Is Grants Pass "odd"? (Medford, Ashland: housing, rental, vacation)

[chrisruns2far]

Middle income wage earners would be hard pressed to buy anything remotely decent in Grants Pass. I'm always concerned about what a tuff go it is for young and middle class people to enter the housing market and still have enough money left over to have a life. I'm speaking of wages in realtion to housing prices when I speak of affordabilty. Home prices are significantly beyond the means of the Grants Pass middle class you seek to enter the housing market at today's prices. BTW, the median home sale price figures on this web site for all western USA cities are approx. 4-6 years behind what is the present reality.....something to keep in mind when considering relocation to western USA cities. The majority of the data you find on this web site is realivant, current and good, it is just the median home prices figures that tend to be lower than one would find on the ground in the present reality.

[nancy thereader]

All the public libraries in Grants Pass and the county are closed. Does that give you a clue about the area.

But, how is that possible ? You mean, closed forever?

[TribalCat]

Originally Posted by cvanripe10

I dont understand how people can say "Real estate is very expensive". To what are you making this comparison? On a national level? Or from a days pay??? You have to use specifics when saying "real estate here is expensive".

Because it's not expensive. You can buy a big house in Grant's Pass for $400,000. That is affordable!!!! I am outside NYC, where real estate is Expensive. A tiny tiny house here costs $650,000. Outside San Francisco, real estate is expensive. In San Diego, real estate is expensive. In Boston, real estate is expensive. In Grant's Pass, it is affordable.

In your opinion maybe, and maybe if you're bringing in tons of cash from other states. Anything you can't afford is expensive, and there are a lot of people who can't afford a $400,000 house (me included). From what I've seen about possible jobs in Grants Pass, they don't really pay enough for the average single person to pay that kind of money for a house. So yes, it is expensive in Grants Pass.

[freedom]

Originally Posted by TribalCat

In your opinion maybe, and maybe if you're bringing in tons of cash from other states. Anything you can't afford is expensive, and there are a lot of people who can't afford a $400,000 house (me included). From what I've seen about possible jobs in Grants Pass, they don't really pay enough for the average single person to pay that kind of money for a house. So yes, it is expensive in Grants Pass.

Our economy since WWII is set upon two wage earners. A really nice house in GP is $400k.
A new starter house can be bought for $250k. An older home 3bd 1 1/2 bth can be had for $180k.

If you want a home in the country (rural) you will pay a premium, but that is due to the zoning laws in Oregon. They are built around the frame work of Tom McCall (Governer from the 70's). He is the enviro's land use guru, and the reason land is so expensive in Oregon.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by nancy thereader

All the public libraries in Grants Pass and the county are closed. Does that give you a clue about the area.

But, how is that possible ? You mean, closed forever?

Closed until somebody decides to pay for them. From what I have heard, any future library service will be curtailed to only a few locations.

Most of the land in Josephine County is owned by the feds, who have been screwing the locals for 15 years now. The feds won't allow the land to produce anything, and have decided to start reducing their revenue replacement payments to the counties. Libraries are only the first thing to go. Expect county roads to go next, as they revert to potholes and gravel. If a wind storm blows down trees across the road, you better own a chainsaw, because there won't be any county crews to do repairs.

The last time something like this happened, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department switched to an 8-5 schedule. A couple of guys out in the county got into a Hatfield and McCoy shooting feud, and fired away at each other for about 5 hours. The sheriff never did respond. At the end, both of the guys were wounded, so the fire department shoveled them into ambulances and took them to the emergency room. The incident was the occasion of a lot of hilarity in Southern Oregon. Voters eventually got the message and passed a special levy to fund the sheriff's department, but it took several months.

[chrisruns2far]

Originally Posted by freedom

Our economy since WWII is set upon two wage earners. A really nice house in GP is $400k.
A new starter house can be bought for $250k. An older home 3bd 1 1/2 bth can be had for $180k.

