What I Like About Oregon (Portland, Eugene: environment, mcmansions, jobs)

[MurphyAllie]

Tiff -
The Ducks are so much fun (some years)... you have to admit.

Anyway, when I worked in motion pictures we would film in Oregon a lot and I was able to spend time in areas that were incredible. The Bend area was one of the areas, further south around Medford also. I also worked on a film near Salem where we spent some days with loggers in the snow and then just some days up on the logging roads without the sound of chain saws. All in all it was great. At least for me - if you like being out in the wilderness with not many people around.

Sometimes, I love being where there are very few people - I also really like the desert but like you, some days, I want to be in a city. Portland was always PDX where I would fly in and out of, but I am going to really look at it now as a place to live but also spend at least a day in Eugene. I have never been to Eugene but it is suppose to be really nice and Kevin (my housemate) has it high on his list (that is not a pun).

Allie

[shirtsleeves]

Lastly, you don’t have to be a millionaire to live there.[/quote]

Is this true? I'd like to take my social security and find a place in Oregon to live forever (or however long that is for me!). I'm used to Iowa where there are small, affordable houses in the smaller towns and out in the country. Is there any such thing in Oregon? Rural areas where there is still inexpensive housing? Thanks!

[PDXsailor]

What do you consider inexpensive?

[Clear2land]

Hi Shirtsleeves:

That is a million dollar question. I will offer you up my 2-cent answer. Without knowing what is affordable for you, I would suggest looking as some small cities in areas that interest you. Oregon City population can be found at this link:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Oregon.html

It sounds like you will not be working, is that right? On those same city-data pages are links to the Multiple Listing Services in that area. From there, you can screen for condos and homes in your price range.

Oregon real estate tends to be on the high side as real estate nationwide just hit a 50-year high. Prices are falling in a lot of areas as inventory builds. You might want to give some thought to renting. I tend to favor ownership of your home; however the equity you have in your home can be invested for additional income to you. I have noticed that a lot of 80+ seniors prefer to rent verses own.

I wish you all the luck in your search. Oregon is a great place to live if you can afford to live in the beaver state.

Dan

[Waterlily]

Originally Posted by shirtsleeves

Lastly, you don’t have to be a millionaire to live there.

[/quote]Is this true? I'd like to take my social security and find a place in Oregon to live forever (or however long that is for me!). I'm used to Iowa where there are small, affordable houses in the smaller towns and out in the country. Is there any such thing in Oregon? Rural areas where there is still inexpensive housing? Thanks![/quote]

No we are not all rich. The prices in Oregon have gone up a lot in the last couple of years. They've gone up the most in western Oregon and the Bend area.
If you want something less expensive try looking at some towns in eastern oregon. I don't know if you want to rent or buy but both rates would be less in places like La Grande for instance.
Be sure to come up and look around Oregon before you move. You may prefer some areas to others. Good luck and enjoy our beautiful state.

[shirtsleeves]

Thanks for the reply! I'm probably out of my league in Oregon as I bought a house in a small town in Iowa for $70,000, and there are other small towns where you can still buy a house for $50,000! I know how to re-hab houses, so that's why I was wondering if such a thing could be done in Oregon with not a lot of capital.

Didn't mean to stop talking about how great Oregon is! I've been to the Coast and Crater Lake and Klamath Falls and Eugene and Portland. Wandered around and camped in some of the National Forests. I honeymooned in Oregon! I love Oregon!

Again, thanks.

[Steve97415]

My parents lived in Iowa in the 90's, so I know where you're coming from. Home appreciation there is much slower due, in part, to the fact that the state's population growth is almost flat -- about one fourth the national average in rate of growth. Moving to Oregon from Iowa is a lot like moving to California from Oregon. Timing is important, and you'll need a few years of living here to assimilate the short-term penalty in cost of living.* I know it seems like a different country in terms of housing costs, but realize you're coming from a region which, because it's near the top of the totem pole in affordability, is near the bottom in terms of power of equity transfer.

p.s My parents thought of Oregon as being like "Iowa with mountains". At least that was their impression of the Willamette Valley, the only part they saw. They thought it would be quite easy to make the transition to living here (of course they were here in late June, too, so that makes a difference).



*According to some of the more dismal projections, maybe more than a few years. Some analyists project a long-term housing deflation that may see a downward slide in West Coast real estate values for the next 10 years or so with the most overvalued markets (in California) seeing the most drastic correction. So it's possible that five years from now, your house will not be worth what you paid for it in 2007. Don't want to scare you; it's just a possibility.

[Flylooper]

What I like about Oregon:

• The summer sun coming up at 5:30 AM and it staying light until 10:30 PM
• Sweet tomatoes the size of grapefruit from my own garden.
• The Oregon Symphony - Best music value on earth
• The Shakespeare Festival in Ashland
• The Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area
• A redband cutthroat trout rising to my fly on the Deschutes River
• Marionberries (Oi!)
• The Metolius River
• A freshly caught chinook salmon from the Nestucca River
• A dark, rainy night in winter cuddled on the sofa with my S.O.
• My spring tulips
• Haystack Rock
• Paulina Lake Lodge
• The Wallowas
• More rainy nights with my S.O.
• No sales tax
• Someone actually pumping my gas
• Absolutely perfect summer weather
• Oregon history
• Fir, Spruce, Hemlock, Pine, Oak, and Cottonwood trees
• The purest drinking water in the USA
• Steelhead trout from "my own" river, the North Santiam.
• "The Civil War" between U of O and OSU
• Hazelnuts
• Cheap Christmas trees
• Ken Kesey
• Did I mention rainy nights with my S.O.??
• Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood
• Farmers Market in Salem
• Progressive politics (for the most part)
• Dutch Bros. Lo-fat Lattes
• Elbow room
• The covered bridges of Linn County
• Sweet summer corn
• Depoe Bay
• Dungeness crab I catch and the clams I dig
• Steens Mountain

I could go on forever. This place is Valhalla, rain and all.

[surfplay]

I can breathe now! (recently moved from Southern California)

[ORexpat]

I left Oregon a little over three years ago, came to Phoenix, and am presently getting ready to move to Missouri. I am an Oregon native, born in Portland, and I spent 22 years in La Grande.
I can't afford to live in Oregon anymore. In 2003 the average cost of a new house in La Grande nearly doubled, and it isn't much better now. Oregon, and the West in general, lacks those little rural small towns where you can find affordable housing. The only place I see in Oregon that I can afford anymore is Burns, and maybe, even as I write, that is being discovered and people are taking out permits for McMansions.
Too many people love Oregon. That is the problem.