Anyone ever willingly moved TO oklahoma (instead of just from)?

[HamsterHookah 112]

Serious question; hence the forum. Hoping @'stache @Okie State or any other resident Okie residents can help with a few questions, if you have recent experience:

Essentially I've been kicking around the idea of slowing down and chilling out a bit and thought it might be good to quasi-retire in Oklahoma since I'm already in South Oklahoma (Frisco, TX) and it looks like marijuana will never be legal here anyways. A few questions:

- What is the most "Frisco" equivalent of Oklahoma? I'm looking at bubble-like suburbs with creature comforts (and sort of betting that in 20 years the appreciation will be really good as people continue the great migration north, especially in Southern OK)

- Don't care about public school/rankings

- Assuming the OKC airport is the best in the state-- I travel almost weekly for work so airports are a bigger deal than usual.

- My first instinct is to find a tony suburb of OKC to investigate-- any experiences there?

- A lot of my clients recently have been O&G/Energy, so feels like decent synergy and branding to the world who might think I'm insane for actually wanting to move to Oklahoma, professionally. Anyone from a consulting or professional service/sales background have any trouble or career limitations with living in OK? Like I said though, I'm not actively trying to climb ladders at this point, but still would like to remain relevant. 

[CooterBrown 18007]

If I had a gun to my head, I’d take the bullet first. Second choice, I’d move to midtown Tulsa. Great houses and neighborhoods. Tons of restaurants, breweries, and bars. It’s next to the new billion dollar park and riverside trails.

Neither the OKC or Tulsa airport is worth a shit but you’ll have directs to Houston, Dallas, and Denver to get you where you need to go.

[HamsterHookah 112]

15 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

If I had a gun to my head, I’d take the bullet first. 

I mean, surely there are worse things than having to live 100 or so miles north than where a lot of people already live.

Thanks for the serious input though, data points and good food for thought.

[HiggyBaby 2529]

I’m in the airline industry and work with an ton of people who live in and commute out of Tulsa. They seem to like it and the airport is good with loads of destinations.

[HamsterHookah 112]

10 minutes ago, HiggyBaby said:

I’m in the airline industry and work with an ton of people who live in and commute out of Tulsa. They seem to like it and the airport is good with loads of destinations.

That makes sense; I read that Tulsa has the largest maintenance base for American Airlines:

Quote

 

American’s huge Tulsa base employs more than 5,500 people to maintain, repair and overhaul aircraft and provide IT support, according to the airline. It added more than 600 positions to the growing facility last year.

In February, American announced it was investing another $550 million in the Tulsa base. The money will go toward a new 193,000-square-foot widebody-capable hangar and a 132,000-square-foot support building with offices for administrators and engineers, as well as improvements to existing infrastructure. The airline said it’s the largest investment it has made to date at a maintenance location.

 

 

[C-Man 27221]

My experience with Oklahoma is pretty limited but from what I've seen, I'd do Tulsa before OKC. OKC isn't terrible either once you get over it being in Oklahoma -- and don't mind the annual T5 blowing through. OKC >>>>> College Station by a fuckton.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

There's a guy who used to sit with us at the stadium who moved to Tulsa.  He doesn't report back often, but when he does it's not favorable.  To the point that "why don't you just move back?" is a touchy subject.

[HamsterHookah 112]

4 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

There's a guy who used to sit with us at the stadium who moved to Tulsa.  He doesn't report back often, but when he does it's not favorable.  To the point that "why don't you just move back?" is a touchy subject.

oof.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

3 minutes ago, HamsterHookah said:

oof.

My thought is that if they can, they all move to Dallas.  So what's left can't.

[deadshank 24652]

I’d live in Oklahoma.  NE Oklahoma Osage region is nice.  
 

Panhandle badlands area just south of Campo, CO and north of Boise City would make for a nice remote living ranch.  
 

Arbuckle Mountains are very pretty.  
 

 

[Sandman 3403]

10 hours ago, HamsterHookah said:

My first instinct is to find a tony suburb of OKC to investigate

How tony are we talking? Nichols Hills isn't a suburb per se, but a small municipality inside of OKC. It's what I'd consider "old money". Think of places where all the doctors and attorneys lived in the 60s & 70s. Large, older homes in a very secluded locale.

