Medical Care in NWA (Little Rock, Fayetteville: for sale, home owners insurance, how much)

[kscott462]

Hi Everyone, My wife & I are looking to move off Long Island because of the crazy high cost of living and are thinking of visiting the area as it looks very beautiful & affordable. We have a 13 year old boy and have noticed that Bentonville schools are rated very well so Bentonville is where we will start lookiing. Our 87 year old mom
will be living with us and any place we move needs to have high quality medical care especially for the heart.
We would like to know what people think of the quality of healthcare in the NWA area and if the heart care is of high quality? We also noticed that the airport in Bentonville seems to be within 2 or 3 miles of a lot a nice houses for sale and was wondering if noise is an issue as well? My wife and I would greatly appreciate any feedback and advice to help point us in the right direction. Thanks! Ken

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by kscott462

Hi Everyone, My wife & I are looking to move off Long Island because of the crazy high cost of living and are thinking of visiting the area as it looks very beautiful & affordable. We have a 13 year old boy and have noticed that Bentonville schools are rated very well so Bentonville is where we will start lookiing. Our 87 year old mom
will be living with us and any place we move needs to have high quality medical care especially for the heart.
We would like to know what people think of the quality of healthcare in the NWA area and if the heart care is of high quality? We also noticed that the airport in Bentonville seems to be within 2 or 3 miles of a lot a nice houses for sale and was wondering if noise is an issue as well? My wife and I would greatly appreciate any feedback and advice to help point us in the right direction. Thanks! Ken

Great questions:

We are very satisfied with the medical care here, regardless of what type of care you need. On rare occasions you will see where people with very unusual or very serious problems go to Little Rock for surgery or treatment. I am talking unusual or complexed issues. We have specialist in almost every field of medicine and two very well rated hospitals: Mercy and NW. Everyone seems to have a favorite. But both are good.

As for the airport there really aren't a lot of homes near the airport. You would have no problem finding a home you could be happy with, in the Bentonville school district away from airport noise. Part of Bella vista is Bentonville schools, and there are other cities that are Bentonville schools.

The best you can do, is come, visit and see what you think. We are big city people or were and now we are so happy we made our move. I will mention we are in our 80s, have health issues and have found the medical care as good as anyplace we have lived. We have grandkids and great grandkids who live in Bentonville and Bella Vista; they all go to Bentonville schools.

[kscott462]

Thanks for your reply. Good to hear you are happy with the quality of the medical care in NWA. That's a big relief for us. How many miles away from the airport is far enough without having to go to Bella Vista or other cities? Also, does Bentonviile have problems with flooding with a few inches of rain? Thanks!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by kscott462

Thanks for your reply. Good to hear you are happy with the quality of the medical care in NWA. That's a big relief for us. How many miles away from the airport is far enough without having to go to Bella Vista or other cities? Also, does Bentonviile have problems with flooding with a few inches of rain? Thanks!

remember flooding stories are often exaggerated. this year has been awful and yet, for most of us everything has been fine. What flooding you will find is usually gone as quickly as it appeared. Now, as for getting away from the airport noise. There is so little development near the airport that I am guessing if you are 3 miles away you will not even realized there is an airport, maybe even less than 3 miles. Of course as the airport grows this could change. If you want to be convenient to shopping, medical facilities, restaurants, etc Bentonville, Rogers or Centerton are 3 towns that come to mind. If you want to be a little more removed you may want to consider Bella Vista, Pea Ridge, or some of the other smaller cities, but if Bentonville schools are important you will have to stick with Bentonville,Centerton and the like. Centerton is a bit closer to the airport. It is one of the fastest growing communities in the region. BTW Fayetteville also has good schools

[knrstz]

Hospitals are ranked for trauma levels 1-5, with one being the best. The highest ranked hospital in NWA is Washington regional center. Its a level 2. The level of hospital doesn't necessarily mean how good a hospital is but how capable they are off handling a variety of needs. Washington Regional has a good stroke center and is the best trauma center in NWA. Mercy is a level 3. There are less than 200 level one trauma centers in the entire country. I had a friend that had a brain bleed and Washington regional end up life fighting him to Springfield and then to Barnes-Jewish in St Louis. All of the hospitals continue to grow with recent additions.

