HOW DO YOU SPOT A "GOOD BUY" IN A BUYERS MARKET?  

by: Bob and Linda Zdora

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, particularly when it comes to buying a home in Mountain Home Arkansas .  Features that attract one home-buyer may repel another.

 

However, the one feature of interest to every home-buyer is price.  Getting the most home for your money is paramount.  The real problem is figuring out whether that fixer-upper on one street is a better buy than the home in next-to-new condition two blocks away.  That’s why knowing what to look for before you buy can save you time, energy and money down the line. Using a full time REALTORS like Bob and Linda Zdora, The Z-Team can simplify your task. 

 

The first step is figuring out what kind of house you need.  A good buy is only a good buy if it meets your current and future living requirements.  Before shopping for a home, decide how much space you and your family require.  How many bedrooms, bathrooms?  Is a family room necessary?  Do you need a layout that will accommodate a lot of entertaining?  Do you prefer a spacious or compact work space in the kitchen?  If you have small children, can the house easily be childproofed?

 

Evaluate the front and back yards.  Is there enough space to accommodate your children?  Do you want a park-like or garden setting?  Do you enjoy yard work and gardening, or do you want a low-maintenance yard?  Take into consideration the cost of extensive landscaping and upkeep. You have many types of properties in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  From in town homes to large acreage estates in Baxter County. 

 

Next, determine how much work is required to make the house you are considering livable.  Make an honest assessment of your fix-it abilities.  How much work are you willing to do or pay someone else to do?  Do you have basic decorating, carpentry and plumbing skills?  If you plan to learn as you go, make sure you have accurately determined what you are getting into.  Ask an experienced friend, family member or your real estate agent for their opinion, and be sure to consider how much remodeling inconvenience the rest of the family can handle.

 

Unless you are ready and able to tackle a major remodel, look for a house or condominium that needs only cosmetic improvements.  These include painting, wallpapering and replacing items like flooring, window treatments, bathroom and kitchen fixtures, light fixtures, cabinet and interior door hardware and appliances.  Remember that even these simple changes can be costly if you have to make many of them.

 

Beware of improvements that seem easy enough at first glance buy may turn into major headaches and require a lot of money once you’ve moved in.  Remodeled kitchens and bathrooms, changes to the floor plan, room additions and redesigned landscaping are examples of seemingly minor changes that can easily eat away the money you thought you saved by selecting a so-called “bargain priced” home.  Of course, you may be perfectly willing to spend whatever money is needed to customize the house to match your tastes and needs.

 

Make sure major systems in the house are in good working condition.  The furnace, air-conditioning and plumbing should be up to date, since repairs can be costly.  Your Century 21 LeMac agent can arrange to have a professional inspector determine whether the electrical wiring and any room additions are to code.  Local utilities often offer free or low-cost inspections to tell you if the house is energy-efficient.

 

Look for a house with universally popular selling points.  If you’re impressed, the next buyer down the line is bound to be, too.  For example, a roomy, modern east-to-clean kitchen is the best selling point a home can have.  A house with only one bathroom is less desirable than a house with two or more.  Many buyers expect at least three bedrooms, with a master bedroom that offers a feeling of privacy.  Lots of storage space and closets, especially walk-in closets, will be a real selling point.  Family rooms or “great rooms” also are desirable.  On closer examination, a house that looks like a bargain may lack some of these key features.

 

Don’t forget the old adage:  location, location, location.  Unless you’re looking for a fixer-upper, the house should be in a condition that is comparable to other homes in the neighborhood.  Avoid buying the biggest or fanciest home on the block.  Your Century 21 LeMac Realtors, Bob and Linda can help in this process. 

 

Consider the amount of traffic or noise.  Homes located in a quiet area away from a busy street will command a higher price.  Make sure the schools in your district have a reputation for quality education and safety.  Nearby supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants and theaters also will make a location more desirable.

 

Good community facilities also add appeal; pools, athletic fields, community centers, libraries and hospitals all add to a neighborhood’s value and desirability.   Transportation needs also should be considered.  Is local public transit available?  How long are typical commutes to places of current and potential employment?  Are there several alternate routes?  How close is a major airport?  All of these can affect a home’s pricing.