If you want a home in the country (rural) you will pay a premium, but that is due to the zoning laws in Oregon. They are built around the frame work of Tom McCall (Governer from the 70's). He is the enviro's land use guru, and the reason land is so expensive in Oregon.

The average wager earner family household in Grants Pass would not qualify for a loan to buy one of your $250K 'starter homes' , and hard-pressed to make ends meet or qualify for anything in the $180K range.

BTW, pro-active land use pioneer and former Gov. Tom McCall was a Republican, back in the time when the Republican party actually cared about being responsible stewards of our limited resources and the environment back in the 1970s, before the preservation of our environment and natural resources for future generations to enjoy was turned into a wedge issue during the Reagan years. Without the passage of Senate Bill 100 in 1972, the entire Rogue Valley would now be subdivisions, strip-malls and asphalt parking lots......and asphalt gets pretty darn hot in southern Oregon. The myth that responsible land use policy has driven up land prices and home values has been dissproved over and over again. Land prices in CA and WA, which have more of the 'free-for-all' and 'throw caution to the wind' land use policies that you seem to desire have significantly higher home and land prices and Idaho and Montana land prices have gone up more than double the rate that Oregon has the past five years. Developers, Realtors and Builders run the show in Grants Pass and Josephine County and it is up to a few key local citizens land-use watchdogs who offer the only meaningful oversight. Josephine County leads the state in land-use appeals and violations to Oregon's land use regulations. It shows the dysfunctional way that Grants Pass has been put together and it growth problems and issues for such a small town. What makes the Rogue Valley so appealing to the primarily Californians who are retiring there is the remaining open space that only remains because of Senate Bill 100. Without Senate Bill 100, your local hillsides would be way more developed than they already are and any farmland located within a 10-mile radius of Grants Pass would already be gone and developed.

[newlife7]

hello everyone..

i am considering moving to this area, and have been reading the threads, but it is very confusing...

i am moving from SC the heart of the bible belt, and the last thing i want is to move into another bible beating town. i don't care if someone believes bible or not, but after living here for 7 years, i just can't live where the bible rules the land and the people.. even those who do not believe!

some of you say the town is liberal, some say it is fundamental christian... which is it?

will i be outcasted at my job for not taking part in prayer every morning

(prayer i believe is something done privately in ones home and not in a workplace or school, or, if wanted to, then prayer should be done in private with others who also wish to do so and not where people who believe differently have to be involved with it, take it to a private room and have all the prayer you want, but don't do it where i or others and their children have to be subjected to what we don't believe or agree with and don't judge us for our views.. )

will i be treated like a piece of furniture because i don't accept jesus as my savior? (i was ignored to the point where even common courtesy didn't exist, wasn't even said hello to as common greeting in the workplace)

are peoples freedoms such as who one can marry governed by church and government? no, i'm not gay, but i believe no one has the right to say who can marry who... down here in the south, people live in fear of their god and are fascists working to eliminate the separation of church and state...

i do not want to live with this type of mindset ever again.. so please, can someone be clear on what type of mindset rules and governs grants pass?

i love freedom, and i have no objections to others believing what they feel within is correct .. but i have every objection when any group wishes to cohere all individuals or outcast them...

down here, i can't go shopping on sunday mornings... the church rules regardless of anyone else's belief...

i have been really falling for grants pass, if i move here, i will eventually want to live in walking distance to the downtown area... i am hoping this is a friendly town as some have said.. and is open minded enough where i will find like minded people to create long lasting lifetime friendships with.

my other concern about grants pass, is that because it is in a valley, surrounded by mountains.. is the air pollution a problem? or does the valley get enough natural ventilation to be of fresh air?

also, i've read something here about the roads in winter.. is it not feasible to live in grants pass and if needing to, work in medford? are the highways really closed at times in the winter?

thank you.

