Where would you move? (Shreveport, Ruston: real estate, lease, house prices)

[becoming]

We currently live in Shongaloo, Louisiana. We are happy here--love the school, love the people, and my parents are here--but no one ever sells anything decent here, and we are looking to buy or build within the next year or so.

My husband works offshore and I do medical transcription from home, so we can basically live anywhere in LA/AR/TX/MS, but we don't want to get farther than an hour or so from my parents, preferably closer. Our boundaries are basically Shreveport to the west, Texarkana (AR) to the north, Ruston to the east, and Ringgold to the south.

My husband likes the idea of living out in the country, but he's not home much, and I don't mind living in a larger town as long as it's safe for me and the kids to be home alone for two weeks at a time (although we ARE gun owners! ). We would definitely like room for our kids to roam, so no patio homes or anything. (We're on three acres right now, and it's just perfect for us.)

The main requirement is that a *GREAT* public school system is absolutely mandatory. We have a highly gifted 1st grader who needs advancement opportunities and teachers who care about his education. We also have two younger children that will be starting school in the next couple of years.

We've been considering Benton because of the proximity to Herndon Magnet, but house prices and especially land prices are freaking outrageous there. 0.33 acre for $39,000?! No thank you, we'll just live in our singlewide trailer for the rest of our lives.

Other places we've discussed are Haughton (again, expensive), Bossier (anyone know anything about Stockwell Place Elementary and/or the Swan Lake subdivision in Bossier?), Calhoun (expensive!!!), Dubberly (same problem as Shongaloo, though--no one ever sells anything, or so we've been told by a realtor), Taylor, AR (although I'm getting mixed reviews of the school there), and Emerson, AR (how's the school there, anyone know?). The Texarkana, AR, magnet school system seems interesting--anyone know anything about that? Texarkana is a little far for us, but we'd consider it if the schools are amazing.

ANY help you can give me on this journey would be wonderful! This is one of the biggest decisions we've ever made, and I want to make the right one!

Moderator cut: edit

[hindsight2020]

From what I can tell you from the Bossier area, because of the Haynesville shale thing going on, but I think PRIMARILY due to white flight, people have proverbially "hit their heads" and gone nuts on the land valuation, personally I think the whole area north of 220 here in Bossier city is overpriced. House prices are ridiculous ($110+/sq in Louisiana? I can get more house per dollar in Ft. Worth with a honking Int'l airport next door!!!..and I know the median household income is waayyy higher there than here). So although I think the area would satisfy your school needs, the property " premium" you're paying for in north Bossier/benton is just out of whack. Now, bear in mind, you're competing against people from all over Shreveport for that piece of real estate, so the opposite would be true, you could conversely find decent property in Shreveport in a "crappy" school district. I'm afraid now is not the time to purchase land in this area, because everybody jumped on the shale bandwagon everybody has unrealistic ideas of what their land is worth, and you'll get price gouged.

Sorry I can't help with the other areas you're considering. One last comment, I'm being totally facetious btw but you do realize everybody's highly gifted in 1st grade right? Just poking some well-intended fun at ya, we don't have kids but I went to a regular middle of the road elem school in the 80s and I turned out alright. Good luck in your hunt!

[becoming]

Thanks for the info on SBC. I figured the Haynesville Shale debacle is what's causing land prices to skyrocket. Urgh. That would happen when we're trying to buy land around here!

LOL about gifted first graders...our first grade must be the exception! Over half the class doesn't know how to read yet; some can't write their own names properly. My little one is reading 5th grade AR books and going to 3rd grade every day for math.

[justmiinNE]

I would not consider those prices high. I live in Nebraska and $39,000 for a lot would be a deal, I had to move to a small town to find a lot at $45,000. In Lincoln lots are averaging $60-70 thousand with highs $125,000 for basic lots, and we are considered afordible houseing compared to the rest of the nation. New house prices are $145+/sqft. 8 years ago we were at $110 so that would be nice. Also went to school in south Bossier, its not that bad.

[hindsight2020]

I can't speak for Lincoln NE, but $145+/sqft is way HIGH for Louisiana as a median price when you account for the intangibles that make up such price preimum (job sustainability, transportation, entertainment, education, and city works). There's no industry to support those housing prices here, other than retirement income, the military PCS shuffle, the TX second-home crowd, and some shale lease folks, maybe. Additionally, Lincoln is 88% white as a metropolitan statistical area, you DON'T have a white flight problem, so if you further normalize for that, square footage on the dollar would be even lower for Bossier. So yes I consider those prices very much high for the area.

As to land value, it's common knowledge you're just not going to get anybody to sell you land around here for parallel-to-inflation value with all the shale madness going on. Once that stuff dies down you'll see a decrease in commanding price for land across the parish; I'm assuming the thing will go bust eventually, if it does go BOOM, God help us all.. Texarkana will be considered an acceptable commute for somebody driving to bossier for their 35K/yr job to afford a house less than $120/sqft, but I digress.

[becoming]

Well, here in rural north Louisiana, good residential land has been known to go for $1,000 an acre (although not during the time when we were financially able to purchase land, unfortunately). $39K for 0.33 acre is *outlandishly* high for our area.