Relocation to Norman area..Help! (Moore, Chickasha: rental, crime, houses)

[actaylor]

My husband is considering a job in this area. We are wondering about schools, housing, shopping ect. We have three children in all three levels of school, Elementary, Middle and High School. Any help would be appreciated as it is of high importance. Housing options woould probably be rental properties for up to a year to get the lay of the land and good neighborhoods. We would prefer acreage if not to far from schools. (Nothing by construction please). Any suggestions here?
His job would be in Norman but not opposed to a 25 minute or less comute from surrounding areas.
Another are of interest is weather! Do most home have storm shelters?

Parks and outside interest are also of great importance to us, any help here of local places to see or do is appreciated.
Just the inside track or anything else we need to know as we may only get to visit once, before we have to make big decisions!

[peggydavis]

Hi actaylor

Norman has good schools and shopping. It is a good idea to rent for a while so you can pick the neighborhood you want. You could probably find a nice house to rent on the west side of Norman while you look around. Norman has very nice parks and with the University's influence many community events take place.

I have noticed that Norman is growing to the east. Some new developments are being built that have acre sized lots. If you want more land you can find it to the south and west as well. If it were me, I would not want to be in Little Axe schools (east of Norman).

Some homes come with storm shelters or safe rooms. If a home does not have one, I have heard the cost is around $3,000 to have one installed.

[actaylor]

What a blessing you are! Thanks for the response. It is quite scary to move to a completely new place with three children and really no knowledge of the area. I love to talk to the locals because they are the "experts!" Thank you for taking the time.

[peggydavis]

Well, thanks, actaylor. Have you read the other threads in this forum about Norman? You might find some info there.

[ewelsh]

ACTaylor,

Great place to raise a family. I moved here in 95 and was concerned about living in a University town. Well I am still here and Norman is still fun and friendly. The local police use to have was called a DARE (Drug awarness program)for the schools where the police would go in the schools, I feel that was a success.

Great schools, good city governement, and homes reasonalbly priced for the housing market.
Norman like any place else, if there was a vacant lot a house was built there. We have the Million dollars homes and the below 100k .

We have the Wal -Marts (2), Target and all the retail stores you could ask for.

Lake Thunderbird 20 Minutes to the East if you have a boat, I would not recommend swimming in it, not that it is polluted, there is to much red clay and makes the water red and hard to see anything in the water.

Casino and another Casino and another Cansino. I have to admit the Tribes do keep us employed, plus a lot of entertainment music entertainment like Lorretta Lynn, Tom Jones, and yes there are currents entertainers come also.

Oh yea did I mention the University of Oklahoma? Football, Basketball, Baseball if you are a sports fan get ready to have some fun.

You asked about weather, we have the rain, snow, wind and the wind, and heat and cold. But what is really exciting is the spring storms, some pop unexpected and if you have a basement (not to many houses here have them that I know of) but most have storm shelters or storm rooms where you can feel safe but see some interesting weather. I do not have either storm shelter or room.


What else would you like to know?

What are the dislikes of Norman - OU built a bunch of student appartments in what use to a park behind my house and ran off the the wild life, like the red fox and rabbits.

Other than that Norman is a great place.

[actaylor]

What are the pros and cons in Moore vs Norman? Any major differences? Are either going through major growth with construction and road pile-ups? What to avoid...
Are there smaller surrounding towns (not on the map) that is a more rural community but better in some ways?
School systems are huge on our radar. Big doesnt neccesarily mean better for us.
Taxes too...
Crime...
AHHHH the decisions!!

[ewelsh]

Moore and Norman and pretty close the same. Moore is growing south and Norman is growing north someday they will meet.

Small towns to the south Noble and Purcell, to the west Tuttle, Newcastle, Chickasha
to the east Little Axe and to the North pretty much all Metro area.

Taxes in Norman 7.5% use to be 8% but that changed a couple of years ago.

Crime probably less then normal, good police and fire department.


Welcome To The City Of Norman

[Old Hippie Lady]

Originally Posted by ewelsh

ACTaylor,

Great place to raise a family. I moved here in 95 and was concerned about living in a University town. Well I am still here and Norman is still fun and friendly. The local police use to have was called a DARE (Drug awarness program)for the schools where the police would go in the schools, I feel that was a success.

Great schools, good city governement, and homes reasonalbly priced for the housing market.
Norman like any place else, if there was a vacant lot a house was built there. We have the Million dollars homes and the below 100k .

We have the Wal -Marts (2), Target and all the retail stores you could ask for.

Lake Thunderbird 20 Minutes to the East if you have a boat, I would not recommend swimming in it, not that it is polluted, there is to much red clay and makes the water red and hard to see anything in the water.

Casino and another Casino and another Cansino. I have to admit the Tribes do keep us employed, plus a lot of entertainment music entertainment like Lorretta Lynn, Tom Jones, and yes there are currents entertainers come also.

Oh yea did I mention the University of Oklahoma? Football, Basketball, Baseball if you are a sports fan get ready to have some fun.

You asked about weather, we have the rain, snow, wind and the wind, and heat and cold. But what is really exciting is the spring storms, some pop unexpected and if you have a basement (not to many houses here have them that I know of) but most have storm shelters or storm rooms where you can feel safe but see some interesting weather. I do not have either storm shelter or room.


What else would you like to know?

What are the dislikes of Norman - OU built a bunch of student appartments in what use to a park behind my house and ran off the the wild life, like the red fox and rabbits.

Other than that Norman is a great place.

I bought my 20 acres about 18 miles southeast of the Norman City limits 4 years ago. That's South of Lake Thunderbird. When I moved out here, there were very few lights. Now, when you top the hill, you will see them everywhere. I heard the utilitiy companies can barely keep up. There's neighborhoods, track housing sprouting up in so many places and the traffic is getting much heavier than the year before.

Housing is growing really fast out our way, but we still don't have the grocery stores, gas stations, shops, Braums, etc. as near as we would like. The nearest Wal-Mart is about 20 miles away.

We're hoping Braums gets out here in a hurry. We miss our ice-cream. If anyone knows any of the Braums family with any influence, please send them out our way! Highway 9 and 180th would be great. That's the nearest to me.....still miles away, though.

Our only grocery store within 10 miles could sure use some competiton. It would be nice to have a choice. I think the volume of people out here would warrant another grocery store. Even if it's a sorta small one, off the highway.

If anyone is thinking about starting up a new small business, I heard the new TARP money (stimilus package) is supposed to help new small businesses start up. It might be something for some young person who wants to be independent, to think about or check out.

We would certainly welcome you out here. We're happy in the boonies!

[Ty_the_sooner]

I guess im a little late in posting but i'll get to my point i live out on the east side of Norman 60th to be exact and like previous posters said before me the city is steadily growing out this way it used to be the East side Walmart was when you hit Norman all on a 2 lane road now it's a 4 lane road and there building another linking to Tecumsah to give the east side quick acess yo the west side and Vice-Versa as far as schools go i Don't have any experince with Norman schools other than for high school (I went to a independant school out here by where i live) But when i went to Norman North the transition was easy the school was great and i had a great time as a student there Norman high from my experince is the "Poorer" high school in town other than that the west side is all newere development while the east side is mainly the original city and the development up to the 80's or so