Learn me: Moving out of Oklahoma

The better half and I are starting to get serious about moving out of Oklahoma. I can work remotely permanently, and and most of the work she does is full remote as well. Essentially, I'm looking for suggestions of places we might not know/think/thought of.

We would like a smaller town (but not tiny) that isn't too far from a larger area. I know that's not super precise, but we are pretty open. Coastal NC/SC/GA keeps popping up for us, especially based on housing prices. 

We even looked into Reno, NV until we saw how insanely expensive housing is there. 

Also considering the "Redneck Rivieria" IE, MS/AL/FL near the panhandle in the Gulf. SE Tennessee as well. As you can see, we are pretty open to suggestions, we know in reality it will be a year or two before we can sell our house and move, so we are starting the research phase. 

Pretty much her only requirement is, "I don't want to go somewhere it's cold." It makes her RA even harder to deal with. And probably nowhere on the west coast just because of taxes/cost of living. 

We moved to Woodstock, GA in august from West Palm Beach and I love it here. Good neighborhoods- housing market is a little insane but better than where we came from. Downtown is 40 minutes away. Awesome brewery and restaurants in town, quiet. Very solid. 
Chattanooga is nice and no state income taxes. 

Congrats on moving from OK.  I'm familiar with coastal NC.  Three areas in particular pop into mind.  The first is New Bern, a cool city of 30,000 with lots of history that's central to everything along the entire state's coast.  If you want to spend time/weekends at the beach but get back to "normal" at home, New Bern is great.

Washington, or "Little Washington" is smaller (10,000) and has some history as well.  It's close to Greenville (90,000).

Swansboro is right on the water and "in the middle of it all" while remaining pretty quiet and quaint.  Jacksonville is close to the west and has 75,000 residents while the touristy beaches are a few miles east.

These areas can get coldish.  It's not Florida or tropical but it is warmer in winter than Oklahoma.  Like everywhere, real estate is nuts.  I'm sorry Texas is closed but enjoy your next landing spot.

Nashville area seems pretty cool.   Or somewhere along the corridor toward Bowling Green KY.  That gets you close the the NCM racetrack.

What are some of the things you require?  I don't know your age, so are there any children, plans for children, etc?  How well do you guys deal with humidity?  Also, I don't want this to derail into a political thread but take that into account as well - places often lean one way or the other.

Pretty much the entire east coast and gulf region is going to have very humid and hot summers.  The area you mentioned, the redneck riviera (where I grew up by the way) has positives and negatives.  Houses are generally pretty cheap comapred to other areas.  Hurricanes are something to consider as well - they happen a lot and you'll get one, so make sure you're in an area that won't flood.  If you're a republican/trump supporter, small towns in that area tend to lean pretty heavily that way.  The cities are generally more left-leaning, although not nearly as much as a more northern city.  

If you were to choose Florida, I would recommend the western gulf coast region.  Plenty of GRMers live in/near Tampa and it's a place to consider.  Warm weather year-round, the gulf of mexico is pretty much warm year-round as well, and key west is a handful of hours south.  For that matter, there's keys down the entire western gulf coast, and they're gorgeous.  Lots of cheap project cars down there and they generally don't rust.  However, pay attention to flooding and how much the seas rise with storms and how much they're expected to rise in the future with climate change - parts of Miami are already having issue with rising sea levels, for example.

Savanna, GA is often said to be a pretty area.  Lots of canopy roads and whatnot.

I'm just here for the comments, I'm in no hurry to leave Oklahoma but have been thinking about other places to live after my kid finishes school.

In reply to z31maniac :

Come check out the MS coast, I think it fits your description quite well. Feel free to message me if you want a more in-depth overview of the good/bad of living here. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

I'm 39, she's 36, no kids and no desire to have any. The Tampa area is something she has brought up before, but I'd prefer a little elevation change vs Florida. Savannah is another place she has mentioned.

Humidity, no my favorite, but it gets plenty hot and humid in Oklahoma as well. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I thought you loved it in Oklahoma. 

I would say Texas but we're getting a lot of people moving here to the major areas. There are costal towns but they get HOT in the summer lol. 

