Newcastle Sub-divisions

[emtefury]

Hey Folks,

I am moving to the OKC area at the end of the year and was looking at Newcastle as a possible. I was interested in the sub-divisions or Eagle Lake Estates, The Ridge, or Remington. Anyone live in these area or know of them? If not, how about the Newcastle area? I was checking atmosphere of the area, how the neighbors are, how the local government is? I know Newcastle has grown much over the past ten years. However, I believe it has much more to go. I like this area because it is close, but the lots are larger and the houses are not close. I was looking at few areas in Moore and Norman and saw new developments have close together houses. I guess this is the new normal.

Thanks,
Matt

[mcca7596]

Yep, close together houses should be normal everywhere outside of rural living. Newcastle is almost too far out to even be considered the OKC area in my opinion.

[WilliamTell]

As far as 'atmosphere' goes.....ahh...hope you drive a truck and like rednecks. To be honest anytime you get outside of the metro and the major subburbs (edmond, moore, norman) all the people are pretty much the same. In a few words, walmart, trucks, gun rack, mcdonalds. I'm not being rude, i live in one of these smaller suburbs too.

Your observation about lot size on new construction is valid, i think its all over the country. Any time you have a new development in a highly sought after location you are going to have houses crammed together. Builders are about maximizing profits and anymore people just dont play outside like they used too. People like larger houses and less yard to take care of. In most cases you have to come up with alot of money if you want a big yard in a popular location, buy an older house, or be willing to drive further to a less popular suburb/exurb to get a large yard.

[emtefury]

I understand what you mean by the redneck atmosphere. I used to live in a rural suburb of Omaha, NE. However there it was Walmart, trucks, gun rack, and Dairy Queen.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Questor]

I've met the city manager of Newcastle before and he seems like a good guy. He often speaks at OU and other business forums touting the successes of the town. One thing I remember from hearing him speak is that he is quite proud of the fact that incomes in Newcastle are much higher than the surrounding areas. A quick search on City-Data.com confirms this, with the average household income being in the $63k range (putting it on par with Edmond), much higher than Norman's $45K, OKC's $41k, and the state's average of $26k. I can't find any evidence of it but he also mentioned that the most significant growth in housing over the last few years has been with new housing starts over I think $400k. Looking at realtor.com it does look like there are several very nice new homes for sale in the area. The city manager also mentioned their city having a more or less alliance with the nearby Native American tribe (don't remember which one). I remember him mentioning something along the lines of the tribe having built the city a new water treatment facility at their expense. The tribe relies heavily on a nearby casino and I would assume also on keeping nearby residents happy with them.

In Norman I come across folks from Newcastle sometimes and they don't seem like the typical bubbas. In a lot of ways I think Newcastle is more of a suburb to Norman than to OKC, just because of where they are located and how it's much easier to hit major civilization by going east as opposed to north. Some might consider it an exurb. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who lives there so I am just relaying what I have heard.

On Realtor.com the homes I saw in The Ridge looked very nice. Good luck with the home search.

[Questor]

PS - Braum's Ice Cream & Dairy blows DQ out of the water. Give it a try, there are a few in the area.

[WilliamTell]

I've met the city manager of Newcastle before and he seems like a good guy. He often speaks at OU and other business forums touting the successes of the town. One thing I remember from hearing him speak is that he is quite proud of the fact that incomes in Newcastle are much higher than the surrounding areas. A quick search on City-Data.com confirms this, with the average household income being in the $63k range (putting it on par with Edmond), much higher than Norman's $45K, OKC's $41k, and the state's average of $26k. I can't find any evidence of it but he also mentioned that the most significant growth in housing over the last few years has been with new housing starts over I think $400k. Looking at realtor.com it does look like there are several very nice new homes for sale in the area. The city manager also mentioned their city having a more or less alliance with the nearby Native American tribe (don't remember which one). I remember him mentioning something along the lines of the tribe having built the city a new water treatment facility at their expense. The tribe relies heavily on a nearby casino and I would assume also on keeping nearby residents happy with them.

In Norman I come across folks from Newcastle sometimes and they don't seem like the typical bubbas. In a lot of ways I think Newcastle is more of a suburb to Norman than to OKC, just because of where they are located and how it's much easier to hit major civilization by going east as opposed to north. Some might consider it an exurb. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who lives there so I am just relaying what I have heard.

On Realtor.com the homes I saw in The Ridge looked very nice. Good luck with the home search.

Alot of FAA'ers live in that section of town so that might have something to do with the higher concentration of incomes, and compared to Edmond or the other suburbs Newcastle is much, much smaller so that will greatly effect the statistical data. Im also sure the tribe casino also have something to do with the income. I work in that area and one of the reasons we decided to avoid that area is because it sucks(IMHO). I didnt want to come out and say it but its flat, really flat, no trees, has a power plant and a dump located there. But to most OKCer's that doesnt matter, heck look at Yukon. Like you said there really isnt much out there besides new houses on acreage and single/double wides on plots of land.

It was the first place we looked when we started searching for a new house but i decided against it. But this is purely IMHO.

[boscorama]

Newcastle might be an interesting place if you enjoy severe storms and tornados, where it generally happens before arriving in "the metro" proper.