OK, Tell me about Bella Vista Good bad and ugly (Fayetteville: sales, apartment)

[gregandvicky]

We are thinking of relocating to Bella Vista. Used to live in central Texas, too much humidity and high property taxes. Moved to Arizona but maybe not our spot.

Tell us straight up about Bella Vista.
Property taxes, housing prices, humidity, friendlyness of the people, cost of living, alergies and on and on and on...........

Can you compare the area to central Arizona and to central Texas??

[ziaAirmac]

I'll leave it to others to give the gritty details, but..... I hope you like golf! It's unusual in that it's somewhere between and town and an association. People still pay dues to the association for their lot as far as I know. I have three different friends that lived further south on the 71 corridor (Lowell, Fayetteville) and they all moved their families to Bella Vista. It was looked on as a retirement area, but I think that's changed somewhat over the years. It's beautiful, I can tell you that. A little far from the closest big mall (some would see that as a benefit.) but plenty of amenities available locally. Within day trip range of some fun places like Branson, Eureka Springs, Beaver Lake and now you've got jet service out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by gregandvicky

We are thinking of relocating to Bella Vista. Used to live in central Texas, too much humidity and high property taxes. Moved to Arizona but maybe not our spot.

Tell us straight up about Bella Vista.
Property taxes, housing prices, humidity, friendlyness of the people, cost of living, alergies and on and on and on...........

Can you compare the area to central Arizona and to central Texas??

I might be a pretty good person to help as we lived in Dallas for 13 years and NM for 7 before moving here...We left DAllas because of the heat and humidlity as well as property taxes and insurance. I don't know if you are retired, but if so, you should be very happy here. Even if you are not retired, there are more families moving in all the time...

Property taxes are great and after 65 the price is frozen, thus you don't have to worry about huge increases. Ar does have a pretty healthy sales tax...
Housing prices are all over the place, depeding on what you are looking for, I will give you an idea, we moved here 6 months ago, we have 1700 sq ft, about a 1/3 of an acre, 3 bedrooms 2 plus baths and the house if 13 years old. We live in the Highlands area which is a little pricier than some of the areas closer to hwy 71. It is great living up here, but sometimes I wish we were closer to 71..We paid under $150,000. If you want to live on the lake you are talking about a min of $225,000 if you can get something for that, if you are looking at town houses, you can spend as little as $90,000 or as much as $200.000. Of course lots of the golf courses are pricier as well, but all in all we are amazed at what you get for the money.

People are people everywhere..How friendly they are depends pretty much on your outlook on life. There are zillions of clubs, everything from church afflications to bridge, fishing clubs, new comers groups, you name it.

Even though we do have humidity, after living in Texas it seems like nothing. I hope this helps, we came to visit and check the place out about 18 months ago, got a super realtor, thought we would look at some other areas as well, but feel so in love with Bella Vista nothing could compare...

Nita

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ziaAirmac

I'll leave it to others to give the gritty details, but..... I hope you like golf! It's unusual in that it's somewhere between and town and an association. People still pay dues to the association for their lot as far as I know. I have three different friends that lived further south on the 71 corridor (Lowell, Fayetteville) and they all moved their families to Bella Vista. It was looked on as a retirement area, but I think that's changed somewhat over the years. It's beautiful, I can tell you that. A little far from the closest big mall (some would see that as a benefit.) but plenty of amenities available locally. Within day trip range of some fun places like Branson, Eureka Springs, Beaver Lake and now you've got jet service out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.

Am not going to get into a lenghty dicussion about this, but the dues we pay cover a heck of a lot more than golf...and, not everyone golfs here, in fact it is probably about 50/50, maybe a few more golfers than that...

NIta

[ziaAirmac]

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that there was a direct connection between the fees and the golf. Moderator cut: edit

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ziaAirmac

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that there was a direct connection between the fees and the golf. Moderator cut: edit

sorry Zia, when I re-read your message I thought I may have mis-understood you.

Nita

[gd3696]

Help! I am thinking of moving to Bella Vista. My husband and I are from NJ. We currently renting an apartment in Lowell. I have no friends or family here, and I also have a 3 year old son. Is Bella Vista the place for me? I would appreciate any input.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by gd3696

Help! I am thinking of moving to Bella Vista. My husband and I are from NJ. We currently renting an apartment in Lowell. I have no friends or family here, and I also have a 3 year old son. Is Bella Vista the place for me? I would appreciate any input.

Bella Vista used to be, strictly a retirement community but is changing rapidly. In fact just yesterday it was announced one of our golf courses is going to close and be re-opens more like a family center..The reason, the changing demographics. Younger people are moving in thus there are not as many avid golfers. There are still plenty, but there are needs for other recreation as well. One thing that is being discussed, more fishing facilities.

I would suggest, with a little one you think of living on the east side of hwy 71. There are more families with younger kids there. The west side is a bit older both housing and age-wise..

Nita