My hubby and I have been debating possible spots to relocate to. We are currently near Denver, Co and both of us dislike it here. I have one more year of school left and then we are free to pick up and move assuming we can find decent jobs & housing. Here's the delema..where do we go??? We have both decided that we want fairly mild weather (minimal cold due to health problem). I grew up in Riverside, CA and hubby in Houston and those places are all options. I would LOVE to go back to So CA as I have lots of family & friends, but am worried about housing prices. We don't need much, just a place where I can keep my horse and maybe a goat & some chickens. Hubby's employer has plants in Flagstaff Arizona and Oklahoma City and a transfer is a possibilty. Can anyone tell me what the weather is like in Flagstaff (I assume cold)? OKC outskirts is very affordable, but we have no family there and I am worried about that. I guess it is a choice between having family & friends close by and having a small home with maybe an acre, or having 20 acres and a bit nicer home and having no relatives or friends. Any imput? We are not looking to be self-sufficient, I just enjoy small gardening and having some animals.

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), January 03, 2001

Answers

I live near OKC, and could probably answer any specific questions you have about the area. And I'm sure you could find a small parcel of land around here pretty easily.

Brett

-- Brett (bretfromok@aol.com), January 03, 2001.

Thanks Brett! Can you tell me what the weather is like? I have only been to OKC once and that was in October for about 4 days. It seemed like a nice town, not too huge, and the folks were sure nice. Also, any ideas of housing prices? We do need at least a bit of land where I can keep horses. From my internet search it seems very affordable compared to Denver.

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), January 04, 2001.

i live in the okc area. great place to live. i just saw 5 acres on a blacktop road for sale for $5,000 heck of a deal. and oh, its in the metro area. most prices are higher than that, but its a bargain here.

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), January 04, 2001.

== Can anyone tell me what the weather is like in Flagstaff (I assume cold)? ==

Oh yeah! I lived in central Arizona for most of my life. We took our mounts up to Flag in the summer to ride, since it's considerably cooler up there. You get snowed in in the winter! Need chains on your tires. Arizona's a great state ~ you can change your climate and terrain by driving for an hour.

Why am I now in Texas? I got tired of being raped and not enjoying it! The cost of living is considerably less in Texas. Example: The license plate for my truck in Texas is $40 yearly. In Arizona it's $557 ~ and that's not a typo!! I've got the same climate I had in Arizona, but the summers run about 30º cooler. (July and August TRUE temps ran about 135º)

Arizona isn't as dry as it used to be. All those easterners moved there for our way of life ~ and then wanted it changed to look like Michigan, Ohio, etc. Consequently, with all the grass they planted, the humidity has really climbed. And your alergies will follow you. The indigenous plants weren't good enough for the new comers, so they brought plants that need a lot of water.

Now if you spend summers in Flag and winters in a mild climate, you'll have the best of both worlds!

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), January 04, 2001.

Yup, Rogo is right. We tax the hell out of those new yuppie vehicles to build all the roads they need in the Fenix area. Fenix climate has changed as Rogo says, still toasty in the summer, but jobs go begging. Cost me about $20 a year for my car license. Flagstaff can get lots of snow, several feet some winters, with temps always in the negative range each winter. After all it is 6800 feet high.

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), January 04, 2001.

Elle,

I don't have specific information here with me on house prices... Again, the cost of living here tends to be lower than the national average. Of course, the closer to OKC you get, the more expensive property is going to be. On the other hand, there are a lot of roads and highways leading into the OKC area, so it would be possible to live a considerable distance away from the city, and still be able to commute to work. I'm sure there must be online resources where you can look into house and land prices. To start, I'd recommend you concentrate your search for property that lies east, northeast and maybe north of Oklahoma City itself. The other directions have spread out a lot more and you'll probably have to look farther out to find any suitable property.

As for the weather, Oklahoma is a very diverse state and contains a wide range of climatic zones. Therefore, what I will describe is generally only true for central Oklahoma: The winters are usually somewhat mild, the summers are long, hot and dry. It's well-suited for ranching and wheat farming, but that's about it. Of course, you can plant gardens or even run a small "hobby farm", but any other farming on a large scale probably won't work out. You mentioned raising horses... there are several large horse ranches just south of Oklahoma City, so clearly the area is well-suited for it.

