My son is being transferred to Little Rock. He has been living in Alabama but plans to move in a few months. Can you suggest a nice area for a young family with 3 children under age 6. He's looking for a house in the $250,000.00 range near good schools. Thanks for the help.

In which part of Little Rock will he work? Does he like to be in a city or does he prefer a suburb? If he wants good schools Cabot or Benton are options. They are both a 25-30 minute commute. If he wants to live in Little Rock proper he should look in West Little Rock in the Roberts Elementary School zone. He will get a lot more house for his money in Csbot or Benton. Other areas close to Little Rock are Sherwood and Maumelle but the schools in those cities are part of the Pulaski County Special School District which is presently in fiscal distress, rifting teachers, and reorganizing its administration. If it were me, I'd look in Cabot or Bryant and make the commute.

Oops. Sorry for the typos. I'd look in Cabot or Benton. Bryant is another area that has decent schools and is about a 20 minute drive to Little Rock.

The two elementary schools that come to mind are Forest Park (in the Heights) and Jefferson (serving Cammack Village and Kingwood). Both have wonderful reputations and are in great locations. I live near Forest Park School, and my grandchldren went to Jefferson.

The Heights is an old, established neighborhood, and if your son can find a home there it'd be a great investment for him, and a wonderful place for his family.

With all due respect to japw82, I wouldn't advise anyone to move to Cabot or Benton who will be working in Little Rock. The traffic is absolutely terrible going into (and out of) LR from outlying areas.

I'd start with the schools then branch outward if need be.

SusanCS, the areas that you referred to are nice, established, older areas that come with a huge price tag. Unfortunately,250K doesn't buy much in these areas. Also, regardless of whether you live in the city or commute from any outlying area there will be traffic. Like I said earlier a lot will depend on the location of the job and where the family prefers to live. They might want to access realtor.com to take a look at various options and may also want to check out city and chamber of commerce websites to familiarize themselves with the area and what each has to offer.

japw82 - I've lived in Little Rock 40+ years. During that time 3 members of my immediate family have commuted to outlying towns, so I definitely have a good idea of what that entails. I might add that none of them were tempted to move away for their jobs, and all three were relieved to be working back home.

You're correct that most homes in the Heights are expensive, but not ALL of them are. And many homes in the neighborhoods served by Jefferson School are within the 250K price range.

Here's a little more information about schools

http://www.greatschools.org/arkansas...entary-School/

Thanks for your kind replies and help. My son's wife is content to stay in Huntsville, AL as long as they can because their kids are young but the schools where they live are excellent. He's working on keeping his job there right now. If things change I will post again. Thanks for your kind help.

By the way. If he does move he will be working at the IS of I 630 and I 430 at Shackleford Road. If you have any good ideas where to live in that area it's appreciated. Thanks again.

If he is working in that area I'd suggest Benton...despite the commute. Great schools. I'm in Cabot and love it...and wife commutes to LR. But for that part of LR is say Benton.

Littleman's last post was a year ago...I assume his son has either stayed in AL or settled down in Arkansas.