Places I would check out:

Slidell, LA.  15 miles from New Orleans, super laid-back, small-town feel, amazingly friendly people.  Don't get me started on the food.  I usually weigh around 215 lbs.  When I lived down there I ballooned to 270.

Asheville, NC.  It was heavily suggested for me a few years ago when I asked.  It didn't click with me, but it must be good because everyone talks about it.  It's not really close to larger areas, but it's within a couple hours of big stuff.

If you want consistently temperate weather, there is nothing I can think of that beats central CA coast, but you have to be pretty far away from metro areas to be affordable.

How about Albuquerque?  It can get pretty cold given the elevation, but not any worse than some winters in OK.  Close to Santa Fe which is a lovely area.  Same basic recommendation for Flagstaff.

My normal recommendation for this request is Austin TX, but housing prices have gone nuts.  Still, the surrounding areas are lovely.  The town is awesome, and some of the communities nearby are exactly the opposite of what you think of TX.  Hills, green lawns, trees, lovely.  Kyle, New Braunfels, and San Marcos have remained relatively inexpensive and are close to both Austin and San Antonio.  Killeen is a bit off the beaten path, but cheaper.

Generalizations:  East coast will have all the seasons, it's just that they are all more humid and the average temps go up as you go south.  PA is 70-90 degrees in the summer and 20-40 degrees in the winter.  It's the same in GA, just 80-100 in the summer and 40-60 in the winter.  West coast will tend to be less humid and have two basic seasons; false spring and fake fall.  I used to joke that Los Angeles had 50 weeks of the year at 72.367 degrees, then one week of winter that was 50 and one week of summer that was 95.  Relative humidity was negative 20% except for the two hours surrounding the four times it rained each year.  San Francisco is the same, but replace those numbers with 65, 45, and 85 respectively.  Seattle is the same, but add rain and make those numbers 60, 40, and 80.  San Diego is the same, but the numbers are 80, 60, and 95.  It has to do with the prevailing currents of the oceans.  Atlantic flows S-N bringing warmer water and higher humidity.  Its also why you always see hurricanes hitting the south-east of every continent.  Pacific flows N-S bringing colder water.  Lower humidity and more stable temperatures are a typical result.  I mention all of this because you mentioned she doesn't want cold and you don't want humid.  The easy button is to go west and deal with either desert or CA housing prices, or go east and south and deal with humidity.

In the middle of the country it more or less follows the predominant jetstream which is why you get freezing temps in OK, but up in Seattle they rarely do. Your climate in OK is more closely related to KY/southern IN than it is to something along your same latitude like Atlanta or Las Vegas.  i only mention that to suggest that as you go closer to coasts you can go a bit north and not risk going any colder than you are now (with obvious exceptions for altitude)  I'm thinking Virginia, Utah, Kentucky, etc.

I won't ask your political stance since it's irrelevant, but are you looking for a more conservative area?  Liberal area?  Mix of both?  The reason I ask is that you can likely find a climate you enjoy in either Portland OR or Springfield MO, but given their differing cultures and political tendencies, one might be a great choice and the other one a terrible place to hang your hat.

I can't really recommend Dallas right now even though I live here. The real estate market is absolutely stupid right now. Multiple offers above asking price for any shack with a for sale sign on it, and big money coming in from other states and other countries. I work with somebody who just moved here from Austin to run away from the even more stupid rising rents down there. They think that $2,000 a month is cheap for an apartment and have given up on the idea of buying any kind of house. Traffic is bad here and getting worse. Toll roads are taking over in the newer parts of town and commuting could be expensive depending on where you live and where you work. Crime is bad in the city and the homicide rate is going up. Lots of homeless camps inside the Dallas city limits. Crime in the suburbs is not so bad nor do they tolerate panhandlers which seem to be on every street corner within the Dallas city limits. 

They are building like crazy here and in a few years they might actually catch up to the housing shortage but all the new houses are way out in the sticks where they didn't build houses before. Lots of people live in brand new huge developments and have to take two lane Farm to Market Roads back to the city to go to work causing even more traffic problems. The roads have not caught up to the subdivisions yet. Not so much of a problem if you work from home. You have to like the suburban sprawl. 

