Help us find the perfect town! (Portland, Eugene: for sale, to rent, house)

[tandiwe76]

My partner and I are thinking about moving to OR - and we're looking for help finding the perfect town! Would anyone mind advising us about options? I've listed the key factors that are influencing our search:

1. His 3 yr old son will be living in/around Portland, so within reasonable driving distance would be great. We haven't figured out our timesharing plan yet - that will probably be determined by what town we move to.

2. Outdoor adventure: Within an hour of good wilderness areas with backpacking, hiking and camping, and within 2 hrs of a ski area. Ideally we'd like to be close enough to the ocean to for a day trip. Need good swimming holes for the summer.

3. Medium-small sized town with great arts community: I'm a painter and jeweler, so a town with good support for artists is a must. If it had an arts school that would be a big plus.

4. As much sun as possible - we'll be moving away from 300 days of sun a year (New Mexico)!

Thanks a lot for your feedback - this site is great!

[tandiwe76]

Hi again, I realized that a bit more info might be called for.
-We're in our early 30's, he's a carpenter/handyman and I'm an artist/designer.
-We're granola types, but not full-on hippies (though we like hippy towns!)
-Don't need a lot of big city entertainment, but it's fun to go there once in awhile.
-We love being outdoors!
-I grew up in WA but left because of the rain - NM is special in it's own way, but I miss the green and water. My family lives in the Seattle area so it will be nice to live closer to them after 10 years in NM.
-We live a pretty simple, low cost life and want to keep it that way. We're into meditation, yoga, organic food, and good water.

Thanks everyone in advance! Really appreciate the help!

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by tandiwe76

My partner and I are thinking about moving to OR - and we're looking for help finding the perfect town! Would anyone mind advising us about options? I've listed the key factors that are influencing our search:

1. His 3 yr old son will be living in/around Portland, so within reasonable driving distance would be great. We haven't figured out our timesharing plan yet - that will probably be determined by what town we move to.

2. Outdoor adventure: Within an hour of good wilderness areas with backpacking, hiking and camping, and within 2 hrs of a ski area. Ideally we'd like to be close enough to the ocean to for a day trip. Need good swimming holes for the summer.

Anywhere in western Oregon is within 2 hours of a ski area. If by Wilderness Area you mean real wilderness, it might take a while because they are roadless. You have to walk. If you just want national forest hiking and camping, it is everywhere.

Originally Posted by tandiwe76

3. Medium-small sized town with great arts community: I'm a painter and jeweler, so a town with good support for artists is a must. If it had an arts school that would be a big plus.

You can either hobnob with other artists, or make a living at it, your choice. I once dated a woman near Willamina who produced ceramic trivets with nautical themes and sold them through gift shops up and down the coast. She would load up a truckload and drive the coast once a month restocking her customers.

You might be able to get some stuff into the Made in Oregon stores (11 stores statewide). The Saturday Markets in Portland or Eugene are other possible venues for sales. If you have established a reputation, you might be able to get into the galleries, but I have heard the galleries make a lot more money than the artists.

Originally Posted by tandiwe76

4. As much sun as possible - we'll be moving away from 300 days of sun a year (New Mexico)!

Thanks a lot for your feedback - this site is great!

The Willamette Valley is sunnier than Seattle. I think the rain is about the same, but less fog.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by tandiwe76

Hi again, I realized that a bit more info might be called for.
-We're in our early 30's, he's a carpenter/handyman and I'm an artist/designer.

I forgot - your sweetie will need to license up with the state to be a handyman. They have a special one person contractor's license that is easier to get.

Contractor, Residential Limited (CCB) - Oregon Licenses, Permits and Registrations

[tandiwe76]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the info, especially the link to the independent contractor license! That is extremely helpful.

Do you think you could be more specific about towns if I gave you more details about what we'd like?

Right now we live in a semi-rural forested zone outside Albuquerque. It's in the Sandia Mtns east of the city. Takes about 20-25 mins on I-40 to get to town (Abq). My boyfriend commutes to town work days, and I go there at least 3 days a week. We do 95% of our shopping and errands in Abq. Our local village, Tijeras, about 10 min from home, is very quaint and cute, with just a bank, library, PO, feed store, gift shop, etc. Not even a gas station! We are used to this setup and enjoy the distance from the "big city" (if you can possibly call Abq that!) The great thing is having all the stores, airport, movie theaters, etc, within 30 minutes, yet seeing trees, horses, and the occasional bear and coyote.

We will probably move to OR or southern WA because my sweetie's ex wants to move to Portland and we share custody of their 3 yr old son. Coming from the NW, I am also in support of us moving to be close to my family in Seattle/Bellevue (I grew up in Kirkland).

Considering the driving distances from Portland, it seems like we'd need to be in the NW quadrant of Oregon or the SW edge of WA.

We'd need a town with a good health food store within a 20-30 min driving range. Ideally would also have a Home Depot or Lowe's or similar local store. We like supporting local small businesses. We also like to eat local organic food and grow our own. We would plan to rent a house of some type (no apts allowed!) and it would need to be cheap but could be pretty simple. We're back-to-the-land types.

We would plan to drive TO the wilderness areas, but not INTO them . It would also be awesome to be able to do shorter day hikes right from our home, without getting into a car at all.

An important thing is the local area having an alternative, progressive culture. We are lucky that the East Mtns of Abq has attracted a lot of post-hippie professionals and artists who mix nicely with older local agricultural families. It's pretty liberal and everyone minds their own biz. We wouldn't feel comfortable in a strongly right wing, religious, conservative area.

So far the Hood River/White Salmon/Stevenson area has popped out as a possibility - any thoughts?

Thanks so much! This is really helpful.

[Silverfall]

I wouldn't describe Hood River/White Salmon/Stevenson as alternative/progressive culture. Alternative/progressive pretty much only describes Portland and Eugene. The rest of the cities will meet your other criteria, but not that one, IMO.

[Dogmama50]

I lived in Hood River and it is a cute little town, not really progressive, but not really conservative. For us, we felt there was a good sense of community, people are nice and generally outdoor focused and Double Mountain Brewery alone is a good reason to live there. Housing is not inexpensive and jobs can be hard to come by but they have the one of the best CSA programs, Hood River Organics. White Salmon, tends to be slightly less expensive for housing, but not by much.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Dogmama50

I lived in Hood River and it is a cute little town, not really progressive, but not really conservative.

I think this describes many smaller Oregon towns. They aren't progressive, but they aren't bible thumping conservative either.

[Smiled]

I'd say if you left WA because of the rain, that rules out the Willamette Valley. Either Roseburg and south, or east of the Cascades (including Hood River or The Dalles) would be reasonable choices.

[Icamp2]

I would say Eugene sounds like a good fit for you . . . or any of the small communities surrounding Eugene. Its about 2 hours from Portland, slightly more depending on traffic . . .