Rusk, Texas, information please

[Dreamacres]

I have been studying real estate in the Rusk, Texas, area. Do you have any comments, advice for us? This is for retirement so we are not concerned about work.
Thanks.

[Sand Flat Bob]

Originally Posted by Dreamacres

I have been studying real estate in the Rusk, Texas, area. Do you have any comments, advice for us? This is for retirement so we are not concerned about work.
Thanks.

This is a great time to look at Real Estate in Texas. Main thing is to see what was or is flooded and what is not. Lots of areas have flooding that they never had before. My advice is buy real estate on top of the hill where it will not flood. Be Leary of land along any stream or in a river bottom. Lots of new developments put in flood plains as it is pretty and land is cheaper for them to buy.

Good Luck,

Bob

[VALENT]

It is a nice area. For retirement, there are lots of towns in that general area with little employment opportunity but lots of nice houses at decent prices.

[dare2b]

There's a state mental institution in Rusk, famous in Texas. My so-called boyfriend's family came from Rusk, the family joke was about a cousin—did he hold a job at Rusk, or was he an inmate, ha-ha.

East Texas is a pretty place. I hope you are a bible thumping right wing conservative Christian all wrapped up in the flag so you can fit right in. The people are very nice, as might be expected..... unless you're of a liberal leaning, or a person of color, no disrespect intended to anyone, that's just how it is in East Texas, for the most part..... then they're very nice to your face. Two other more infamous towns in East Texas are Vidor and Jasper.

[RoseGarden]

Hey Dare2b, you live in east Tx? You certainly paint a very bad image of Rusk county, comparing it to Vidor and Jasper. Care to enlighten us as to what other terrible things there are here in east Tx? Keep in mind YOUR experiences, if any, may not likely apply to others, ok?

OK, now that I have dispensed with that, to the OP, you should find taxes reasonable although jobs might be a bit hard to come by unless you're in the building trades. Like most other parts of the state, there is a LOT of growth going on in Rusk. There is a lot of nice historical stuff around there like the railroad, a lot of festivals, the Tyler Rose Gardens aren't terribly far, and there are also a lot of potteries within a 2 or 3 hour drive. You should be able to find a nice house at a decent price with some acreage. Rusk Co. does not have quite as bad flooding problems as is common in the more southerly parts of the state, but just be sure to stay away from the bottomland, as was mentioned by Bob. Lots of deer around most of east Tx. Mild winters, maybe have a light dusting of snow or ice every once in a while, but certainly nothing heavy. Summers are of course long and hot with mosquitos being plentiful, but then growing season is usually from about early February for things like potatoes, English peas, broccoli and cole crops to late March for heat loving plants like tomatoes, squash, peppers, corn and etc. You can usually get in a fall garden in September, planting more cole crops and peas. Frosts should usually start sometime in late Oct. or maybe not until the first week or two of Nov. Indian Summer then follows and it will warm up a bit again until early Dec. If you like to heat with wood, a cord of oak has been running about $125 to $150 delivered. Lots of thick woods around Rusk Co. It's a nice place, don't listen to people who talk about 'bible thumpers wrapped in flags', although if you come across as an America-hater, you might consider keeping those ideas to yourself as you would practically anywhere else in the U.S.A.

[nodak3]

Absolutely beautiful. Great place to garden. Wonderful people, wonderful churches, wondeful catfish, wonderful music, lovely small villages.

Hot. Humid. Did I mention hot and humid?

[desnri]

I agree with everything that Rose Garden has said except that Rusk, Texas is in Cherokee County. Cherokee Co. is considered one of the poorest counties of Texas. East Texas is extremely beautiful. Rolling hills, pine forests, woods. I live about fifteen miles north of Rusk. I like the town. I do most of my business in Jacksonville which is about twelve miles north of Rusk. There is a lot of industry in Jacksonville. Rusk is the county seat for Cherokee County. There is Rusk State Hospital (mental hospital) and Cherokee County Jail. I would say that those would be the only setbacks, if you perceive them to be, to moving to Rusk. I haven't seen a lot of growth going on in Rusk as Rose Garden has suggested, but there is alot of growth going on in Jacksonville and Tyler. Tyler, by the way, is a beautiful little city of about 85,000 only 30 miles north of Rusk. Living expenses in Tyler, though, are quite high. But it is a good place to visit. God bless you in your endeavor to move to Rusk.

