My wife, 3 younger kids and I considering relocating to Tulsa due to an excellent job offer for my wife. I am an engineer and contractor by training and experience, and just starting to evaluate the job market. My wife is a physician.
We visited the area once last month, and are planning another visit soon. Honestly the community--while not turning us off--"under whelmed" us. We were there a very short time, and didn't have much opportunity to explore. That is the reason for our return visit--we need to give Tulsa another chance to impress us!
We have young school-aged children and are interested in the catholic, parochial schools (Montecassino and/or Marquette stand out).
When we return we plan on concentrating our "sightseeing" in the south part of Tulsa. To-date we've really only spent time in the downtown and Utica SQ neighborhood.
Any advice for us on some things to consider/look at on our return visit? Specific questions we have include:
1) How welcoming is the area for new families moving in? Good ways to meet people? We are mid-westerners (Iowa) and fairly down-to-earth, educated professionals (mid-to-upper 30's). Where we live we belong to a country-club and live in a community full of similar people to us. That has allowed us to easily meet people of similar backgrounds, positions, etc. What recommendations do native Tulsans have for us on how to achieve a good network of friends/neighbors/playmates for our kids?
2) What is the real estate market like, other than VERY reasonable in terms of price? How long does an average $300,000 home sit on the market?
3) Does anyone have experience with the catholic schools I mentioned above? Any others we should consider? I believe our interest is in living in the south part of town. I presume if we chose say Montecassino and lived in South Tulsa, we would have to drive the kids to school (no bus?)?
4) Is Tulsa an easy or hard town to break into as far as my position--engineering and construction? How about the business community in general? This may be a harder question to have answered and I understand! I'm not an OU or OSU grad, but am a grad of a rival Big-12 school--assuming I can prove myself in ability and skill, would the 'locals' welcome an outsider?
5) Anyone have experience with the MBA program at OSU? Any other schools offer an MBA program in Tulsa? I know TU has a law school, are there other(s) nearby?
The people we have met so far are very impressive and friendly. We are confident that my wife's position would be great all around, but questions remain about the community and how we would fit in.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks much.
Send me a PM, I am assuming with a construction background your degree is in civil engineering or structural engineering, if so, I know of a great local company looking to hire.
Im sure you wont have too many problems locating a area where you would be happy.My Girlfriend is also a physician,and we live in Palm Beach ,Florida.We have been looking at homes here that in Tulsa would go for about 300k,only here they are closer to 2 million.I guess one has to pay a price for the sunshine and the water.Anyway..good luck if you decide to move to Tulsa.[8D]
Hello fellow Iowan! You will see a plethora of Iowans in Tulsa for some reason from many partners in law firms to industry leaders to the Chief of Staff of St. Francis Medical Group. Not sure why, but we seem to transplant well down here.
I am a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa (go Panthers) and worked for John Deere at their Waterloo Operations for several years. my wife is also from Iowa and our son was born in Dubuque. Where in Iowa are you from? While I dont qualify as a 'native Tulsan' I am a current resident with a similar background. My wife and I moved here for me to go to Law School and didnt leave (even though the legal field is GREATLY saturated).
1) Tulsa is a pretty welcoming environment for new comers from my experience. There are many ways to get to know people from sports leagues, to the ever popular church going, to different interest groups (gardening, book clubs, Tulsa Young Professionals, etc.). The PTA's at the schools you mentioned are hyperactive and a great way to make some contacts.
If you are into golf, as your country club membership implies, then Tulsa will be a ridiculous step up from Iowa. Some of the courses are open year round & the fescue is usually very playable on a warm weekend in February (Bermuda fairways are dormant from November to late March). During the summer a couple courses are lit for night play and Tulsa is set to host the US Open for a record 3rd time later this year. Golf is a sport Tulsa is into and there are several country clubs you can join (Tulsa CC and Southern Hills to name a couple pricier ones).
2) As with the rest of the nation housing is a buyers market. From what I was told (by a builder friend) is that a typical $150-250K house sits on the market from 30 to 90 days if priced right. Of course, he is a builder so he isnt going to knock too much off the price and is willing to wait to get his profit so take that for what its worth. The $100-150K houses in my neighborhood seem to go much quicker than that.