[kscott462]

yes, schools & convienance are very important to us so we would like to focus on Bentonviile & Rogers. We could check out Fayetteville as well since you mentioned they also have good schools. We know Benton sales tax is 9.5% which is surprisingly higher than 8.625 % in Nassau County Long Island but the property taxes seem cheap to us as we are paying $11,500 a year for a 1,200 sq ft house. (Yes, that's not a typo!) our house was built in 1952 and most houses around here were built well before then. The maintanance on our house is very high as we are always replacing something just to keep the house functional.
The winters are long snowy & cold and our oil bill to heat the house during the winter is just below $500 a month from october to early april. my monthly electric budget bill is $169 all year. How does our Heat & electric bills compare to yours, i'm assuming yours is a lot less? Another complaint my wife & I have is most people here seem to have a chip on their shoulder and are simply not friendly. Also, neighbors never talk to each other unless there's a Hurricaine and everyone keeps to themselves which bothers my wife & I since we are both very friendly. Knrstz, thank you for the additional info on Healthcare! All feedback is greatly appreciated.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by kscott462

yes, schools & convienance are very important to us so we would like to focus on Bentonviile & Rogers. We could check out Fayetteville as well since you mentioned they also have good schools. We know Benton sales tax is 9.5% which is surprisingly higher than 8.625 % in Nassau County Long Island but the property taxes seem cheap to us as we are paying $11,500 a year for a 1,200 sq ft house. (Yes, that's not a typo!) our house was built in 1952 and most houses around here were built well before then. The maintanance on our house is very high as we are always replacing something just to keep the house functional.
The winters are long snowy & cold and our oil bill to heat the house during the winter is just below $500 a month from october to early april. my monthly electric budget bill is $169 all year. How does our Heat & electric bills compare to yours, i'm assuming yours is a lot less? Another complaint my wife & I have is most people here seem to have a chip on their shoulder and are simply not friendly. Also, neighbors never talk to each other unless there's a Hurricaine and everyone keeps to themselves which bothers my wife & I since we are both very friendly. Knrstz, thank you for the additional info on Healthcare! All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Let's just say you will find the people here, generally so very friendly and the col much lower. Here is an example: we are on a budget plan for our heat and air; it varies very little throughout the year. We have a heat pump which works fine for us. I will say sometimes in the winter it doesn't work as well as other types but never is the house uncomfortable. We keep the air at around 72 to 74 in the summer starting usually about the first of June until early or mid Sept. The heat kicks on usually sometime in Oct. We keep it at about the same as the air in the summer. Our bill ranges, year around between $150 and $170 a month. Of course there are only 2 of us, so that makes some difference. Our water bill ranges from $50 to $70 a month in the summer and a little less in the winter. We have 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and just about 1700 sq feet. We also have a sun room that is heated and air conditioned separately. We do not use it often. It is just under 2500 sq ft.

[kscott462]

it would be such a breath of fresh air for us to meet friendly people in NWA and get away from the New York attitude that surrounds us. My wife and I have come to the conclusion that this attitude probably is the result of frustration over the high cost of living as most people here struggle to survive even with 2 incomes. An article in the local newspaper said that 40% of men on Long Island have a side job even though both husband and wife work. My friend at work is a software developer and drives for Uber on the weekends even though his wife works full time because they need the extra cash, crazy! People here are stressed and overworked which I believe gives them that chip on their shoulder attitude. Your utility bills are so much lower than mine and for a bigger house. my water bill is the only one that is almost identical to yours. How much snow does NWA get every year?Does NWA have a problem with hail? My homeowners insurance is $1,100 a year and are wondering if yours would be higher due to the threat of hail damage?

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by kscott462

it would be such a breath of fresh air for us to meet friendly people in NWA and get away from the New York attitude that surrounds us. My wife and I have come to the conclusion that this attitude probably is the result of frustration over the high cost of living as most people here struggle to survive even with 2 incomes. An article in the local newspaper said that 40% of men on Long Island have a side job even though both husband and wife work. My friend at work is a software developer and drives for Uber on the weekends even though his wife works full time because they need the extra cash, crazy! People here are stressed and overworked which I believe gives them that chip on their shoulder attitude. Your utility bills are so much lower than mine and for a bigger house. my water bill is the only one that is almost identical to yours. How much snow does NWA get every year?Does NWA have a problem with hail? My homeowners insurance is $1,100 a year and are wondering if yours would be higher due to the threat of hail damage?

Quick answers for you, but remember this is just my opinion; some is fact, some not;

Snow: we have not had a really snowy winter for maybe 6 or 7 years. Yes we have had small storms that actually close the schools but nothing much. I don't know the stats but I am guessing, in the 11 years we have lived here, we have averaged about 6 to 10 inches a year, maybe a little more. We have had 2 very snowy winters and will usually get one ice storm a year. A few ice storms have been pretty bad. The fist year we were here we had a huge one. As for hail, we do get it, but not enough to affect our home owners insurance. As for your Home owners insurance, ours runs about the same. We carry a thousand dollar deductible. Oh our hone is valued at about $200,000; maybe not that high but close. Oh as for hail damage I do not know if it affects our rate or not, but we have only had one time where there was enough to damage anything and yes, we had to have a new roof. That was the year of the Joplin tornado about 8 years ago I think

[kscott462]

its sounds like when it snows most of the time its 1 or 2 inches which is how you get to an average of 6 to 10 inches a year?
how long does the snow stay on the ground before it melts?