CA Transplants in OK City; OTA Jobs

[SoCal 1630]

Go East -- you should find OTA jobs in the OKC metro without a lot of difficulty, but they'll be concentrated in certain areas of town. OKC is actually very, very spread out, and its major suburbs are a long way from each other. I recommend a visit to familiarize yourself with the area, if you've never been there. You'll probably find a lot of OTA opportunities around the big University of Oklahoma medical center south of the state capitol complex. Other big medical complexes are Integris/Baptist and Deaconess. Fast-growing suburbs with burgeoning medical services would include Edmond, Del City/Midwest City, and Norman.

You really can find real estate "steals," but I'd caution you against trying to do it on a weekend visit from 1500 miles away. I don't know what kind of neighborhood you like, but if you're single and enjoy cuisine and culture and so forth, you should really take your time and look. It's extremely easy to buy a new 3/2 "French provincial" tract home for $200K, or an older 3/2 ranch for $115K, in any of OKC's four quadrants or suburbs. But you might not be happy there.

If you want to be convenient to most culture, unique restaurants, boutique shopping, and all the north-side medical complexes, I'd recommend looking between about 13th St and 63rd north, and between Western and Portland Avenues (north-south streets). Single-family neighborhoods where you can find good bargains include ones like Belle Isle and Smith Highland Hills. I wouldn't discount Edgemere, an older neighborhood. There are some great "old brick bungalow" neighborhoods where you can still get super bargains on pretty good-size houses (1000 sq ft and up) from the '20s and 30s, with the built-ins and the woodwork and so forth.

There are nice, well-kept apartments and condo complexes all over the place if you want to rent for a while and know the city -- and your routine and interests -- before buying. Other options would include just settling in one of the suburbs and orienting your life mostly there. Yukon, Edmond, Mustang, Norman, Moore, Del/Midwest -- all are pretty self-sustaining now in terms of shopping, schools, churches, physical recreation, and social groups. Edmond and Norman have state universities and more of the wealthy residents. For the arts, though, you'll need to venture into OKC.

[Go East]

Thanks for the great reply. I really would like to buy if I get the chance, though. I'm pretty accepting about where to live, excepting CA. I'd visit before I bought. I've seen some cheap condos online in Del City, Warr Acres, and Putnam City. The latter two are a bit pricier than similar foreclosures in other states. How are those three areas? Are they safe?

[Emery'sMommy]

Steer clear of Del City...probably one of the most undesireable areas of town IMO and others.
Putnam City/Nw Okc is good if you're looking for a suburban area close to shopping, restaurants, and convienent to highways taking you to any part of the city.

I live near Mustang/Yukon and while there are nice apts/new neighborhoods here, I find it a little bland, lacking character and trees. It's perfect for family though.

The Penn square/Nichol Hills area is nice as well as certain historic neighborhoods like Mesta Park & Edgemere. Bricktown/downtown is also fun for singles to live, work & play (but pricier for sure).

[CyberCop]

Originally Posted by irishlover

Also, I think OKC is one of the worst places to move if you are single. Most people in OK are married straight out of college (many also divorced shortly after too) but unless you are into swingers clubs I say you'll probably have to have a long distance relationship. I KNOW this sounds harsh but it's how I feel about OKC!

Whoa! Whoa!! Whoa!!! I Lived in Edmond from when i was 18 to 24 years old, I had NO problem finding singles in that age group (and older), nor was there a shortage of places to go!!

...Although most of the time i did have to venture into The City, and Bricktown but there are a few places in Edmond and Norman. I can tell you of a thousand places that know me by first and last name. if you need any ideas of where to go or what to do, just ask me!!

[sasywtch]

Noticed you said CA and asking about lakes. Yes OK has a lot of lakes but don't think they are similar to CA lakes. They are not blue, but muddy and not the "beachy" type. One looked ok, it was the large one on the way to Tulsa (can't remember the name now). One lake by us no one swam in because there were lots of snakes swimming with you (Tenkiller?).
The atmosphere of OK was ok but in all honesty, there were a lot of things I couldn't get use to.
Bugs. Never seen so many in my life. Those huge red june bugs, ticks, fire ants and copperhead snakes. The weather? You may not have a problem as you lived in MN however, no one told us that OK was known as the worst black ice state. I could not get use to putting my car in neutral instead of using my brakes. OK doesn't have the amount of snow removal/sand trucks as other states that get alot of snow so when it does ice or snow, it's very slow getting the roads clear. Cars always slipping and sliding on the ice from Dec-March. So wasn't use to the humidity but living in TX, you may be. It can be 104 here in CA but that 90 with humidity in OK killed me. You HAD to have air conditioning as a fan won't do it both in the house and car.

