Odessa/Midland area? Comments Please! (Houston, Dallas: apartment, rentals, insurance)

[Cathy4017]

I'm sorry, it is hard to face the facts if you live in Midland/Odessa.

Well, it just boils down to different strokes for different folks.

You wouldn't live in M/O....and I wouldn't live in East Texas. It's every bit that simple.

There is no predicting of the oil/gas industry. People more experienced and older than yourself have tried...and failed, LOL!!!

Some will tell you that oil peaked in the 1970s......some will tell you that it is peaking now.....and yet others say that it hasn't yet peaked, and won't do so for another 20 years.

So......which "expert" is right?

As for growth? As far as I'm concerned, we're big enough.....I liked Midland better when it was half this size.

But....as I am not going to spend the rest of my life here, it's irrelevant.

I plan to retire to a place yet higher and drier than I am now.

[etexbill]

"People more experienced and older than yourself have tried...and failed, LOL!!!"

LOL. Cathy you are right. It's all in what area you live and what you like, but you can't get much older and more experienced than me. I'm older than dirt. Bill

[Cathy4017]

but you can't get much older and more experienced than me. I'm older than dirt. Bill

Well, my dad has been in the industry since 1954, and will be 82 in November.

So....I grew up with it....and have lived in the middle of it for nearly 30 years as an adult.

If you're smart, you sock away money during the chicken times.....so you'll have some for the feather times. It's always a boom-bust, and always will be, I think!!!

[etexbill]

You are so right. I am only 72, I spent my life in the oil supply business until '84 when the industry retired in East Texas before I was ready to retire. Then went into client service in the medical field where there is always a job although it don't pay like the oil industry. Thanks to the saying, I socked away some from the chicken times. LOL Really kidding you in a way about Midland/Odessa. I have a friend from high school who owned an oil supply business in Odessa. Although now retired, he is still there and loves it.

[Cathy4017]

I spent my life in the oil supply business until '84

And that was the year of the huge bust. I was working in Seminole (commuting) at the time on the Amerada-Hess project.

I walked into the main office trailer. You could have heard a pin drop. First National Bank had just gone under.

Those were scary times indeed. A lot of people left the industry because they couldn't handle the feast-famine aspect of it. You're right in that we lost thousands of jobs after that point, including the majors leaving town.

Midland and Odessa are always going to be oil-related towns....there's no getting around it. Yet....we are booming once again. Over 20 years later, it's a really different place....lots of new going up everywhere, and lots of changes taking place.

I like everything about it (I am a desert rat, after all) except for the heat....and no snow/skiing. Since Ruidoso had no snow to speak of last season, I ended up having to drive 430 miles to Sipapu (Vadito, NM, up above Las Vegas, NM).....that was long and tiring.

East Texas is really pretty....but I feel crummy the whole time I'm there (whether it's the northeast--Tyler, Longview,Marshall--or the southeast--Beaumont, Jasper, Kirbyville) because of the vegetation and humidity. I have to take allergy meds constantly, and the headaches never really stop.

I worked in MS for 6 months, which has the same type of environment...and I was never able to acclimate.

The higher and drier I get, the better I feel. 8000 ft at Sipapu....WOW.

How do you manage to live in such humidity? That is an honest question....no sarcasm intended.

[etexbill]

I guess that I am just acclimated to the humidity. LOL just checked the humidity in Midland and it is almost the same there as in Tyler. (54 to 60 percent). I checked last night and Midland was more humid than Tyler, what's with that?? I was born and raised in Tyler and then spent over 20 years in Ft. Worth. I guess East Texas gets in your system as I came back here and bought an old restored home in Lindale, a fast growing (too fast) suburb of Tyler. Yep, I stay on allergy medication. I'm with you, I love the high and dry areas. Tyler is sure dry now but not high. We are in the second year of a severe drought. Bill

[Cathy4017]

Midland was more humid than Tyler, what's with that??

Probably due to the recent rains. We had a record wet August (nearly 6 inches), crazy growth of weeds/grass/etc., and rain off and on all September.

Right now, it's 83 and 47% humidity. That is VERY uncomfortable. I hate it. It's high for us.

My sister lives outside of Austin. They are in the middle of a drought.....and it's just been pretty unusual...sort of a reversal of what it usually is. Right now, she's at 90 and 40% humidity. It normally runs about 80-90%.

You say that Tyler is in a drought situation also, right? You're at 86/47% right now. How high do you think it would be there if y'all had had your normal amount of rainfall? About 80-90%? When was the last time it rained there?

Then there's Farmington, NM......74 degrees, 21% humidity.....
Los Alamos....72/22%
Las Vegas, NM 76,16%

I'm so jealous I can hardly stand it.

[WestTexan87]

I grew up in Abilene, about 3 hours east of Midland/Odessa on I-20. In high school I was in band at Abilene Cooper for 4 years and went to every single football game. Abilene plays district ball against Midland and Odessa and I remember we always dreaded having to go out there for games. Odessa especially was just an awful place to go. We knew we were close when we smelled the sulfur from the oil drills. The mall in Odessa is a wasteland. They'd drop us kids off there for 3 hours before the game and we'd lose our minds of boredom. Since the mall can't attract regular stores, they planted an ice rink, a TV news station and a car dealership inside. Woo hoo. The football fans in Odessa (Midland as well) are HORRIBLE. Rude rude rude rude. I never had a good experience playing any Midland or Odessa team on their home turf. We had things thrown, slurs yelled and spit rained down upon us. Maybe that's just how football people get out there, but it doesn't speak well for the residents as a whole. That's all I know about the area. I wouldn't want to live there and it's beyond me why it's been growing rapidly in recent years. If you're going to settle in a mid-sized west Texas city, I'd recommend Abilene (of course) or San Angelo. Don't jump on me for dissing Midland/Odessa. I wouldn't speak so negatively if I had had a single good experience out there, but I never have. I wish there was something better I could say.

[etexbill]

Cathy, honestly I don't remember when we had a good, substantial, all day rain. Last year sometime. I was in the Austin, Kerrville area a couple of weeks ago and it looked like they were as dry as we are. It may rain a sprinkle here and a mile away nothing. I heard thunder not long ago and thought, maybe rain. My yard was dry as a bone, half a mile away water was running down the gutters. Our usual humidity in the summer is in the 70-80 percent range with more rain. BUT, still not as bad as Houston/Beaumont.

[etexbill]

West Texan87, I'm afraid that Texans aren't too nice at Friday Night football time anywhere in the state. Maybe not to the spitting stage, but bad. I remember some great state championship games with Odessa Permian (and Abilene too). By the way, our Robert E. Lee High state champs just beat Abilene in a non-district game. Nanana. LOL