Possibly moving to Eugene area from Wisconsin (Portland, Springfield: low income, sales)

[brewcrew87]

Hey everyone, 24 year old guy here possibly moving to the area so I wanted to ask a few questions about the area.

First of all, I know all about the rain... My brother lives in Portland and I have visited during the winter months in the past... Personally I think the rain would be fantastic compared to the cold/snow we get here in western Wisconsin. My question with the weather is what should I expect in the summer months... I know it won't get quite as hot as often as here in Wisconsin, which again is a plus for me.. (Not a fan of 100+ heat index) So how's the humidity out there? Get a lot of those hot dog days of summer? Does it cool off in the evening pretty quickly?

My second concern is what type of income range would let a young couple live comfortably out there? I know cost of living is quite a bit higher on the west coast... The job I'm looking at probably starts out at least around 35k, possibly higher. My girlfriend would end up moving out there a little later than me to finish school (2 months) so I'd have to pay everything for a month or two (and my share of rent at our current apartment). But, she should be able to make the move by mid-June at the latest and after she finds a job we can probably expect her to at least bring in somewhere around 30-40k as well.

I would, of course, be looking to rent to start out for probably a year or so.. But ideally I would like to start looking for a house to buy after that... Is it feasible to buy a pretty nice home in the area with a household income in the 60-70k range and not be having to just squeeze by? Here it wouldn't be an issue with that type of income, but I was wondering what people living in/around Eugene think.

I'm only asking because if I remember right from when I was visiting in Portland, it seemed like EVERYTHING cost more there... (yes I know there isn't sales tax, but still..) Here basic household items and essential foods are pretty cheap... Milk around $2.10 a gallon... Bread $1 a loaf... Case of beer (30 pack) for $13...(for good old cheap Keystone Lite haha)

Sorry this is getting kinda long... So I'll only ask one more silly thing.. Can I find a nice sports bar in the area? Preferably away from the college scene? I live in a college town and it gets old... All I want is a nice clean little bar to watch the game at and have a few cold ones.. I would love if there are any that have MLB Extra Innings... Have to watch my Brewers...

Well, I'll end it there for now. Thanks for anyone who actually took the time to read this and provides some insight.

[Mr Eugenified]

Re the weather: You can read my weather log for some idea about the weather last summer. You can also check city-data's Eugene page and see some weather statistics there. http://www.city-data.com/forum/membe...ed-530124.html

Personally, I love the weather here, and I am definitely not a rain person. Two types of people complain about it. The first type of complainer considers it a badge of honor to claim they live in a place that rains "9 months of the year" (it's not true, but it sounds impressive). The second type of complainer complains about the rain in Oregon, the sun in Arizona, the dry heat in Texas, the snow in Michigan, the humidity in Florida, and the incessant sound of breaking waves in Hawaii.

Income range: $60-70K sounds like no problem to me. Rental rates for housing are about $400 per bedroom, so a nice 3 bedroom house would cost around $1200 per month. Similar house would sell for around $280K now. These are very rough numbers and of course you can go up or down from these numbers depending on your standards for quality and neighborhood.

Cost of living: Seems about the same here as other places I have visited. Most products in the US now are pretty much national pricing. I know there are exceptions, but in general, the pluses and minuses tend to balance each other out. Of course, if you are a low income person, sometimes a little difference in living costs can be a very big problem. But for someone in your income range, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

For your reference, here are some of my own figures that I collected a while back on the monthly cost of utilities in Eugene. They're old but I think the monthly numbers are similar these days:

Monthly Natural Gas bill:

4/08/09 $75.00
5/08/09 $67.17
6/10/09 $43.45
7/09/09 $23.29
8/03/09 $28.92
9/03/09 $28.68
10/05/09 $39.21
11/03/09 $64.03
12/04/09 $103.34
1/07/10 $170.09
2/04/10 $101.65
3/05/10 $88.48

Monthly Electric/Water/Wastewater/Stormwater Bill
4/20/2009 $90.49
5/18/2009 $93.17
6/17/2009 $127.83
7/20/2009 $156.52
8/18/2009 $191.14
9/18/2009 $165.18
10/19/2009 $137.16
11/17/2009 $121.40
12/17/2009 $158.80
1/19/2010 $167.03
2/18/2010 $134.78
3/19/2010 $126.07

Satellite TV (instead of cable)
around $90 per month

Beer: Definitely will cost more than Keystone. But of course the quality will be 1000 times better. Oregon has quite a few VERY good brewers.

