Good morning everyone!

First let me thank everyone for reading this post!

My family and I are in the process of moving back to Oklahoma City. We are a young family---4 boys under 6 and we are in our 30's. We'll likely be working near Mercy Hospital on Memorial. However, with that said we don't mind living 30-45 min or so away if it's a good area.

What we are looking for:
-Budget - Can go up to $550K for a house, but for obvious reasons are interested in very good school districts
-Land - we actually prefer normal sized lots...not looking for a lot of land, but if the house/area is nice we would buy
-House - Prefer newer single family houses in a good area/nice neighborhood (4+ bedrooms/bathrooms)
-We prefer to be near things---for example the quail springs mall/memorial area would be great--lots of shopping/places to go
-Prefer the north and west side of OKC to the east and south side (e.g. we'd rather not look in Moore or SE OKC).

I'm interested in your thoughts on where would be good areas to look around OKC with the above in mind?

Anyone have a good real estate agent they would recommend? Also I'm looking for a good independent home inspector?

This was one of the threads that got lost in the maintenance cycle, so I asked Mark to repost.

Below are the responses to the original post:

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Teo9969

That budget is pretty sizable in this market. You'll have a lot of options, especially because with oil down, the >$300k market is not doing as well as it normally would be. For sure >$400k is a buyers market right now.

For example: http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale...99_rect/12_zm/

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Rivalyn

I'm sure there will be some debate, but coming from someone at a similar age with school aged children I would say that Deer Creek and the Edmond school districts are your best bets closest to Mercy. As Teo said, really the sky's the limit once you pick your school district as there's plenty of houses available in the higher price ranges in both areas. Personally I'd decide on your school district and then let your real estate agent go wild from there. I could recommend an agent or two, but I find seller's agents it's all about whatever personality fits best with you personally.

As for home inspections, I'm a bit biased as he's my father but I can give a recommendation wholeheartedly as I've referred several people to him that enjoy his reports. (http://www.theoklahomacityhomeinspector.com/)

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oklip955

I would like to suggest that you contact Mathew Coats who is on this group. He is a realtor and also has a large facebook group Everything Edmond. You can pm for his phone number if you want to use him as a realtor or a contact for house hunting.

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Zuplar

Agree with the Deer Creak comment. Of course if you aren't looking for land then maybe migrate towards Edmond. Either one sounds like a slam dunk for your budget and where you will be working. Good Luck!


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jerrywall

I'm biased, and I like Edmond, but you have lots of options at that price range, especially working at that Mercy, since it's right off the turnpike. Mustang and Yukon are also good communities to look at, and if you prefer smaller and quieter, Piedmont. With the turnpike and the highways, nothing is really far away anymore.

I would highly recommend Brett Boone for an real estate agent. Grew up in Edmond and has plenty of experience. Before hiring any professional, I would check with their licensing board for complaints and check www.oscn.net before choosing an agent, appraiser, lawyer or mortgage company.

as I said I highly recommend Mathew Coats who is on this group. He also runs and founded the facebook site Everything Edmond. His phone number is 1-602-332-3321.