place. Having moved back here from Memphis recently, it's like living in paradise.

Best wishes.

[Aporkalypse]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

The only part of town I would avoid is the area not-so-affectionately known as Cowtown. That's the section of town between Oak and Siebenmorgen off I-40; if you come into town from the east, you can see the area, and it's pretty clear from the interstate that it's not a good place. However, it's a very small section of town (only six or eight blocks or so).

Renter-occupancy is much more prominent in Conway than in any other community I've ever known. If you're looking to buy, I would recommend that you look in some of the older, more established parts of town. The garages-with-houses-attached that are prominent in the western part of town are 1)aesthetically horrid, and 2)likely candidates to become rentals at some point.

Flooding -- Considering that Conway's infrastructure was built to accommodate a town of 15,000 and that Conway is now 54,000, there are problems with storm drains all over town. Just two weeks ago, I had a meeting in the Pine Street area and found a cemetery there completely underwater. Years ago, when I lived off Country Club (west side of town), my street flooded every time it rained hard. I never hear of the waters reaching people's homes, though. And I would suspect that the newer subdivisions probably do not have these problems much at all, as their infrastructure is going to be better.

Overall, Conway is a cool place. Having moved back here from Memphis recently, it's like living in paradise.

Best wishes.

Well put.

I lived in Conway for four years near Hendrix and the flooding was never an issue.

[poppazudo]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

The only part of town I would avoid is the area not-so-affectionately known as Cowtown. That's the section of town between Oak and Siebenmorgen off I-40; if you come into town from the east, you can see the area, and it's pretty clear from the interstate that it's not a good place. However, it's a very small section of town (only six or eight blocks or so).

Renter-occupancy is much more prominent in Conway than in any other community I've ever known. If you're looking to buy, I would recommend that you look in some of the older, more established parts of town. The garages-with-houses-attached that are prominent in the western part of town are 1)aesthetically horrid, and 2)likely candidates to become rentals at some point.

Best wishes.

Thanks!

What's the deal with rentals in Conway? I've heard from some people that the rental environment there is really bad - crummy places, and it's incredibly difficult to find a place that allows pets. Ideally, we think we want to buy immediately, but renting for 6-12 months would allow us to get a better feel for what's available.

We've found a few really cool older homes (just browsing listings online so far, will talk with a realtor soon) in town... but for the same price we could get some nice property about 12 miles out... which would also be cool. Walking to work would be pretty great, but nice land with critters and a pond sounds pretty awesome.

[Sam I Am]

Being such a college town, I'd imagine rentals are fairly hard to come by - I would suppose they are there and gone in the blink of an eye.

Have you thought of looking out toward Greenbrier for land? Not to far from Conway, but there's a definite separation...lots of fields and a more rural feel when you get out from Greenbrier downtown...if that's what they call it!

The historic homes are generally very well maintained and restored in Conway and that is a wonderful, wonderful area. Parts are heavy traffic-wise, but it has such a settled feel to it. You do have to contend with college traffic, though. It's whether you want to be near or far, in or out of town.

There's a place called Liz's Market on Oak St. - my friend recently went there for some organic something or other and thought it was wonderful.

If you make it to Little Rock, and you will - Wild Oats is there, and there's a newer specialty grocery out Hwy. 10W (Cantrell Rd.) called Fresh Market that is to DIE FOR specialty stuff...you can make your own peanut butter and they have Brazilian brown sugar with the absolute best taste I could imagine. Pricey, and well worth it.

[undertheironsea]

While we're on this subject....

Would an apartment, between 400-700 square feet, 1 BR, 1 BA between 400-600 bucks a month be hard to come by around Conway? A nicer complex?