When we started looking for our next “Forever” home earlier this year, we initially started looking along the I-44 corridor in Central Oklahoma. We picked a spot right between Tulsa and OKC, drew a circle representing a 30 minute radius and viola….
Our search area was born.
It included Stroud, Bristow, Chandler, Jones, and Luther.
Chandler seemed like the most convenient spot, being about 40 minutes from both major cities, they had a good infrastructure, and the community was quaint and inviting.
Luther and Jones were a little too far West, given both of our children plan to stay in the Tulsa area, but I refused to rule them out since my aunt and uncle live in the area, and we have quite a few friends around OKC.
The problem was, every time we found a house that fit our “bucket list items” it pretty much immediately went off the market.
At one time, I had 8 homes I wanted to look at; within a week, all of them went to pending and any showings that were scheduled were cancelled.
I was getting frustrated.
And while nothing worth having ever comes easy, you have to know when to pick your battles.
The market in that area appeared to be really cut-throat; anything that was reasonably priced was snapped up within days if not hours.
It left us with two choices: Up our budget or build from scratch.
Upping our budget would mean we would overpay for anything we were interested in.
Building wasn’t out of the question, but it was more work than my husband wanted.
But let's face it - Happy Wife, Happy life.
So, I started looking for unimproved land in our search area.
Which also proved difficult since I refuse to live on a dirt road. (I’m a city girl now, remember?... cue Eva Gabor and the theme song from Green Acres... if your reading this post and don't know what that is - shame on you. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy9E-O9umqU ).
When one night, my husband made the oh so rational comment “Why are you so determined to move closer to OKC?”
Let’s be honest…. I hate it when my husband is the voice of reason.
But alas, he had a point.
Everything I found just led me closer to OKC, and farther away from my kids in Tulsa.
The distance to my parents didn't get any better either.
Refusing to be beaten, and with a new sense of determination, I expanded my search radius.
Which led me to the property with the Longhorn cattle.
OMG... the post was beautiful.
But, my daddy taught me not to put all my eggs in one basket.
SO.
I had to find at least one other property to look at (just for comparison's sake).
There was another listing that had been on my watch list for a while, so I added it to my also ran for a Saturday viewing, texted my agent, and got the viewings set up.
Comments