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Old 08-09-2013, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Lee's Summit, MO
3 posts, read 4,961 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello, new here.

I have a job opportunity that might require relocation to Tulsa.

Married, daughter who will soon be 4.

I currently live in a suburb of Kansas City, Lee's Summit. 64086.

Looks like metro Tulsa is about half as big as metro KC.

To those of you in the know:

Tulsa a good town or not? Some internet searching has made me a little concerned about crime rate, but I know you can only read so much into such statistics. For instance, Kansas City is supposedly a dangerous place, but I've never felt that way in the suburbs.

My main concerns would be safety, good elementary schools and availability of child care. From what I can gather long distance, Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks seem to come up a lot when looking for decent Tulsa suburbs. I wouldn't be opposed to living out of town a little ways as long as the commute wasn't awful.

Advice or thoughts appreciated.

Thanks!
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Old 08-09-2013, 09:12 PM
 
Location: Lee's Summit, MO
3 posts, read 4,961 times
Reputation: 10
having searched through the forum some more, i realize that my question is somewhat repetitive. you guys are probably tired of answering the same thing over and over. lol.
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Old 08-11-2013, 06:41 AM
 
Location: Owasso, OK
4 posts, read 7,133 times
Reputation: 14
We just moved here in June, to Owasso, which is north of Tulsa. I used to live in the KC Metro, over in Johnson County, but very familiar with Lee's Summit.

We chose Owasso because like Lee's Summit, it's its own community within a metro...clear delineation between one town to the next, which IMO enhances community pride. Crime is not a problem here (although you will always have lone crazies). I work at 61st and Yale, which is South Tulsa, and it takes me 25 minutes door to door in commute...that's door from my house to parking in ramp, to walking into building to the door of my office. Most of my coworkers live in South Tulsa, half as far away miles wise as I do, but their commute time is similar due to traffic.

That traffic in South Tulsa is like that because the city planners down here were clueless. This metro has the worst infrastructure I have seen in a large city...it's nearly comical...they make intersections four lanes then reduce to two...not good storm sewer drainage, sidewalks are not a given in neighborhoods...

That said, that would be the biggest drawback I see. The people of Oklahoma are about as nice as you can find...great churches here, too.

As for schools...that's gonna be hit and miss. Tulsa public schools are a bit scary to research...we had a contract on a house near my office and we broke it and walked from our earnest deposit because the school's report card was so subpar. We settled on a private school in Owasso because we do love the Christian education aspects (Rejoice Christian) but Owasso public is great. You will find that the best schools down here are also very large. Lee's Summit has at least three high schools for their 17,000 overall school district enrollment....Broken Arrow has 15k, and ONE high school...owasso and jenks are pushing 8-9k and have ONE high school...Union is a bit bigger than that.....the class sizes push and top 1000 in high school. Bixby on the south side of town is where people will tell you to go, but everyone is going there and by the time your four year old is ready for high school, it will be just as large.

We moved down here on June 10, and all stuff into storage because of a closing issue..just got moved into a house today..it allowed us to live in Owasso for weeks and weeks before making the decisions...we were Ok with walking away from the Tulsa location and coming back to owasso, because we lived here a while...and grew to really like it. Just be prepared because the infrastructure of the KC area is elite...and you are not going to see that down here...but after while your mind adjusts to the new norm of what you are seeing

Jenks was our #2, and if you go that route try to live in Jenks SE Elementary district or Jenks West. If Bixby, get in Northeast (new school) or North. Bixby Central is located in old town Bixby and while a decent school, it's in an old part of an old town and you'd probly be shocked

All in all, finding the right schooling was the biggest challenge of our entire search

We have a four year old and 10 year old daughter, by the way...hope it helps.
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Old 08-14-2013, 03:00 PM
 
Location: The Middle
125 posts, read 212,810 times
Reputation: 196
Wow...we just did the EXACT same thing three years ago (I also worked at 61st and Yale for the first two years, so I know where you probably are ). I lived in Liberty for 9 years, and Lee's Summit for another five or so. Also did a little bit of time commuting from Lawrence.

We stayed in Owasso as well after renting the first year. The kids are doing very well and have made lots of friends. Also, home prices per sq foot really are pretty amazing.

