Moving & have ?'s

[des]

My husband and kids are planning on moving to the Tulsa area.  We were wondering if anyone would give us any tips on the area there.  We are wondering what a few occupations pay there?  What does a framer and foreman make in construction, a waiter, and gas station clerk?
Any disasters that can happen there?  Also what areas would not be a good neighborhood for a family to live in w/ two toddlers.  Were moving from CDA, Idaho where we are unable to afford for rising house prices.  Were a young couple who have lived year almost our whold lives and this city went up too fast for us to keep up w/ rates of everything.  Our pay for framers range from 13-16hr, forman's make 18-20, waiters 2.30 plus tips, and gas station clerks @ $6.  Thankyou for replying to us.

DES

[Conan71]

Probably close to the same wages here, though tips as a waiter are going to vary.  If you work at Village Inn, you are going to be bottom of the scale, if you work at one of the high ticket places, quite a bit better.

Someone else might know more about construction wages.  I have a good feel for the steel fabrication and heat exchanger biz, not really much of an idea on stick and stone construction.

Better than a gas station clerk, you could go to work at Quik-Trip (visit their website quiktrip.com) with a starting pay of $7.50 an hour, excellent benefits, bonuses (I think) and great advancement opportunities.

Tulsa is noted as one of the cheapest metro areas to live in the U.S..

[cannon_fodder]

A general building foreman is probably in that area.  A heavy machine foreman/steel foreman would be about $8 higher than that.  License professions (plumber, electricians) probably split the difference or are closer to heavy machine foremen.

Gas station clerks here do much better than $6 thanks to Quick Trip.  A clerk can make upwards of $11 an hour at a QT.  Managers make $50k.  Gotta love QT.

I think the wage for wait staff in OK is $3.25.  So tips pretty much, the same as everywhere - Tulsans love to eat out.  Rank high on restaurants per capita (explains our flab).

On this website you can compare average wages:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm
Tulsa: mean wage - $13.19
CDA: mean wage - $13.09     

Here you can see the cost of living:
www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/07s0709.xls
Tulsa: 90.1 (100 is average)
Boise: 98 (sorry, CDA is not listed in the stats, Boise is the closet city as Spokane is not listed either. Figure you at least have an idea of Boise)

So if the cost of living is rising as you say it is, and the wages being better... you should be better off after the move.

I hope you find this forum helpful.  Ask away!

[des]

I thankyou for your replys'.  Your input on the wages makes me feel that the move will be a good one.  Our avrg house price is 200,000 and w/ little wage there is no way.  People here are either docs or retired, or struggling.  When I asked about disasters I meant to ask about tornadoes and flood risks, etc.  And what about neighborhoods and traffic?  Thankyou

Des

[cannon_fodder]

I live near 28th and Harvard.  You will find there is much debate between living in the city ("Midtown") or in South Tulsa/the burbs.  I very much enjoy living in midtown, it is more dense and closer to everything.  Within walking distance I have over a dozen  restaurants, a pet store, my vet, my eye doctor, a grocery store, movie place, a couple pharmacies, a pub, my sons Tae Kwan Do... etc.

In my neighborhood you can get 1200 Sq Feet on 1/4 - 1/3 of an acre for ~ $100,000.  More if you want a newer or remodeled house.  Less if you want one that you can remodel/refurbish yourself.  In South Tulsa you can get newer homes and get more Square Footage for your money.  A few blocks over from me and $100,000 wouldnt buy their guest house...

Overall, housing is EXTREMELY cheap. Google Tulsa real estate and see for yourself.
- - -

Traffic is really a non-issue.  Our morning rush hour results in "slow downs" at its worst.  I commute 5 mile to work and usually do it in 15 minutes.  From the suburbs to downtown is 20-40 minutes depending (obviously you can get further out, but generally).
- - -

Disasters... flood risk is minimal.  No earth quakes.  No hurricanes. Tornadoes are the only real threat and are hit or miss.  The odds of having your house destroyed by tornado are about the same as having it burn down from lightening.  And you can do nothing about either... just hope it doesn't happen.

[Conan71]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we have had tornado damage in the incorporated city limits since the May 3, 1999 tornado that was the tail end of the major OKC one.  Parts of the west side got minimal damage.  I've lived in Tulsa all but six months out of 41 and a half years.  I've never seen a tornado other than on TV.

Some of the older working class areas like Red Fork are stable, and just hard working folk.  You can get better deals on housing on the west side.

I think you and yours will find it easy to make it in Tulsa.

[DM]

I live in far southeast Tulsa. Nice area for kids and great schools. I happen to be in the Union district. However, I do look forward to moving to midtown someday. In about 7 years when my daughter is out of school.

[restored2x]

Tulsa is great - a wonderful area.

I lived (rented) at the 31st and Mingo area for about 6 years before buying a house in Broken Arrow (part of Tulsa County, but not Tulsa City) my 1900 sf house cost $115,000 3 years ago and is in a very nice older (28 yrs old)neighborhood with good schools and everything close by. I can walk to Walmart in about 3 minutes, but I can't see it from my house - perfect.

My morning commute to work in midtown Tulsa takes 20 minutes usually. Most people are nice - a mix of quiet midwestern attitude and warm southern hospitality. (People are nice, but not nosy or pushy)

Tulsa has everything most larger cities have, malls, downtown is being renovated, most of the big stores and restaurants are here, and there is enough diversity to make things interesting. It is an incredibly nice place to raise kids, too.

If and when you come - I'm pretty sure you'll love the heck out of it.

[des]

Glad to know there isnt too much to worry about adisasters happening no more than most places.  Thanks for the input on the sides of Tulsa area to look into for living.  I have looked up real estate around Tulsa and in Tulsa, its definitely affordable, and I am looking forward to owning a home down there.  My husband and I have skills in most phases of construction and will be working in that field, though I hope to go to college for drafting and engineering classes.  I was wondering, would it be pretty easy to find work in renovating buildings and building homes?

[sgrizzle]

If you have waiting experience, you can get a job on 71st (retail mecca) easily. Almost every restaurant is hiring, some going with higher wages, and your main competition is high school students.

[des]

Sorry, for all my mis spelling and bad grammar.  I have a 1 and 2 year old; and I am unable to type one sentence w/o one or both needing attention.  Raising kids is a lot of work.  SO what's the best, cheap neighborhood to move to?  We are looking for houses in the $40,000-$70,000 range to spruce up.

[rwarn17588]

West Tulsa. There are many small houses there in that price range. That's mostly in the 74107 area code, if that's any help.

[cannon_fodder]

You can find a house my part of midtown for the upper range of that price, if you are willing to work on it.  If you are willing to watch the market for a while, you will be able to find something in the 60-70K range that will end up being very nice with your building skills.

The home building industry in Tulsa is very strong.  We were not part of the housing bubble and thus are not part of the bust.  I believe we are on pace for another record year of housing starts.