 

Consider the cost of living in a home.  It’s important to consider not only purchase price but the monthly cost of living in a home.  Estimate your utility and maintenance costs.  For example, will the house need to be painted on a regular basis and will you need to spend money maintaining a swimming pool?  Ask your Century 21 LeMac agent about the property tax rate and whether increases are anticipated.  Will you have to pay special assessments for a homeowner’s association?  Consider the point in the life cycle of major household systems, such as the furnace, air conditioning, roof and kitchen appliances.

 

You can find a bargain!  Your first step should be to seek out a knowledgeable Century 21 real estate agent with experience in the market areas where you wish to purchase a home.  Your agent can help you locate those properties that truly are “bargains” and help find the home that most closely matches your desires and needs. Choosing the Z-Team from Century 21 LeMac Realty in Mountain Home Arkansas can be one of the best home buying decisions you can make!

 

From our radio broadcast  FRIDAYS 7 AM TO 7:30 AM

Talk Radio 97.1 This week in Real Estate with Bob Zdora

ZTEAMS (877) 831 - 2538 NEW TOLL FREE NUMBER

 

Contact 870-405-5407  or  zman1501@hotmail.com

 

If you have a subject or question let us know and we will do our

best to help you get your information.

 

Thanks,

Your Zteam

Century 21 LeMac Realty

Mountain Home Arkansas

Century 21 LeMac Realty-Real Estate Mountain Home Arkansas

Dog hero alerts husband after wife has stroke

ARMANDO RIOS • Bulletin Staff Writer • January 26, 2009

 

If is wasn't for Buster's keen insight and persistence, Cindy Beilke might not be alive.
Buster, the 9-year-old chocolate Labrador is friendly, playful, inquisitive, and to his family — a hero.

New Year's Eve, Diane Beilke of Chicago was on the telephone, speaking with her mother Cindy, of Clarkridge.

"I am pretty sure what happened is that we spoke on the phone about 20 minutes," Diane said. "As I was hanging up the phone, she was starting to have a stroke. I said, 'Okay mom, I love you.' She did not say it back. I heard sort of a grunt and I thought my cell phone was losing reception. I waited a minute and said, 'Okay, good-bye.' Again, another grunt. I chalked it up to my cell phone losing service and I hung up."

About 15 to 20 minutes later, Diane heard the telephone ring again. It was her father, Jeffrey Beilke, upset and panicking, telling Diane her mother was on the kitchen floor, unresponsive.

"Apparently, what happened was at the time I guess she managed to hang up the phone with me, but fell to the ground in the kitchen, and our family dog, Buster — he follows her everywhere — had been in the kitchen with her when she fell. He was barking and barking in the kitchen.

"If it weren't for Buster's quick reaction, running to the back of the house and alerting my father, who knows how long my mother would have been lying there unable to call for help," she adds. "They say that animals have their own intuition and can sense when there is trouble ... we all truly believe that now. Buster really is an amazing animal and our family's hero."

Jeffrey tells the rest of the story.

"Usually after dinner (Cindy) would stay in here, do the dishes or what have you, and do bills, and I would go off to be in the computer room at the back of the house and I would play on the computer and watch TV," Jeffrey said. "Sometimes, it would be an hour-and-a-half, maybe two hours, before I would come out because I would be engrossed on the computer and watching television.

"I am sitting at my computer and I hear (Buster)making strange noises," Jeffrey continued. "I did not pay attention. A few minutes later, he comes into my computer room. He looks at me, turns around and comes out into the long hallway and looks at me again."

After Buster repeated his actions, Jeffrey thought the dog needed to go outside, so he followed him.

"He comes back in again, turns around and looks at me like an episode of 'Lassie,' " he added.

Jeffrey followed the dog to the back door, but Buster continued to the kitchen where Jeffrey found his wife on the floor.

He dialed 911, and Clarkridge first responders arrived within minutes, followed a few minutes later by an ambulance from Baxter Regional Medical Center. A helicopter transported Cindy to St. John's Medical Center in Springfield, Mo., where she remained for about a week. She is now at BRMC.

