[Kablooieshy]

More Californians looking to move away . Please help us make the best decision for our family. We have two small boys, the oldest is currently in Pre-K. Our circumstances allow us to relocate to virtually any "large" city in the US, so we just need to find the best fit for us. I grew up in the northwest (northern Oregon) and I like the scenery and climate (not so much the rain though). My husband and I have also lived in Tulsa Ok and would consider moving back to that area. This is what we are interested in:

*Owning our own home! Suburban LA is ridiculously expensive. We can't even afford rent out here and are living off of family. We want independence!
* Family friendly. We are a young family with young kids and want a safe, healthy environment with good schools and lots of open spaces to play.
* 4 seasons. Nothing too extreme. We're used to 75 degrees all year long so super heat/humidity or freezing temps would be quite a shock! But the same day after day gets real old real quick.

That is what is most important to us. Our budget for a home is around $175K. We have been mulling this over for about a year and are determined to make the move now while our kids are young. Some places we are considering:

* Boise or Pocatello Id
* Bend Or (maybe too expensive for us though)
* Missoula Mt
* Spokane Wa
* Edmond Ok or Olathe Ks (these are good moves as far as my husbands career path is concerned, but not the top priorities for us, unless someone can convince us otherwise).

We'd consider other areas too, these are just the ones we are most familiar with. We appreciate any and all opinions, suggestions and advice!!

[Mattie Jo]

$175,000 gives you a huge home in Oklahoma. One that would probably cost $500,000 or more in LA.

I don't think that Oklahoma has the extreme temperatures. It can get 18 in the winter but it doesn't stay that cold. I believe that Id, Wa, and Mt. would all be colder. Someone can correct me if I am wrong. Bend may or may not be too expensive for you.

I used to live in San Diego, and people there would call it paradise due to the weather. I called it "boredom." I wanted weather too, and at least northeast OK is giving me all 4 seasons and are wonderful. The humidity can be a bit much, but I didn't mind it, probably because we have a car with air conditioning as well as a house.

Someone on here that knows more about Edmond can tell you about it.

[Synopsis]

Well, the weather in Oklahoma does get extreme. Summers are hot and humid, but in just about every other area Tulsa or OkC (Edmond included) would be a great place for you. You need to get a little accustomed to the heat, but it's not terribly bad, like in New Orleans or Houston. The Winters can get ice and snow, but nothing too extreme there either. Frankly, the weather in Oklahoma suits me just fine. You get four seasons and not the boredom of living in a place with the same weather all year round.

I guess you just need to weight your options on what is most important to you. You could get a decent place in Tulsa for 175K, a really decent place. Schools there are good. Check out GreatSchools.net and you can find out about literally any school in the US; demographics, grades, student to teacher ratio, and much more. Good luck to you wherever you end up!

[StillwaterTownie]

Since you say that moving to freezing temperatures would be a shock, I'm surprised to see such northerly places on your list of places considering.

You can find a good sized home of $175.000 in Edmond, maybe up to 2000 sq. ft. or a little better.

[peggydavis]

Originally Posted by Kablooieshy

More Californians looking to move away . Please help us make the best decision for our family. We have two small boys, the oldest is currently in Pre-K. Our circumstances allow us to relocate to virtually any "large" city in the US, so we just need to find the best fit for us. I grew up in the northwest (northern Oregon) and I like the scenery and climate (not so much the rain though). My husband and I have also lived in Tulsa Ok and would consider moving back to that area. This is what we are interested in:

*Owning our own home! Suburban LA is ridiculously expensive. We can't even afford rent out here and are living off of family. We want independence!
* Family friendly. We are a young family with young kids and want a safe, healthy environment with good schools and lots of open spaces to play.
* 4 seasons. Nothing too extreme. We're used to 75 degrees all year long so super heat/humidity or freezing temps would be quite a shock! But the same day after day gets real old real quick.

That is what is most important to us. Our budget for a home is around $175K. We have been mulling this over for about a year and are determined to make the move now while our kids are young. Some places we are considering:

* Boise or Pocatello Id
* Bend Or (maybe too expensive for us though)
* Missoula Mt
* Spokane Wa
* Edmond Ok or Olathe Ks (these are good moves as far as my husbands career path is concerned, but not the top priorities for us, unless someone can convince us otherwise).

We'd consider other areas too, these are just the ones we are most familiar with. We appreciate any and all opinions, suggestions and advice!!

