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Old 07-10-2011, 02:33 PM
 
7 posts, read 7,568 times
Reputation: 11

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Greetings-

We are looking to relocate away from a hot climate and dying economy, and Oregon is a state we are considering. We were hoping some locals/natives could give us an idea of places that might meet our criteria.

We would like a place that's politically neutral- not in your face liberal/ACLU or suffocatingly conservative/NRA. We don't care what people are as long as they don't talk about it much. A place where independants or non-Democrats/Republicans can be elected to office would be nice.

We want a place with both strong Christian churches and an acceptance of non-traditional/quasi-pagan beliefs, so basically a place that believes in faith, but what that faith is doesn't matter.

We want to spend between 300-500K for a house or land/construction, and ideally we would like some acreage (between 1 to 5 acres, nothing too vast).

We are financially upper-middle class, but don't look it or act it. So we don't want snobbery/overt status conciousness, but we do want safety, security, and other people who have enough money of their own so we don't look like a target.

We must have better than average public schools with bullying/drug availability being least as possible. We could go the private school route, but would prefer not to so our kids can have a "normal" childhood experience.

Ideally, we would like moutain/hill views or being in the mountains/hills. Nothing flat like the desert we are in now. (On a side note, Bend appears on the map to be a desert connected to mountains... how desert is it? ugly brown or is there some green?)

Finally, we would like less than 200,000 population but more than 10,000 (would consider Portand suburbs if you don't need to drive into Portland much for amenities- we HATE traffic and freeways)- a small town feel with a quaint main street is cool, as long as the town's folk are friendly and accepting to new-comers and not exclusive.

I know this is an exacting list and probably no town perfectly meets our desires, but any point in the right direction would be helpful.

Thanks!
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Old 07-10-2011, 02:48 PM
 
Location: NW Montana
6,259 posts, read 14,618,316 times
Reputation: 3459
This is a little out of your range but the area is very beautiful, also look at parrot mt. road as well as wilsonville road.
32525 Southwest Ladd Hill Road, Wilsonville OR | MLS# 11513482 - Trulia)
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Old 07-10-2011, 03:07 PM
 
Location: NW Montana
6,259 posts, read 14,618,316 times
Reputation: 3459
Also Yamhill is nice also.
Hillsboro Oregon Home for Sale - MLS# 637681
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Old 07-10-2011, 03:10 PM
 
Location: Sometimes Portland, other times LA
600 posts, read 1,463,158 times
Reputation: 247
Well Oregon's economy is dying as well so Im not sure you'd be escaping that much. Portland is very liberal, outside the metro area is conservative for the most part. Both our Governor and city mayor (Portland) are democrats and one is gay. Drugs and bullying are part of every school including the best schools in the state (Lake Oswego/West Linn) but you'll find these problems typically smaller than most metro areas in other states. Bend is considered high desert - just a term, dont confuse it with Arizona or NM or anything. Great place to live and raise a family. Just a lot drier than west of the Cascade mountain range and a higher elevation. Hot days and chilly nights - you get all 4 seasons too and not as much rain as the Portland area gets. If you're wanting to be close to Portland, I would suggest outlying areas like Wilsonville, Sherwood, Hillsboro/Forest Grove. Traffic in and around the city can definitely get bad. There are limited ways of getting around the city and not too many freeways which means everyone gets stuck using the same routes which clogs it up. That is pretty much unavoidable. Housing prices have not fallen hard here yet so I would rent for a while, get a lay of the land and really get to know the city and find where you want to be - then consider buying. Prices will continue to drop and should be good in about a year or so.
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