red river county (Dallas, Texarkana, Paris: real estate, house, buying)

[kagicre]

Hi, my husband and I are living in Portland, OR and want to relocate to a more affordable place with less rain We looked around the internet and saw a house in Red River County we are interested in. I didn't find any information about that county and wonder if anybody out there can give us some information. The house we are interested in is near Clarksville.

Appreciate all the information we can get. Thanks.

[whitetxson]

Hello kagicre,
We (my wife and I) live in Lamar county which is the county just west of Red River co. We have been here nearly five years, having moved from Tucson (what a f#*^ed up place), AZ. I will try to give you a thumbnail sketch of the area in general, warts and all.

Red River is a very rural county. I'm not sure of the county population, Clarksville is about 8,000. Not a lot of industry there, I'm not really sure what all of the people do for a living. There is a pallet factory and I suppose there is some government employment. I know some of the people drive to Paris, which is 30 miles away for work, which I think of as a CA commute. Real estate prices are cheap, compared to the west coast. The weather is great, imho, although we did have a lot of rain this year, 60 inches +, normal is about 45. Snow is not unusual and it does get hot and humid in the summer, but the spring and fall is great. As a rule, the people are very friendly. These are a few of the good things (I hope).

Now for the not so good. The shopping is non-existent. Texarkana is east about an hour. All of the big names, Target, K-Mart, wally world. Dallas is two-two and a half hours west. There is no social life to speak of. Red River is a dry county, one town has a liquor store, screwy Texas liquor laws, dry county but still an incorporated town can vote in off-sale liquor sales, go figure. The people are somewhat backward, and I don't mean that in a meanspirited way, they just have never been anywhere else. So if your have lived and worked in different areas of the U S, you will find people that don't know there is any place other than Clarksville, Texas. And last but not least, the good ol' boy system is still in place. Local politics are still down and dirty and sometimes trying to get something done within the government, whether city or county, can be a trying experience.

I hope I haven't scared you off! I would research some more real estate offerings in other areas before deciding on Clarksville. I found our place on the internet, but did a lot of looking first. Also, we came and spent a week here and looked at the area before buying and moving.

Any other information that I can give you, feel free to PM me and I will try to help.

whitetxson

[kagicre]

Thank you so much, whitetxson, I now have a better picture of the area. We do look into other areas too, maybe not so rual. You helped a lot.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by kagicre

Hi, my husband and I are living in Portland, OR and want to relocate to a more affordable place with less rain We looked around the internet and saw a house in Red River County we are interested in. I didn't find any information about that county and wonder if anybody out there can give us some information. The house we are interested in is near Clarksville.

Appreciate all the information we can get. Thanks.

I lived in Smith County, worked in Gregg County and had many work related forays into Red River County.

Absolutely do not buy anywhere in East Texas on a whim. That part of the state is definitely an acquired taste and I think you are really asking for trouble if you leave the Pacific Northwest for an exceptionally small town deep in the woods of East Texas. It sounds like you need to take 60 days vacation and travel around the state for a while.

East Texas can be very agreeable for people who are financially independent, don't want to be bothered and don't mind living an isolated existence, but...

The county is very sparsely populated at around 15,000 people, the per capita income is about $15,000/year and about 9% of the residents have a bachelor's degree or higher. Unless this is exactly what you're looking for, nothing in Red River County is going to blow your skirt up.