We have some nice places to road race here if you have any money left over after paying your rent or mortgage. Eagles Canyon. Texas Motorsports Ranch in Cresson. Texas Motor Speedway has a road course. Formula One is about three hours away at COTA. We keep losing autocross space though. Our latest one is the parking lot at the horse racing track in Grand Prairie. We lost the Mineral Wells Airport Site to a company that builds helicopters. 

Quite honestly, is there anyplace apart from Detroit and maybe some really cold places in North Dakota where housing prices haven't gone stupid yet? I was actually thinking of cashing out and moving to Oklahoma. 

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

My friend is looking for homes in the Dallas area with a very generous budget. She can't find anything that's on the market long enough to put a offer on. 

Its so bad that her company is letting her stay in San Antonio even though they want to bring her up to Dallas where they're based at. 

yupididit said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

My friend is looking for homes in the Dallas area with a very generous budget. She can't find anything that's on the market long enough to put a offer on. 

Its so bad that her company is letting her stay in San Antonio even though they want to bring her up to Dallas where they're based at. 

Yep. I hear that all the time. The investors here hire people to call homeowners all day long asking if the want to sell hoping to get their offer in before the house even goes up for sale. They all pay cash and some will even buy without inspecting it. I get for or five calls a week. The investors are very aggressive about it and it usually ends up being rental property if they buy it. If your friend needs to get up here and has the money I would recommend renting a place short term and then getting on some builder's waiting list for a new house. New houses are going up everywhere. 

yupididit said:

In reply to z31maniac :

I thought you loved it in Oklahoma. 

I would say Texas but we're getting a lot of people moving here to the major areas. There are costal towns but they get HOT in the summer lol. 

 

 

I know I mention the positives of here often when people ask, but that's mainly just to point out not everyone here is a hilljack living in a trailer home. 

Politics, yes they do matter, but not a ton. Oklahoma is far more red than we are. But most of the stuff doesn't really impact us past, "They are wasting the taxpayer money AGAIN to pass a bill they will know will be struck down in the courts just to play to the base." But I'm also not interested in the far extreme the other direction either. And we will leave it at so as not to flounder. 

I've thought about Albuquerque before, but apparently they have an incredibly high property crime rate, probably not as bad outside of town? Also considered Salt Lake area, Nashville, north of Phoenix.

We've also considered the area from Eureka Springs to Table Rock Lake to Branson in that general area. 

Treat this as a "What car should I get" thread, but moving. I was born in OK, graduated college here, lived here all my life, and I'd like to try something new. She moved around a bunch growing up because of her dad's work and just kind of ended up here. 

Not much of an upgrade from Oklahoma but there is a lot for sale directly across the street from me and I'd love to have more car people around.

On a side note my wife and I have talked about moving to SE Tennessee/NW Georgia on multiple occassions.  It's beautiful down there.

I always wanted to live in the Oregon coast. I don't know why. 

I'm also drawn to that area as your close to Nashville, I've been a few times and have friends, great city.....but like Austin, it's growing faster than it's infrastructure and real estate is getting pricey. And there are a lot of motorsports in Georgia. 

You might consider Hot Springs, Arkansas. My parents retired to that area. Lots of lakes for boating. Lots of woods and hills. They also have an off road park there. Some people commute to Little Rock for work. Downtown is a State Park. 

The only problem I had there was getting parts for my Porsche. There is no Porsche dealer in Hot Springs. There is no Porsche dealer in Little Rock. There is no Porsche dealer in the entire State of Arkansas. There are four Porsche dealers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. 

Oklahoma is a lot of places that are very different. If I was planted in OKC, I'd be looking to move too, but I'm quite happy in the northeast corner. Not that I want anyone else to come here.... My only recommendation is to check out: http://www.city-data.com/.  There is a huge wealth of information there including forums where people discuss the exact information that you seem to be looking for. Not to replace the wise and all-knowing GRM forum, but to supplement it with statistics and local advice from anywhere.