That's all I can think of for now... I can understand your desire to live near your family but if you decide to move to Oklahoma, I don't think you'll be disappointed. You're right, most people around here are very friendly, especially out in the rual areas.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Brett

-- Brett (bretfromok@aol.com), January 04, 2001.

Well I live in Riverside county, in Temecula, which is much cheaper than anyplace in San Diego, Orange or LA counties. However, that isn't saying much. But there are cheaper places than Temecula -Hemet, for example.

Why don't you check out www.realtor.com and see what's available anywhere in the country? I do this sometimes for a lark, picking an area at random and setting my budget in the multi-millions.

-- Leslie A. (lesliea@home.com), January 04, 2001.

Thanks to everyone for the info!

Leslie, Do you happen to know how the Mira Loma area is looking currently? I haven't lived there since the early 90's and it was getting kinda yucky then. But the economy was so bad at that time... I was hoping it would be cleaned up some by now, since I have some interest in that area. I miss the everybody-has-a-horse and everybody-is-a-cowboy mindset of that area! :-)

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), January 05, 2001.

Elle- I currently live in Flagstaff. The weather is cold, but, not that cold! I have been told that we are having mild, mild winters! The air is incredibly dry! and the prices are disasterously high! On a side note, husband has been offered a transfer to Arkansas with the Forest Service. Anyone live in or near Hot Springs or Russelville? Would like to know what the land is like, the prices and the people. Sissy

-- sissy sylvester-barth (jerreleene@hotmail.com), January 05, 2001.

Elle, I know where Mira Loma is, but that's about it. I can tell you there are plenty of places around here where everyone seems to have a horse, but, like me, they aren't all cowboys. (Bummer)

-- Leslie A. (lesliea@home.com), January 05, 2001.

I don't know if you'd be intereted but Georgia and or Alabama are great states to live in.Taxes are cheap and land is plentiful,weather it be rural suburban or country your looking for and the wheather is Great! We sometimes have hot summers 90'S to 100 degrees but Winters are usually mild,excluding this one, we haven't seen snow yet but the temps are colder than usual this year. I've lived in several other states and counrties and i personally perfer te SOUTH over all. The people are friendly and the land and taxes are the lowest in the country.We also have alot of beautiful scenary;from mountains to flat farmlands to little cities to big cities,so if your interested email me for more specific info. Paula

-- Paula (Jepaco13@aol.com), January 06, 2001.

I am east of OKC by 2 and 1/2 hrs. I have lived in Co., spent most of my life in S. CA. Give up CA. even though my entire family is there I wouldn't live there and I love my family (although they seem nuts and only care about their tans!) I have lived in Ky. and Utah, Ill. and Wis., obviously my husband's job (civilian for the Armed Forces) moves us alot. Ok. has been the hardest of all moves because I had left wonderful friends in the other states. Here though we bought 300 acreas and a wonderful house, barn plus extras for the price of a few acreas up North with a nice house. Now, for weather, I have just spent 13 days without ultilities because of a Ice Storm. It gets cold here and they do not know how to drive on snow nor have enough salt trucks and salt for that matter. My daughter goes to college in a town just North of OKC called Stillwater, she loves that town. You can find beautiful rural areas not far from OKC, so... if your interested in homesteading somewhat you can do as much or as little as you want in OK. Good Luck, I thought Denver was too busy for me.

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), January 10, 2001.

I live south of Oklahoma City. There is some property for sale in the same area that I live. I am not sure what is being asked for it, but I can ask if you want. They are 5 acre lots, one family (it can not be divided for multiple family living). One piece in particular has a mobile home that probably needs alot of work to look at it,but has some nice out buildings. Out here people have llamas, horses, donkeys, you name it, it is out here. It is real quiet though. Most of the people are as nice as can be too. This has been a strange winter as it has been so icy and snowy. We got 10 inches of snow , then another storm came in dumping ice and snow on us. It is usually pretty mild in the winter, hot in the summer, triple digits not being a surprise. Good luck on your search!!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001.

I have no experience with either California or Oklahoma. However, I seem to remember that Oklahoma gets lots of tornados. If not so, perhaps the OKies will correct me.

I live in Wisconsin, and we get a fair number of tornados, so I am used to listening for the warnings and running to the basement. But perhaps Elle would like to avoid them?

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), January 10, 2001.