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Edmondites
H and I have been house hunting, on and off, for several months. We recently found a serious buyer for our home, so in turn, we've gotten more serious about looking.
My entire adult life, I've always said I'd NEVER live in Edmond, and ESPECIALLY not in a subdivision with no trees where all the houses look the same. Well... H and I have scoured our favorite OKC neighborhoods, and there seems to be nothing listed that we can a) afford, and b) agree on. Yesterday we saw five houses in Edmond, and sort of fell in love with one. And it's in a subdivision. The subdivision has big trees, but our potential home does not. And there's a house like a block away that looks almost exactly like it. 
Those of you who live in Edmond or have friends/family who do, do you/they like it? Is it as homogenous and snooty as it seems to an outsider? In my mind, it's a community of wealthy white soccer moms, which is so not H and I. (I hope I'm not offending anyone.) It's going to be tough to turn down this house, though. Honest opinions, please!
Thanks. 
ETA: PIP
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Re: Edmondites
Sooo, the movie Edward Scissorhands? It freaked me the eff out. Not because of his hands, because all the houses in the neighborhood looked the exact same.
And this is me biting my tongue.
ETA: And now I'm worried I'm coming across bitchy. Just because I hate to leave my little 7 mile radius doesn't mean Edmond is bad. The house is really lovely, as well.
I totally get it, okla.
Initially, I didn't even want to schedule a showing of this house, b/c it looked way too subdivision-y to me. In person, it's up on a hill, and compared to the others with more character we'd looked at, it really stood out.
I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about it.
I understand the wariness of living in a newish neighborhood with houses looking alike. We're in one of those, but luckily since any builder can build in our neighborhood, most of the houses are at least somewhat unique. What I love about our house is that it's VERY unique and looks nothing like any of the other houses in the neighborhood. I like unique houses, but I didn't want the risk of an older home, so it was a good compromise (and some of you may remember my great house hunt/stress of two years ago).
I say schedule another showing and maybe check out a few other houses in a few different areas. If you go a second time, I think you'll know one way or another when you walk in the front door.
ETA: I think it's a pretty house, btw! Oh, and you'll be having a housewarming party, right?
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I love where I live.
I'm pretty sure my home and my neighborhood represent everything that everyone on this board hates about Edmond. That being said... still love it.
I live in a master-planned (meaning there are about 5 different price ranges of homes) community with brand new, itty bitty trees, construction, and everyone picks a home from a catalog of about 45 customizable plans. lol The people in this neighborhood are SO diverse. I was actually surprised by the lack of "minivan driving white soccer moms." I would have never been able to find exactly what I wanted in a home that was pre-existing- I love that we got to pick everything out ourselves.
That ALL being said, I kind of wish we lived on the more established, east side of Edmond. I wish we had more of a yard, with the pretty soft grass and mature trees; I also would have wanted some extra space so that I could have built a at-home studio. (That's for the next house I guess.) The bedrooms are a tad on the small size (except for our master.)
The only other place we've talked about being able to live is Mustang, Nichols Hills, or downtown/midtown (just for my work- call me crazy, I love those new condos around 4th & Oklahoma).
Just for fun- this would be a contender home if we stay in Edmond and are able to upgrade in the next 3-5 *cough, 20* years.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/303-E-5th-St-Edmond-OK-73034/22032627_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-photos}
I am clearly not the type that likes "cookie cutter" houses given that we bought the crappiest, cheapest home in my "dream neighborhood" - the thing I love about our neighborhood most is the old, old trees and the houses are all completely different.
I will say - these trees have huge leaves and it is a b!tch to clean the leaves up. Actually, it is expensive to have the leaves cleaned up. They are just falling all over the yard constantly, so annoying.
Also - given that we are out and about in the neighborhood with Dash-Dash - I have noticed that a lot of the houses ARE the same. So, at some point, our neighborhood was probably considered cookie cutter as well. But ours is different and it is certainly completely different on the inside. I will always chose buy the old crappy home and fix it how you want it.
