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Hey everyone,
I've read all the recent forums and see a few concerning people like me who are possible relocating to NWA from California. However, I have JUST 2 full days in June to visit (4 day trip, but travel time is basically the first and last day).
In this time, I need to get an idea of whether this could work for us. I am a mid-30's mother of 3 girls - basically 4,5, 12) & it would be for an incredible career move for my husband. At first I was dead-set against it, but I'm an avid trail runner and lover of all things nature (we live by Folsom Lake and are on the coast near Monterey regularly), so once I started perusing the brochures that have been arriving in the mail plus some web searches, I'm pretty interested.
Housing seems fantastic. In searching the 700-1,000,000 range, seems like you can get basically the same as here but at half the price.
One concern is weather. I'm born and raised in Northern California (bay area). I'm a sunshine girl. I get depressed easily in adverse weather, but I also love occasionally jogging in cool, coastal, foggy weather. From what I've read it can be unpredictable. I don't do snow, I don't do tornadoes, but could I live with the idea of possibly experiencing them for a few years? Probably.
I am pretty laid back, love exercise, love arts and culture and nightlife, but I love a good family town, friendly people, GOOD FOOD!, wine, and I'm also a pretty regular vinyasa yogi. I realize this is crazy detail, but since my time is so limited there, I want to try as much as I can. Where should I spend time?
Bentonville seems beautiful with the town square and museum/trails. Is the downtown area a nice place to live? I keep hearing about Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers as a place where many people live and recommend? I am used to suburbia, so that doesn't bother me, but I really don't know where else I can check out in such a limited time. I plan to "run" the town, jog around, pay a visit to Fayetteville when we land (we both went to UCD so love college towns!), then explore Bentonville and Rogers. Oh - my friend, also a Ca native from the East Bay, said it is really flat and boring there. Except all I see are hills, lush greenery, natural beauty from the brochures. What am I missing?
Okay, any ANY help you can provide, I will be so utterly grateful. Final question - Starbucks??? Good grocery stores? Best restaurants and bars to try? My husband travels there a lot for work, so he raves about the options coming in, but I'm skeptical (so I'm not disappointed) - skeptical but also interested! And PLEASE tell me it is not still dry there? I read that from a few years ago, hahaha! THANK YOU!
NorCalGirl, NWA climate will not be identical to Northern California. Just go in knowing this and you won't be disappointed.
While generally mild, NWA does have periods of unusual weather like heavy snow, sleet, tornadoes, and periods of high heat and humidity in the summer. The heavy snow is infrequent, but when it does occur, it makes a MESS. NWA does not have the heavy-duty snow removal equipment of big, northern cities (nor should it.) Just let mother nature take its time, and the snow and ice will melt on its own. Some people used to strap chains to their tires in ice storms (I don't know if that's still legal, but I saw it done in the early 1980s when I was a dumb college kid there
IMO, the are receives an abundant amount of precipitation to grow crops and such. It's not too mild to rule out growing cold-loving lilacs and apple trees; it's mild enough to grow peach trees in abundance; and other more tender ornamentals like azaleas and dogwoods will reward you with a beautiful show each spring. OK, I'm biased and I admit it
One thing you'll appreciate coming from Nor Cal. is that you don't have to constantly WATER plants during the growing season. It actually RAINS HERE!!
NorCalGirl, NWA climate will not be identical to Northern California. Just go in knowing this and you won't be disappointed.
While generally mild, NWA does have periods of unusual weather like heavy snow, sleet, tornadoes, and periods of high heat and humidity in the summer. The heavy snow is infrequent, but when it does occur, it makes a MESS. NWA does not have the heavy-duty snow removal equipment of big, northern cities (nor should it.) Just let mother nature take its time, and the snow and ice will melt on its own. Some people used to strap chains to their tires in ice storms (I don't know if that's still legal, but I saw it done in the early 1980s when I was a dumb college kid there
IMO, the are receives an abundant amount of precipitation to grow crops and such. It's not too mild to rule out growing cold-loving lilacs and apple trees; it's mild enough to grow peach trees in abundance; and other more tender ornamentals like azaleas and dogwoods will reward you with a beautiful show each spring. OK, I'm biased and I admit it
One thing you'll appreciate coming from Nor Cal. is that you don't have to constantly WATER plants during the growing season. It actually RAINS HERE!!
gOOD LUCK AND MUCH HAPPINESS
did you notice the dates of her postings? She was on the board constantly until about a year ago. I guess they did move but she never came back to report. I doubt she is reading our postings anymore.
did you notice the dates of her postings? She was on the board constantly until about a year ago. I guess they did move but she never came back to report. I doubt she is reading our postings anymore.
