The house hunt in Arkansas didn’t go so well. We ended up seeing only two houses. There were three I had sent the realtor that I wanted to see and three that she added to the list. One of them, I didn’t want to see. It had 6 acres but the house was right on the road. One the realtor couldn’t find, which I thought was kinda weird. One, there was a mix up on scheduling and we couldn’t see it. So . . driving all that way, spending two nights in a cabin . . I wasn’t real happy.
I had told the realtor that if any of the houses I suggested had really bad roads leading to them, I didn’t need to see them. One of the houses I really wanted to see, she said the road was bad and I wouldn’t be happy with it so . . we were down to two houses.
The first one, which was one that Vince thought might be a good one for us . . didn’t like it at all. The minute I walked in the front door and saw a full bath just off the living room . . not even one step down a hallway, I was pretty much done. Also, the basement didn’t even have a bathroom! Ruled that one out.
Second house – I knew it was one I was going to love and I did.
This was a cook’s dream kitchen. I loved everything about this kitchen!
I don’t know if you can see the room just past the fridge. Nicole said there was a TV in there but I didn’t notice it and wouldn’t want one in there. I would love to have that room where I could go to get away from the TV, sit and knit, have my spinning wheels in there. It’s just a little room but perfect right off the kitchen where I can pay attention to cooking and the laundry room is just around the corner.
The master bedroom and bathroom were perfect!
It has about 16 acres and was at the end of a dead end street and there were no neighbors anywhere. Vince asked about the other houses in the area and I told him . . It was so far from other houses that I don’t even remember what they looked like. It had a super nice shop – big with a giant central air/heat and the concrete floors were heated. Vince would have loved the shop.
I called Vince from there and he could tell I was in love. He told me to go ahead and make an offer if I wanted it but I would never do that without him seeing it.
And . . there were things that made it not the perfect house for us. For the past 24 hours or more, I’ve kept running these things through my mind because I know we have to make a good decision. This was only the second house we’ve seen. We don’t have to move tomorrow so we aren’t in any rush. There are plenty of houses that we can see and if the perfect house isn’t on the market now, it will be later. We can wait it out.
The reasons the house with the dream kitchen isn’t for us:
- It was three stories. We’re really at the age where three stories isn’t a smart move. We will want a basement but not the third floor. It was mostly extra bedrooms, bathrooms, and an extra family room. We wouldn’t have to go up there often – it would mostly be guest quarters for when Chad, Nicole and Addie visit but still . . three stories isn’t what we need.
- The stairs going to the basement were spiral stairs. We’ve always said NEVER to spiral stairs. These were very well built and had big slabs of what seemed to be cypress. Chad said “Did you notice those stairs didn’t creak at all?” Yes . . but they were still spiral stairs.
- The road to the house. Oh, my . . if the realtor thought this road was ok and the road to the other house was too bad . . I’m afraid to see the other road. The realtor said it was half a mile down a “well maintained gravel road”. I’m not a good judge of distance but I’m thinking it was more like 1-1/2 miles and that road had not seen any fresh gravel in a very, very long time. Anything more than just creeping along and you’d damage your vehicle in no time. Washboard type bumps, huge pot holes . . it was really a bad road and with just a few houses houses down it, I’m sure it’s not a huge priority for the county, and that’s completely understandable. Vince would never be happy with that road.
- There’s an issue with the garage. We will never have a house without an enclosed attached garage This house has a one car garage in the basement which means (1) we’d have to go up those spiral stairs to get to the main level but worse – (2) there’s no driveway! It’s a garage with no way to get a car to it. In order to make a driveway, it would take a whole lot of concrete because it would have to come from the front of the house, around the far side and a bridge (of sorts) would have to built over a little gully and then more concrete poured to bring the driveway up to the height of the garage.
The garage issue is “fixable” but it would be an expensive fix and it will never be more than a one car garage.
So, we have no prospects for houses in Arkansas. I’m hoping the lady at the resort can put us in touch with a couple of the people she said might be ready to sell and she’s also going to give us the name of a realtor they’ve used and like and see if we have better luck with him.
It was a good trip. We saw the town, I was talking to Vince on the phone and telling him everything that’s there and he seems pretty happy.
But for now, I have at least another week in Missouri, then I’ll go back to Texas and Vince and I will figure out a plan for what we want to do.
dezertsuz says
With all the positives, the negatives do tip the balance, I think. Even with a 4-wheel drive, that road could be a real problem in bad weather, let alone in dry times.
Linda in NE says
If you like the town and the area that’s a good start. There has to be a house somewhere that you will both be happy with. I think the catch may be that if you want good roads & high speed internet you may have to pick one in town or very close to town. Acres of land may be more than you want to deal with as you get older. My cousin & his wife live in Arkansas, Hot Springs area, and the first house they owned had more land & too much maintenance so after a few years they bought another one that was smaller, with less land. They really like living in Arkansas.
Judy Laquidara says
We actually find it easier living out in the country with acreage vs. living in town or on a small lot where neighbors have some expectation of how you will maintain your yard. We’ll never live in a subdivision with restrictions but even if we get 25 or 40 acres, we’ll only cut what’s around the house. Several of the houses I’ve seen online look like they’re sitting on a city lot but have quite a bit of acreage that’s in its natural state.
There’s been a big push to bring high speed internet to rural areas. There are several companies bringing it to our area of Texas so hopefully someone will bring it to Arkansas but I doubt it will be everywhere and with the hills and valleys, some spots may never get it. I’ll give up internet completely before I move to town. What was funny was out at the cabin, both Verizon and AT&T phones worked great. That gives me hope that there’s good internet somewhere out there.