In reply to z31maniac :

OKC is a relatively inexpensive town.  Whereas larger cities (over 250k population) are usually 20-300% higher than median cost of living, OKC is 16% below the US average.  That means you might end up moving from a rather large city to a rural area of (for instance) PA and end up paying more for housing and living than you do now.  Slidell LA is pretty much a lateral move for you financially.  Both the median property value and the median income is similar.  Asheville NC, not so much.  Median property value is almost double and median income is lower.  This is partly due, I think, to the fact that a significant portion of the population is students and retirees.  There really isn't any work to speak of unless you work in the coffee shop where the students and old retirees get their breakfast.  Of the approximately 100k people who live there, less than half are employed.  (source: datausa.io)

Where I live (Harrisburg, PA) would be a cheap move for you.  Houses are inexpensive in general, although they just skyrocketed during the pandemic.  I bought my house for $87k four years ago and it was pretty steady (1.3% growth for 3 years) until the pandemic hit.  Now houses just like mine are going for $125-132k.  PA is similar in political demographics to OKC, but I doubt you would like the winters.  Less vicious and acute, but it lasts 4 months at least.

That website above datausa.io is a neat tool. Search for OKC, then just below that you'll see "add comparison" and you can compare/contrast any city with yours.

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

Oklahoma is a lot of places that are very different. If I was planted in OKC, I'd be looking to move too, but I'm quite happy in the northeast corner. Not that I want anyone else to come here.... My only recommendation is to check out: http://www.city-data.com/.  There is a huge wealth of information there including forums where people discuss the exact information that you seem to be looking for. Not to replace the wise and all-knowing GRM forum, but to supplement it with statistics and local advice from anywhere.

Yeah, I'm originally from the Tulsa area. But if we are going to go through the PITA of selling this house and moving it's going to be to try somewhere new. Plus a lot of our friends have either moved out of Tulsa, or they are in the "we have kids now" phase of their life. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but being DINKs means we live different lives. 

My mother is retired and lives with her husband where they split time between San Diego and Hawaii. My father is in Tulsa. Her mother/step-father live in Phoenix, her father/step-mother live in The Villages outside of Orlando.

So really at this point the only tie to Oklahoma is my dad and that I grew up here. I'm not the sentimental type, to a fault. 

I'm just going to say that we've had a couple of staff members move here from OK. They seem happy enough and neither have threatened to move back :)

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to z31maniac :

OKC is a relatively inexpensive town.  Whereas larger cities (over 250k population) are usually 20-300% higher than median cost of living, OKC is 16% below the US average.  That means you might end up moving from a rather large city to a rural area of (for instance) PA and end up paying more for housing and living than you do now.  Slidell LA is pretty much a lateral move for you financially.  Both the median property value and the median income is similar.  Asheville NC, not so much.  Median property value is almost double and median income is lower.  This is partly due, I think, to the fact that a significant portion of the population is students and retirees.  There really isn't any work to speak of unless you work in the coffee shop where the students and old retirees get their breakfast.  Of the approximately 100k people who live there, less than half are employed.  (source: datausa.io)

Where I live (Harrisburg, PA) would be a cheap move for you.  Houses are inexpensive in general, although they just skyrocketed during the pandemic.  I bought my house for $87k four years ago and it was pretty steady (1.3% growth for 3 years) until the pandemic hit.  Now houses just like mine are going for $125-132k.  PA is similar in political demographics to OKC, but I doubt you would like the winters.  Less vicious and acute, but it lasts 4 months at least.

That website above datausa.io is a neat tool. Search for OKC, then just below that you'll see "add comparison" and you can compare/contrast any city with yours.

Yeah, I know it's cheap here, which is one of the things that kept me here. It allows me money to travel and spend stupid amounts on cars. And finish the sim I'm building in my home office. 

I know I'll have to accept, I'll have to have less house, for more money, not as close to downtown of a major metro area.

Keith Tanner said:

I'm just going to say that we've had a couple of staff members move here from OK. They seem happy enough and neither have threatened to move back :)

I actually applied there when I got divorced back in 2015. I aced one test, but messed up on another. So Teri had to pass even after we talked on the phone and I explained what I did wrong.