My husbands dream is to join the fire department full time (he's volunteer) so i'd love to make enough money plus more to get him out of the oil field and doing what he loves.

I think you are dead on point to look east, but you may not have to go much past east bay or even Central Valley to find something that pencils out (and possibly less oil price sensitive)..

Oil went down a bit as commodities usually go down as money becomes more expensive.But what about real estate prices?

I'm a civil working full time for an oil and gas sub.

Do you change your own oil?  

Start with the cockroach infestation, then the Hell's Angel Tenants, and the BBQ pit in the lounge where they roast pig on Sundays, plus the months of piled up garbage shoveled in to one room to keep the place clean ...

Do you have to explicitly tell them not to pour fry oil down the drains?

The only snake-oil salesmen who are real is the ones that will get you by the hand and show you how it is done.Joe Gore

If you do go retail, stick with businesses that will always be around like oil change centers, convenience stores, gas stations (for now), and hospitality (restaurants, hotels, etc).If you haven't already, listen to Grant Cardone's podcast here on BP.

If oil rebounds, and the Texas Central Railway is built, I'd expect massive growth over the next ten years.