[trailerguy]

I lived in GP for one year in 1991-2 so my recollections may be outdated (and clouded).
There is wide diversity of religion and philosophy, but I think it is safe to say the preponderance is Christian evangelical. I did not find it oppressive. There was a radical faerie community in Wolf Creek (I don't know if it's still there) and a friend of mine had a New Age psychic center (he's gone now). There is a lovely little Episcopal church which I enjoyed. Everyone seemed to get along.
The politics does tend to be conservative especially compared to Northern California (I came from San Francisco, so pretty much everyone normal looks conservative to me). Environmentalism is the big hot-button issue, since the economy is (or at least was) largely in forestry products, which has been devastated by federal regulations. We could debate the pros and cons of this till the next Ice Age; suffice to say, peel the Sierra Club stickers off your car before you come.
The summers are hot. I don't recall them being as extreme as Chris states, but we've had a decade of global warming since I left. For me, the nice summers and gorgeous scenery were the big pluses of the area. There are few places in the world more beautiful than the Rogue Valley.
The big minus was the utter lack of gainful employment. I tried self-employment, unsuccessfully, which was mostly my fault, not the area's. Don't move there unless you have your income source secured. That cannot be emphasized strongly enough. A couple of years ago I saw a table that showed the greater southern Oregon area with the highest unemployment in the nation. That may be different now, but I know it's still high.
Medford has big city amenities, Ashland has most of the culture. GP has the scenery. Jacksonville has history. Good restaurants are everywhere.
I ranted on another board about the library, I won't here. Simply put, the people decided they needed to cut expenses and the library was at the bottom of the list. There was one library in downtown GP and two very small satellite branches elsewhere in the county. The total budget in 1991 was $500,000. Votes were taken, the majority said it wasn't worth it and they closed. End of story.
My big house on Stringer Gap Road cost me $120,000. I guess prices have gone up.
Meth addiction is a tragic problem everywhere in America now. Mostly they only hurt themselves. The worst part is they dump the chemicals on the ground, and after they have left or been arrested the new owner has to clean up the pollution before they can inhabit the property. The cost is often more than the value of the property. I had friends who got burned bad from buying former meth houses. Check out the history very carefully before you buy.
Bottom line, it is a beautiful place to visit. Living there presents challenges that are not immediately apparent. I bear the place no ill will, but I'm glad I don't live there any more.

[trailerguy]

I commuted between Grants Pass and Medford when I had a Christmas season job at Harry and David. I was on the road before 6:00 am. It does snow but the Highway Department does a good job of keeping I-5 clear. There is ice and deer wander out in the highway in the pre-daylight hours. You can get through, but leave plenty of time and drive very carefully. Avoid passing or changing lanes as much as you can and be sure to accelerate and brake very gradually. The first time I drove it I tried to zip around a slow-moving semi California-style and skidded for two miles. Once is enough to get the idea. Be careful and you'll be fine.
The air is fine, all year round.

[Poonariffic]

I just moved to Grants Pass about a month ago and I have found some of the issues stated in this thread are right on, but some are silly.

Grants Pass is a weird town in that it does not like much big business or outside influence. I am from Dallas, Texas, but have lived in both small "dippy" towns and other large cities. I have never even visited a town like GP before! It is definitely unique, but I don't believe this to be a bad thing.

There is a Walmart in GP, Staples and other "big box" stores that offer employment. I have seen tons of job openings around town and I have noticed a variety of income levels here. We happen to live 11 miles from town where there is NO pollution and the area is gorgeous! I am from a HUGE city, remember, and I know bad air. There is no "bad" air here!

I find the closing of the libraries troubling. I am not sure if I like it here or hate it, yet, but I'm figuring out what makes the town "tick". Almost everyone I've met in town has moved here from California, big city, and loves it. I don't know why there is such negativity on this forum about GP. I guess if you've lived here your whole life and want to get out, it might be an issue. One thing I adore about the area is the lack of crime. Being from one of the cities in the country with a high murder rate, I feel safe.

The issues in GP seem to me to be quite petty and small from my vantage point. It's a quiet, small town that wants to remain that way. Also, Medford isn't that far away and that town has almost everything you could want or need. In Dallas you have to drive an hour just to get to a friend's house b/c of traffic and congestion. I drive an hour here and laugh!