The funny thing is, all of us that got transferred to OK from CA actually had more money at the end of the month in CA then we did in OK even though housing was cheaper in OK and got paid the same. Food prices were higher (the produce/veggies.....coming from CA, yeow...), the airconditioning and heating costs were very high compared to CA. Gasoline was cheaper in OK though. One thing that I did miss while living there was that you could drive 2-4 hours in each direction and be no where (well, except Dallas). That's not really fair though unless you've lived somewhere else and use to it. In 90 minutes I'm at the Pacific Ocean one way and 90 minutes east I'm in the Sierras. However, from OK if you like to travel for a few days, you can be in New Orleans, Chicago, Nashville etc. That I envy and wish I had traveled back east a little more while we were there.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by sasywtch

Noticed you said CA and asking about lakes. Yes OK has a lot of lakes but don't think they are similar to CA lakes. They are not blue, but muddy and not the "beachy" type. One looked ok, it was the large one on the way to Tulsa (can't remember the name now). One lake by us no one swam in because there were lots of snakes swimming with you (Tenkiller?).
The atmosphere of OK was ok but in all honesty, there were a lot of things I couldn't get use to.
Bugs. Never seen so many in my life. Those huge red june bugs, ticks, fire ants and copperhead snakes. The weather? You may not have a problem as you lived in MN however, no one told us that OK was known as the worst black ice state. I could not get use to putting my car in neutral instead of using my brakes. OK doesn't have the amount of snow removal/sand trucks as other states that get alot of snow so when it does ice or snow, it's very slow getting the roads clear. Cars always slipping and sliding on the ice from Dec-March. So wasn't use to the humidity but living in TX, you may be. It can be 104 here in CA but that 90 with humidity in OK killed me. You HAD to have air conditioning as a fan won't do it both in the house and car.

The funny thing is, all of us that got transferred to OK from CA actually had more money at the end of the month in CA then we did in OK even though housing was cheaper in OK and got paid the same. Food prices were higher (the produce/veggies.....coming from CA, yeow...), the airconditioning and heating costs were very high compared to CA. Gasoline was cheaper in OK though. One thing that I did miss while living there was that you could drive 2-4 hours in each direction and be no where (well, except Dallas). That's not really fair though unless you've lived somewhere else and use to it. In 90 minutes I'm at the Pacific Ocean one way and 90 minutes east I'm in the Sierras. However, from OK if you like to travel for a few days, you can be in New Orleans, Chicago, Nashville etc. That I envy and wish I had traveled back east a little more while we were there.

I was born and raised in socal, and lived in various parts of LA, OC and Riverside until last year when I moved here. I find that prices generally are lower than in socal. Having lived in the santa ana wind tunnel, I really don't notice the OK wind all that much. I rather like that you can go somewhere and drive for an hour and have trees and road around you. Much better than houses and endless suburbia. If you come from one of the inland valleys like the IE where it tends to be humid, the humidity isn't nearly as bad. And my house here stays a lot cooler than my apartment in Riverside did.

The air is clear and the sky has this amazing blueness to it here. My water doesn't smell and taste like it came out of a pool. The society is very different, but I find it refreshing. I like the slower pace of life too. Not everyone in California is caught up in the rush and needs the excitement of something to do on every corner. Some of us left to get away from that.

This has been my first introduction to four seasons, but it has been quite liveable. People seem to do what they do in California when its cold and rainy or too hot, stay inside. After a bunch of rain or cold all the neighbors are outside the first warm day. And I've even met all the close neighbors. Which is amazing to someone who is used to socal.

Ok is different than California and if different is what you want then embrase the difference. If you love the activity and rush then you may be dissapointed. But there are plenty of relocated Californians who are quite happy here.

[sasywtch]

Nightbird....inland very N CA here which as you probably know is 80% different than S CA. Not the hurried pace, we get seasons up here : ) You're right about some will like it but you gotta admit, produce is different! (humor there). I had never lived anywhere else so when we got transfered to OKC, I thought produce looked the same everywhere (and the price). I guess there is something to be said about the tomato trucks on I-5. OKC wasn't bad, we were just misled somewhat or ignorant. One good thing now that we moved back, when the weathermen saw "watch out, high winds in the 30 mph", we laugh. Coincidentally, we have had 4 F-1/2 tornados here since we moved back and people blame us for bringing them. We actually stood outside here in CA to watch while everyone else was scared. We lived 1 mile from the F5 10 years ago so F1-2 are dust storms to us now.