Tinker AFB: Housing recommendations?

USMCGrunt

USMCGrunt

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I have a AF niece transferring from Elmendorf (Alaska) to Tinker (OK). For those who have been there, I was looking for recommendations on housing areas for a single 03 female. Downtown Oklahoma City? Other areas? She is just starting to prepare for the PCS move and I thought I could pass on sage advice from our community members. Any suggestions would be welcome.
 
I am guessing she is an ABM or AWAC flier. That community is very small so there should be many people at Elmendorf who will be able to tell her the best places and most likely there maybe someone in her squadron that has decided to rent their home at Tinker or knows someone that is renting their home. I would also say tell her to look at militarybyowner.com The site has both rentals and sales. If anything it will give her an idea of what areas are popular with military members and the going rate for her needs/desires. Since that site is really geared to the military they tend to add in small details that a traditional realtor might not, such as, distance/time to the base. Hope that helps at least a little.
 
OBTW you may want her to look at baseops.net as a lurker, It is an AF flier driven website. However, just like here they have threads regarding things off topic, such as housing. She maybe able to see a common thread between those 2 sites and people at Elmendorf regarding where she should stay away from and where many move to for their tour.

If my assumption is correct and she is AWAC affiliated, I think she will have many within the det that can give her the very best advice compared to us here. We were stationed at Elmendorf (15E), just like the AWAC you had a 95% chance to go to SJAFB, You had friends that PCSd prior to you knowing you were coming and were on a look out for your housing needs.
~ Eagle River when we were there was jokingly called the base housing of the north, because so many members that lived off base lived in Eagle River.
 
My sister lives in Moore which is generally "down the road". It's kind of a growing area. I'm not sure how good the Midwest City / Del City area is these days. That used to be the place to live 30 years ago, but things shift.

I can shoot my sister a text to get the low down on areas to avoid.
 
Thank you @Pima and @rocatlin. I appreciate it. My niece is some kind of battlefield manager (sounds like air traffic control to this grunt) and I think she is on AWACs. (I guess I should pay more attention!) I will pass on the comments and yes @rocatlin , if you can ask your sister where to avoid that would be helpful.

I apologize that this thread wasn't a PM but wasn't sure who to reach out to. But, in hindsight, PIMA gave some good advice on PCS housing websites and both of you provided some good intel on Oklahoma City. So I hope the community will tolerate the discussion a little bit more.
 
My guess is she is an ABM. She is not a flier per se, but is considered rated in the AF.

I think nobody would have an issue with your post.

As someone that was a realtor for a decade, I will give you the same advice I gave my clients. If you are going to be there for more than 3 yrs look into buying a house.
1. Mtg is tax deductible, rent is not.
2. Rent you are paying their mtg.
~ We rented only 1 property. Mtg was 850, we lived in off base housing where the majority were field grade. We rented the house at the O4 rate which was @350 more than our mtg. In essence they paid our mtg and we made money too.
3. If the housing market is flat (3% growth) than you still get that tax deduction and within 3 yrs in the home you will not owe a dime.
4. If her credit is good and she has yet to use her VA loan, she can roll that 1% app fee into her loan.

Negs are:
1. If I am right and she is ABM, she will deploy a lot and renting might be better as a single O3 regarding maintenance
2. It is stressful to sell a home.
3. A house is a money pit. If she decides to buy make sure she has the seller pay for a home owner warranty.
 
Input on the general area from my sister...

Avoid NE OKC and NE Midwest City. She isn't a fan of Del City. The rest of Midwest City may be okay. Some of the southern parts of OKC also have had a lot of gang activity.

Moore and Norman should be okay. Also, if she's interested in college football and doesn't mind "working" (just standing around in the stands making sure students don't get out of hand), then I have a hook at getting her into OU football games. :-)
 
My folks lived in Norman before I was born. My mom told me that it was not uncommon to see two or three funnel clouds at the same time, during tornado season. That sounds like loads of fun.
 
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