There was one time when Cindy urged Jeffrey to get rid of Buster.

One December, they were driving to Chicago with wrapped Christmas presents and Buster and another dog in the pickup truck's camper. They made a stop along the way, and Jeffrey opened the camper door to find Buster had destroyed some of the packages. Cindy wanted to get rid of the dog, but Jeffrey could not do it.

Last week, when his daughters were visiting, they took Buster to see Cindy at the hospital.

Jeffrey stayed outside with Buster, while his daughters went to Cindy's hospital room and told her they were taking her outside for a walk. As they rounded a corner outside the hospital, Jeffrey appeared with Buster, who started licking Cindy's face.

Everyone was teary-eyed, Jeffrey said. Even people passing by on the sidewalk.

Cindy's condition keeps improving and she is expected to leave the hospital early next month.

"He is my hero. He is Cindy's hero," Jeffrey said.

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WHITE RIVER FEATURED IN FIELD AND STREAM READ:

http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/fishing/trout/where-fish/2009/03/trip-report-big-browns-white-river

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New library to break ground in spring

Groundbreaking for the new Baxter County Library will be next year, but judging the book by its cover,the almost $10 million facility is going to be grand. The new facility was made possible with a $9.8 million  grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Library officials expect to break ground on Library Hill in the spring with a groundbreaking ceremony. Construction is expected to take 12 to 14 months with the move set for April or May 2010, according to Kim Crow Sheaner, Baxter County Library community outreach coordinator. A building dedication will take place in the fall of 2010.

The Baxter County Library Foundation selected Gregory Company Inc. as the general contractor for the new library, she said. The contractor will work closely with architect Jim Stufflebeam of SAPP Design Associates Architects P.C. from Springfield, Mo. SAPP has designed several libraries, including West Plains (Mo.,) Public Library, as well as Library Center and Library Station in Springfield. Local interior designer Lori Kauffman has been selected to work on the interior of the library.

The library foundation predicts construction of the new library will have a positive impact on the local economy with much of the $9.8 million grant to be spent locally.  "We are pleased to select a local contractor, Gregory Company Inc., and anticipate that whenever possible local subcontractors and suppliers will be used, maximizing the effect on our local economy," said Gwen Khayat, librarian.

"We are excited that we were awarded the grant and have the construction team in place," said Deborah Knox, Library Board chair and Capital Campaign chair. "All we have to do now is complete the Capital Campaign launched last year. The community has already committed over $1.2 million towards this effort, and we will continue to ask for support for the community endowment for the library. Through the generosity of the community, we expect to raise over $2 million to support this unprecedented opportunity for Baxter County."

In order to reach this goal, the library foundation recently announced a giving opportunity for residents who would like to contribute to the campaign through the Century Circle. The foundation is looking for a group of 100 members to step forward and donate $1,000 per year for the next five years, Sheaner said. Contributions from the Century Circle members will total $500,000 and bring the foundation within reach of its goal. Century Circle members will be recognized on the "Wall of Fame" in the new library.

A construction committee composed of members of the library foundation and board is working to make decisions for the new facility that will serve the needs of the community well into the future, Roger Pitchford said. Pitchford is chairman of the construction committee.

"The committee is focused on creating a timeless building that is designed to operate efficiently, which will minimize maintenance costs," Pitchford said.  A technology committee has also been formed to ensure the new library incorporates the latest in cutting-edge technology, Sheaner said. The library currently has 15 computers. That number will more than double at the new library.

Another goal of the construction committee is to make the new library as environmentally friendly as possible, Sheaner said. The committee recently decided to go with a Geothermal heating system for the building which will be environmentally friendly and reduce future operating expenses. Teams are drilling test wells for the state-of-the-art system.

Even as the library looks to move out of its cramped quarters, it continues to serve the public.  Sheaner had some statistics on library use.  In 2007, there were 153,672 library visits and 251,259 items were checked out by patrons. With a modern, more user-friendly facility, the library expects to more than double the size of its collection over time and anticipates a 50 to 100 percent increase in patron visits, Sheaner added. The expansion will allow space for the collection to grow along with the county population.

