Thinking of the move to Oregon. . . which area would fit us? (Portland: rental, house)

[slammed]

Hello all,

My girlfriend and I are contemplating on moving to Oregon. I have visited the Eugene area once around 2 years ago and loved it. We are from Southern California and are sick of the high cost of living here, especially here in Santa Barbara. We have an online business, so we aren't too concerned about the high employment rate. Here are our likes/dislikes in finding a place to live:

Would like a house with a separate workshop or basement to setup our business.
Prefer to have acreage.
Must have high speed internet. What is the major cable provider in OR? Is Verizon FIOS available?
Prefer to live in the "country", but still be close to a major city(within 20 minutes).
Budget of around $1000 for rent.
Don't like snow/ice.
Close to a decent community college.

With these requirements, which area would you suggest we look into?

Thanks in advance.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by slammed

Hello all,

My girlfriend and I are contemplating on moving to Oregon. I have visited the Eugene area once around 2 years ago and loved it. We are from Southern California and are sick of the high cost of living here, especially here in Santa Barbara. We have an online business, so we aren't too concerned about the high employment rate. Here are our likes/dislikes in finding a place to live:

Would like a house with a separate workshop or basement to setup our business.
Prefer to have acreage.
Must have high speed internet. What is the major cable provider in OR? Is Verizon FIOS available?
Prefer to live in the "country", but still be close to a major city(within 20 minutes).
Budget of around $1000 for rent.
Don't like snow/ice.
Close to a decent community college.

With these requirements, which area would you suggest we look into?

Thanks in advance.

The first place you should look is the Verizon web site. Get a map of FIOS service areas. Then look there. I think Comcast is the major cable provider, but that doesn't mean they serve all areas. I hear some areas in Corvallis have 40 mbps available.

Acreage with FIOS or cable is going to be rare. Adding acreage that you can rent for $1000 will make it even tougher to find.

[skinem]

Within 20 minutes of a "major city" will be somewhat limiting...many people don't believe that Oregon even has one major city...

If that's a chief factor, you're going to be looking within a 20 minute radius of Eugene or the Portland metro area...

Medford, Ashland, K-Falls, and Bend would probably qualify as Oregon major cities...Bend would be out if you don't like snow and ice.

A couple of places that come to mind since you're been to Eugene and liked it---Cottage Grove, Junction City, Marcola...

[Rob Allen]

Verizon sold its operations in Oregon (and other states) to a company called Frontier. We have FIOS, and the transition went pretty smoothly. Look at frontier.com for coverage areas in Oregon.

[Silverfall]

Acreage properties in they valley often have slow internet issues. I know several people around Salem that can only get dial-up. I totally agree that you will be limited by high speed internet on rural properties, and renting acreage for $1,000 a month? I just don't see that happening easily. Since high speed internet is a must for acreage property for you, that will determine where you look.

[redfish1]

Originally Posted by slammed

Hello all,

My girlfriend and I are contemplating on moving to Oregon. I have visited the Eugene area once around 2 years ago and loved it. We are from Southern California and are sick of the high cost of living here, especially here in Santa Barbara. We have an online business, so we aren't too concerned about the high employment rate. Here are our likes/dislikes in finding a place to live:

Would like a house with a separate workshop or basement to setup our business.
Prefer to have acreage.
Must have high speed internet. What is the major cable provider in OR? Is Verizon FIOS available?
Prefer to live in the "country", but still be close to a major city(within 20 minutes).
Budget of around $1000 for rent.
Don't like snow/ice.
Close to a decent community college.

With these requirements, which area would you suggest we look into?

Thanks in advance.

eugene or medford is probably your best bet. Bend is nice but not for anyone that doesn't do snow and ice and country living in your price range is an hour drive from down town portland.

[Smiled]

"Don't like snow/ice"

How are you with rain?
If you are OK with it, the Willamette Valley is a nice place. Rental housing is a bit more difficult to find than in most of CA as people tend to buy places (temporarily this is less true due to the housing crash).
Acreage is a bit hard to find; bandwidth can be too, though there are small local providers who do wireless internet. It took us ten years to get service where we live - too far from a switch for DSL, not facing the right direction for satellite, near a local wireless tower but too many trees.

If you consider Eugene a major enough city, then Medford would qualify, but nothing on the coast really would except maybe Coos Bay.