Roseburg (Portland, Eugene, Salem: for sale, lease, credit)

[HAJ3100]

I am being considered for a job in Roseburg. (Interview is next week). I have never been to Oregon. What's it like? How are the schools in Roseburg? What about special ed.? Do they have a good program?
How big is it? How diverse? Are there problems with crime? Areas of town to avoid living in? I guess I need to know pretty much anything and everything that would be important to a family of 5 with the children ranging from 3 to 8 years old.

Thanks for any info that is provided.

[sarahkate_m]

Above your post is a search box which you may use to search the forums. Every day, it seems, there's a question about an Oregon city someone needs to know everything about.

I haven't visited Roseburg but I've heard... it's very conservative... and perhaps on the rough side. From what I've heard, I wouldn't want to live there. And then again, I could be living there next year, for all I know. I'm just not planning on it.

If there was a job there for me, I'd use that search box to answer some of those questions & then narrow down some more refined questions from reading the forums!

On the bottom of this page you'll see links to "Similar Threads" & that may help you as well. I just noticed it as I was typing away here.

I bet you see what I'm talking about now.

Good luck in your endeavor & I hope you love Oregon if you join us here.

[Larry Caldwell]

Basically a retirement community any more, thanks to the lumber mill closings and the VA hospital. 13.2 % unemployment in June, and a declining population as people leave to find jobs elsewhere. Big high school, with ~1800 students. They really need a second one, but won't build it because it would split up their championship football team. Friday Night Lights in Oregon. Lots of drug use and dealing in the adult unemployed population, mostly in the older, cheaper parts of town. Great setting with lots of outdoor recreation opportunities; fishing, hunting, hiking, camping.

[Nell Plotts]

I agree with Larry but I have no current information about drug use. Some years ago I was auditing a lumber mill in the area. The office where people applied for jobs had large, prominent, signs that they tested for drugs. The hiring manager shook his head about the number who failed the drug tests. I replied, "Marijuana?" he answered, "No. That is a cash crop for sale. Meth." Anyone who knows how drug testing works knows that meth passes through in a matter of days while marijuana is detectable for a month or more. What irritated the manager is that applicants were absolutely clueless.

I have an elderly cousin who lives in Roseburg, she and her husband have always been active in its affairs. She loves the community, evidently people form life long bonds - her husband's memorial service filled a very large church recently.

She had several children, now in their 30s and 40s. As in any family some were more studious than others but they attended the local public schools and a couple are very successful professionals. The Oregon department of education website has school test results for every district. Keep in mind that this is a community where in the past if a boy graduated from high school he could find a family wage job in the wood products industry. Those jobs are, essentially, gone.

It may be that the short term solution for the community is to build on the retirement community trend. The local hospitals have a good reputation. The weather is mild. Roseburg isn't far from Eugene for serious shopping.

Homes are relatively inexpensive but given what I think will be a shrinking population and low wage economy going forward I would hesitate to buy.

My $0.02.

[bluebird39]

It's beautiful there, cheap, compared to areas to the north and south. I used to live in Medford, and drove back and forth to Portland more times than I can ever count, so drove through many many times, but I really don't know too much, but DH was considering applying for a job there a few years ago, and we decided against it. If I remember correctly, the schools at the time had gone to 4 day a week, and that was a big turn off for us (we have 2 kids).

As mentioned, it used to be a mill town primarily, and that industry just hasn't done well for many years. Roseburg seems to have a harder time than most recovering...

But as to Oregon, I love the place! Many of my friends from the Rogue Valley 5-6 years ago were seriously considering moving there because none of us could afford Medford anymore, and Roseburg was still affordable, but none of us did.

I CAN tell you it's not very big, not very diverse... It's far enough south though to get more sun and heat than the Willamette Valley to the north. FWIW I knew of far more people who moved from Roseburg to Medford vs the other way around. As with Medford, most of the county is federal land, which really limits any tax revenue, making it difficult to fund local gov. services. That's the case with many Oregon counties... a blessing and a curse.

Good luck!

[newmolly]

$800 We are a senior couple looking for a rural, quiet, clean 2 bath home to lease (or contract of sale). Exc credit history and refs. 2 small dogs. No tobacco or alcohol use. We are premium tenants and will take excellent care of your home. Can afford $800 tops. Pasture for gardening a plus! 541-673-1999 or email newmolly@msn.com Anywhere from Myrtle Creek North to Salem and less than 30 min from I-5 if possible. Thank you for reading.

[Nell Plotts]

Put this on Craigslist and screen your responses for scam artists. Do not send any money until you have looked the place over and checked the leasor's references.

[Smiled]

I hope this isn't typical:


Political showdown creates conflict in Roseburg park | The News-Review - NRtoday.com (http://www.nrtoday.com/ARTICLE/20110720/NEWS/110729987/1063/NEWS - broken link)

[Nell Plotts]

That is awful behavior!! No excuse.

[hamellr]

Wow. I had not heard about that incident, but this is just getting out of hand. The ignorance about... well anything... is unbelievable. The bad part is that they're acting just like the type of people they're accusing others of being. I can't believe, even in Roseburg of all places, that people act like this.