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About Little Rock
Little Rock is the capital and the most populous city of the State of
Arkansas. It is also the county seat of Pulaski County and had a city population
of 184,564 in the 2005 census estimates. It and North Little Rock, Arkansas are
co-principal cities of the six-county Little Rock-North Little Rock, Arkansas
Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area with a population of 643,272 people,
according to 2005 census estimates. The MSA is in turn included in the Little
Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Arkansas Combined Statistical Area, which had
a population of 819,469 in the 2005 census estimates.
Located near the geographic center of Arkansas, Little Rock derives its name
from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called La
Petite Roche (the "little rock"). The "little rock" was used by early river
traffic as a landmark and became a well-known river crossing.
Major corporations headquartered in Little Rock: Alltel, Dillard's Department
Stores, Windstream Communications and Acxiom.
Large companies headquartered in Little Rock: Metropolitan National Bank, Rose
Law Firm, Nuvell Financial Services, Central Flying Service and Stephens Inc.
Large companies headquartered in other cities but with a large presence in
Little Rock: Dassault Falcon Jet, Raytheon Aircraft Company and Fidelity
National Information Services.
Non-profit organizations include Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now, Heifer International, Lions World Services for the Blind, William J.
Clinton Foundation, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and Winrock International.
Associations include the American Taekwondo Association, Arkansas Hospital
Association, and the Quapaw Quarter Association.
Major employers in Little Rock include Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield,
Entergy, Raytheon, The Sharper Image, Siemens, and Timex.
One of the largest public employers in the state with over 9,400 employees, the
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and its affiliates — Arkansas
Children's Hospital and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System — have a
total economic impact in Arkansas of about $4.1 billion per year. UAMS receives
less than 11% of its funding from the state. Its operation is funded by payments
for clinical services (64%), grants and contracts (18%), philanthropy and other
(5%), and tuition and fees (2%).
The Little Rock Port is an intermodal river port with a large industrial
business complex. It is designated as Foreign Trade Zone 14.
Little Rock was named 22nd out of 361 metropolitan areas as best places for
business in 2005 by Forbes magazine.
Moody's Investor Services ranks Little Rock as the second most diverse economy
in the nation.
Little Rock along with Louisville and Memphis are branches of the St. Louis
Federal Reserve district.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for an Apartment...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to
think through what are the most important things to you in an apartment
and plan your search based on those priorities. Here are some things to
consider when planning your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in
the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in
unit laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air
conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth countries) is a
self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments
may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the
residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or
in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the
public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but
large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment
connotes a residential unit or section in a building. Apartment building owners,
lessors, or managers often use the more general word units to refer to
apartments. Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment, the
lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents
a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
(i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are often to minimize the vacancy rate
for their units. The owner of the apartment typically transfers possession to
the occupant by giving him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any
other keys need to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other
common areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. apartment, efficiency, bed-sit,
or bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with the cheapest
rents in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually consist mainly of a
large room which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. There are usually
kitchen facilities as part of this central room, but the bathroom is its own
smaller separate room. Moving up from the efficiencies are one-bedroom
apartments where one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment.
Then there are two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments
often have only one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two
entrances/exits, perhaps a door in the front and another in the back. Depending
on the building design, the entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside
or to a common area inside, such as a hallway. Depending on location, apartments
may be available for rent furnished with furniture or unfurnished into which a
tenant usually moves in with his/her own furniture. Permanent carpeting is often
included in an apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all the
tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built and the design
of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and electric may be common
for all the apartments in the building or separate for each apartment and billed
separately to each tenant (however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal
to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the
premises). Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always billed
separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities are
extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra storage space may or may
not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit the maximum number
of people who can reside in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the
apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location
accessible to the public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit
typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large
apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell) for
each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or
three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of in trash
containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, garbage is
often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing
noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in
an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a
new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the
word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building. An
industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly
called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family
member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny flat, though
these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters
rather than family members. In Canada these suites are commonly located in the
basements of houses and are therefore normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming
popular with travelers.