3) The private schools in this area that you mentioned are renowned for being VERY good schools. I have no personal experience with them but we had our son in the TU school (University of Tulsa is called TU, "TU" is the University of Texas) and had good luck with them. It is my understanding that the private schools have deals with the bus barns for transportation but if you lived further south you may be on your own.
4) The business community in Tulsa is varied more than many think, but still weighted towards the oil industry and aviation. Even an Iowa State graduate (go Clones - me sister and in-law are alum) could probably find a job here. I have no indication that a degree from a different institution would be a hindrance on your career, though you obviously lose out on some networking.
5) Per the MBA, the University of Tulsa, OSU, the University of Phoenix (classroom, not online), and Oral Roberts University all offer MBA's in Tulsa. As a graduate of Tulsa Law my opinion on these is probably biased.
If you would like I would be happy to PM you my phone number/email if there are any questions you would like answered, or of course, feel free to post them here.
We are in NW Iowa. Thanks for all the replies, I will look at them in more detail tonight with my wife.
Keep them coming!!
"Any advice for us on some things to consider/look at on our return visit?" - jackcat
Bricktown in OKC.
As to "questions remain about the community and how we would fit in"...don't people fit in where ever they find themselves and find whatever they are looking for?
If one hopes to be overwhelmed they can count on walking away underwhelmed.
Tulsa: give it a fair shake and you can find yourself smiling, jdb
quote:
Originally posted by jackcat
My wife, 3 younger kids and I considering relocating to Tulsa due to an excellent job offer for my wife. I am an engineer and contractor by training and experience, and just starting to evaluate the job market. My wife is a physician.
We visited the area once last month, and are planning another visit soon. Honestly the community--while not turning us off--"under whelmed" us. We were there a very short time, and didn't have much opportunity to explore. That is the reason for our return visit--we need to give Tulsa another chance to impress us!
We have young school-aged children and are interested in the catholic, parochial schools (Montecassino and/or Marquette stand out).
When we return we plan on concentrating our "sightseeing" in the south part of Tulsa. To-date we've really only spent time in the downtown and Utica SQ neighborhood.
Any advice for us on some things to consider/look at on our return visit? Specific questions we have include:
1) How welcoming is the area for new families moving in? Good ways to meet people? We are mid-westerners (Iowa) and fairly down-to-earth, educated professionals (mid-to-upper 30's). Where we live we belong to a country-club and live in a community full of similar people to us. That has allowed us to easily meet people of similar backgrounds, positions, etc. What recommendations do native Tulsans have for us on how to achieve a good network of friends/neighbors/playmates for our kids?
2) What is the real estate market like, other than VERY reasonable in terms of price? How long does an average $300,000 home sit on the market?
3) Does anyone have experience with the catholic schools I mentioned above? Any others we should consider? I believe our interest is in living in the south part of town. I presume if we chose say Montecassino and lived in South Tulsa, we would have to drive the kids to school (no bus?)?
4) Is Tulsa an easy or hard town to break into as far as my position--engineering and construction? How about the business community in general? This may be a harder question to have answered and I understand! I'm not an OU or OSU grad, but am a grad of a rival Big-12 school--assuming I can prove myself in ability and skill, would the 'locals' welcome an outsider?
5) Anyone have experience with the MBA program at OSU? Any other schools offer an MBA program in Tulsa? I know TU has a law school, are there other(s) nearby?
The people we have met so far are very impressive and friendly. We are confident that my wife's position would be great all around, but questions remain about the community and how we would fit in.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks much.
jackcat, i might know one or three physicians, who are members of medical executive committees (at a couple of institutions), and can provide some insight (obviously, only the "non-con" kind) on your wife's "excellent job offer"... regardless of specialty, tulsa tends to be a lucrative market for many physicians... but, as far as jobs are concerned, there are a couple of "pigs in a poke" out there...
beyond that, come on in the water's fine...
PM with any questions...
If you are a civil/structural engineer, you might want to look into companies such as Benham (//%22http://www.benham.com/%22), Wallace Engineering (//%22http://www.wallacesc.com/%22), Poe Engineering (//%22http://www.poeandassociates.com/projects.asp%22). They all have large offices in the Tulsa area. As far as construction goes,
Manhattan Construction (//%22http://www.manhattanconstruction.com/%22) and Flintco (//%22http://www.flintco.com/%22) have major operations in Tulsa. Flintco's corporate headquarters are in Tulsa, but I'm not sure about Manhattan.