It's hard coming from a forrested Missouri town like LS, Liberty, Parkville, etc. to flat Owasso, but the kids loved the schools and folks are pretty nice. There are a lot of churches here which pretty much dominate non-work social life. No opinion intended, just know that the social climate is different than the KC area. My wife and I and our kids are a blended family, and were worried about how neighbors would see us, but it's been a non-issue as far as we know.

Safety is no problem. Owasso has been nothing but pleasant, especially if you find a neighborhood where neighbors get outdoors as we finally did. It makes a big difference, as the rental house was on a very quiet street where people stayed in except to mow. I'd recommend a really good realtor who is familiar with the area. We didn't do that, so it became trial-and-error.

We should have ex-KC get togethers around here...seem to be a bunch of us now...
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Old 08-14-2013, 03:05 PM
 
Location: The Middle
125 posts, read 212,810 times
Reputation: 196
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdmiller71 View Post
That traffic in South Tulsa is like that because the city planners down here were clueless. This metro has the worst infrastructure I have seen in a large city...it's nearly comical...they make intersections four lanes then reduce to two...not good storm sewer drainage, sidewalks are not a given in neighborhoods...

I keep reading your post and laughing at this...lol...when i first moved here in 2010 and commuted to the same area I told people that I didn't mean to settle here, it's just that ALL the highways were under construction at the same time and I couldn't leave
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Old 08-14-2013, 08:59 PM
 
Location: Pawnee Nation
7,525 posts, read 16,976,226 times
Reputation: 7112
Quote:
Originally Posted by syncro87 View Post
Tulsa a good town or not?
No such thing as a "good" town.......but Tulsa beats the hell out of a lot of them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by syncro87 View Post
Thanks!
You're welcome
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Old 08-15-2013, 08:24 AM
 
Location: Lee's Summit, MO
3 posts, read 4,961 times
Reputation: 10
Thank you everyone for the replies. I very much appreciate it. I'm kind of anxious about the potential move so great to get feedback from people who live there and have also done it.
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Old 08-18-2013, 01:02 PM
 
2,557 posts, read 5,858,867 times
Reputation: 967
We moved here from KCK 41 years ago and we are still here! Just recently bought a house in Creek County, rural Sapulpa. The taxes are about half of what we pay in Tulsa. Utilities are less too.
Check out this site before you rent or buy a house. Better to be safe than sorry.........
FEMA Floodsmart
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Old 08-23-2013, 08:51 AM
 
92 posts, read 189,813 times
Reputation: 146
We just moved to the area as well--lived in South Tulsa for a couple months and bought a house in Owasso. We like Owasso's small town feel. We love the elementary school--not too large, great teachers, well organized. We have one in Rejoice middle school and so far are happy with our choice. If you like more shopping and eating options, south Tulsa is a better choice. I'd just suggest avoiding mid-town unless you don't have a problem with pricier homes and you are going to invest in private schools.

As a previous poster mentioned, schooling was our biggest hurdle as well. We really didn't find a private school that met our needs in South Tulsa and the large public elementary schools were a turn off for us. However, you really can't go wrong with the communities mentioned above.
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Old 08-23-2013, 09:32 PM
 
Location: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
27 posts, read 27,059 times
Reputation: 51
We lived in Missouri for 9 years - 3 in Columbia and 4 in Cape Girardeau - before moving to the Tulsa area 8 years ago. We settled in Broken Arrow and have loved it. My kids were in elementary and middle school when we moved here, now one has graduated from high school and the other two are in 11th and 7th grades. Broken Arrow still has a small town feel although it is really spread out and it is right next door to all the amenities in Tulsa.

Crime is practically nonexistent to be honest, comparatively. I feel safe pretty much everywhere in the suburbs and even most places in Tulsa itself. And I travel all over the entire city for work, including north Tulsa and other areas that get a bad rap.

Traffic can get hectic primarily due to all the construction all the time, but it's nothing compared to KC or St. Louis. I used to travel to St. Louis all the time and the traffic was much worse there than in Tulsa.

The schools are all pretty good in all the suburbs. You really can't go wrong in Broken Arrow, Jenks, Union, Bixby, or Owasso.

Tulsa real estate prices are very reasonable compared to the rest of the country as well.

We have really liked it here, can you tell?
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