Advice for my gay friend (Oklahoma City, Norman: house, to buy, construction) - (OK) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Jess5 · 01-18-2011, 01:39 AM

If a straight couple was making out in public, they would get disapproving looks. It's just tacky. Your friends should have no problems because they are gay. I've always known a lot of gay people in the area, and they don't have any trouble.
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OK. air pollution - Pollution Locator: Hazardous Air Pollutants: State Report
Oklahoma does have humidity. The summers are long and HOT. I know people who move every summer because they can't take the summers anymore. I love Oklahoma, and if I ever move, it will be because of the heat also. I can walk around all day in 110 degrees too, in dry heat, but I can't even stand to go outside in the summer here. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for such a long time. Our winters are mild, IMO. Every once in a while we have an ice storm, but they usually don't last long. Some people think the winters are bad, but I don't understand how. They must have never been in the northern states at all. Our winters are also short. It can be ridiculously hot in March. I haven't worn a heavy coat at all this winter, and people were out in shorts yesterday.

If we get heavy thunderstorms, I've missed them. I was just telling someone that I couldn't remember the last time it rained, and when it does, they aren't usually heavy. It hardly ever rains for a very long period of time either. I'd be more worried about tornadoes, although they don't usually make it to the downtown area, and we are getting quite a few small earthquakes.

Do your friends like sports?
I hope they will be very happy here.

debzkidz · 01-18-2011, 06:07 AM

It all depends on where you move here from, as to what you think about the weather. We moved here from Houston, so the humidity doesn't seem all that bad to us, although it seemed more humid to me this past summer than any other year we lived here. If you are not used to some pretty intense heat, I would time my visit either in the spring or fall, even in June, it's not terrible. We've lived here through 5 summers, and the first one was bad, and this past one was bad, but all the ones in between have been pretty mild. The problem is, of course, you can't know in advance what it's going to be. To me, the winters are very cold and seem to last forever, but for your friends, coming from Chicago, I'm sure they will think its great. Right now, we are in the midst of a bit of a drought, so it is really dry right now. We love the springs and falls. Spring is absolutely beautiful here. Yes, we do get some pretty heavy thunderstorms, especially in the spring. They don't last forever, though. They just kind of come through in waves bringing some locally heavy downpours, then they move on.

Pollution here is not a problem at all. The air is really quite clear. There's not a lot of heavy industry here, and traffic is nonexistent, so we just don't have the big causes that many big cities have.

One word of warning to your friends. If they have cars that they care about, they need to make sure they have either a garage or covered parking for them. We can get some pretty intense hailstorms in the spring and summer. There's not much you can do when your out driving somewhere, like I was last year, when my car got beat up, but it's advisable to at least be able to protect them when you are at home. Nothings worse than to be at home late at night and have the weather guy come on and tell you there's a storm with big hail tracking right to your neighborhood, and know you have a car parked outside. We have more cars than garages, so more than once, I've seen DH and our son jump up, throw on clothes, and drive the extra cars up to the neighborhood car wash or drive through bank to try to save the cars from hail damage.

proudvoterofObama · 01-18-2011, 08:31 AM

I'm not sure why Oklahoma has a reputation for being discriminatory. Yes, you have your select few ultra conservatives, but for the most part, people don't care. As long as you don't do anything inappropriate in public (and my inappropriate I mean PDA and not just exclusive to gays - I don't want to see anyone, gay or straight, making out or having sex in public. It's gross, but I digress.)

Emery'sMommy · 01-18-2011, 08:45 AM

debzkidz, I grew up in Houston so I agree with you on the humidity levels here being much more bearable. I have family with asthma and it's much better for them here than it was in Houston. People complain about the humidity here but it's nothing compared to the gulf coast/eastern seaboard states.

Summers aren't terribly bad- from late June-early September it's usually above 90 and August is always around 100 or a little above. Sometimes we will have random cool fronts, like we did last yr for 4th a July. It was so nice! With their price range, they might look for something with a pool.

Air quality here isn't really an issue- traffic again is almost non-existent.
Spring thunderstorms can get pretty intense. But rainfall wise, it isn't a downpour like say, Floridians will get randomly in the afternoon. The weather men here give you plenty of notice upfront and will forgo all other tv programming to keep you updated on storms, even if they're at the border of TX (this gets annoying!). Last year it rained/stormed a lot less than in past yrs. Sometimes, we do have some flooding and a realtor should be able to tell your friends whether or not they're in an area that's prone to it. (Some historic homes also have basements here so be aware of that as well).