Gaillardia is another rich enclave, Kevin Durant lived there for a while. It's pretty much just a country club with mansions built around it. Edmond is an actual "upper class" suburb, north of OKC. Pretty snooty IMO, I lived there (as a poor person) for 8 years. The traffic is horrible, though. 

Or do you want some semi-rural action? Deer Creek is a very popular choice, it's NW of OKC. Piedmont is another, it's out west. A good rule of thumb is just don't go south.

[ztejas 43419]

This thread is fucked up. 

[HamsterHookah 112]

14 hours ago, Sandman said:

How tony are we talking? Nichols Hills isn't a suburb per se, but a small municipality inside of OKC. It's what I'd consider "old money". Think of places where all the doctors and attorneys lived in the 60s & 70s. Large, older homes in a very secluded locale.

Gaillardia is another rich enclave, Kevin Durant lived there for a while. It's pretty much just a country club with mansions built around it. Edmond is an actual "upper class" suburb, north of OKC. Pretty snooty IMO, I lived there (as a poor person) for 8 years. The traffic is horrible, though. 

Or do you want some semi-rural action? Deer Creek is a very popular choice, it's NW of OKC. Piedmont is another, it's out west. A good rule of thumb is just don't go south.

Thanks for this!

My first instinct was to buy some land and then do a custom build or to your Eldmond input do a new build with a higher end production builder.

[closetohumping 17440]

no

[royiv 9300]

On 3/13/2023 at 12:04 PM, CooterBrown said:

Neither the OKC or Tulsa airport is worth a shit but you’ll have directs to Houston, Dallas, and Denver to get you where you need to go.

If you travel a bunch, it would be a massive time suck to live in a city where you have to connect to get anywhere. I've spent most of my adult life living in cities with hub airports and have had jobs that required me to travel a ton in addition to the travel my wife and I do. Adding an additional flight on both ends of a trip wastes a ton of time every week. 

[conVINCEd 21469]

Go to the Cotton Bowl the second weekend of October and take a close look at who would be your new neighbors before taking the plunge.

[atomheartbevo 89656]

4 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Go to the Cotton Bowl the second weekend of October and take a close look at who would be your new neighbors before taking the plunge.

He's moving to Oklahoma, not Dallas.

[tx 3 putt 76927]

Tulsa has some nice neighborhoods / areas. I could do it if the money was right. If you’re single, I can introduce to a 42 yo single f, no meth and has all her teeth, solid 8

if you move and join southern hills, pre thanks for taking me out there to play 

[HamsterHookah 112]

5 hours ago, royiv said:

If you travel a bunch, it would be a massive time suck to live in a city where you have to connect to get anywhere. I've spent most of my adult life living in cities with hub airports and have had jobs that required me to travel a ton in addition to the travel my wife and I do. Adding an additional flight on both ends of a trip wastes a ton of time every week. 

This is a problem. Ideally I'll be cutting back massively though, but if I ever needed to work consulting hours again, flying out Sun night or Mon morning and flying back Thursday evening, I will be in a world of pain.

[CooterBrown 18007]

This is a problem. Ideally I'll be cutting back massively though, but if I ever needed to work consulting hours again, flying out Sun night or Mon morning and flying back Thursday evening, I will be in a world of pain.

That’s the issue with the Tulsa airport. When the Wright Act was rescinded, SWA no longer had to stop in OK when a plane was going to Love Field. Tulsa lost half their SWA flights as a result of all the Chicago > Dallas flights no longer having to stop there.

I’ve been flying weekly to Tulsa for the past few months and there’s now an inconvenient direct to and from Austin so that’s good but the last flight out to get to Austin is now at 5pm. Pre COVID, there were flights out until 8:00.

[Sawbonz 27548]

Don’t know that I’d want to find a place like frisco, but if that’s what you want Edmond is your best option. Never spent any time in Tulsa but from what I hear it has a Fort Worth feel. If you are single or empty nester maybe look at downtown/bricktown high rises 

[Texzilla58 4734]

My son and his family are in Shawnee area about 35 miles east of OKC so we’ll be moving to Oklahoma in the next year or so. They have about 120 acres and live out in the country. I’m not looking to be that far out so we’ll likely be in Shawnee. It’s fine for how we live and the people are friendly.

