The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

We lived in OKC for 40+ years, then moved to Washington state for eight years. We spent those eight years in an area of small towns and we never want to live that way again. Now we're back in the OKC area but can't find the right house. Our next choice is Tulsa but we know very little about it. We're looking for a house on 2 -5 acres, in a neighborhood, preferably built before 2000. We don't like the open kitchen concept and my husband would like to have some remodeling projects. Before we contact a realtor, we'd like to drive around the area a bit. Can you give us some suggestions about Tulsa and the suburbs that might meet our needs?   Thanks.

You can use something like Zillow to search for some of these factors. There are many homes in east tulsa (by that I mean east of downtown, it's not an official area name) with houses built before 2,000 on small acreage. West of downtown there are also some good homes matching that criteria. Midtown (geographically close to downtown, to the south and east) and North Tulsa (Just North of HW I-244) are mostly smaller lots. South Tulsa, and the surrounding communities have a lot of standard suburban developments with little space between neighbors. The further you go outside the city in any direction, lot sizes increase.

I hear people living near downtown and in midtown Tulsa really do not like people that lived in Oklahoma City for anywhere close to say, 40 years. They especially dislike people that also lived in Washington state. If I were you, I would look to the southern part of Tulsa--perhaps even Bixby to play it safe. Those folks I hear are very welcoming, compassionate, and really care about newcomers to the area.

Use Google Maps and look for the non-crowded places.  For reference, the lots in the NW corner of square mile just south of E 111th St S and east of Memorial are mostly a bit over 1 acre.
http://goo.gl/maps/ADKhu

Be sure to check flood zones.

Tulsa - 22nd street to about 25th from Sheridan to Memorial.  Smaller acreages - only about 1 to 1.5, but right in town.

If you want a McMansion, go south.  With all the attendant traffic issues.  Along highway 75, south of Jenks - both sides of highway.  Bixby, Jenks, Glenpool.  Too much commotion for me.

Want more "comfortable" housing, that will likely need some project work, there is a pretty wide area to the north that is pretty good with a wide variety of places.  Looking at a map, create a 'zone' in your mind's eye with highway 75 on the west.  169 on the east.  86th street north on the south side, and highway 60 on the north.  Take the lower right hand corner a little further east than 169, but no further east than Claremore (Garth Brooks is out that way.)...not a McMansion - his is a real mansion!!  This 'box' has a lot to choose from with literally something for anyone.

Owasso has a very good hospital (St. Johns) so you can be close to that in that zone.  Lots of other shopping opportunities.  Only thing is not much in the way of movie theaters.  Tulsa is very easy access from this area...generally easier than from the same distance to the south.

I spent time in Turley when young, and it was kind of ragged.  Still is from what I can see now.

Skiatook and Oologah have nice lakes very close by.  If you look at the strip east of 169 from Oologah to the north about 15 miles, keep in mind it is sitting on a rock - the dirt is very shallow making gardening/farming/landscaping more problematic.

And water wells in northeast OK are not viable, so will have to do rural water district - they are very good.  Rogers county has pretty good fire department around Oologah area.  Don't know about Washington county.  Building in Rogers county seems to be reasonable.

The strip of acreages/housing on either side of highway 75 from Skiatook to Bartlesville is growing fast, with lots of McMansion stuff going on.  Not much to my tastes, but someone likes them...makes the prices high.

If you want rocky, kind of wooded stuff, out around Mannford at Keystone has some interesting places.  I want more gardening stuff, so not for me.

Welcome to Tulsa.  You are gonna like it better than OKC.

I have a house that we will be selling in a few months.  It sits on about 1.5 acres and is about 3 miles from Tulsa Hills.  It is in Creek County and Jenks school district.  Most of the houses are 1-2 acre lots in the subdivision.  Our daughter graduates from Jenks this year and we already purchased another property to move to once she graduates.  The house was built in 1979 and has ~1900-2000 square feet. 

I moved back to the Tulsa area about 10 years ago from the Dallas area and went through the same kind of logic you are now.   With the exception of the open kitchen concept (which I like), your criteria are very similar.  In short, if you are set on the minimum of two acres you are going to be hard-pressed to find any options within Tulsa-proper unless you have some fairly deep pockets.  Anything actually in Tulsa in a decent neighborhood on a two-acre lot will be fairly pricey.  I just did a quick Realtor.com search with some of those criteria, and just about all of the surrounding cities/areas do have some houses that look like they might be options for you.  But it depends upon how close you want to be to "town", and what that means to you.  

If you have read many of the topic entries on this forum, you may have noticed that the various area representatives like to jab each other quite a bit and promote their area over the others.  And while there are great places to live in all parts of the Tulsa metro, there are significant differences in style (primarily based on direction and distance from downtown) between the various abutting burgs, and you should look first at those general criteria and how they best fit what you are looking for.  After you get a feel for direction and style, there should be several options within that sector to look at.

You may be interested in looking south of Glenpool in the Mounds area.

The older areas of Owasso, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Mannford, and Sand Springs (1950's-1970's) are more likely to have the space and type kitchen your desire.

Homes are more expensive here than OKC. We have more ego.

Looking at the current development flow, Glenpool is about the best investment you can make to get the property you are seeking.  Everything there is appreciating and it's a very nice community with good access to just about anywhere in Tulsa.