She might not have but I have read and will continue to read your postings with great interest.
We are visiting in September for a very hard look at moving to NWA from California.. we will come pre-qualified and ready
Forty acres minimum.. water.. small or no house,,, PRIVATE.. good neighbors,, no broiler house/cattle operations.. safe location.. good accessibility.. Ill be retired.. my wife is highly skilled and may have a problem finding a job,,, but we know that going in,, she is multi talented... teaching.. engineering...
We intend to buy a home.. or build one .. as we sell here in California.. and move to new digs over the next six months to a year
God how we want small town America... I see it is still in NWA... but we also dont have rose colored glasses... and your posts help
We will have Florida for the winters if they get too brutal
She might not have but I have read and will continue to read your postings with great interest.
We are visiting in September for a very hard look at moving to NWA from California.. we will come pre-qualified and ready
Forty acres minimum.. water.. small or no house,,, PRIVATE.. good neighbors,, no broiler house/cattle operations.. safe location.. good accessibility.. Ill be retired.. my wife is highly skilled and may have a problem finding a job,,, but we know that going in,, she is multi talented... teaching.. engineering...
We intend to buy a home.. or build one .. as we sell here in California.. and move to new digs over the next six months to a year
God how we want small town America... I see it is still in NWA... but we also dont have rose colored glasses... and your posts help
We will have Florida for the winters if they get too brutal
California is ruined...
Thank you
I wish you luck. I think you will find NWA to your liking. As I have said before (no, I don't work for the Chamber of Commerce ) we have just about everything anyone could want at our finger tips and yet, we are small town America. The 40 acres might not be that easy, who knows, but everything else is here. I say, the 40 acres, why? Because I can't imagine having neighbors and living on 40 acres. Our granddaughter and her husband used to live in West Fork, a really nice area just south of Fayetteville. They had neighbors and they had 15 acres. Now they are parents and live on 2 acres, yes with lots of neighbors.
We know a lot of people in our chruch that do the snowbird thing, they will leave here around the end of Oct and return in April, if not sooner. We also know a few that do the opposite: they spend most of the year here and head for the upper midwest in late May. Infact there are 2 in one of my bridge groups that are part time residence and it works so well. One comes lives in AR from early May til mid Oct. The other leaves AR in late May and returns in Sept. So, while one is gone the other is our 8th person in bridge.
I wish you luck. I think you will find NWA to your liking. As I have said before (no, I don't work for the Chamber of Commerce ) we have just about everything anyone could want at our finger tips and yet, we are small town America. The 40 acres might not be that easy, who knows, but everything else is here. I say, the 40 acres, why? Because I can't imagine having neighbors and living on 40 acres. Our granddaughter and her husband used to live in West Fork, a really nice area just south of Fayetteville. They had neighbors and they had 15 acres. Now they are parents and live on 2 acres, yes with lots of neighbors.
We know a lot of people in our chruch that do the snowbird thing, they will leave here around the end of Oct and return in April, if not sooner. We also know a few that do the opposite: they spend most of the year here and head for the upper midwest in late May. Infact there are 2 in one of my bridge groups that are part time residence and it works so well. One comes lives in AR from early May til mid Oct. The other leaves AR in late May and returns in Sept. So, while one is gone the other is our 8th person in bridge.
We currently live on thirty here in California... we would consider larger acreage ... and we don't need any services... school... or use service like police and fire.. and don't mind a town that rolls up at five... we Costco or sams club it a couple of times a year and have been successful at growing food... although this year the drought and water restriction has been so severe we have had to let some parts of the garden and orchard go.
We don't need entertainment.. we like nature..
We do want affordable property closer to the east coast than California... for family.. in the center of the country as well as east.
One thing that has always attracted us to Arkansas is the lack of drama on the boards... which may be in some small way reflective of life...nothing like other states...
