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Moving to Portland - Neighborhood Recs Please!
hi everyone,
my husband and i are thinking about moving to the portland area in about a year, and since i don't know that much about portland, i am starting my research now.
we would like to live in an area that has good public schools, some diversity, no more than 45 minutes from the city, near public transportation, no more than 45 minutes away from portland state university and/or portland community college, good local restaurants, and no more than 45 minutes from airport.
i know, that's asking a lot...i guess our primary factors are housing cost (ideally no more than $250,000 for a single family home), good public schools, and not too far from the city. is this even feasible, LOL!? if it is, what neighborhoods, cities, zip codes fit the bill?
thanks ladies!
Re: Moving to Portland - Neighborhood Recs Please!
Housing prices here are very high. In the nice neighborhoods of PDX, I'm not sure 250k would get you all that much. Also, we have a really high unemployment rate-on the off chance you're offered a job here and it pays what you'd like, I'd think about spending a little more on a house.
Also, you'll need about a year just to get a job offer, if you get one at all. Sorry to be such a wet blanket, but thats the reality here.
I agree with Scarlett about the job situation, but if you are coming here with a job then you'd be fine. And coming from OC you are used to high taxes, so you won't have to adjust much to ours. My aunt is moving up from OC this July, too!
In that price range you can easily find a home with decent schools in Aloha, Beaverton and Hillsboro. These are all in Washington County and median home prices are still pretty low.
I live in/near one of the more expensive neighborhoods in Portland, and neighboring home prices have dropped nearly 40% over the last 2 years. In the older part of the neighborhood, Oak Hills or Cedar Mill (97229), you can purchase a decent home for $250k or less and be near great schools.
Portland Public Schools isn't that great. If you are looking for better schools you are better off in Washington County, where you can still be close to downtown and near public transportation.
RMLS.com is great for searching for homes, BTW.
If you are interested in foreclosures you can check http://www.foreclosure.com/state/or.html
thanks, ladies!
scarlett, you're not being a wet blanket...you're being honest! i appreciate it.
We moved from OC a couple years ago. You'll be pleasantly surprised by housing prices here compared to how ridiculously expensive OC is. DH and I are still amazed that we had a way smaller place in OC for more than 3X the price of where we live here! It's unbelievable!
You might also check out Wilsonville and Sherwood....good schools, affordable homes, young families..etc. Sherwood actually reminds me of a little Irvine, so it might be a familiar fit!
GL!
how funny, we live in irvine right now - it's great here, but the prices are crazy! i'll definitely check out sherwood thanks!
Sherwood is adorable. My cousin interviewed there for a teaching position at one of the charter schools and almost died from cute overload. She kept calling it her own little "Stars Hollow" like from the Gilmore Girls. : )
Portland Monthly Magazine currently has an issue about the Portland neighborhoods:
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/archives/articles/taking-the-longview-0410/
Here is a Portland neighborhood map:
http://www.portlandground.com/ButtonsControls/PortlandNeighborhoodMapLR.jpg
And another site with info about neighborhoods in Portland:
http://www.portlandneighborhood.com/portlandneighborhoodmap.html
For home browsing I always like to use johnlscott.com. We used to live in SE Portland and sold our house for just over $250k in 2007 so there are def. some houses there in your budget. There are some cute quiet neighborhoods over there that are pretty close to downtown. Check out Woodstock and Creston-Kenilworth.
I agree though to look outside of Portland as well in Beaverton, Aloha, Tigard, or Tualatin. We currently live in Tigard and like it a lot. The schools in Washington County tend to be better or so I've heard. And property taxes are lower.
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My IL's just moved to the Orenco area (west Hillsboro) and really like it. It's a planned community with a few stores and a WF type grocery/Starbucks, restaurants/MAX line nearby. Also, very affordable homes! Not sure about the schools, but I think PCC is nearby.
We also live close to there, right near the MAX line and it takes us about 40 min. to get downtown on the MAX and about an hour to get to the airport. Another thing I like about living out in the 'burbs is that I'm super close to grocery shopping -Safeway(Vons), WF, and Trader Joe's are all minutes away. And I'm super close to my work which is a huge plus for me...but it does lake the uniqueness of living "downtown". But since I spend most of my time at work, that was important to me to live close to work rather than sit in the car for an hour or two a day.
Learning to start all over again... Blog
Learning to start all over again... Blog
We live in Happy Valley, about 20-30 min door to door from downtown dep on traffic. The school's are why we moved here, some of the best. The community is amazing. Public trasportation is here now. I'd say 20 min max from the airport. 5 yrs ago I'd say you'd never mind anything under $500,000.00 but this was the fastest grown area in Oregon and when the market went bust, unfortunately for my own home value, so did prices here. You'd be able to find a range of homes in that price. I LOVE living here. We moved from Sacramento area and have never regretted it.
I also like Wilsonville. Sherwood is nice but my chief complaint when visiting our friends that live there is the 20+ min drive to Sherwood once you get off the hwy. Our friends that live there HATE the commute as it could take 30 min to get home from work downtown or it could take 2hrs. And public transportation is not easy there. The schools are good though.
Good luck!
Also check out Milwaukie (97222 and 97267) for really affordable homes, we are about 10 minutes into downtown Portland and PSU, 30 minutes to the airport, very safe area, we LOVE our neighborhood. My dream house just around the corner from my house, a few years ago sold for $400k, and is now on the market for $280k. That's a 5 bedroom house with granite, huge backyard, stainless steel appliances, 3 car garage, etc. My house right now would sell for about $230k, it's a 3bed, 2 bath, 50X100 lot, totally basic starter house, but in a great neighborhood and with great schools. So under $250k is totally doable. Milwaukie has proven to be the best place to buy a house in the last few years, as other homeowners in the portland/Vancouver have lost a TON of money on their homes, Milwaukie has stayed pretty steady. At the absolute bottom we lost less than $10k of our home's value, and right now it's about $7k less than it was 4 years ago, so we are very happy that we bought our home in Milwaukie!
Our next house will probably be in the Happy Valley area, we love it out there, and it's nicer newer houses than our current neighborhood. I don't know what the prices look like now, but it's such a nice area.
I also really like Wilsonville but it's a little farther away than I would want to live, especially if going to PCC or PSU. I love the Tualatin/Sherwood area, but Tualatin is a little pricey, and Sherwood just seems sooooo far away from everything.
I have a wonderful realtor if and when you do finalize your plans to move here!