The new building will feature a dedicated children's library, a teen library and quiet reading areas and will provide access to more than 35 computers, she said. In addition, plans include a coffee shop, larger, well-equipped community meeting rooms, study rooms, and a genealogy section. Space is also planned for the Friends of the Library and the Library Foundation office.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named, Sheaner said. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

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BIG CREEK NAMED #1 IN ARKANSAS SPORTS 360.COM

Carol Gresham, Vice Chancellor for Development at ASUMH said, “This is such a historical day in the life of ASUM. We appreciate so much the support we have had from the community since 1995 when this campus was the dream of so many. Today one more dream becomes a reality here at ASUMH.”

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Be my valentine: Couple who met at senior center to exchange wedding vows today
JOANNE BRATTON
Bulletin Staff Writer

CENTURY 21 LEMAC REALTY MOUNTAIN HOME ARKANSAS

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AS POSTED WITH  Barbara Corcoran  REAL ESTATE GURU,  SEEN ON THE TODAY SHOW.

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RECENT NEWSPAPER STORIES ABOUT

MOUNTAIN HOME, ARKANSAS

Real estate slide persists; observers see stability here
FRANK WALLIS
Bulletin Staff Writer

Fri, Dec. 7, 2007

Arkansas mostly sheltered from national mortgage crisis, officials say Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The national mortgage crisis that could cause some Americans to lose their homes because of rising interest rates might not be such a dilemma in Arkansas, experts said Tuesday. Bankers and economists say they have seen little evidence that many Arkansans took out subprime mortgages, loans offered to borrowers with spotty credit histories, some of which have interest rates that are set to increase by the end of 2008. "I've talked to the state bank commissioner about the housing market and have been assured that Arkansas bankers, lenders and consumers have been more responsible than those in some other parts of the country," Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday. Joel Cheetham, manager of mortgage banking for Pine Bluff-based Simmons First National Bank, said he knew of just two people affected by the resets of interest rates on their subprime mortgages who had asked for help. In some parts of the country, especially areas where housing prices boomed a few years ago, some consumers turned to subprime mortgages. Many were also adjustable rate mortgages, meaning the interest rate was locked in at a lower rate for a certain time period, after which they would rise periodically. As rates have risen, many consumers have struggled to make payments, banks have foreclosed on their homes and investors who purchased the debt from lenders have lost. An estimated 2 million subprime mortgages are scheduled to reset to higher levels by then end of next year. The problem has become so widespread that U.S. Treasury officials and major players in the mortgage industry have been working on an agreement that would temporarily freeze the introductory interest rates and keep them from rising for a certain amount of time. But Arkansans generally have not been heavily affected by the crisis, officials said. RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, ranked Arkansas 17th nationally in foreclosures in October, about the same as during the real estate boom two or three years ago. "While Arkansas may not lead the nation in the number of foreclosures, the national mortgage crisis is expected to worsen in 2008 and have direct implications on our economy," U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said. "Therefore, it is imperative that we devise a plan to meet this problem head-on." Lincoln said she met Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to discuss the issue. Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, said one of the primary reasons foreclosures have not increased dramatically in Arkansas is because "housing prices didn't get out of whack with income growth in the same way that they did in some of the real estate boom markets" like California, Florida and Washington, D.C. Falling home prices would be another indication of a mortgage crisis, she said, explaining that when banks foreclose on numerous homes, there is downward pressure on the market. Housing prices would also fall if people could not get mortgages, she said. Home prices in Arkansas have not fallen like they have in areas hit hard by the mortgage crisis, Deck said. In general, prices have flattened out in the state, while in other parts of the nation, prices have dropped by more than 5 percent in some cases. Home prices are down in Northwest Arkansas, but "more a result of the overbuilding than the lack of the availability of credit," Deck said. Any resolution the federal government works out to help those struggling to make payments would slight those who more carefully evaluated the risks of subprime mortgages, Deck said. "It would unduly punish people who didn't take advantage of the low rates because they weren't willing to accept the risk of rates going up," she said. But freezing interest rates also could have tangible negative affects for investors who bought the debt, and the risk of not being repaid, from lenders, Deck said. To freeze the rates would mean the debt was initially mispriced, she said. "The folks who bought the securities thought, 'Maybe we're lending to people who don't have great credit, but we're going to compensate for that by charging a little higher interest rate,'" Deck said. If the government were to freeze rates, holders of the securities would not get what they were promised, she said, which could spawn lawsuits. "To now come back and say we're going to change the terms of the contract midway is ... problematic for a financial system that works like ours does on the soundness of contracts," Deck said. It appears some securities holders may be willing to renegotiate some of the loans, however. "It's better for them to get some stream of payments rather than no stream," Deck said. "Everyone wants to prevent default where they can." -----------------

