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Northwest Arkansas 2nd in Wage Increases


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I heard about this right before I started having computer problems again. I'm not positive on the time period but wages increased by about 256% and were second only to a location in North Carolina. Of course the bad aspect of it was that we were so low in the beginning and still have a way to go to be more competitive with other areas. If I'm not mistaken northwest Arkansas still hasn't caught up to Little Rock in this aspect either. Hopefully things will continue to improve and we can at least give Little Rock a run for it's money. For that matter hopefully both areas will improve and can compete with other areas of the nation.

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I heard about this right before I started having computer problems again.  I'm not positive on the time period but wages increased by about 256% and were second only to a location in North Carolina.  Of course the bad aspect of it was that we were so low in the beginning and still have a way to go to be more competitive with other areas.  If I'm not mistaken northwest Arkansas still hasn't caught up to Little Rock in this aspect either.  Hopefully things will continue to improve and we can at least give Little Rock a run for it's money.  For that matter hopefully both areas will improve and can compete with other areas of the nation.

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Very nice.

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One of the interesting things about the last 5-10 years has been that NWA wages have gone up but really haven't kept pace with cost of living. The appeal of NWA even as recent as 5 years ago was that housing was dirt cheap compared to Little Rock, Tulsa, Dallas etc and particularly so for those moving from more crowded states. The real estate market has driven land prices up and home prices are actually getting higher in Benton Co particularly when compared to Little Rock and Dallas. Part of this is a paucity of builders, large developments, and simple supply and demand economics. Not surprisingly, Ft Smith has NOT seen this trend.

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One of the interesting things about the last 5-10 years has been that NWA wages have gone up but really haven't kept pace with cost of living.  The appeal of NWA even as recent as 5 years ago was that housing was dirt cheap compared to Little Rock, Tulsa, Dallas etc and particularly so for those moving from more crowded states.  The real estate market has driven land prices up and home prices are actually getting higher in Benton Co particularly when compared to Little Rock and Dallas.  Part of this is a paucity of builders, large developments, and simple supply and demand economics. Not surprisingly, Ft Smith has NOT seen this trend.

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That is true, northwest Arkansas average price for houses is more than anywhere else in this region. Even higher than Dallas, they pointed that out a year ago when we went above the dallas Market. Yet there is still a huge demand for housing. That's one of the reasons the Californians have moved in. Houses are still so cheap compared to anything you can get in California.

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That is true, northwest Arkansas average price for houses is more than anywhere else in this region.  Even higher than Dallas, they pointed that out a year ago when we went above the dallas Market.  Yet there is still a huge demand for housing.  That's one of the reasons the Californians have moved in.  Houses are still so cheap compared to anything you can get in California.

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Believe it or not the Ozarks and Hot Springs area are full of retired Californians and Northeasterners that bought $20k houses in the 1970s and sold them in the last few years for half a million. They can live the rest of their lives rather richly.

You're about to see reverse trend in Florida as retiring Floridians can't afford to stay and leave the state since housing prices have doubled or worse in 5 years in many parts of the state. A lot of Northeasterners used to sell their house up North and buy a cottage or even trailer down in Florida and live off the dividend but prices down there are making that much more difficult to do. Anyway, you'll start to see Floridians in a few years - bank on it. I've already met a couple of them.

Still, Bella Vista and Benton Co are still pretty reasonable and people look for the area to retire. I've met a couple people down here in Dallas looking at Hot Springs and Benton Co.

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Believe it or not the Ozarks and Hot Springs area are full of retired Californians and Northeasterners that bought $20k houses in the 1970s and sold them in the last few years for half a million.  They can live the rest of their lives rather richly.

You're about to see reverse trend in Florida as retiring Floridians can't afford to stay and leave the state since housing prices have doubled or worse in 5 years in many parts of the state.  A lot of Northeasterners used to sell their house up North and buy a cottage or even trailer down in Florida and live off the dividend but prices down there are making that much more difficult to do.  Anyway, you'll start to see Floridians in a few years - bank on it.  I've already met a couple of them.

Still, Bella Vista and Benton Co are still pretty reasonable and people look for the area to retire.  I've met a couple people down here in Dallas looking at Hot Springs and Benton Co.

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Yeah you have a point, Florida is becoming the next California. If not northwest Arkansas than I could easily see a lot of people retiring to the rest of the Ozarks or maybe the Ouachitas.

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