re: Forbes names Fayetteville Best SEC city to live

Shut up stupid

Fayetteville is the best SEC town to live in, and #3 in the nation, according to Forbes. The rankings nowadays just concern me that it will send more people moving here, which we don't really need.

Austin, Denver, Fayetteville.

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Forbes lists suck, and something so vague and broad as 'Best places to live for business and career' doesn't make a lick of sense. What career? What industry?

You know where you should live? Where you're lucky enough to get a good job. Bonus points if it's nice and you like it.

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Agree 100%

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If Fayetteville is so cool, why can't they recruit?

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That logic

I guess Vandy should be pulling in 5 stars because Nashville is a cool city

Damn that's a great map. Bookmarking that for when I decide where to move next. lol

For real though, I love NW Arkansas and it is a great place to live.

I do know College Station would be dead last

(no message)

Flathead Valley >>> All SEC Towns combined

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I do call bullshite on the property value thing too. Values did tank around 2010-2011, but are back up above any historical level in most places around here. My home has appreciated almost as much as I paid for it just 5 years ago. I admit I got a pretty good deal for it, but our neighbors sold their house in under a week for 60% more than they paid for theirs and they paid far more than we did. They actually had two bidders and got MORE than their asking price...in under a week.

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My MIL lives in Elkins, which seems like a nice suburb area just outside Fayetteville that was growing until the collapse. Depite any rebound, she has talked to a couple of realtors, and she will be upside down if she sells now, no matter what. I guess she had the misfortune of buying at a time when there weren't enough houses available and prices were ridiculous. But, they were inflated WAY beyond other similarly sized markets in the south. This is what she was told by multiple realtors at the time she purchased the house.

The problem in a job market the size of Fayetteville is that there are only so many of any one kind of job, and there are no other cities close enough to supplement against that. For example, I work in a industry that is everywhere, no matter what. Every commercial, industrial, or governmental building in this country has some level of automation and has mechanical systems that have to be serviced and maintained. When the economy tanked, the company I work for grew. This field is as ubiquitous and bullet-proof as any in this economy.

However, despite the presence of Walmart and U of A, there still isn't enough work in NW AR to support more than subsidiary offices with a small number of employees or trunk slammer contractors. The people who work in offices like that are either focused on sales or service. You don't have programmers, engineers, or project managers in markets that small. I know the guys in Little Rock who rep the same products that we do, and they told me they don't even bother with Fayetteville and that there wasn't enough work available to justify opening a branch office there. The main company that does a lot of the work up there there has to support that satellite office with staff from Little Rock. I asked because my MIL lives up there and both of the guys I talked to were big Hog fans.

I could leave my job today and get a similar one in days with up to 10 different firms in the Memphis area, which isn't exactly the biggest or most attractive job market right now. I would have to become a service man and take less money to move to a place like Fayetteville, because my job just doesn't exist there. My MIL is in the same boat. The insurance company she worked for went under and the owner left Fayetteville. There isn't a company left in the area that is big enough to have that position she worked in. Obviously this isn't true for every field, but it will be for many staple job classes.

Again, Fayetteville is a nice place. However, everyone can't move there and get a good job. It's the same with a lot of small to mid-size cities. I hate that my MIL found that out the hard way, because as nice as it is, she would love to leave right now.