Either Edmond or a Tulsa suburb would fit you pretty well. Edmond I know more about than Tulsa. Edmond has very good schools and is very family friendly. I know a family that lives in a neighborhood with houses about 2000 sq ft, with a well maintained neighborhood pool, and the houses are between 160K-170K. The neighborhood is very safe and full of little kids. The only thing wrong would be the hot summer weather, but you could go to the pool!

[Kablooieshy]

Thanks for the responses! I should clarify that by extreme temps I meant consistently below freezing during winter or consistently in the hundreds with high humidity in the summer. A little snow won't bother us. We lived in Tulsa for a couple of years, and I did not care for the weather all that much, just because I've lived on the west coast all my life and it is definitely different. But it wasn't that much of a big deal. I've never been to Edmond but I've heard great things about it and we actually thought we were going to transfer out there in June, but that position fell through. The main thing we have against the midwest is that it is SO far from family, which is really important to us. I do have a cousin in Overland Park, but we're not super close. But wherever we end up, it'll be far from family since they all live here and we can't afford here, lol.

I'd love to hear more about Edmond...whats the scenery like? Is there lots to do? Is it pretty suburbanized, or does it have more of a small town feel? What about the surrounding cities?

Thanks again!

[RogueMom]

Missoula, Montana would be ideal for you. The have found that the winters are not that bad, the fall is beautiful, the summers are somewhat hot sometimes, but not humid (it's a "dry" heat, much more comfortable). Most people here do not even have air conditioning because it is just not needed. There is always a cool breeze at night in the summer, and you can feel free to open your windows all night to let the cool breeze in, becuase there is virtually no crime here! There is a fire season though, there was some smoke from them for a few weeks this summer, but not that bad. You just accept it, and life goes on. Missoula is a nice college town, and there are quite a few California "transplants" here. I can't say that there is a lot of "diversity" here, and there are very few illegal immigrants, if any. I'll leave it to you to decide if that's a good thing or not. The whole area is very geared to the outdoors: hunting, fly-fishing, hiking, camping, that kind of thing. Housing is not cheap, but it sounds like you could find a nice home in your range. There are nice houses with land here in the Bitteroot Valley, which is about a 30 minute commute from Missoula, in your price range, and the schools are excellent. Housing is higher in the University area.

[peggydavis]

The scenery in Edmond is not anything to write home about. The neighborhood I described above is on the west side of Edmond. It is pretty flat, and the new homes have not had enough time to grow trees yet so you see all the roofs of the houses. In a few years after the trees have had time to grow the neighborhoods will look better. That is just me, though, I do not like the flat areas. Most people who live in west Edmond just love it.

The central or older part of Edmond does have a small town feel to it still. It has some pretty older homes that are well kept. That area can be expensive though. If it is your preference, you could probably find something in your price range in central Edmond. Edmond has a cute downtown area with interesting shops. Edmond has a large public swimming pool (water park) with big slides etc. Edmond has a lot of festivals, a farmer's market, a University so you can go to plays. The University has a Jazz Lab that plays good jazz and you can also eat pizza there. I would say there is a lot to do in Edmond for a young family, and you can always go to OKC where you have Frontier City, White Water, Bricktown and many other entertainment options.

The east side of Edmond is much nicer looking, in my opinion. It is not so flat and has more mature trees. The yards tend to be larger. There is quite a bit of new construction going on in east Edmond, so you might check that out too. I don't know if there is the high number of families with small children in east Edmond.

[Kablooieshy]

Okay, you all just upped the midwest in my book. Maybe not ideal for weather, but if you represent my possible future neighbors then I would happily overlook the heat and humidity. I posted this same question on the Oregon, Montana, and Idaho forums and received lukewarm responses. It seems the northwest has issues with us big bad californians invading their territory. I see no similar resentment over here, just honest and friendly advice. This is a rather big decision for our little family, and we just wanted to get the locals perspective when considering our options.

MontanaMom, I was suprised to see a welcoming post encouraging us to consider Missoula - thank you! I have a brother who lives there and we will actually be visiting it for his wedding this week, so we will see what we think then.

The fact that we are Christian and fairly conservative (well, compared to California standards anyway) would probably make us a better fit for Oklahoma. But I wonder how we would be received as a biracial family?

[Synopsis]

Oh no! Biracial? Then you need to look somewhere else, we don't accept that in Oklahoma. That's improper for people "mixin up the races" like that.

Just Joking!!!!

There are a lot of biracial couples in Oklahoma and I don't think they have any real issues. I think it's because about 2/3 of Oklahomans are a product of two races anyway (native american and white).

I wish you and your family the best. You sound like you'd be a great addition to the state of Oklahoma.