[SteveD(TX)]

Texas State Railroad is there. Some of the best tomatoes in the whole state, probably the whole USA, are grown there. Kind friendly folks. Beautiful surroundings. Can't go wrong IMHO. And no, I'm NOT from there. Just a fan.

[Country Doc]

Hot dry summers usually. Relatively cheap land. High property taxes, no income tax. Great for gardens, cattle. Good medical care. Close enough to Dallas, Austin to get some city life. I plan to retire here also.

[TxGypsy]

Originally Posted by Country Doc

Hot dry summers usually.

I must clarify here. Dry refers to not much rain....it does not mean a dry heat. East TX is VERY hot and humid in the summer...think sauna. You need to strain your air before you breathe it there. If you have allergies....don't move there! East TX is beautiful but it is full of every allergen you can imagine. Great fishing. Most of the water in the state is in east TX. Speaking of water. Have whatever you buy especially checked for mold. To my knowledge there is no insurance company in the state that will cover mold damage any more....it is too prevalent. Rusk isn't a bad town. Quite a drive to Tyler, which is where you will probably do a lot of your shopping, so I would definately make the drive before buying anything. Check out the crime rate. The crime rate has been steadily rising all over east TX in recent years.

The person that made the semi-negative comments about east TX just about hit the nail on the head. If you are a liberal....don't move there. I say semi-negative because I don't really consider most of those qualities a bad thing. Of course I was raised there.

[Dreamacres]

It's been fun reading all of your comments. We lived in the Austin area for about 15 years so we are familiar with some parts of Texas. Unfortunately, we never made it to East Texas to check it out. Now I wished we had.

[SteveD(TX)]

Originally Posted by Sand Flat Bob

This is a great time to look at Real Estate in Texas. Main thing is to see what was or is flooded and what is not. Lots of areas have flooding that they never had before. My advice is buy real estate on top of the hill where it will not flood. Be Leary of land along any stream or in a river bottom. Lots of new developments put in flood plains as it is pretty and land is cheaper for them to buy.

Good Luck,

Bob

It is generally ILLEGAL to build in a flood plain, and you'll never get a permit if within the city limits. Even counties control it as far as I can tell. That law goes back about 30 years.

[dare2b]

Originally Posted by RoseGarden

Hey Dare2b, you live in east Tx? You certainly paint a very bad image of Rusk county, comparing it to Vidor and Jasper. Care to enlighten us as to what other terrible things there are here in east Tx? Keep in mind YOUR experiences, if any, may not likely apply to others, ok?

Thanks for the lecture Rose. I am a native texan, born in Galveston, grew up on the gulf coast, went to college in Beaumont, now live in Buffalo (Texas), if that means anything to you. I know about the infamous signs in Vidor, and some of my college buddies were from there plus other friends from there, not sure if the signs are gone and of course Jasper was in the national news a few years back. I'm not saying Rusk is like them, in fact, if you re-read my post, you'll see that I said that the other two towns were infamous, not Rusk, except of course for the mental institution.

Buffalo isn't far from Rusk, and I've visited the town frequently. East Texas culture is everything I've said. Notice, I said the people are nice. I am sharing what I know from personal experience. No need to shake a finger in my face, thank you very much.

Edited to add: And thank you TxGypsy for this:

"The person that made the semi-negative comments about east TX just about hit the nail on the head. If you are a liberal....don't move there."

I didn't mean the comments as negative, but more as a warning for liberal minded folk.

[wewantout]

Have you looked in Arkansas? I have friends that live in and around Rusk and I would personally not move there. East Texas is humid, I love Caddo Lake though and camping throughout East texas but will only do it in the cooler months.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by dare2b

There's a state mental institution in Rusk, famous in Texas. My so-called boyfriend's family came from Rusk, the family joke was about a cousin—did he hold a job at Rusk, or was he an inmate, ha-ha.

East Texas is a pretty place. I hope you are a bible thumping right wing conservative Christian all wrapped up in the flag so you can fit right in. The people are very nice, as might be expected..... unless you're of a liberal leaning, or a person of color, no disrespect intended to anyone, that's just how it is in East Texas, for the most part..... then they're very nice to your face. Two other more infamous towns in East Texas are Vidor and Jasper.

