Help!! House rentals seem expensive in Tulsa!! (Bixby: rental homes, schools)

[Raelyn28]

Very good advice here... You are absolutely right. Make the sacrifice first and then we can take our time and look around... Do they have older homes in the Jenks District??? What and where are the boundaries, do you know???

Raechel lyn

Originally Posted by nevergoingback

First I go outside, LOL, then if needed I go in my basement.

Most rentals in nice areas are older homes, 1500 S/FT rent for 1000-1200.

So a 3000 S/FT house is going to be twice the size and newer. I find it hard to believe that in a semi major city in WA that you can rent a house for less per square foot than in Tulsa.

You want the best of both worlds,you want to rent a huge, new house in a nice 'hood for cheap.

Rent a small house you can afford, store your stuff for year and then go buy your little mansion in what I'm guessing by your posts will end up being in Jenks.

Don't worry, you and your family will fit in just fine.

[TulsaArtist]

I dont buy those cost of living calculators at all. I remember going to Dallas and looking around at apartments there several times back when I was thinking of moving. Using about the same amount of rent I was paying in Tulsa, you could find better apartments in better areas. Yet the calculator will tell you that the average rent is MUCH higher there. I had a friend just move to Austin, he said he got an apartment that was nicer than most things you could find in Tulsa in a nice area, for about the same as he was paying for an average apartment here. He was describing what he got and I was flabberghasted, apt in a nice contemporary midrise on a beautiful street lined with several more similar places, high ceilings, very green area, near trendy pedestrian friendly streets. A dime a dozen there, but unheard of here.

Here is what I think is going on. For one thing, in places like Dallas and Austin there are a lot of high end apartments. Apartments of the kind you cant even find in Tulsa at all. This skews their "average apartment rent" up. Its kind of a median, mean and mode thing. I have heard similar complaints from several people moving to Tulsa that it costs more for what your getting in Tulsa, than what you would be getting for similar quality in similar "niceness of area" in the city they are coming from. Yet we holler that rents, or houses, costs less here on average.

Think of it this way too... Those new contemporary homes on Cherry Street. Have shown those to people from other cities and they comment saying "Wow they are charging a lot for those, you could get something like that for much less in ..." In Tulsa those are essentially the only game in town for that type of living, they are the high end and command the high end prices. Yet in another city like Dallas, Denver or Austin for instance those would be considered cheap or middle of the road options in a middle of the road area and would thus cost less than they do here. But in those cities you can also find that type of living in much nicer areas and or of much higher quality, which will cost a lot more and thus skew up the average cost...

Thus on "average" you could say that type of thing costs more there, but the reality is, apples to apples, it could cost less to get similar quality in similar niceness of area, in those cities than in Tulsa.

Plus it may be that we have a lot of really poor, poor, areas that skew our average costs down even further.

You may indeed be able to pay more in other places, but it may also be that you can get better quality in better areas for the same or less price. I have seen it first hand myself, and heard it too many times from others to ignore that possibility.

[Jammie]

Artist, you do have a point there. Yet, it still surprises me that someone could find something in Austin that would have comparable rent to Tulsa's. Austin is an expensive city when you check out their apartments online. But with Dallas, it seems very possible. Maybe your friends just got a good deal in Austin????

[nevergoingback]

Originally Posted by Raelyn28

Very good advice here... You are absolutely right. Make the sacrifice first and then we can take our time and look around... Do they have older homes in the Jenks District??? What and where are the boundaries, do you know???

Raechel lyn

Yes they have older homes in the Jenks SD. Heres a map of the SD's!!

http://www.assessor.tulsacounty.org/school_district_a_size_jan_8_2009.pdf (broken link)

[TulsaArtist]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Artist, you do have a point there. Yet, it still surprises me that someone could find something in Austin that would have comparable rent to Tulsa's. Austin is an expensive city when you check out their apartments online. But with Dallas, it seems very possible. Maybe your friends just got a good deal in Austin????

He likely did, though the housing market there may be currently a tad over built and the economy stumbling a bit. Though knowing Austins history this blip wont last long at all, things will pick up steam and continue rolling along at a fast pace in short order.

[BigOkie]

Originally Posted by Raelyn28

Thank you, and Jenks is VERY high on our list for schools, I just didn't know the boundaries. Also a real estate agent just told me that anyone can go to Booker T Washington High no matter where they live. Is that a good school? The school is the most important key to our move. I could care less if the home is new or old as long as the neighborhood is good and the schools are great...

Thank you for a very informative post. It sounds like you live in a very nice place. What is your school system if I may ask??? I will reference and check out the areas that you have mentioned on our upcoming trip to Tulsa...

Raechel lyn

The kicker for BTW is that students living within the TPS boundaries are given first preference before those that aren't. So while your children may get to go if you choose to live out of district, you have a better chance in district.

http://www.tulsaschools.org/schools1/transfers/rules_btwe.pdf (broken link)

Here is BTW's website by proxy of the TPS website.

Booker T Washington High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma (http://www.tulsaschools.org/schools/Washington/ - broken link)

And Booker T Washington HS is one of the top magnet schools in not just Tulsa or Oklahoma, but in the nation. You would definitely do well to have your children enrolled there.

[Brookside]

Raelynn, I responded on your other thread about rentals, but will repeat info here.

Check with a property manager. Houses and Condos for Rent in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma • Vicki Berg Property Management Inc. has a 3200 sf home in the Jenks school district for $1400.00 per month.

McGraw Realtors also has rental listings; so does Real Estate In Tulsa, OK - Coldwell Banker Select


I do not work for these companies. Best of luck!

[jtoast]

I had the same problem when I moved to this area. I solved it by buying in Haskell(about 20 min south of tulsa.) There are a lot of great deals to be had if you have the time to drive through some of the smaller communities.

I have a ~2200 Square foot home (4 bedroom, 2 bath), not counting the unfinished basement, that I paid just over 100K for. It's a little older (built in the 1970's) but was completely remodeled right before I purchased it two years ago.

Unfortunately a year after I bought it I ended up getting a job in Bartlesville. so now I am looking at buying a house here. I am still trying to decide whether to keep it and become a landlord (its currently occupied by my mother in law while she looks for something smaller) or do I try to sell it under current market conditions.

[Raelyn28]

Hi,

Thank you,, I put both on my desktop as a shortcut for reference...
Your help and that of the many posters here is priceless and will certainly help to get us prepared ahead of time. I do trust that we will find something satisfactory. The right school district is the number one priority right now.. How is the Bixby area?? I cannot find much about it or many rental homes in the area. Some people are telling me that the kids in Jenks and Broken Arrow are rich, drive brand new cars, etc... My son is not getting a brand new car handed to him that easily... He will have to work for that sort of thing. I am a stay at home mom so we live on a single income. It has been an important decision for us with many sacrifices but worth it.. I like to be with my kids not just buy them love, you know what I mean?? LOL!! What is your take on the Schools and which one would you suggest for versatility of culture, races, economic status, etc???

Originally Posted by Brookside

Raelynn, I responded on your other thread about rentals, but will repeat info here.

Check with a property manager. Houses and Condos for Rent in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma • Vicki Berg Property Management Inc. has a 3200 sf home in the Jenks school district for $1400.00 per month.

McGraw Realtors also has rental listings; so does Real Estate In Tulsa, OK - Coldwell Banker Select


I do not work for these companies. Best of luck!

[BAGuy]

Not sure who tells you all the Broken Arrow kids get brand new cars, but if we were to drive by the High School, that would not be the case. Plenty of students are driving cars that are not brand new. You will find more rich kids in Jenks