Edmond has some nice areas. I prefer Tulsa as it’s much like Fort Worth.

It’s an unpopular opinion but Oklahoma is more Texan than most of Texas these days.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10234]

53 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said:

My son and his family are in Shawnee area about 35 miles east of OKC so we’ll be moving to Oklahoma in the next year or so. They have about 120 acres and live out in the country. I’m not looking to be that far out so we’ll likely be in Shawnee. It’s fine for how we live and the people are friendly.

Edmond has some nice areas. I prefer Tulsa as it’s much like Fort Worth.

It’s an unpopular opinion but Oklahoma is more Texan than most of Texas these days.

I have to agree with you

[tx 3 putt 76927]

11 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I have to agree with you

 

3rd'd 

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

I hear Norman is nice.

[Firemans4Horn 18048]

If you fly a lot for work both Tulsa and OKC are shitty options. 

[South Austin 52484]

I predict OP will suck in the future.

[beer 3220]

Lived in OKC for 15 years - just moved in 2019.  I actually kinda liked it and really miss it now that I'm gone. OKC has a lot going for it - NBA (used to be super awesome, now kinda meh), lots of foody places, plenty of authentic mexican but sadly not much BBQ.  Relatively inexpensive real estate, despite what they are saying above the airport works well with directs to much more than DFW/HOU/ATL,  I flew direct to DC, LAX, DEN and others that I am not remembering.  I just know the flight to Australia was a one-stop and getting to Spain was one stop out of MIA. All major shopping available, decent schools in the burbs, good weed available, 1 day to ski slopes like Taos

Really nice old homes right near the capitol building (that's where I lived) if you want to be central, the other neighborhoods mentioned are nice too, but Edmond is a little "McMansiony". Oil money lives in Nichol's Hills. 

What else are you looking for and I'll post anything else I can think of. 

[Guadaloopy 10964]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:03 AM, Firemans4Horn said:

If you fly a lot for work both Tulsa and OKC are shitty options. 

Buddy of mine here just started a consulting job in February.  He is feeling the pain of flying in and out of Tulsa.  He leaves mid-afternoon on Sundays to fly to Dallas and connect to wherever he's going that week.  He gets back around 11 on Fridays and sometimes lucks into a schedule that gets him back by 7 pm on Fridays.  On the plus side, you can show up for a flight 45 minutes before departure and clear security no problem.

[Guadaloopy 10964]

On 3/13/2023 at 10:53 AM, HamsterHookah said:

Serious question; hence the forum. Hoping @'stache @Okie State or any other resident Okie residents can help with a few questions, if you have recent experience:

Essentially I've been kicking around the idea of slowing down and chilling out a bit and thought it might be good to quasi-retire in Oklahoma since I'm already in South Oklahoma (Frisco, TX) and it looks like marijuana will never be legal here anyways. A few questions:

- What is the most "Frisco" equivalent of Oklahoma? I'm looking at bubble-like suburbs with creature comforts (and sort of betting that in 20 years the appreciation will be really good as people continue the great migration north, especially in Southern OK)

- Don't care about public school/rankings

- Assuming the OKC airport is the best in the state-- I travel almost weekly for work so airports are a bigger deal than usual.

- My first instinct is to find a tony suburb of OKC to investigate-- any experiences there?

- A lot of my clients recently have been O&G/Energy, so feels like decent synergy and branding to the world who might think I'm insane for actually wanting to move to Oklahoma, professionally. Anyone from a consulting or professional service/sales background have any trouble or career limitations with living in OK? Like I said though, I'm not actively trying to climb ladders at this point, but still would like to remain relevant. 

Broken Arrow and Owasso have some nice neighborhoods around Tulsa, and there's a ton of nice development in Bixby.  I'm down south in Glenpool bordering Jenks and Bixby.  Jenks is doing some major development on the riverfront to create a water recreation area as well as expanding and improving the waterfront entertainment district.

I love the feel of Tulsa.  They hang on to the Route 66 retro vibe and the downtown is nicely revitalized with modern establishments.  It has AA baseball, ECHL hockey, and a new indoor football team.  Between the BOK center and the casinos, tons of music and comedy acts make their way through town.  The Tulsa Performing Arts Center has a great schedule of events (Symphony, Opera, Ballet, Theater).