As long as you overlook their tremendous debt. ;) Best to be just outside their taxable area.

fixed that.

Really need a GIF of you ringing a cowbell.

(http://i.imgur.com/UMcBk.gif)

Au Contraire dear Guido.  We love it when people finally realize the tragic err of their ways, come to their senses and move into the lovely utopia that is Downtown/Mid-town Tulsa.  ;D

I mentioned the mid Tulsa area of Johannson Acres around 23rd and Memorial and that they are only about 1 to 1.5 acres...  Then I had a thought... Buy two adjacent, or back to back, bulldoze one of the houses, and voila'...instant 2+ acres.  And at least one of them is likely to be nice enough to live in, but have remodeling opportunities, too.  Nice neighborhood, but the surrounding areas somewhat in decline...there has been little or no price appreciation in the last 10 years.


Have you heard anything hear yet that sounds at all rational/reasonable compared to your expectations (yeah, I know...it's a long shot asking this crew)??  Had the chance to drive around any yet?

Too few houses in Johanssen which make the odds pretty slim you would ever have adjacent properties for sale at the same time.  MC and I have been looking for something bigger and put in an offer on one we felt was over-improved for the area.  Needless to say, we are still looking.  There is one which just took a price cut to $120K which is very cheap for that ‘hood but they’ve done some funky interior improvements and it backs up directly to a school which is an issue for some folk.

Johansen is actually only comprised of 25th Place and 24th St. between Sheridan and Memorial which makes comparable sales a real biznitch in determining the “true” value of a property in there since the immediate housing areas to the north and south are generally more tract type homes on 8000-9000 square foot lots.  It’s a very neat and unusual neighborhood for sure.  I wish we could have bought the one house for what it should be worth, but I’m not obligated to pay too much for a property when the previous owner over-improved it.

We are putting an offer in on a house in Wedgewood, which is another unique area with more custom builts on larger lots rather than tract housing.  If that goes through, we will be looking to rent out our Mid-Century Lortondale house in the near future if anyone knows of someone looking for a nice house to rent in mid-town.

Don't have to wait for that...if find one for sale, there are two (one on each side) and sometimes one behind that could be approached to see if they were interested in selling.  Make your own destiny.  $120 k in any other part of town would be insanely low, but that one is so close to some mediocre neighborhoods, it won't really go too much higher, proportionally.  Get the 120k, gut it and redo it yourself.  Sheet rock is cheap.  Is it still for sale?  May have to go look at it.

It is a very interesting neighborhood that I would like to get into, if could buy the two or three lot thing.  The houses are all over the map from very modest, small places (one with tan/brown brick that backs up to what used to be Whitney Jr High).  Probably no more than 1000 sq ft.  Others are over 3,000 ft.  Many of them were owner built.  I had many friends live there when in school.  The area just north - 21st to 23rd - has houses that have been selling from 80k to 120 k for over 15 years.  Haven't moved a notch.  Family friend sold one for 100k in 1995 that was for sale last summer for 100k.  Houses aren't run down, it's just a declining area...not far south Tulsa, or Broken Arrow, or Owasso.

Wedgwood...north of 21st, just east of the Sears compound Wedgwood??  And you think Johansson Acres is overpriced??  I had friends that lived there, too...one was to big to fit in the car (very small car so couldn't get more than 5 or 6 inside the Beetle), so when we went anywhere as a group, he would ride on the front like a hood ornament....  Wedgwood is nice enough area - there are some good houses there.  Growing up, it was always the Ranch Acres Wannabe neighborhood....but smaller and less expensive.  And great because we could park at friends and walk to the fair!!

Not sure how you are using the phrase "tract housing", but no, not like Levittown, but certainly the mid century ranch (sprawling stone), with some throwbacks to post WWII almost ranch...brick half way up with siding up to roof line.  Custom in the way that you bought from a selection of plans the builder had, and most were not built quite "on spec"....since everything they built sold by the time they were complete.

You are in one of the most unique areas of town from that time....I spent a lot of time riding a bicycle through that part of town, and always thought it would be very cool to have a flat roof house. 

Johanssen isn’t over-priced, but it’s hard to really establish steady values since homes don’t sell often there.  Realtors only use comp sales in the last six months to form a CMA, I’m not sure how far back an appraiser will go for realistic comps.  The house we put an offer in on is over-priced, about $110/ft. when the historical trend the last two years has been $70-$80/ft.  We offered $87/ft, they countered at $107.  We figured there was no point in trying to negotiate further.  You have to figure what the additional land is worth to you as well as out-buildings.  This one had about a 600 square foot cinder block shop that was in below average condition.  It’s not my fault they are in it to the tune of $125 to $130/ft.   This was a 1600 foot house and they had done really nice updates thinking this was the house they would be in through retirement.

I was trying to think what other neighborhood was similar to Wedgewood and you are right Ranch Acres is similar type homes.  And yes, it’s the one just east of Sears/Target/Reasors at 21st & Yale.  Someone else put in an offer last night as well so we will see how that shakes out.

When I say tract homes, more like the 1200 to 1800 foot homes that were built on spec or off a limited set of floor plan choices where a buyer could pick certain amenities or colors if they had pre-sold a house.  I like how the streets meander around in Wedgewood, rather than being on a NSEW grid.

And yes, I’m still riding a bicycle all over the place in that area  ;D