Sports bars: There are plenty. Quite a few cater to the fanatic UO football fans of non-student age.

[brewcrew87]

Yeah pretty much all what I expected.. And no, I'm not a keystone light drinker unless I'm poor at the time haha. Wisconsin has some pretty good beers as well... (we're known for beer and cheese after all).

Probably not going to be able to turn me into a UO football fan. Wisconsin is in my blood. I actually attended college there so of course I have my ties.

I wouldn't be too opposed to a UO - UW national championship game this year though haha.

I browsed at your link you provided and honestly that weather doesn't sound too bad at all. Btw, nice weather blog.. Definitely gives me a pretty good feel of what its like. Nice to know not every winter day is a complete washout like some make it out to be.

[haggardhouseelf]

Mr. E is a good source of info for all things Eugene. The summers are really nice here, but we usually have at least a couple of weeks where the temps like to hike up into the 100's, or at least we have the past couple of summers. When the weather does that, we head to the coast!

Yelp is a good resource for finding local Eugene things - like sports bars:
http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=sports+bars&ns=1&find_loc=eugene% 2C+OR#!

There's even a little map there for you showing where the places are.

Oregon beers are OK. They are definitely worth trying, but my favorite American brews are from Texas and Colorado. I've never had an Oregon brew that made me want to have it again.

It's hard to know if $60/$70K would be doable because a lot really depends on your lifestyle, amount of debt you have, etc. People do well with varying incomes, it all depends on how you prioritize and what you're budget is like. If your cars are paid for and you don't have any debt and you live a simple/low-cost lifestyle, I'd say that you'd do fine and could most likely afford a sweet house in a nice neighborhood here.

Property taxes are higher in the nicer neighorhoods, though. Don't let that surprise you when you buy. Had a friend who bought a super nice (and newly constucted) house in the hills and he thought he was getting it for really cheap... he didn't figure in the property taxes and the mortgage insurance payments. Within three years he was trying to sell his house to move to a more affordable area. He ended up taking a job out of state, and he still hasn't been able to sell his house. And to make matters worse - property values keep dropping.

[grog225]

I grew up in Iowa, so I think I can compare the summers pretty well to Wisconsin.

First, Eugene has a few hot days...hotter than I expected when I moved here. There's about a week in August that pushes 100 or so. My house stays pretty cool and I have no air and inside it was comfortable. That being said, outside was nowhere like those dripping hot, muggy days in Iowa. The sweltering heat where you could see shimmering heat rising off the concrete...i don't really experience that here. The rest of the summer is pretty comfortable and I love the summers here.

Second, I have to disagree with the haggardhouseelf (this time). I do like some of the brews out here...Rogue (Dead Guy Ale and their IPA), Mirror Pond is good. Also there's brews out of northern California (Eureka), like the Lost Coast brews, e.g. Downtown Brown. Ninkasi is good, right here in Eugene.

There's also a great pizza place and I think it might be vegetarian... PRI...pizza research institute (?). I'm not vegetarian and I really love their pizza. I guess I got of the weather some.

Good, vibrant, involved community.

[haggardhouseelf]

Everybody raves about Ninkasi! Guys that work with my husband got him to finally try it... we don't get it. Ninkasi is a really popular one, though, so OP when you come out you should try it...

I think our (mine and my husbands) taste buds must just be wired differently or something. We're oddballs I guess because the local people here in Oregon love their brews and keep insisting we try this or that and it never sits right with us. We miss our Shiner Bock - which you can't buy in Oregon! *sob*

This was in the news today though: It's all in the pour: Sasquatch Brew Fest returns to Eugene | KVAL CBS 13 - News, Weather and Sports - Eugene, OR - Eugene, Oregon | Local & Regional News

Sasquatch Brewfest in Eugene, Oregon presented by the Northwest Legends Foundation

[MisterCobalt]

I think the summers here are way too hot (but then again, I hate heat). It normally does cool down pretty quickly at night, but not during our 100+ degree days. We almost always have a few of those... It'll be over 90 degrees from 11am to 10pm.

A combined income of 60-70K should be able to keep you east of Highway 99 at least... I think... If so, that's a good thing. You could get a better place in Springfield though (since nobody wants to live there, haha). If you rent a house here, you'll definitely be able to afford it. Though keep in mind that renting is also ridiculously overpriced here.

As for a sports bar, I'd suggest trying Jackalope Lounge next to the train station. It's far enough away from campus that you won't get a bunch of frat boys there.