The Dark Side of the Oil Boom in Midland/Odessa

[Coffee and TV]

A pretty good article detailing how those not in the oil industry are struggling with the inflation.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2014/07/the_dark_side_of_the_boom_oil_is_doing_great_things_for_some_in_texas_but_not_for_everyone.php

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

I live in Midland... housing costs are ridiculous...especially apartment rent... For those who own their homes ..... making it ok is pretty easy... Every place in town has "help wanted" in the window and even burger places usually pay about $12-14 per hour.. The real problem ... where to live. Traffic is getting worse and many of the newcomers are terrible drivers.... if a light is changing think twice and look behind you before you stop... the idiot behind may not be... lots of rear-end collisions and too bad if it is a pickup with a steel "cow-catcher front-end" and there are a lot of those. School district/hospital is having a tough time... hard to get them and tough to find place to live they can afford plus once here they often "smell" oil money and quit for better pay.

Unemployment about 2% ... and most unemployed are not people you would like to here... they have trouble passing drug or background checks usually,. Right now things are better for restaurants because there are a lot of college kids home.... when they leave.... it will be tough to find people to fill those jobs. A student of mine in a college math class that works for an oil company said they had 40 people apply for a job.... none passed the background check... Another student said they had 14 apply , 12 flunked, one had another job before they interviewed him, and the only person interviewed and hired did not show up on Monday .. Someone else offered him a better job before then.. .

Perry is always bragging about how good our Texas economy is ( yet had budget problems.. does that make sense? ) ...well unless he is God and put oil in the ground... he has zero to do with what is happening in West Texas and even Texas in general....

Edited August 2, 2014 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[GreenMachine]

I live in Midland... housing costs are ridiculous...especially apartment rent... For those who own their homes ..... making it ok is pretty easy... Every place in town has "help wanted" in the window and even burger places usually pay about $12-14 per hour.. The real problem ... where to live. Traffic is getting worse and many of the newcomers are terrible drivers.... if a light is changing think twice and look behind you before you stop... the idiot behind may not be... lots of rear-end collisions and too bad if it is a pickup with a steel "cow-catcher front-end" and there are a lot of those. School district/hospital is having a tough time... hard to get them and tough to find place to live they can afford plus once here they often "smell" oil money and quit for better pay.

Unemployment about 2% ... and most unemployed are not people you would like to here... they have trouble passing drug or background checks usually,. Right now things are better for restaurants because there are a lot of college kids home.... when they leave.... it will be tough to find people to fill those jobs. A student of mine in a college math class that works for an oil company said they had 40 people apply for a job.... none passed the background check... Another student said they had 14 apply , 12 flunked, one had another job before they interviewed him, and the only person interviewed and hired did not show up on Monday .. Someone else offered him a better job before then.. .

Perry is always bragging about how good our Texas economy is ( yet had budget problems.. does that make sense? ) ...well unless he is God and put oil in the ground... he has zero to do with what is happening in West Texas and even Texas in general....

Basically you described a typical day in Dallas. That area is simply going through growing pains, no big deal, you can make it.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Basically you described a typical day in Dallas. That area is simply going through growing pains, no big deal, you can make it.

.

I am having no problem ... It is those who move here and get a low paying job or jobs that rent takes most of their income.. . Traffic and especially crazy drivers are a pain to me.. My three kids all live in north Dallas area (Frisco/Allen) ... I think it is crazier here. The big difference that is really very noticeable here is how many pickups there compared to here... many times what is there....and often large ones with many with steel front ends. You really lose if they hit you.

[UNTLifer]

I live in Midland and will echo what has been said although traffic is still a breeze compared to DFW or Houston. There are still too many morons on the roads because the job market out here attracts everyone. Housing is the big problem but a number of apartment complexes are starting to be finished which should help, but rent has been ridiculous. Homes are expensive for what you get. About $120 a square foot for older unimproved homes and more for new or custom built.

If you work in the service industry and do a good job, you will kill it on tips, but most have a bad attitude. I had a woman apply for a job with one of my supervisors. She was wanting to work in our childcare area and was wearing a lanyard that said "Crazy Bitch" while she ignored her child that almost electrocuted itself by sticking a metal toy in an electrical outlet. No kidding.

[BeanCounterGrad'03]

My parents just sold their house there in Midland (Greenwood) and built a bigger, brand new house in Oak Point with the money they made off their older, smaller Midland house. Part of the reason for doing it was to take advantage of the inflated Midland housing market, but they were also pretty beaten by what Midland has become during the boom.

Oh and the bad drivers are no exageration...a few years ago, my wife and I almost got creamed 2 times in one minute by two different pickups.