Trying to find a new place to call home? (apartment, condo)
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I've posted in here before, numerous times actually lol. My mom and I are on a journey to find our new place to call home. We moved from Arizona, as we started on our journey we got to Santa Fe, NM then we got stuck there for 3 weeks because our car's engine blew. Santa Fe was nice, the people were super nice and we were shocked at how nice they were after living in Arizona for 7 years!! We met a lady and we got to talking she said Arkansas has the cheapest cost of living in the country, we researched it and liked what we found so we decided to come here (where we currently are). Instead of going where we were headed which was Sioux Falls, SD. Which is where my brother is at.
We've had a really bad experience in Little Rock, AR. We bought a car here then a week later it was stolen, the police haven't found the car and probably won't. Customer service isn't really a thing here or considered important, the people slack off at the stores when you go shopping. It's just horrible. I wouldn't recommend anyone come here.
So we are thinking we should have gone to Sioux Falls, but the population is about the same amount as Little Rock! So is there really a difference? My mom wants to go, so she can be with her grandkids. Which I understand. But that shouldn't be the only reason to go there. How bad does it get in the winter there? I love the cold but I still want to be able to go outside.
We just want to find a place that feels like "home", but only we can determine that. But I hope you all can help me with where we should go? My mom is disabled, so a place that has a reasonable cost of living (I know, it's getting expensive everywhere), outdoor activities, has a good amount of jobs, has community college. Maybe a city in-between where we are, and Sioux Falls. Like Omaha, St. Louis, etc. I think that's about it. Thank you for your help.
Last edited by Tia616; 09-08-2021 at 12:05 PM..
Reason: Added example cities
Little Rock, while my favorite place in Arkansas, is still terrible. Your post is a gentle reminder of why I left there. It's not for everyone.
Sioux Falls would be a night/day comparison to Little Rock. Vastly safer, much better attitude towards the fact that people want to be treated like human beings when doing any kind of business.
No place is perfect, but in my experiences it seemed like a nice city.
Family is a huge deal, to have people in your life nearby. That by itself makes life a lot easier assuming everyone gets along well enough.
The winters will be something to get used to. I don't mind winter living about the same latitude as Sioux Falls. If you're in the city, it's not too bad. They'll keep the roads cleared there. If you live in an apartment or condo, you probably won't even have to shovel your own sidewalk or driveway or whatever. Still wouldn't hurt to keep a shovel and a bag of salt in case they don't get it all.
The economy there seems to be solid, and they have a good amount of recreation in the city. Do know that it's in the middle of farmland so don't expect wilderness hiking or anything like that.
Little Rock, while my favorite place in Arkansas, is still terrible. Your post is a gentle reminder of why I left there. It's not for everyone.
Sioux Falls would be a night/day comparison to Little Rock. Vastly safer, much better attitude towards the fact that people want to be treated like human beings when doing any kind of business.
No place is perfect, but in my experiences it seemed like a nice city.
Family is a huge deal, to have people in your life nearby. That by itself makes life a lot easier assuming everyone gets along well enough.
The winters will be something to get used to. I don't mind winter living about the same latitude as Sioux Falls. If you're in the city, it's not too bad. They'll keep the roads cleared there. If you live in an apartment or condo, you probably won't even have to shovel your own sidewalk or driveway or whatever. Still wouldn't hurt to keep a shovel and a bag of salt in case they don't get it all.
The economy there seems to be solid, and they have a good amount of recreation in the city. Do know that it's in the middle of farmland so don't expect wilderness hiking or anything like that.
I just wanted to let other people know how bad it is here, in case they are thinking of coming here. Because there's pros and cons with everything in life including cities, and both sides need to be told.
Thank you so much for responding. Our relationship is very good, so that's not a problem
I see that you added example cities to consider.
Omaha is good. I'll add Lincoln. It's really nice.
Des Moines is good.
Kansas City is bigger, but can be affordable and pretty nice overall. It's probably a better option than St. Louis, as well as more of a straight shot for visits to Sioux Falls.
St. Louis area isn't horrible, but seems random here.
I would recommend avoiding any temptation of Springfield, MO if that happens to be in contention. Not a horrible town, better than Little Rock in many ways, but not hard to improve upon either.
On the other side of South Dakota is Rapid City which is cool.
If you really want to adventure into some icy cold winters Fargo and the Twin Cities aren't terribly far. Both are really nice areas. Winters in those places will be even more... wintery.
I see that you added example cities to consider.
Omaha is good. I'll add Lincoln. It's really nice.
Des Moines is good.
Kansas City is bigger, but can be affordable and pretty nice overall. It's probably a better option than St. Louis, as well as more of a straight shot for visits to Sioux Falls.
St. Louis area isn't horrible, but seems random here.
I would recommend avoiding any temptation of Springfield, MO if that happens to be in contention. Not a horrible town, better than Little Rock in many ways, but not hard to improve upon either.
On the other side of South Dakota is Rapid City which is cool.
If you really want to adventure into some icy cold winters Fargo and the Twin Cities aren't terribly far. Both are really nice areas. Winters in those places will be even more... wintery.
I did! And thank you for the suggestions, I'll look into those as well. Because we've never been this far into this country before, so I don't know much about this region of the country. So I appreciate all the help.
I've stayed one night each in Fargo and in Sioux Falls. I liked them both, very much. Everyone I encountered seemed very friendly. I'd probably give the edge to Fargo as a place to live, but honestly, I think I could be quite happy in either place.
Note well, I was there in the summer time. I can't comment on how their winters are.
Watertown and Mitchell SD are near Sioux Falls but smaller, with technical colleges. Brookings is also near Sioux Falls and is a nice small city with a university.
Nebraska will have possibilities too (Norfolk and Grand Island have community colleges and aren't that far from Sioux Falls) but being closer to family would have some advantage for regular visits and might be a tiebreaker.
If you watch the papers nearby & internet sites, you might see someone trying to sell your stolen car eventually. Or they might move it to other locale or chop it up. Not sure how hard the police look.
Sisseton SD is another option near Sioux Falls with a public college (appears cheaper than others).
(Fwiw, I could imagine some auto thefts as inside jobs of previous owners or affiliates. They had / have keys, may know where it is and could perhaps fake explain having it. But certainly could be random bad luck.)
Sisseton SD is another option near Sioux Falls with a public college (appears cheaper than others).
(Fwiw, I could imagine some auto thefts as inside jobs of previous owners or affiliates. They had / have keys, may know where it is and could perhaps fake explain having it. But certainly could be random bad luck.)
There’s absolutely nothing in Sisseton besides a dollar store and a couple of places like that, and it’s not close to Sioux Falls. It’s a couple of hour drive north and the town has less than 5k people. It’s not a total hellscape, it’s just small and economically depressed like so many other small towns. Also, Sioux Falls is much smaller than Little Rock, it’s just that the city limits populations are similar but when you look at the overall metros, Sioux Falls is less than half the size of Little Rock. Im not saying it’s a bad idea or anything, just that I think you are having a bit of a wrong impression of the size of these places. If you want something similar in size to Little Rock, I’d suggest Des Moines or something.
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