Moving back the great West Coast (Oregon) to be closer to my family... Questions! (Portland: rentals)

[aluckyducky]

I moved to Texas four years ago wanting some adventure. A guy I met online might have had something to do with it, too. He turned about to a real dip though, but I ended up staying for another three years. I am now ready to move back home to my family... but I have some questions about where exactly in Oregon I might be relocating.

I am twenty-four years old and looking for a safe area but with a decent night life... or close to it. I do not have a degree but have four years of experience in the food service industry, one year of that in fine dining.

I was thinking about Portland... possibly the surrounding areas of Tigard or Beaverton. My family lives in Washington State about thirty minutes north of Portland, so I would be close enough for visits and far enough that I wont feel smothered. =) I also can't stand the dark, dreary, drizzly small town that I grew up in... so hopefully being a little south of all that might be better for me.

Any suggestions on places in Oregon that have relatively good rent costs?

Also... I plan on making the drive myself. How should I go about shipping my things that wont fit after I fill up my car? How expensive would it be to UPS some boxes of my things?

I am saving up money and trying to plan the trip home in September. I am not sure where to start. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks!

[delta07]

Originally Posted by aluckyducky

I also can't stand the dark, dreary, drizzly small town that I grew up in... so hopefully being a little south of all that might be better for me.

Thanks!

30 minutes south of the town you grew up in Washington isn't going to give you much difference in the weather. It's still pretty dark, dreary and drizzly for the entire winter. If you want better weather, you are going to have to look east of the Cascades or much further south.

[silverfox]

Shipping personal items.....

Check out www.upak.com

They have several options to ship.

SF

[Larry Caldwell]

You mean 30 minutes north of the north end of the Interstate Bridge, which is an hour north of Portland.

The Oregonian classified ads are online, so you can prospect for housing from your easy chair.

Oregon Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - OregonLive.com

Check with U=Haul about a trailer that will fit your car. That might be your best option. Even better, just sell your old stuff and get new when you get to Portland. You might want to look for a roommate until you get settled in a good job. High end food service where you make big tips can be difficult jobs to find. It may take a few months. Until then, you will be living on little more than minimum wage ($17k/year) and you will be pretty poor.

[silverfox]

The U haul trailer idea is a very good one but.......

1. You need a car that will safely pull a trailer with the load you would have.
2. You would need to have an adaquate capacity trailer hitch on your car with the proper wiring.
3. You would have to have adaquate braking capacity on your car.
4. You should be familiar with driving a trailer behind you and also be able to back it up safely.
5. Your car would have to have an adaquate power source with proper cooling system.
6. It should be a covered trailer to protect your belongings from the weather and also theft.

So yes it is a good idea if..............

SF

[Minervah]

Any suggestions on places in Oregon that have relatively good rent costs?

What is your idea of relatively good rent costs? Relative to what? The closer you get to Portland the more expensive rentals will be. But it also depends upon the type of place you are looking for.

[bluebird39]

I don't know how much stuff you have, but have you looked into something like "PODS"? Shipping is very expensive now, depending on the weight, I'd look into US Post office flat rate boxes, for the heavier stuff, as there's no weight limit. If you can't do a trailer or u-haul, maybe look into greyhound or Amtrak. I think they might do that kind of stuff too. yard sale? Craig's List if it's not worth shipping...

I'm in Eastern Oregon, so no help with PDX rentals. When I first moved from Louisiana to Oregon, I literally rented a bedroom in a house with a single mom and her kid. Kind of strange, but it was cheap, and gave me a place to live until I could find a room mate to rent an apt with...

[dusky_beauty]

Salem is awesome. The weather is fantastic, there's a teeny bit of nightlife, rents are reasonable, (Hubby and I rented an older 2 bedroom townhouse downtown with laundry hookups for 400, right next to the college and all the parks) the traffic isn't god awful, theres a lot of shopping, it's 1 hour from the coast, and MOST importantly, there's money there-- unlike most of the rest of the state where there is high unemployment.
Portland is more like a mini NYC, which is on one hand cool, and on another wholly terrifying, and a lot more crime.