[GeneR]

Economics and scenery may overrule humidity and chiggers as we scan the country for retirement living options. We like much of what we see in Hot Springs Village. Haven't visited from our home in MN yet but as we look at property via the internet I don't see "basements" as a listed feature in any homes. I would think in a section of the country where there is a great threat of tornados most homes would have basements. Do most homes there have them and since so common they don't list it as a feature or are there very few basements?

[Cheryllynnd]

Originally Posted by GeneR

Economics and scenery may overrule humidity and chiggers as we scan the country for retirement living options. We like much of what we see in Hot Springs Village. Haven't visited from our home in MN yet but as we look at property via the internet I don't see "basements" as a listed feature in any homes. I would think in a section of the country where there is a great threat of tornados most homes would have basements. Do most homes there have them and since so common they don't list it as a feature or are there very few basements?

As a recent buyer at Hot Springs Village, I can tell you that the tornado risk is higher where I am at now (Indianapolis, IN) than HSV. We are still in the process of moving our belongings and will be in Arkansas in a couple of weeks.

They do have some basements. Also, what seems to be common, at least in the homes we looked at is a very tall foundation with under-the-house storage. Some of these areas are more finished than others. We have a large area under our new (new to us) home that is easily accessed. Of course this is not the same as a basement, but would definitely suit as a "storm shelter". A lot of the under the house storage is turned into workshops and the like.

If I can be of any help in regards to Hot Springs Village, let me know. So far, we love, love, love everything about it. My husband is originally from the south and we have been working on moving back south for a few years now and have finally taken the "plunge".

We stayed at our new place for a few weeks, in order to make some repairs and paint, etc. and during that time we had three neighbors bring us food and welcome us to the neighborhood. That has never happened in Indiana.

It is a different world there (for us at least). We can sit on our back deck or in the living room and watch deer (with baby deer) and all other kinds of critters. A chipmunk was coming up to our sliding glass doors and talking (probably teasing) our cats. They love it! I call our new place a home in the "enchanted forest". It is so lush and green. Of course, some of that greenery will disappear over the winter.

If you decide to visit, we will be there permanently in a few weeks and we will be happy to meet up with you. Send me a private message if you want to know more and I will be glad to help.

Warm regards,

Cheryl

[Teddy52]

I moved from Minnesota to northern Arkansas 2 years ago.

I researched places in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Arkansas for nearly 10 years.

Basements in any one of those states were rare.

...IF..one has a big concern about tornados, I would purchase a tornado shelter.
They aren't that expensive and would give peace of mind and be a good selling point when your house would be sold in the future.

( key word being .."IF " )

[Regajohn]

General reasons that I have been told include -
high water table.

Very rocky / hard to dig soil (although lots of people have swimming pools).

Trying to build on-the-cheep ... the average older home in the south is (was) nuch more poorly constructed than in the north (IMO)

No need to have a deep foundation / worry about frost heaving, because the soil doesn't freeze 1 to 3 feet down like it does in the north.

"Because that's the way it's always been" is always a huge reasons for not changing. Good luck finding an older house with a garage in Arkansas.

[Teddy52]

Originally Posted by Regajohn

General reasons that I have been told include -
high water table.

Very rocky / hard to dig soil (although lots of people have swimming pools).

Trying to build on-the-cheep ... the average older home in the south is (was) nuch more poorly constructed than in the north (IMO)

No need to have a deep foundation / worry about frost heaving, because the soil doesn't freeze 1 to 3 feet down like it does in the north.

"Because that's the way it's always been" is always a huge reasons for not changing. Good luck finding an older house with a garage in Arkansas.

( last sentence )..........however, since the Arkansas winters are much milder than MN's harsh winters, I actually prefer my carport in Arkansas over my garage in Minnesota.

[Cheryllynnd]

Originally Posted by Regajohn

General reasons that I have been told include -
high water table.

Very rocky / hard to dig soil (although lots of people have swimming pools).

Trying to build on-the-cheep ... the average older home in the south is (was) nuch more poorly constructed than in the north (IMO)

No need to have a deep foundation / worry about frost heaving, because the soil doesn't freeze 1 to 3 feet down like it does in the north.

"Because that's the way it's always been" is always a huge reasons for not changing. Good luck finding an older house with a garage in Arkansas.

We saw houses with basements in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, actually quite a number of them. We also saw many houses with a very high crawl space (high enough to walk in) and some of these crawl spaces had a poured floor and were made into workshops, thus having electricity.

Our new house has a garage. It was built in 1987. By "old" you probably mean older than that. We saw quite a few carports and also quite a few garages.

