Hi Virginian~
I live in the next town over.
Owego is a pretty nice town. Nice little shops along Riverrow. It's the county seat for Tioga County, so it has all the county offices. The last 2 years they got hit pretty bad with the flooding, so you have to be careful where you go. It's not normal, and it probably won't happen again for another 75 years, but like they say, you never know. The outlying areas around Owego are very nice, too. Where I live (Candor) was basically unaffected by the flooding.
As far as employment, it depends. Lockheed just landed some major military contracts. There's also mfg companies in Vestal, Endicott, Johnson City, Binghamton, etc.
I wouldn't say it's a bad idea, because it is a nice area. But then i'm partial!
Good luck!
Lauri