 

SEPTEMBER 11TH - ONE SURVIVORS STORY 

After 9/11, New York couple leaves the big city behind, finding 'God's country' here in Mountain Home.

Frank Zortman, 45, of rural Baxter County looks over a commemorative 911 book while talking about his memories of the event. Zortman was working in the Deutsche Bank building right next to the World Trade Center on that fateful day. The photograph of his family was the only thing salvaged from his office.

JOANNE BRATTON
Bulletin Staff Writer

As Frank Zortman was getting ready for a business presentation, he noticed a shadow darken the window of his 38th floor office. He stopped for a second — shadows never passed by the Deutsche Bank building in New York City— and shrugged his shoulders. Then he heard an explosion and the ground rumbled beneath his feet. It was American Airlines Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Zortman, who now owns the Mockingbird Bay Resort outside Mountain Home with his wife, Loretta, never will forget what it was like to be next to the World Trade Center that day. As an executive with Deutsche Bank, he spent long hours in the city and business often took him around the world. That morning changed his life. After the explosion, he saw shrapnel and debris fly past his window and he immediately thought a helicopter crashed into his building, he said. When the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, an evacuation was called in the Deutsche Bank building. People had started to evacuate earlier but went back to their offices because their building was not hit, he said. Instead of evacuating, Zortman had a quick conference call to determine what would be done for disaster recovery. No one dreamt they were in such danger. As he finally began to walk down the stairs, Zortman helped an older, physically challenged friend named Guy. Three floors down, Zortman thought he should run back upstairs to change into athletic shoes but Guy was wheezing and did not look well, so Zortman dismissed the thought. It could have saved his life, according to a letter written to family members by Zortman's wife, Loretta, soon after the occurrence. If he had gone back upstairs, he and Guy both could have been next to the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed. At the 19th floor of their descent, Zortman and his friend tried the elevator and found it worked, much to their surprise. They quickly descended and what they saw was horrifying. "There were bloody body parts on the road — it looked like a war zone," said Zortman. He felt like he was back in the Marines. Cars were on fire and blood was everywhere, he remembered. As soon as they walked about three blocks away, the South Tower collapsed and a black cloud began rolling toward them. Zortman could not find his friend as the air turned black and he quickly took shelter in the lobby of a nearby building. There, he called his wife on his cell phone and told her he was "OK, that the building had collapsed, that there was blood and guts everywhere and that this was so very, very bad." She had just arrived to their Middletown, New Jersey home from shopping and did not know what was taking place. She turned on the TV and found static on the six channels that transmitted off the World Trade Center. One Philadelphia channel came through and she saw the horrific scene. She did not know where her husband was in the mayhem, she said. After about 15 minutes, Zortman tied his shirt over his mouth and nose to protect his lungs. Miraculously, he was again united with Guy and Zortman helped tie a shirt over his face, as well. They both made their way to the Hudson River, where a ferry was loading women and children. As a second dark cloud moved overhead, the two jumped on a loading dock platform to get below the debris. The pair received a ride on a police boat and began walking toward Guy's car, which was parked on the New Jersey side of the river. As Guy began struggling to walk, a police officer driving by gave them another ride. Later that day, the two arrived home. When Loretta Zortman went to pick up her two daughters from school, many people asked about her husband. In their school district, about 86 children had lost a parent, she remembered. People rallied around each other for months, for years, giving love and support, the couple recalled. But those gestures of comfort did not bring their loved ones back home. Today, walking outside on their balcony, the Zortmans can see the curving tree line and the calm waters of Lake Norfork surrounding the Mockingbird Bay Resort. The two moved to Mountain Home three years ago, after Deutsche Bank laid off Zortman during a 10,000-employee reduction. They had always wanted their own business and had thought of having a bed and breakfast. After searching and visiting different sites, they discovered Mockingbird Bay Resort and decided this would be their new home. Soon, family members followed them to the area. "This is God's country," said Frank Zortman, surrounded by the lake, trees and cabins. "It is so awesome to be here." Even so, Zortman said he will never forget the images that day. Just the mention of Sept. 11 brings back what he saw and experienced, he said. He was not the only one affected. For about two years, his two daughters, Lianna and Valory, stayed home on Sept. 11 for a "Thank God Daddy's Alive Day," his wife said. "Nine-eleven shifted our priorities and we realize more than ever the importance of family and enjoying life," she said. "We are grateful for every beautiful sunrise we watch come up over the lake, and pinch ourselves to see if this new life is real."

