Little Rock--Echo Valley/Sturbridge neighborhoods (Dermott: cul-de-sac, sales, apartment complex)

[Hog-I]

I am looking to buy a house in west Little Rock. I am married with two children, 5 and 9. I've been looking in the Echo Valley/Sturbridge/Breckenridge area.

It seems the houses in those neighborhoods are less expensive than they should be. For example, you can get a 2200+ square foot house there for $175k. That may not sound cheap, but it seems to be less than some other parts of town.

These neighborhoods seem really nice. Am I missing something? They are in the McDermott Elementary school district. Is that a good or a bad thing?

[Sam I Am]

I can't help you on the schools.....but Echo Valley is a 1970's neighborhood that has - well, 1970's houses. Leawood is another area further east that came up about the same time.

Hillcrest, Robinwood, The Heights, some parts of Hillcrest, and Chenal have driven the prices up in those areas, so there are still good buys in Leawood and Echo Valley. Many of these neighborhoods experienced urban sprawl as Little Rock went west and people moved out of them - they aren't old family homesteads or new construction and there wasn't any real emotional attachment to them - meaning you can still get some GREAT buys in these areas. The historic homes are snatched up pretty quickly, and at a very high price in the Heights and upper Hillcrest. Although there are those who would tell you to stay west, I think the area you are talking about is nice - there are trees and landscaping and the neighborhoods are more "settled". I would suggest also looking in Leawood and north across Cantrell along Indian Trail, McKinley, and some other areas, although it is harder to find a large home up there - those are mostly 1950's tract homes, but there are a few big ones sprinkled in.

Remember that many of the houses in Echo Valley/Sturbridge were built during a building boom - some do not have a lot of quality unless they have been reworked. As you edge down south toward Rodney Parham and east toward Reservoir Road, it gets a little dicey - but mostly because Reservoir is nothing but one apartment complex after the other, and not so much great apartments, and Rodney Parham has its share, too. Very transient residents for the most part. Stay west toward Pleasant Valley and stay a little north and you will be fine, or look in Leawood. These areas are both experiencing a re-growth, but there are good deals there nonetheless.

Remember that Little Rock has a magnet school system for kids, too - you aren't necessarily where you are in terms of school district. I'm not entirely sure that applies to elementary school kids, but it's something to consider for the future.

[eric1]

Sam I Am is spot on with his analysis. I think one of the main issues of the neighborhood's you are looking at is the houses are slightly dated. I do think they are a pretty good value compared with the surrounding neighborhoods. I would look into Leawood as well.

[Hog-I]

What area would be considered Leawood? I just moved here a few months ago from NW Arkansas and am still figuring out the lay of the land here in Little Rock.

Thanks for your replies. It helps a lot.

[Sam I Am]

From Mississippi west to about the reservoir - Cantrell south to Rodney Parham Road, more or less...it's Evergreen and Biscayne and Van Lee and those streets through there.

[eric1]

I would also look in foxcroft, its a good value and a great neighborhood.

[Sam I Am]

It is a great neighborhood - I lived there, on Foxcroft itself. Not sure you will find a house $175K there....maybe east, back toward Indian Trail, but the heart of Foxcroft is fairly expensive. There are a couple of cul-de-sacs headed back east, but overall I think the market prices have held pretty well on Foxcroft/Foxhunt, etc.

Hog-I, not sure what your budget is - if you'd like to PM me I can send you to a great group of Realtors who will work their collective butts off for you...they do sales primarily in the neighborhoods listed above. We used them on two houses in the Heights and one in Foxcroft - very, very pleased with their service. It's one of the larger groups, so there's always someone available to answer your questions.

[eric1]

just checked MLS and there are 2 listings in Foxcroft, one is a condo for $139,900 and one is a 3139 s.f. house for $299,900.

[Sam I Am]

There are a couple of sets of condos in there right after you turn off Cantrell....one nicer than the other, but lovely, lovely condos. I'm not sure how amenable that would be to the OP since he has children and they ARE close to Cantrell.....however, Foxcroft does have a neighborhood pool and park-like area that is VERY nice.

The OP was talking about houses in the $75 per square foot range...it's another $25 sq ft in Foxcroft. I really think the better buys will be in Leawood and Echo Valley, but much would depend on the OP's individual budget and tastes and requirements for a home.

Hog-I, if you will give us some more clues, I'd betcha Eric and I could help get you where you need to go...another nice area where you can find a good buy from time to time is around Hall High. I hadn't actually thought of that one before. If you're not opposed to living south a little bit, the Otter Creek area is nice as well, but it surely has grown up in the past 15 years.

Can you tell us roughly where you will be working and what your interests are? One thing to consider is traffic flow at peak times....something a lot of folks don't think about but that becomes a pain in the butt. Little Rock was never developed the way it needed to be with regard to the roads for the amount of traffic there is at certain times of the day. Cantrell Road/Hwy. 10 is a freakin' madhouse a lot of the time.

[Hog-I]

Again, thanks for all your help.

I'm a government attorney and I work in the 501 building across from the capitol. My wife just graduated from law school and it looks like she'll be working somewhere downtown as well. I've only been out of law school for a year and with my wife graduating, student loans are eating us up. So we're hoping to stay in the $175k range for now. We will be first time homeowners.

The things that are important to us are space, a yard, trees, and being in one of the better school districts.

In a perfect world, we would move into a school district where, if we decided to upgrade in a few years, we could do so within the same district. I know LR has a magnet school program, but those are not guaranteed and, being students, we have moved a lot in the last few years and I can hardly stand to make my daughter change schools many more times.