Anyway - two drawbacks of older neighborhoods - tree leaves are a b!tch and believe it or not, if you look closely, those houses are somewhat cookie cutter as well.
H and I have always said we would NOT buy a house in Edmond. Well, depending on where DH gets a job in the OKC metro after he graduates PA school...we're looking in either Edmond or Norman because of the school districts and proximity to friends/family. We're praying for Norman, but you never know because there's a ton of clinics/hospitals on the northside of the metro.
I understand your hesitations. I also view most of the Edmond neighborhoods as cookie cutter divisions full of snooty soccer moms. And I hate neighborhoods without trees. (As an aside, I too would love to live in certain neighborhoods in OKC, but we have ruled that out due to our school preferences).
If we move to Edmond, H and I know we are only looking east of Broadway extension.
I love the picture of the house! I think it definitely has character. Good luck
Basically, right now, this is the breakdown. We'll definitely schedule a second viewing, I'm just trying to think things out beforehand. (And YES, I'm sooo having a housewarming party! I'll be beside myself when I own a home that can accommodate more than four adults.)
Pros:
- It's at least in East Edmond.
- The inside is GORGEOUS.
- There are large trees throughout the subdivision, and the neighborhood is really pretty.
- Great value for the size and area.
- Nice backyard space with a playhouse included for SD.
- House sits up on a hill with a great view, which is neat-o.
- Great schools.
Cons:
- It's still in Edmond.
- Brick isn't my favorite, and there are other homes in the neighborhood that are almost identical, bolstering the subdivision-y feel.
- NO TREES IN THE YARD.
This one is probably my favorite so far, but H was underwhelmed.
http://www.trulia.com/property/3062235439-6213-Kingsbridge-Dr-Oklahoma-City-OK-73162
Me likely ME LIKELY! That is the one I would pick!!
I like living here quite a bit. We're on almost 3/4 of an acre, which is a little smaller than I'd like, but still makes it feel like we have room to breathe. We have mature trees, but they're cedars, so they're kind of gross and scrubbly. We have plenty of ponds and green space (and other people have nice trees) in the neighborhood, which I love.
We do have a lot of soccer moms in our neighborhood, but everyone so far has been really nice to the two weirdo childless people who treat their dog like a child (us) and I like the community involvement (for example, we have 180-some houses in our subdivision. People from 154 of those came to our last HOA meeting.) People congregate in their/their neighbor's driveways to chat on nice evenings, and we have big community parties.
It may seem a little snooty from the outside (and, I agree, somewhat cookie cutter,) but having lived in a neighborhood full of small-time drug dealers, drunks, and men on some sort of vague "disability" (who could magically lift weights and work on their cars all day,) I wanted to live around intelligent people who were gainfully employed in jobs that make them pay taxes this time around. If that's snooty, I'm ok with that
Our last neighborhood was in a "transitional" area, and, unfortunately, it didn't transition in the way we had hoped. Now, I know there's a lot of inbetweens, but I'm so risk averse when it comes to money that I wanted to take a more sure bet in terms of neighborhood this time around.
I keep ETA---I will mention that my greatest annoyance here is what P&CE calls "first world problems." For example, we just had a giant email debate as a community about installing a gate because...gasp!...someone threw all of the pool furniture into the pool and left three bottles of beer sitting by the edge. Half of the neighborhood is convinced that we need a gate to keep out undesirables like the people who supposedly drove 15 minutes out of their way to mess with our damn pool funiture. Guess who I'm POSITIVE it was? Some teenagers who already live in the neighborhood. DH and I's favorite part was when someone tried to use "statistics" to prove their point. Did you know that within a 5 mile radius of our neighborhood there are, "up to 1 to 2 felons?" Seriously, people??? But, of course, the other half of the neighborhood was the voice of reason and our "massive crime spree" has magically seemed to come to an end.
And, JLimberg---I love that house! I've actually seen it before and thought of how cool it is!