If I'm not mistaken the State Mental Institution is now a State Institution for the Criminally Insane.

[texican]

Things have changed in the last twenty or so years. Use to be a pretty monolithic set of communities... with the conservative bible thumping segregated communities being the norm.

Not anymore.

The next county road down from my cr has rednecks, poor whites, rich whites, middle class blacks, poor blacks, 2nd generation and first generation hispanics. And they're all married up ever whichaway. Gays, lesbians, singles, old folks... a minor cross section of what you'd find in any city.

Land is cheap! compared to national averages.

If you don't like humidity, fogettaboutit... but, it does get so incredibly green here . Growing season is year round, with frost/freezes between thanksgiving and mid Feb... occasionally a frost into april...

[dare2b]

Originally Posted by Ruby

If I'm not mistaken the State Mental Institution is now a State Institution for the Criminally Insane.

BONUS!!! :roflmao:

Edited to add:No wonder property is so cheap there! BWAHahahahah.

[TedH71]

I happen to agree with Dare2b. I've passed thru Rusk many times due to my kinfolk living in Tyler and surrounding areas. I used to live in Nacogdoches (which is apparently the oldest town in the US along with the oldest road still in existance (El Camino Real)) and Lufkin. Let's say that racism still exists. I'm deaf since birth and I met two deaf individuals who were and still are in the KKK and that was a big surprise to me. Jobs will go to white people first and/or people that know the people at the work place hiring then the rest fight for scraps. I also have friends in Vidor and let's say my visit was less than welcome. I'm white but when my car ran out of gas, I went to a gas station that had a restaurant and I had my two friends with me..big guys..one hispanic and one black. After filling up the car, I went in the station to pay for the gas...the whole place was full of white people and they were staring at us! I thought it was because we were deaf and talking in sign language (we're used to that, btw) and we decided to sit down and order lunch. People moved away from us like we had the lice. We had a good lunch. Paid and tipped well. We left to go to my friend who is white...in Vidor. He asked why we were slightly late and he nearly passed out when he heard where we had been. Turns out that gas station/restaurant is the local KKK hangout and the Wizard for that area owned the place!

Jobs are hard to find and many times people would rather hire people they've grown up with. I found about that the hard way. If you're retired, then no worries. You could make a living buying houses and then remodeling them then renting them out. They're that cheap.

If you're a hog hunter and a fisherperson then Rusk is for you. They have tons of feral hogs and lots of lip smackin' catfish!

Now...yes, there is a current general variety in population in Rusk but some racism still exists..however in Tyler/Jacksonville..it's less prevelant. I believe Tyler is now near the 100k mark in population. My family lives there and it went from 50k to 100k the last 35 years which isn't too bad compared to Austin which went from 50k to 1 million in less than 10 years!

[Sand Flat Bob]

Originally Posted by SteveD(TX)

It is generally ILLEGAL to build in a flood plain, and you'll never get a permit if within the city limits. Even counties control it as far as I can tell. That law goes back about 30 years.

The big flaw in what you said, is that the area has to be declared a flood plain before the law applies. Where I live, I own 8 acres that is now under water, floods almost every year. I knew that when I bought it. But, I could build houses there as no one has ever made a study and had it declared a flood plain.
A developer just sub divided 60 acres of land next to me, and 20 acres of it is down stream from my 8 acres. They are building houses there that you will need a boat to get to. Also, no flood insurance is available for this area.

Never rely on politicians to protect you.

Bob

[SteveD(TX)]

Originally Posted by Sand Flat Bob

The big flaw in what you said, is that the area has to be declared a flood plain before the law applies. Where I live, I own 8 acres that is now under water, floods almost every year. I knew that when I bought it. But, I could build houses there as no one has ever made a study and had it declared a flood plain.
A developer just sub divided 60 acres of land next to me, and 20 acres of it is down stream from my 8 acres. They are building houses there that you will need a boat to get to. Also, no flood insurance is available for this area.

Never rely on politicians to protect you.

Bob

That is why I said "generally".

And if a developer is unscrupulous enough to deceive the buyers of his land, and if people are gullible enough to build there without doing their homework..... what can I say?