We are going to take a coupe of weeks in September looking around nwa...it will help foment a decision
Thanks
We currently live on thirty here in California... we would consider larger acreage ... and we don't need any services... school... or use service like police and fire.. and don't mind a town that rolls up at five... we Costco or sams club it a couple of times a year and have been successful at growing food... although this year the drought and water restriction has been so severe we have had to let some parts of the garden and orchard go.
We don't need entertainment.. we like nature..
We do want affordable property closer to the east coast than California... for family.. in the center of the country as well as east.
One thing that has always attracted us to Arkansas is the lack of drama on the boards... which may be in some small way reflective of life...nothing like other states...
We are going to take a coupe of weeks in September looking around nwa...it will help foment a decision
Thanks
good luck and keep us posted: we have lived in 5 states since we got married (57 years ago) each state does have its own charm, and I won't go into detail about how we ended up in NWA, but I can tell you, for us, there couldn't be a better place. The old song "theres no place like home" well home for us is here.
Here is an example of a few days in our lives just this week and everything we did was within 1/2 hour of our house: Hubby had surgery as an outpatient in one of our local hospitals: I played bridge with 2 different groups. I met a friend for a drink one afternoon; we went to a small farmers market yesterday and picked up free range eggs and a few other items, both fruit and veggies, we went to church, we got some fish, at our local fresh fish market that just opened a few months ago and we visited friends who live on several acres, with horses and cattle. What more could we want?
We currently live on thirty here in California... we would consider larger acreage ... and we don't need any services... school... or use service like police and fire.. and don't mind a town that rolls up at five... we Costco or sams club it a couple of times a year and have been successful at growing food... although this year the drought and water restriction has been so severe we have had to let some parts of the garden and orchard go.
We don't need entertainment.. we like nature..
We do want affordable property closer to the east coast than California... for family.. in the center of the country as well as east.
One thing that has always attracted us to Arkansas is the lack of drama on the boards... which may be in some small way reflective of life...nothing like other states...
We are going to take a coupe of weeks in September looking around nwa...it will help foment a decision
Thanks
The only friends in CA that I have live in Palo Alto. 30 acres...Are you Bill Gates!?
Seriously, so much more bang for your buck here in NWA than in CA.
Also, I would note, there isn't much here to have any serious "drama" over. It's a fairly educated metro area with a nice mix of rural and urban, a few pretty lakes, great healthcare systems, good infrastructure, if a bit behind its population explosion (being rectified), and several fortune 500 companies.
From what I read in this post that I quoted, I think you would love NWA. Literally the ONLY negative I think I can find for you is that the humidity here sucks compared to some parts of CA. CA is a very diverse state, though, so I can't speak to your situation.
She might not have but I have read and will continue to read your postings with great interest.
We are visiting in September for a very hard look at moving to NWA from California.. we will come pre-qualified and ready
Forty acres minimum.. water.. small or no house,,, PRIVATE.. good neighbors,, no broiler house/cattle operations.. safe location.. good accessibility.. Ill be retired.. my wife is highly skilled and may have a problem finding a job,,, but we know that going in,, she is multi talented... teaching.. engineering...
We intend to buy a home.. or build one .. as we sell here in California.. and move to new digs over the next six months to a year
God how we want small town America... I see it is still in NWA... but we also dont have rose colored glasses... and your posts help
We will have Florida for the winters if they get too brutal
California is ruined...
Thank you
Given the level of companies here, your wife would need either esoteric skills, or literally world-class acclaim to be out of her league, here.
It sounds like you are doing exactly what I did. I bought 35 acres of a mountain side, off a paved road, 3 miles outside of a city, and am planning on putting a home on it. I'll share a few pictures of the creek at the bottom of it, a view from about 50' down the mountain side of where the house is intended to be, and the creek in the middle of it, etc.
I have electricity and high-speed internet already on site. It's 30 min from work.
Wow didn't know high speed internet was available outside the city in NWA. That opens up a few options as my fiancee and I are still needing to find a place.
Wow didn't know high speed internet was available outside the city in NWA. That opens up a few options as my fiancee and I are still needing to find a place.
Yep, this is several miles outside of a town limits of a town of 500, lol. When I bought it in 2014, the owner said that the internet was 4-6 MB/s. I am sure it's improved since then, but am not stressed over it if not. That's fine for me. I used to live with 1-2.
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