I agree! We don't live too far from there - I think that neighborhood is similar to ours, and we are really loving living in this neighborhood so far.
I agree, ladies, but H is not feelin' it.
The neighborhood is so cool. Tons of huge trees and gorgeous yards. Love the look of the house, too. I keep checking to see if anything else pops up over there, but so far, no luck.
5th, I was hoping you'd respond.
The fact that people like you live in Edmond is comforting to me. Haha.The house we're considering is directly south of you a few miles, I think.
I've definitely weighed the cons of living one or two streets from drug dealers against the cons of another house resembling my own. And the pros of having a house with character versus having a house where stuff isn't so old it's breaking all the time. Granted, these are generalizations, but things we've thought about. I think I could grow to love the place, but it's pretty much the opposite of what I thought we were looking for, so it's gonna take a little time.
Thanks for all the responses!
Oooh! Now you have to buy it! I'd love to have a fun Nestie neighbor!
I seriously laughed out loud at this... ITA.
Dude, our old neighborhood (in our previous state)...seriously. Seriously. So much crazy drama---and not necessarily because of income (or lack thereof, because DH and I were definitely short on funds) but just because of the culture that developed within that particular neighborhood. Too many adolescents and young adults with way too much time on their hands...
Soooo, yeah. This annoys me. I live around intelligent people who pay taxes and have jobs and I don't live in the 'burbs. There is some middle ground between a bad inner-city neighborhood and a wealthy suburb.
I get that your last neighborhood was shiiitty, but don't generalize that all city neighborhoods are that way and that's why you moved out.
ETA: Okay, I see you edited and added to your OP a bit. I get it. I think I'm a little defensive because I feel like I'm the only person here who would rather live amongst the unwashed masses in a tiny old house than live with the generic richies.
There's definitely a lot of middle ground between living on 23rd and living in a gated community. That said, a lot of that "middle ground" in OKC is pretty spotty. H and I live in The Village now. Half of our street is safe, people take care of their homes and lawns, there are a few kids that play, and the other half is a total sh*thole. No one takes care of anything , there are several rent properties, jacked up caddys fly down our street going like 70mph from time to time. A few streets to the north, and it's even rougher. A few streets south, and you're in freaking Nichols Hills. Even in our little neighborhood, H's truck has been broken into more than once.
What I agreed with in 5th's post was that it's nice to know that you're in a neighborhood where everyone cares about maintaining their home, where there's less need to worry about crime, where you can let your kids play in the front yard, etc. I really love OKC, and I love many of the neighborhoods, but it seems like the older I get, the more I value a safe place, good schools in close proximity, and an overall nicer area. I'm sounding like a total cliche, and someone I would've made fun of five years ago, but it's true.Yep--glad you saw it. I'm having a hard time trying to convey that there's a TON of middle ground between Agrestic (do you watch Weeds? That's what Edmond reminds us of) and the slums without writing a novel so I keep writing and erasing half of it, then realizing it's not saying what I intend to say and writing again.
Our last (crappy) neighborhood was actually in a northern suburb of the big city. It was just that our neighborhood within that suburb was the pits. Had we lived 3 miles to the west, we would have been in this great location with cool tiny old houses and lots of tax paying smart people. It was ethnically diverse (something I really wanted), had a cool ethnic heritage (think "Germantown" or "Asian District") and fun little funky street fairs. You could walk to all of these cute local shops and cool markets.
We couldn't afford to live there, and so we gambled poorly that our "transitional" area would, in fact, make the transition to the above area (instead it transitioned the other way---when we left there was an actual brothel a block away,) payed a ton of money to get out of our bad investment, and it sucked. The city would have been a much better choice in hindsight. We were dumb, dumb, dumb and unlucky enough to buy at the peak of the market.
That said, the same thing applies to all towns (including Edmond.) Some neighborhoods are better than others at holding their value. Some of that you can predict, and some of it comes down to dumb luck. If only I had a real estate crystal ball, I'd be rich!