There are plenty of Sooners around, but it's almost equidistant from Norman and Stillwater, so it feels like neutral territory.  I like being 20 minutes from downtown and still having the peace associated with being surrounded by cow pasture and horse farms.  Bottom line... I'm super happy with our choice to move here from San Diego.

[Sandman 3403]

10 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

Broken Arrow and Owasso have some nice neighborhoods around Tulsa, and there's a ton of nice development in Bixby.  I'm down south in Glenpool bordering Jenks and Bixby.  Jenks is doing some major development on the riverfront to create a water recreation area as well as expanding and improving the waterfront entertainment district.

I love the feel of Tulsa.  They hang on to the Route 66 retro vibe and the downtown is nicely revitalized with modern establishments.  It has AA baseball, ECHL hockey, and a new indoor football team.  Between the BOK center and the casinos, tons of music and comedy acts make their way through town.  The Tulsa Performing Arts Center has a great schedule of events (Symphony, Opera, Ballet, Theater).

There are plenty of Sooners around, but it's almost equidistant from Norman and Stillwater, so it feels like neutral territory.  I like being 20 minutes from downtown and still having the peace associated with being surrounded by cow pasture and horse farms.  Bottom line... I'm super happy with our choice to move here from San Diego.

My buddy lived in a shitty part of Tulsa and finally had enough. He moved his family to Skiatook and loves it. He's pretty hick-ish, so it's right up his alley, he tells me.

[Guadaloopy 10964]

1 minute ago, Sandman said:

My buddy lived in a shitty part of Tulsa and finally had enough. He moved his family to Skiatook and loves it. He's pretty hick-ish, so it's right up his alley, he tells me.

Love Skiatook.  Wife and I wish we would have known more about that area before we committed.  

[ClubWhatever 12137]

Most areas of OKC just feel so run down to me that it starts to be depressing. Tulsa has run down areas too but I like the overall look and feel better. The weather is awful both places except for about 2 months in the fall when it is really nice.  The Tulsa airport is a deal breaker if you travel for a living.  

[gmr548 16576]

OKC area is a complete dump with very few redeeming features beyond being cheap (for a reason). There’s absolutely nothing that even Frisco doesn’t do better.

Tulsa is still Oklahoma but at least a little more scenic and has an art/music scene with a pulse. If you must, that’s where you should look.

[Nueces River Rat 5538]

[ChiTownDoc 21152]

On 3/31/2023 at 12:18 PM, Guadaloopy said:

Broken Arrow and Owasso have some nice neighborhoods around Tulsa, and there's a ton of nice development in Bixby.  I'm down south in Glenpool bordering Jenks and Bixby.  Jenks is doing some major development on the riverfront to create a water recreation area as well as expanding and improving the waterfront entertainment district.

I love the feel of Tulsa.  They hang on to the Route 66 retro vibe and the downtown is nicely revitalized with modern establishments.  It has AA baseball, ECHL hockey, and a new indoor football team.  Between the BOK center and the casinos, tons of music and comedy acts make their way through town.  The Tulsa Performing Arts Center has a great schedule of events (Symphony, Opera, Ballet, Theater).

There are plenty of Sooners around, but it's almost equidistant from Norman and Stillwater, so it feels like neutral territory.  I like being 20 minutes from downtown and still having the peace associated with being surrounded by cow pasture and horse farms.  Bottom line... I'm super happy with our choice to move here from San Diego.

San Diego has become much more of a cluster fuck compared to when I went more frequently a couple decades ago but holy shit, happy to move from SD to cow pasture, OK?  Jokes aside, I'd definitely take Tulsa over OKC and I grew up in the OKC burbs (Moore).  Also props to whoever above said Oklahoma is more Texas than Texas is these days...take it from someone who was born in Lubbock and grew up in OK...that's a fact. 

[GoPokes83 2240]

OKC is too big. Not talking population, square miles. If you’re in Edmond it can be an hour drive to get to the far south burbs. Plus there’s just a ton of shitty neighborhoods. It’s a depressing city. I love me some Tulsa, the midtown neighborhoods are what central Austin was like in the 80’s. If you’re looking small town my grandparents lived in Claremore. Very laid back and you’re 25 minutes from Owasso and all the shopping and restaurants Tulsa has to offer.