PLEASE REQUEST TO SEE THE ZTEAM WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN TOWN, OUR OFFICE IS ACROSS THE STREET FROM MC DONALDS, CENTURY 21 LEMAC REALTY, 1024 HWY 62 IN MOUNTAIN HOME. LIKE OUR WEB PAGE?  CONTACT THE Z-TEAM TO BUY OR SELL PROPERTY! WE CAN SHOW AND SELL ALL LISTINGS IN OUR MLS.  ----------------

Mountain Home, AR--Brett Garrett Reports
Retirees Moving To Mountain Home

March 26, 2007 07:14 PM CDT

CENTURY 21 LEMAC REALTY MOUNTAIN HOME ARKANSAS

Baxter Bulletin March 26, 2007

City named as a top town
CHANDRA HUSTON
Bulletin Staff Writer

Mountain Home is one of the top 10 budget towns, undiscovered towns, and lake towns in America, according to "Where to Retire" magazine. The city was selected as a top town for a book called "America's 100 Best Places to Retire," which features cities in 34 states. Each community is designated as one of 10 best towns in each of 10 categories: art towns, budget towns, lake towns, beach towns, college towns, mountain towns, small towns, undiscovered towns, four-season towns and main street towns. Mountain Home ranked fifth in the undiscovered towns category. Other towns to make the list include Cashiers, N.C., Celebration, Fla., Grand Lake/Grove, Okla., and New Hope, Penn. Mountain Home also ranked high on the budget towns category along with Danville, Ky., Dothan, Ala., Eufaula, Ala., Hattiesburg, Miss., Kerrville, Texas, Natchez, Miss., Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Rockport, Texas, and San Antonio. With Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes close by, Mountain Home was named as a top lake town. Hot Springs also received the same designation. "America's 100 Best Places to Retire" covers topics from population figures and climate information to tax rates, housing costs and health-care options. Beyond facts and figures, the community profiles uncover the character of each locale. Writers conducted candid interviews with relocated retirees from each community and asked them to shed light on retirement living in their new hometowns.

If You're Thinking of Retiring in...

Simple Solitude: The Arkansas town of Mountain Home is off the beaten PATH...

By Jeff D. Opdyke, The Wall Street Journal, Feb 14, 2005

MOUNTAIN Home, Ark. -- This isn't a town you stumble onto by accident. You've got to be headed here on purpose.

Tucked deep into the Ozark Mountains and several hours from the nearest interstate, Mountain Home is reached largely by two-lane roads that wind, ascend and fall through pine and hardwood thickets. Yet despite the remoteness -- and in some cases because of it -- older Americans from California to Florida to the snow belt of the upper Midwest increasingly are finding their way to this Southern outpost. Though such moves have been happening for decades, Mountain Home is just now starting to shed its image as one of America's least-known retirement havens.

