[chiili]

Hey everyone!

I've been lurking this forum for a while now. My husband and I are on the fence about moving out of our home state (Ohio). We are young, 27, with no children yet. We both love the outdoors, and have dreamed of owning our own piece of property. Unfortunately, where we currently live outside of Cincinnati, it's impossible to find 10 acres with a home for under 250k. My husband has always loved rodeo's and the western culture. We both have pretty good jobs that we can relocate with. He's a plumber and I'm a nurse.

We're looking to purchase around 40 acres, with or without a home, we aren't opposed to building and living temporarily in a mobile home. We've always wanted a small ranch, and want our future kids to have the country lifestyle. We aren't really socialites, we don't go to bars and nightclubs so we aren't worried about having "nightlife" wherever we relocate. We're looking at Ada and possibly McAlester. I do like the amenities of having retail stores nearby so I thought Ada may be a better fit.

How do the smaller towns take to outsiders? We would be moving with no family or friends so meeting people would be important. We grew up in church so that would be a part of our lives. Are there other areas that anyone recommends? I do need to be semi close to a hospital. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

[eddie gein]

I would think that Ada and McAlester would work fine for you if you could find your acreage around there. Ada is probably considered the better of the two towns because it has a nice regional state university there. However, McAlester may actually have a bit more because it is a bigger hub and has a larger service area. McAlester has some killer Italian restaurants there as well. The other advantage of McAlester is the fact that it is the gateway to some really spectacular outdoor country. Lake Eufaula is close by, the mountains of Oklahoma are close and there are several other really nice lakes by there.

Hospital wise, Ada has the local hospital and also an Indian hospital in town. Seminole is close to Ada and has a hospital. McAlester has a pretty good sized regional hospital there. There is also a small hospital at Wilburton and in the city of Eufaula which aren't terribly far away from there.

I guess the other thing about Ada is that it isn't that far to the OKC metro. It is about an hour to an hour and a half away whereas McAlester is probably 2 to 2.5 hours away.

[swake]

McAlester is just over an hour from Tulsa and about 2.5 hours from the Dallas area.

[Johnhw2]

Another option to consider is Durant. It has a strong economy and is about an hour and a half from Dallas.

A downside for you might be it's booming ecinony which make things less affordable. I grew up there so am a Homer despite moving away to college and Texas for my career and retiring in Texas after time in Pittsburgh and northern NJ.

It's a nice small town that is growing and friendly

[chiili]

Thanks for the replies! We’re planning on taking a trip to check out mcalester and Ada. Well add Durant to the list. Any other suggestions? I don’t mind commuting around 30 minutes for work but would like to stay in that range preferably.

[StillwaterTownie]

Land isn't real cheap near my town of Stillwater. I saw an ad that had 40 acres with pond and paved roads priced at $235,000. No indication that it came with anything else. Stores, restaurants and a hospital would be a short drive away. Land on a dirt road and further out in the country would surely be priced lower. But I don't know of any.

[justanokie]

What kind of work?

What exactly are you planning to do with the land?

If you want to grow stuff on it then I would pay particular interest to the climate which differs significantly across the state.

I would look in the south central part of the state. Ardmore up to Pauls Valley, to Ada, and towards Durant. Rainfall tapers off a lot if you get more than 30 miles west of Ardmore. Land in your price range is available in these areas and currently prices are starting to fall. Rent is cheap especially if your lucky enough to find a rural rental close to some property you buy. If that doesn't work out then a used trailer house is easy to locate in this area.

I recommend concentrating on your job first. Find a place to work at then find a place to rent, get moved and settled in. Then look for a place.

I would add Ardmore to your list of places to stop. Some good companies to work for here. DFW is an 1.5 away and has everything a big metro should, unlike OKC.

You might in fact drive from Durant to Ardmore and swing by Lake Texoma. Lots of good places to live around Texoma.

I would recommend looking for a job with an Oil/Gas refiner or possibly BNSF railroad. These are pretty good paying jobs for anywhere and really good for this area.

[chiili]

As far as careers go, I am a registered nurse with 5 years experience in critical care. I have my bachelors, so I don’t foresee an issue with finding employment in a local hospital. My husband also has his plumbing license which he is able to transfer to Oklahoma. As far as work, we can be flexible in the areas we go to. We are planning on renting first, just to make sure we like the area before we buy. I would just like to have a general idea of where we would like to live because I don’t want to switch jobs more than that is necessary

We’re not planning on growing crops. It’ll be a family farm. A few horses, cattle, small garden ect.

[Johnhw2]

I suspect all of the larger towns you are considering have hospitals, I know Durant has a regional medical center and there is a new growing hospital in Denison Tx just 20 miles from Durant. Durant has a lot of growth in good jobs due to industry building plants there due to proximity to DFW Texas but with lower cost. Right now there is a huge steel recycling plant being built just east of Durant. Recently the casino south of Durant has doubled in size. There is also a large glass manufacturer west toward the lake in Durant. My point is plumbing demand is strong in Durant due to growth on top of ongoing maintenance and home up grade projects.

You got great advise from a poster above regarding rainfall variations. SE Ok gets around 50 inches of rain annually and has abundant lakes etc such as Sardis, Lake Hugo and Lake Texoma mentioned earlier.

Welcome to Oklahoma should you decide to come here. I live in a Northern suburb of Dallas and get to my Moms place in Durant in an hour and 10 minutes. So durant is very close to DFW an urban center of over 7 Million. But Durant feels like a whole other country from DFW but the trade is so extensive between the towns that Durant is part of the extended DFW metro area..

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by chiili

As far as careers go, I am a registered nurse with 5 years experience in critical care. I have my bachelors, so I don’t foresee an issue with finding employment in a local hospital. My husband also has his plumbing license which he is able to transfer to Oklahoma. As far as work, we can be flexible in the areas we go to. We are planning on renting first, just to make sure we like the area before we buy. I would just like to have a general idea of where we would like to live because I don’t want to switch jobs more than that is necessary

We’re not planning on growing crops. It’ll be a family farm. A few horses, cattle, small garden ect.

Apply at Oklahoma Heart Hospital(north) and then you should be able to find the land youre looking for out towards Cashion, Okarche, Kingfisher area. Most RN's at OK Heart only work 3 12 hour shifts a week. Plenty of off time to feed the animals.