We heard that the Arkansas Ozarks are amazing. So, we're looking into it. What's Arkansas like? I live in Georgia right now, and it gets darn near 100 degrees some days here. What's the summer weather like there? Winter wheater? Cost of living? Any other helpful info would be appreciated.
Anybody from Arkansas?
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cost of living is low, land costs are low, unfortunately, job pay rates are low too...tngirl said:
however, the "hill billy" mentality can be either a blessing or a curse, it is still very much a DIY or do without, self sufficency is easy, theres only a few days with snow in winter, maybe a couple weeks long, you can generally harvest from your garden till october, then with row covers and cold frames, you can extend it to november pretty easy,
growing season starts early , lasts about 200 days give or take a month northern ark. ozarks/southern mo is a zone 6b , or 7 , according to the usda rain fall is adequate with most gardens needing water more from the heat stress than the lack of rain summer is 90-100, with high humidity ,heat index around 105 are fairly common
lets see, no comment on the ozarks is complete without a commnet on the roads, we have some of the WORST !!!, i swear the road layers simply cooked a bunch os spaghetti and threw it on a map ... ta dah , theres the road !
i live, as the crow flies, about 5 miles from Branson Mo, BUT!, to get there, i must take the road, so its about 14 miles.....
theres usually about 3-4 ice storms in winter, then everything is shut down for the day ,
i moved here from northdakota/and wisconsin , so for me its wonderfull!
except the humidity, but its tolerable , you just learn to steep like a tea bag in your own sweat !, or give into central air
cant think of anything else right now ....
Beth
NW AR is devoloping into a mini-metroplitan (as I refer to it) area due to all the growth dictacted by Wal-Mart. The cost of living in NWAR is higher than the rest of the state, even Little Rock (state capital and currently the largest city), and rising. A recent news segment stated that the average home price hear is higher than LR, KC, Tulsa, Dallas and St. Louis (I think). Within 10 years NWAR will be larger than LR and be gaining on Tulsa and KC. They predict our population to triple. But just east of Washington and Benton counties are not as affected by this development as much, so col and realestate prices are lower. But you'll also have to factor lower wages as well. Overall it's still a nice place to live and there's no rampent crime. Hope this doesn't scare you off.
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the land here is wonderful and beautiful, but most people either drive a ways to work, or make their own income. Depends on what you want. In the low cost land mountain area, there is no industry or white collar work, and there are alot of people with the 'back woods ' mentality. Families are tight, and obvious outsiders are treated as such. Nevertheless, a wonderful place to live. And the roads are horrible. Expect to buy tires more often.The water is also some of the cleanest in the country.
Beth, is that also true of jobs in Branson?bethlaf said:
We just visited and there seem to be LOTS of new resorts and such and I figured since Branson was actually accessible most of the year, because of a milder climate than the north, all the jobs created by tourism would be good for the surrounding economy.
I did notice one thing, all of the roads we travelled in Branson were in excellent shape and many looked brand new. I figured that had to do with taxes collected in that area and the fact they realize roads need to be maintained due to traffic. Of course, I'm comparing this to OK roads which are absolutely horrid compared with other states.
Also, that area has much milder temperatures than anything very far south. I figured the altitude in the mountains had something to do with that. I loved it when we were there and we plan to go back again soon!
Vickie
Actually, there are lots of white-collar jobs in the NW area. There is Fayetteville (UofA), Springdale (Tyson, Georges), Lowell and Rogers (JB Hunt), and Bentonville (the big one-Walmart). In the last 4 years W/M has dictated that all the major manufacturers/suppliers/vendors open up a local office in order to be closer the the home office. This has spurred developement in a huge way in every city. One developer came to Bentonville and bought up several blocks of older residential area right in front of the hq, leveled it and is building a large office tower. Hundreds of strip centers have popped up where vendors have put offices. A new regional airport was built a few years ago. Right now it's out in the sticks, anywhere from 15-25 miles from the cities I listed. Development is predicted to fill in all the way to it. Residential development has boomed in this area, average home price has jumped to $250,000. Restaraunts and retail is growing more rapidly than is comprehensible. Unless you are in an area every day, something new has opened or is being built every time you visit. Builders are putting up $400k-$500k spec homes and they are selling faster than they can be built. Three years ago I bought my home for $89k and now it's appraising for almost $125k. There has been no prediction of when development will even slow down. My guess is things will start to slow down in about 7-10 years. and growth will recede to normal levels in about 15-20 years. Once you get out of Benton and Washington county though things are pretty typical, growth wise. Wages, col, and land prices are quite a bit lower.
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I still think NW Arkansas is Headquarters of the Southern Mafia. 
big rockpile
big rockpile
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kkk so I've heard -- where I am, there is no white collar jobs (north central) - the nearest town of 12,000 is 45 minutes away.
OUVickie said:
Branson has a 1/2 cent additional sales tax thats collected, it helps a lot in taney county MO. in the main roads, but she's talking arkansas , and there , unless its a main road its often a one lane dirt track /gravel lane ( they insist on calling roads)
as for pay, yes , pay is ok in branson most places pay $6-7 hr ( which for down here is excellent pay ***now if youre moving to the area and are a SKILLED construction worker, well, then you talk to my husband , and we pay more than anyone, but we expect people to work ), IN SEASON !, which means you got 7 months of work , and 5 months of unemployment when it all shuts down , though thats changing somewhat, theres still good tourism business here, mainly march through november, a little in december, but most everything shuts down middle/end of dec. and stays closed till march /april
which means its the best time to visit if youre thinking of moving here, because you can see what its really like
theres a measure on the ballot on tuesday for a riverboat casino in the area, which if it passes should help with year around economy ( i support it solely because of the business it will bring our construction company, selfish yes , i know)
I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I've travelled from the east coast to the west, and haven't seen any place else that I would prefer to call home. Everything moves at a slower, mellower pace and wouldn't trade that for $$$$$. If you're looking for megabuck jobs, AR is not the place. The weather can be fickle-hot, dry, wet, humid, cold, rainy, tornadoey?, but this is home. This is how I spell freedom. ARKANSAS!!!! I guess you love it, or you don't.
Kathy
Kathy
So, that's how everyone's been getting those suckers in there!! :haha: I finally gave up and went to electric fence-with little rebar posts. Still got to figure out how to get the lightning rod thing down past the rock layer (or is it clay??), though. Oh well, my dad fixed it up with an alligator clip at the charger, and I just unhook that when it acts like it's going to be stormy.
Kathy
I thought I had the only four rocks in the Ozarks!
If you don't like the idea of using dynamite, here's a product called DEXPAN you might want to look at:
http://www.archerusa.com/Product_Dexpan.html
We just ordered some on Saturday and I can hardly wait to try it out. I'm putting in new water lines and we've got two rocks within 10 feet of the house. Obviously, I'm a bit reluctant to even think "dynamite".
If you don't like the idea of using dynamite, here's a product called DEXPAN you might want to look at:
http://www.archerusa.com/Product_Dexpan.html
We just ordered some on Saturday and I can hardly wait to try it out. I'm putting in new water lines and we've got two rocks within 10 feet of the house. Obviously, I'm a bit reluctant to even think "dynamite".
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