For many transplants, Mountain Home is the memorable destination of their youth: a small community where families spent summer months boating, canoeing and fishing on the three rivers and two lakes that define the region. Now in later life, people like Mary James, a 68- year-old retiree from Sturgis, S.D., are returning to the solitude of this corner of northern Arkansas.

"We used to come here" to escape winters in South Dakota, Ms. James says, "and we decided we didn't want to be anyplace else."

The area is also attracting people from traditional retirement states like California and Florida, and from urban locales like Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. West Coasters are fleeing the high costs of living; Floridians battered by too many hurricanes are pursuing more peaceable weather patterns; and Midwesterners are looking for a home where, in winter, snow shovels aren't needed daily.

Mountain Home dates to the late 1800s, just one in a string of tiny towns spread through the mountains. Nearby Cotter claimed all the action because the Missouri-Pacific railroad rolled through town. Mountain Home came into its own about 60 years ago when work began on the twin dams that built the Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes. Because the town was situated in the middle of both those projects, workers gravitated here looking for homes and services. That brought in businesses.

Today, Mountain Home is the biggest town in the region. Roughly half of its 11,000 locals are retirees. And word continues to spread that Mountain Home has much to offer retirees who don't mind life without a symphony, a Starbucks or a glitzy shopping mall.

For one, there are the fish. This part of Arkansas is known as the trout capital of the world because of the quality and quantity of trout pulled from local rivers that run cold along nearly sheer limestone cliffs, vistas that often resemble scenery from the movie "A River Runs Through It." Those rivers, in turn, have given up a number of world-record and state-record inhabitants, including a 38-pound brown trout and 64-pound striped bass.

Meanwhile, nearby Norfork Lake and Bull Shoals Lake, both created by dams erected in the 1940s and '50s, routinely produce trophy-size bass and walleye. The walleye fishing is so good, in fact, that the professional FLW Walleye Tour will make a stop on Bull Shoals Lake in 2005 for the second time in two years.

As such, Mountain Home and the surrounding region lure retirees keen on fly-fishing gin-clear streams and rivers, or those eager to reel fish from boats for bass, walleye, crappie and other species in lakes 200 feet deep.

"I was out the other day and pulled in 35 trout -- and that wasn't even a good day," says 67-year-old Dean Darling, an Ohio native who moved here after spending 13 years working in the oil industry in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Darling heard about Mountain Home from a fellow employee who had bought land here, so he drove through the area on a vacation, liked what he saw, and settled in for retirement with his wife, Rita, and a fly rod.

"What we catch here in one day," he says, "is what others catch in an entire season in places like Colorado or Montana or Wyoming." Last year, Mr. Darling fished 220 days of the year.

Fishing tourism largely propels the regional economy. Fishing resorts, fly-fishing schools and fishing shops are abundant. The area also is a big draw for businessmen from Dallas, in particular, seeking a close getaway for a few days of casting for brown, rainbow, cutthroat and brook trout.

Along with the fish, retirees say the biggest attraction is the locals themselves. "This is a place where if you stand outside the Wal-Mart with a map in your hand, someone is going to stop and help you find where you're going," says Jim Rowe, 76, who retired to Mountain Home with his wife, Phyllis, after spending years in Mesa, Ariz., and Chicago.

"It's just a place where people really care," Ms. Rowe says.

Volunteerism is so ingrained that Mountain Home and various nearby towns have, at one time or another in recent years, all been singled out by the state as Volunteer City of the Year. Retirees also make up a significant portion of the local elected officials running the town and the county.

"When we came down here to look around before we retired, we stopped to talk to people in the grocery stores because we wanted to see if, like in many places, you're considered an outsider if you move here from somewhere else," says 61-year-old Jackie Jedlicki, a retired health-care administrator, who moved to Mountain Home from Minneapolis with her husband, Gene. "But most people here are from somewhere else, so everyone accepts you immediately."