Good luck to your friends with their move, it's a big change but their money will go a lot further here=better quality of life.

eddie gein · 01-18-2011, 02:10 PM

The gay community actually has a commercial area that they call their own at 39th St. and Pennsylvania. It is anchored by a place called the Habana Inn which is supposedly the largest gay "resort" in the southwest.

As far as housing goes, the Heritage Hills area is great but the houses are huge. For about 200K or so they could move to an area called Mesta Park/Edgmere and get a bungalow about the size of what they had. Probably the most liberal area in OKC is along 16th street west of downtown below Oklahoma City University (Plaza District). That neighborhood is spotty but has some really nice areas. Then there is the art district known as "the Paseo" which is a little further north.

If they want something real new/newly remodeled the could get into any number of developments downtown. These would have a more urban feel.

There are also numerous other small historic neighborhoods in the core of OKC that are similar to Mesta/Edgemere that are just as nice but not as well known. All the places they would want to look are due north of downtown between Classen and basically Robinson/Centenial Expressway and between 10th and 39th streets.

That neighboorhood to the west is basically between Classen and May as well as 10th and 23rd street.

There is a neat little neighborhood further north of downtown called Crown Heights, but it is a lot more conservative than closer in to town. There are some neat houses though.

ou_norman · 01-18-2011, 04:15 PM

For 750k, they can get really large homes anywhere in the nice, more liberal-leaning historic areas north of downtown, or they could stay more urban and take advantage of lofts and brownstones being built in Maywood Park north of Bricktown. They could buy TWO nice houses in historic and high-demand parts of OKC with that. The 39th Street area where a lot of the gay entertainment is also has some nice nearby neighborhoods (Putnam Heights, Crown Heights/Edgemere) and is an easy commute to downtown.

With a petroleum engineer and an aerospace engineer, they actually seem like the perfect couple for OKC right now. I'd wager his partner could easily find a job with Boeing (if he doesn't already work for Boeing in Chicago?)

Also I would send them to this website which was made for all of the southern California transplants that are headed this way- it has a great video presentation about 30-45 minutes describing life in OKC: Home | Welcome to Oklahoma City

TCMaster · 01-18-2011, 06:56 PM

So my friend sent me an email (he should really just make an account himself on this), and it seems as though things are falling into place nicely. His partner's boss said that they can move his job at boeing to OKC (with a 5% pay cut being the downside), and he has accepted that. My friend has also accepted the job in OKC, and they will be flying out on Thursday to go house hunting.

eddie gein · 01-19-2011, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCMaster

So my friend sent me an email (he should really just make an account himself on this), and it seems as though things are falling into place nicely. His partner's boss said that they can move his job at boeing to OKC (with a 5% pay cut being the downside), and he has accepted that. My friend has also accepted the job in OKC, and they will be flying out on Thursday to go house hunting.

The picked a bad day to come. We are supposed to have winter storm tonight and it is going to be pretty cold for the next few days.

As far as a 5% pay cut, they will be able to make up for that easily here.

We are glad they are coming and we would be happy to chat with them on this board if they have any questions. Oklahoma City will never have any mountains or beaches obviously, but now is the time to come because we are beginning to morph into a "grown up" city in the next 10 years or so.

And tell them that Will Rogers once said: "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma...............Wait a minute."

proudvoterofObama · 01-19-2011, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddie gein

The picked a bad day to come. We are supposed to have winter storm tonight and it is going to be pretty cold for the next few days.

As far as a 5% pay cut, they will be able to make up for that easily here.

We are glad they are coming and we would be happy to chat with them on this board if they have any questions. Oklahoma City will never have any mountains or beaches obviously, but now is the time to come because we are beginning to morph into a "grown up" city in the next 10 years or so.

And tell them that Will Rogers once said: "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma...............Wait a minute."

I know this is a little off topic, but is it supposed to be that bad? Are schools going to be closed, and the roads undriveable? (Is that even a word?! LOL)
I've been stuck at work all day, and while I can get a forecast online, I like to have someone tell me whether or not I need to "stay in!"

eddie gein · 01-19-2011, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proudvoterofObama

I know this is a little off topic, but is it supposed to be that bad? Are schools going to be closed, and the roads undriveable? (Is that even a word?! LOL)
I've been stuck at work all day, and while I can get a forecast online, I like to have someone tell me whether or not I need to "stay in!"

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be slick. That's why I worry about these guys out house hunting. It's supposed to be bad all morning and it may not get warm enough to melt on Thursday. It may be Friday before it melts off.

I don't think it's going to be horrible. Just icy.