Bend Publicity (Redmond: buy, high income, quality of life)

[ABQ2015]

From Kiplinger's, 11 Satellite Cities Poised to Thrive in 2017


"It’s been a slow climb back from the Great Recession for the nation’s major metropolitan areas. Yet job seekers often overlook the small and medium cities located near or relatively near the big hubs. As the big metro areas recover, these smaller “satellite” cities benefit from spreading regional business growth, while offering lower housing and commuter costs, putting less of a squeeze on employee salaries than more expensive, congested places a few hours away.

That can mean both abundant job opportunities and budget-friendly home prices for folks looking to relocate. Check out these 11 up-and-coming satellite cities where the job markets are hot but the cost of living won’t eat all of your paycheck. All of these cities’ job markets have been growing faster than the national average, most have lower jobless rates than the national average, and all are expected to continue to outperform economically this year."

I'll let you google the article if you want to read it but Bend is listed as being relatively near the big hub of Portland and as offering good job opportunities (e.g., St. Charles Medical, Keith Manufacturing, and Sunriver Resort) and budget-friendly home prices.

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by ABQ2015

From Kiplinger's, 11 Satellite Cities Poised to Thrive in 2017


I'll let you google the article if you want to read it but Bend is listed as being relatively near the big hub of Portland and as offering good job opportunities (e.g., St. Charles Medical, Keith Manufacturing, and Sunriver Resort) and budget-friendly home prices.

Budget friendly home prices in Bend? Salaries in Bend are significantly lower in technical fields, based on personal experience. I can't speak for other fields, but I am guessing there are other gaps.

Keith manufacturing is in Madras with a couple of job postings at the moment. That is a long commute from Bend, and no options if you are cut loose after moving to Madras.

Working in the service industry in Sunriver could be challenging to find a salary that would get you into a house in the area. There seems to be a gap between rising house prices and salaries.

From what I have observed, the main areas of demand for employees is service industry (wait staff), Construction, e.g. plumber, electrician, "handyman", landscaper can get more work than you know what to do with. And I just saw an article that dog grooming is a booming industry in town. Set up a dog sitting business with good references, and you would likely be golden.

Tech and higher paying manufacturing jobs is extremely limited. The startup "boom" in Bend is mainly a couple of guys developing a new ap, with very little employment base being created from the startups. A "big" tech company in Bend is 9 people.

Most of the successful people (not including retired equity refugees from CA) seem to be people starting up their own business providing a construction or house maintenance service.

Just what I have observed, as an experienced mechanical engineer that finally gave up and retired. A helluva nice place to retire.

Commute 3 hours to Portland? Not sure what you are getting at there?

[BendLocal]

Thom52, great job on covering the issues.

I don't consider Bend to be a satellite city of Portland, but if I did and compared home prices and wages I don't think I'd come to the conclusion that Bend is more affordable.

Median home prices in March.

Portland

The median Portland-area home sold for $353,400 in February, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service. That figure climbed to $370,000 in March.

Bend

The median home price reached $396,000 in March, according to the Beacon Report...

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Thom52, great job on covering the issues.

I don't consider Bend to be a satellite city of Portland, but if I did and compared home prices and wages I don't think I'd come to the conclusion that Bend is more affordable.

Median home prices in March.

Portland

The median Portland-area home sold for $353,400 in February, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service. That figure climbed to $370,000 in March.

Bend

The median home price reached $396,000 in March, according to the Beacon Report...

And the median price of a house in Seattle is now $722k and going up by the day. That could almost make the 60% pay rate for a high tech job in Bend sound like a better situation. Except for the detail of how rare that high tech job is in Bend compared to Seattle. (similar for Portland).

Moral of this story seems to be, skip paying for 4 years of pricey, tough, science/engineering college and just start plumbing or pounding nails or some other skilled construction/maintenance job right out of high school. i.e. maybe we need a good Vocational Technical school in Bend, more than expanding the classic 4 year Liberal Arts college?

Just a thought.

[BendLocal]

Complaints about Bend 'car camping' skyrocket - KTVZ

[BendLocal]

MSN: Bend one of '20 Best Mountain Towns in America' - KTVZ

Bend is on yet another "best of" list, showing up 15th on a list of "The 20 Best Mountain Towns in America": posted late last week by msn.com.

[BendLocal]

Most liveable: America’s 50 best cities to live in

Bend is one of two Oregon towns to rank among the best in the country to live. High incomes and a low cost of living make the area especially attractive. The typical household earns $60,784 a year — about $3,000 more than the typical American household. Goods and services are also 2.6% less expensive in Bend on average than they are nationwide.

[Sherwoody]

Bend and Beaverton.

[Biz901]

5 Cities that Might Be the Next Housing Bubble

Bend, Oregon

Overvalued: 20(+)%

[BendLocal]

Things to do in Oregon: Discover the Bend beer scene

With its mountains and rivers, Central Oregon is a popular spot with skiers, kayakers, hikers and fishermen — and beer lovers, too. With 22+ breweries, Bend has more brewing companies per capita than any other Oregon town, with roughly one brewery for every 3,600 people.