Tulsa Remote Program Attracts New Residents With Incentive To Help Buy Home

More people are moving to Green Country, thanks to the Tulsa Remote program.

The program is offering people $10,000 to relocate and makes it easier for participants to buy a home in the area.

Tulsa native Jennifer Holk bought a house last year and made Tulsa home for her and her family.

"We're able to have a backyard, I guess bedroom and office. There's no way we could've even afforded a two-bedroom apartment and some of the cities that we bought them before,"Holk said.

Holk is a participant of Tulsa Remote, a program that gave her $10,000 to move from Chicago to go work in Tulsa.

"It also just honestly helped with moving expenses. I probably would've moved to Tulsa eventually, but joining the program just made it a little bit easier to come back home," Holk said. 

Typically, Tulsa Remote would give out the $10,000 in smaller increments over the course of a year. But the program is announced on Tuesday they would now give people the option to get the all the cash up front if they decide to buy a house.

Grant Bumgarner with Tulsa Remote said it's a homeownership incentive that will help people stay in Tulsa long-term.

"We just had so many of our participants who love Tulsa so much and wanted to make a commitment and we wanted to encourage them to find accessible homeownership here and be committed to the city," Bumgarner explained. 

Bumgarner said the average home price in Tulsa is over $150,000. Therefore, the grants can be used to cover nearly one third of a down payment.

Holk said the grant helped her afford her home and is excited to see more people come to Tulsa.

"I think for somebody who is looking to put down roots and thinks that Tulsa could be the right place, this could really help them to do that more quickly and to develop relationships in neighborhoods and in a local community," Holk added. 

All a person needs is proof they've purchased a home, and Tulsa remote will front the money. 

You can find the application and more information on Tulsa Remote on their website here.