The construction on our "new" house is much better than anything we have had in the midwest. I don't know if that is because of the particular builder. Most of the homes we saw were well-constructed, but there were some that did not appear to be. This is just my opinion from our house hunting experience in the "Village" and you may not find this to be true.

We did look at some houses in rural Arkansas and some of those were not well constructed.

[btoverdrive]

Originally Posted by Cheryllynnd

We saw houses with basements in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, actually quite a number of them. We also saw many houses with a very high crawl space (high enough to walk in) and some of these crawl spaces had a poured floor and were made into workshops, thus having electricity.

Our new house has a garage. It was built in 1987. By "old" you probably mean older than that. We saw quite a few carports and also quite a few garages.

The construction on our "new" house is much better than anything we have had in the midwest. I don't know if that is because of the particular builder. Most of the homes we saw were well-constructed, but there were some that did not appear to be. This is just my opinion from our house hunting experience in the "Village" and you may not find this to be true.

We did look at some houses in rural Arkansas and some of those were not well constructed.

Welcome to the village. We have been here for 3 years now but I first starting coming in 1997 after I bought a "membership lot" for $400 at a county auction on foreclosed lots. I am originally from south Arkansas and my wife from Louisiana so we were also looking to getting back south as we were living in Omaha, Ne for the last 7 years of my working career.

The tornado threat was also much worse in Omaha than here and I sure do not miss those Nebraska winters!! We miss our basement we had there but when we built our home here I had a storage area added above my garage.

Hope y'all enjoy it here as much as we do.

[Cheryllynnd]

Originally Posted by btoverdrive

Welcome to the village. We have been here for 3 years now but I first starting coming in 1997 after I bought a "membership lot" for $400 at a county auction on foreclosed lots. I am originally from south Arkansas and my wife from Louisiana so we were also looking to getting back south as we were living in Omaha, Ne for the last 7 years of my working career.

The tornado threat was also much worse in Omaha than here and I sure do not miss those Nebraska winters!! We miss our basement we had there but when we built our home here I had a storage area added above my garage.

Hope y'all enjoy it here as much as we do.

Thank you for the welcome, btoverdrive! I am glad you are enjoying your home and community. My husband's family is from Louisiana and then on his maternal grandmother's side there are Arkansas folks. He was born and raised in Louisiana.

We will not miss the Indiana winters, either.

I am sure we will love it there, and so far it has been wonderful.

Now to get everything packed and moved. It won't be long before we are back and we have a lot of plans, both for the house and also with recreational and social opportunities in the community, of which you know are plentiful! With all of the golfing, boating, fishing, etc. and etc. and I could just go on almost forever, there is so much to enjoy.

We would have liked to get a basement in Arkansas, but our crawl space will have to suffice for now. Really, we are very thrilled with our new home and have some improvements planned. Not that it isn't comfortable just as it is, but we are putting our own touches on it.

Thank you again and let us know if we can ever be of any help. Bless you and your wife.

Cheryl

[Old Fossil]

Basements in south and central Arkansas (I know nothing about the Ozarks) - It was posted above about the water table as a problem that discourages basements, and another problem in the hills are the "seep springs", so basements would be difficult to maintain. If you have a finished "crawl space", please, please, please do not use it for a tornado shelter because the house may collapse onto you. If you are concerned about tornados, that would be a good place to build a legitimate tornado shelter. They can be bought prefabricated or built on site. Our son built his own using government specifications. It cost him a little less than $3,000 (I think). He said that when he got into the more difficult part of the construction he wished he had bought a prefab, but now that it's finished he can show it off and say; "Hey, I did that!" He lives in St. Louis and built it in a corner of his over-size garage.

[Cheryllynnd]

Originally Posted by Old Fossil

Basements in south and central Arkansas (I know nothing about the Ozarks) - It was posted above about the water table as a problem that discourages basements, and another problem in the hills are the "seep springs", so basements would be difficult to maintain. If you have a finished "crawl space", please, please, please do not use it for a tornado shelter because the house may collapse onto you. If you are concerned about tornados, that would be a good place to build a legitimate tornado shelter. They can be bought prefabricated or built on site. Our son built his own using government specifications. It cost him a little less than $3,000 (I think). He said that when he got into the more difficult part of the construction he wished he had bought a prefab, but now that it's finished he can show it off and say; "Hey, I did that!" He lives in St. Louis and built it in a corner of his over-size garage.

Thank you and we did not realize it would not be safe to be in the crawl space in the event of a tornado. Maybe we should look into a storm shelter.