Thanks guys for your valued input. A trip in the winter definitely is in order. I had done that before to NM and it turned me off that place - big time.
What do you think about living right in town? My preference would be to either be walking distance to downtown and have some smaller lot / house, or be on an acre plus, outside of town. I'm not interested in suburban setting (a small house/lot and still having to drive to town). Is close to downtown too crazy with students? Looks to me like much of the downtown area and area close to OSU is rented out to students. May be challenging if you aren't ready to party with them every night ...
George