Re-Locating and in search for areas to live in in that provides woods, creeks and mountains? (Portland: rent)

[SamanthaFernandez]

Hello all,

I live in upstate NY and I'm looking to relocate to Oregon within two years. My wife and I currently live in Upstate NY. We moved here two years ago from the outer banks of NYC because we love our lakes, mountains, woods and creeks (we have a creek in our backyard) I'm a Head Chef and she is an Esthetician in a spa, pre-COVID we were doing some job scoping and saw that we would be making the same, if not more salary wise in OR with more opportunities in our fields.

We visited in February of this year and we liked Portland but again, we want our lifestyles to be similar of where we currently live. We are looking to be at most, 1HR/1HR15MIN away from Portland just in the possibility of my wife doing the commute if a great opportunity rises in Portland.

We were looking into McMinnville and I also saw Detroit which is a little out there, so I'm asking you guys for some assistance! Any info would be appreciated. thank you!

[Thom52]

Definitely consider the employment situation before moving to Bend.

There are approximately 115 licensed estheticians in Bend at this time. None of them working due to the virus. It is really hard to give a facial to someone who is wearing a mask, so it has suddenly become a very high risk career. Even before the virus the competition was insane. My wife is an esthetician, teaches classes at one of the local schools, and was co-owner of a very successful spa in Kirkland WA. Here she cannot get enough clients to make the business worthwhile.

I have been told that Chef wages are really low in Bend and with many restaurants closing and going out of business due to the virus, competition is likely to be fierce. You are most likely to end up working as a line cook, even with stellar credentials.

Make sure you have employment nailed down before you move here. Otherwise you might sadly be adding to the large homeless population in Bend.

Not likely you would be living on a creek here, but the irrigation ditch system is similar to a creek and that might be doable, depending on your budget. You have missed the bargain period for buying large enough chunks of land in Bend that would have an irrigation ditch running through them. Some housing developments back onto the irrigation ditch system. You could hold out and rent and hope for a housing market crash for the prices to drop.....it could happen.

Lakes mountains and woods, we definitely have, along with a lot of high desert. The closer you get to lakes mountains and woods, the more expensive the houses get.

Bend is a tourist economy of tiny businesses and the virus shutdown hit it hard. On top of that, all the small business financial aide was skimmed off by the big corporations and Bend tiny businesses got nothing.

[NW Crow]

If you want to be within 75 minutes of Portland, Bend is not the forum to post on. It is at least 3 hours away.

Detroit OR is not the place to look for work. There are a few restaurants for locals and fishermen but they serve simple American food. Your wife would probably have to commute to Salem. You'd be at least 1.5 hours from Portland.

McMinnville might work. Focus on that area. Maybe Happy Valley or Silverton. Maybe Hood River.


Bend could work if you give up being close to Portland and consider the advice given in the other post.

[Thom52]

Sorry, I missed the reference to wanting to be an hour from Portland.

You are looking at a 6 hour round trip for a Portland commute, and that doesn't even take into account Portland traffic or tourist traffic going over the passes to get there. You could fly from the Redmond airport on a commuter run, but I know that estheticians don't make enough to justify that kind of commute!

[SamanthaFernandez]

"Definitely consider the employment situation before moving to Bend."


Hello, thanks for your reply. I didn't realize that I in fact posted in the Bend section. I will repost in other sections applied. That is sad to hear, I too work in a mountain town that has been affected by COVID. Although it would be heart breaking in a sense to leave here because of its beauty, the idea of NYS seems ideal until you have to actually live in the area. One of my main reasons for leaving is lack off efficient help in the culinary community here thus stunting my growth as a young chef. I'm only as good as my team. My wife only has one option as well in terms of work which is sub par. She's not a huge fan of it and feels stunted as well. We're in our late twenties doing far better than most, but also not doing great. Again, it's sad that Bend is going through this. informative and straight to the point. thanks and be well!

[SamanthaFernandez]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

If you want to be within 75 minutes of Portland, Bend is not the forum to post on. It is at least 3 hours away.

Detroit OR is not the place to look for work. There are a few restaurants for locals and fishermen but they serve simple American food. Your wife would probably have to commute to Salem. You'd be at least 1.5 hours from Portland.

McMinnville might work. Focus on that area. Maybe Happy Valley or Silverton. Maybe Hood River.


Bend could work if you give up being close to Portland and consider the advice given in the other post.

I posted in the wrong section, but thank you for your input on Detroit. Its the information that I need to hear.
I'll post in McMinnville and take a look at the other places; Ive been googling commute times and Bend was absolutely not in the question. I live in a Mountain Town now and I love it but, there are some things professionally wise that I cant look past. I won't make that mistake again.

[SamanthaFernandez]

Originally Posted by Thom52

Sorry, I missed the reference to wanting to be an hour from Portland.

You are looking at a 6 hour round trip for a Portland commute, and that doesn't even take into account Portland traffic or tourist traffic going over the passes to get there. You could fly from the Redmond airport on a commuter run, but I know that estheticians don't make enough to justify that kind of commute!

sadly, both of our professional lives pay way less than they're supposed to!

[texasdiver]

Look at Camas and Washougal WA. Across the river from Portland and right at the gateway to the Columbia River Gorge. Popular area with some nice restaurants and more next door in Vancouver. And honestly it would not be difficult to commute from a place like Camas to Portland for chef's jobs because you would not be caught in the main commuter traffic times.

Further away I'd also check out Hood River which is maybe an hour from Portland. Longer commute than most would want but I expect some do it.

Silverton is a cute mountain town that is close to Salem so you'd have the Salem job market at your disposal but it would be rather too far from Portland for reasonable commuting.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by SamanthaFernandez

Hello all,

I live in upstate NY and I'm looking to relocate to Oregon within two years. My wife and I currently live in Upstate NY. We moved here two years ago from the outer banks of NYC because we love our lakes, mountains, woods and creeks (we have a creek in our backyard) I'm a Head Chef and she is an Esthetician in a spa, pre-COVID we were doing some job scoping and saw that we would be making the same, if not more salary wise in OR with more opportunities in our fields.

We visited in February of this year and we liked Portland but again, we want our lifestyles to be similar of where we currently live. We are looking to be at most, 1HR/1HR15MIN away from Portland just in the possibility of my wife doing the commute if a great opportunity rises in Portland.

We were looking into McMinnville and I also saw Detroit which is a little out there, so I'm asking you guys for some assistance! Any info would be appreciated. thank you!

Check out St Helens, Oregon or one of the smaller town nearby it.