Indeed, so many different places are represented in the area that clubs have sprung up for retirees from a variety of states, such as the South Dakota Breakfast Club, the Wisconsin Club and the Illinois Club. The local retiree populations from Wisconsin and Illinois, in particular, are so robust that Chicago Cubs and Green Bay Packers bumper stickers compete with those for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

The Jedlickis were drawn to the area, in part, because unlike traditional retirement destinations that experience just two seasons -- hot and less hot -- the Ozarks offer the full complement. Summer days can sometimes exceed 100 degrees, and winter typically brings snow, if only about seven inches a year. Fall foliage is dramatic enough to be a tourist attraction, and spring is wet and mild.

Not that everything is utopian in Mountain Home. Racial diversity is nonexistent. Blacks, Asians and Hispanics make up a negligible 1.9% of the population, according to the 2000 census.

And like any growing small town, residents now complain about traffic on the main drag, Highway 62. Travel is largely by car, though that will change later this year when American Connection, a marketing alliance three small regional air carriers have with AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, begins flying several times a week between Mountain Home and St. Louis.

Some residents also complain of culture shock. There's not much in the way of shopping, beyond local merchants and discount retailers like Wal-Mart and Dollar General. The closest big-city shopping is two hours north, in Springfield, Mo. Little Rock, Ark., is 3 1/2 hours to the south; Memphis, Tenn., is 3 1/2 hours to the east; and St. Louis is about four hours to the northeast. Upscale restaurants are limited, too. The town has just two nationally known casual-dining chains: Chili's Grill and Bar, and Captain D's Seafood.

Still, "when I saw this place, I knew I was home," says Darrell Rinehart, 67, who moved to Mountain Home in 1998 after spending his entire life in Rochelle, Ill., about 80 miles west of Chicago. Mr. Rinehart's sister-in-law and her husband came to visit and liked Mountain Home so much, "they decided to move here from Tucson, Ariz., and now live just one block from me and my wife."

Like many retirees, Mr. Rinehart says the health-care facilities and the cost of living also make life in Mountain Home more comfortable than many other places. Highly regarded Baxter Regional Medical Center offers big-city health care -- with services such as open-heart surgery and intensive cancer care. The hospital's expertise in these areas stems from the fact that so many retirees are now in the market.

As for the cost of living: Mr. Rinehart says he sold a 28-year-old house in Illinois for $105,000, and bought a new one here for the same price. "My property taxes went from $3,500 in Illinois to $760 here," he says. Car-registration fees, meanwhile, fell to $27.50 from more than $300.

The average three-bedroom house in Mountain Home sells for about $118,000, according to the local Multiple Listing Service. But some homes can run toward $1 million or more, particularly the big, custom- built houses overlooking a river or lake, or some of the 4,000- to 8,000-square-foot homes going up in town at the Big Creek Golf & Country Club. (The Big Creek course is rated the top public course in Arkansas; Golf Digest magazine gives the course five out of five stars and encourages duffers to "pay any price [to play this course] at least once in your life.")

Many retirees relocating from states with high-dollar housing markets are typically using a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their former homes and are buying local homes in the $200,000 to $400,000 price range, says Rodney Wagner, owner of Mountain Home Real Estate. That range generally buys a 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot home, with three bedrooms and two baths, either in a tony neighborhood or along the water. Waterfront homes can sit literally along the White River or Norfork River, or they can be situated hundreds of feet up limestone bluffs overlooking the water, area lakes and the rolling Ozark Mountains.

There are no gated communities in Mountain Home. Older adults simply meld into the larger community, living alongside young families and midcareer couples. And while retirees are the largest segment of the local population, the area isn't entirely gray. More than 700 babies were born at Baxter Medical Center in 2003, the highest level in five years. The town is building a complex with numerous soccer fields for youth. And the local campus of Arkansas State University, with about 1,300 students, helps keep the town youthful -- though a few of those students are in their 80s.

The region's outdoor resources help retirees stay young, as well. More than 100 miles of trails snake through two parks, "and I see retirees out there all the time -- even when it's in the 20s outside," says Kelley Linck, executive director of the Ozark Mountain Region, a tourism association.

Says Mr. Rowe: "This is a wonderful place to spend retirement. Just don't advertise that too much."

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