I moved my wife and 3 kids from Santa Clarita, CA to Edmond, OK about 7 months ago to try to give the kids a better enviroment to grow up in and get out of California because the cost of living was getting out of control (like a $1200 power bill and $3.50 gas and so on...)
Here is what I have noticed about how things are here so far...
Here is the good stuff
My goal of giving the kids better schools, lower crime, and a better place to grow up has been met 100%. My 11 year old is doing great, her friends are great and she has had not problem adjusting (excpet for the fact the school work is a bit harder). It is nice to be able to send here over to a friends house with out having to worry if they are doing drugs or God only knows what else.
As far as the cost of living go, houses are about 30% to 50% of what they cost in the far flung inland cities of SoCal. My power bill is about 15% of what it was is CA and gas for the car runs about 70 cents lower than CA most of the time. Car insurance is about 1/2 price, house insurance is about the same, food runs about 50% less at the Walmart than at Vons, and most everything else is about 10 to 50%. It does not seem like anyone is out to rip you off but you still have to shop around for things like pools and home improvement projects.
As far as things to do as far a shopping, eating out etc OKC has just about everything that socal did (just less of it). Most every store and chain that you will find in CA is also in OKC. If you live on the westside you are going to be in for a shock but if you live outside that area I don't think you will miss much.
People here are nice, very nice and not in a phony Seattle kind of way. They care about you and want to do everything they can the help you. I can't say enough about how nice it is to live in a place without a bunch of angry over stressed people.
The quality of the house you buy here is much better than what you find is Socal. The builders care about quality and don't put the cheapest stuff in.
The weather here is about the same as Santa Clarita about 85% of the time. The sun shines and wind blows. (I will get to the other 15% later)
There is no traffic, we like to call it rush 15 mins. You just don't waste a lot of time tied up in traffic jams and there are not a whole lot of crashes.
To sum up the good what I would say is if you want to get rid of all your stress, free up hours and hours of time from traffic, waiting in line and finding parking then the OKC area has it.
Things that I had to get used to -
In California you tend to have to fight for everything and watch everyone to make sure they are not ripping you off. This is something you should not do here. For the most part people are honest and not trying to take advantage of you and they tend to get a bit upset if they think you don't trust them.
What I have found more than anything is that I get what I need and even a bit more than what I need but it does not happen as fast as I am used to and you just have to have faith and it just falls into place exactly the way I need it to.
When you live in Edmond it is easy to forget that Oklahoma has it's share of Hillbillys. I don't know if that is a bad thing but sometimes I am a bit shocked that there are still people that are like the TV show that was on the air 30 years ago. Not to say they are not nice because they are.
The not so good -
When the weather here is bad it is very very bad. Ice, Snow, Rain, and yes Twisters and bone chilling COLD.
I grew up in Ohio and Ice and Snow is not all that a big deal for me, however they use God's snow removal system around here - God gives it and God takes it away. I have never seen a city spend 8 days trying to plow away sleet that was frozen to the road. It has been known for many many years that Salt melts the stuff and it fairly cheap (when you start adding up the cost of shuting down the city for 7 days).
As for the Rain it can come it buckets and everything is not exactly built to withstand it. The streets flood and there does not seem to be a whole lot of standards as far as how you handle your run off, if it goes over the the neighbors yard and flood it that is okay because water goes down hill. So if you buy a house make sure that you are not at the end of a many lot river that shows up every time it rains.
The Twisters are interesting. In Ohio it took a lot to get those thing going, here it seems like they just drop down form just about any storm without a whole lot of trouble at all. We are just getting started with the season but I think having a storm shelter or safe room would be at the top of my list when buying a house. Also a weather radio is a must. I don't think the chances of having your house hit are all that high but they will scare you wife and kids if not yourself.
As far a the COLD goes, it does get COLD, it does not stay cold for all that long the when it is COLD it is COLD so don't be all that suprised.
What I can say is this, OKC is a very good place to live and have your childern grow up in. The weather is good most of the time but when it is bad it is very bad. My family is more or less happy with the move and I don't have any plans to move back to California any time soon.
Hope this helps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jexter
My wife and I both work and struggle to maintain a good life for our kids, we own a home but cant really afford to buy a larger one now that our 3rd child is almost here. I work in garage doors (repair, installation, sales, management, etc..) for over 8 years and my wife is a merchandiser.
We just want to find a nice place and raise our kids. We'll have some money when we sell our house so we'll be looking to buy but I don't know Oklahoma that well anymore.
I was stationed at Fort Sill 15 years ago but thats been a while and don't know where a good place to buy some land and a house where I can at least find work or possibly start my own door service company.
Any help would be appriciated.
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Wanting to get out of California
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