Considering moving to northern Oregon Coast from Midwest soon!! Need help (Portland: rentals, house)

[bay721]

Hello, I'm probably panicking here for nothing but I desperately need help with what my husband and I are considering for our family. I am from Western WI and a job opportunity on the Northern Oregon Coast recently came open with my husband's company. He's been through the initial interview but if he's offered the job at the next interview he really wants to be able to give them a solid answer right away. Which means I need to some severe homework before he is faced with having to make a decision. We are seriously dissecting every possibility of actually making this move happen but never having done this kind of thing before is EXTREMELY scary for us both. We've been out there on vacation a bunch of times and absolutely love it there. Vacation is totally different than day to day life though. The girls and I have never lived anywhere else but here so I don't even know where to begin. We would need to sell our house, move 1 teenage girl and another almost teenage girl from the only place they've ever known, so schools and activities to meet new friends is a biggy!! We have 2 medium sized dogs so I don't know if renting something until our house sells here is even possible ??? We just DO NOT want to consider my husband renting there and the girls and I staying here until our house sells so that we can buy a house sooner there. I'm not super worried about all the rain I've been hearing about there. We have cloudy, sub zero temps, loads of snow then it switches right to high heat & even higher humidity with maybe (if we're lucky!!) a couple of weeks of nice moderate weather in between the 2 main seasons here so I think our adjustment to the climate would be ok. It's a really nice area of Oregon and we don't want to feel unwelcome or like intruders there at all. I've only met overly friendly people while spending time in Oregon so I'm not sure why people have posted the unfriendlyness issue on other posts. I've read several other threads prior to starting this one but felt I needed some additional info. to see if this is "right" or "wrong" for us. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!! Thank you

[Steve Pickering]

Where on the Coast? In many ways it is the same, but each town has a personality of its own. The rain and lots of it are a given. It won't be Wisconson.

[bay721]

My husbands area would cover Neskowin, OR through that little southwestern peninsula of Long Beach, WA. It not being Wisconsin is completely ok. We've grown a little tired of things here and a new adventure like this sounds really great. The ocean and moderate temps (compared to here) are huge selling points for us all but going about this responsibly is really most important. We don't want to move around out there because of our girls. Our youngest just started middle school & our oldest is a sophomore but both girls are on board with this. Sad to leave old friends but excited to meet new ones too. I would also possibly need to get a job there too but I haven't seen much activity in the payroll/bookkeeping, banking depts. so I'm feeling that jobs are a little scarce. True?

[hamellr]

Long Beach to Neskowin is a huge amount of area with a lot of diversity and low populations. Neskowin is an extremely small tourist "town" (population 170) that is all but forgotten on the coast and other then the unique landscape right there, has little to recommend it. Long Beach is a fairly popular tourist destination known for it's Kite Festival, Marsh's Free Museum, and a huge annual garage sale.

Towns between there include Tillamook (5001 people), Seaside (6476) /Cannon Beach, Astoria (population 9500,) and several other small towns. Tillamook is probably going to be your best bet for rentals as it's far enough in shore that not a lot of people want to live there like they do the other coastal towns. On the other hand, Astoria is the shopping area for the entire North Coast, with more options for such. Cost of Living is likely going to be higher then where you're from as everything has to be trucked in from Portland, so be aware of that and hope that your husband will be getting a COL pay increase.

Other things you need to keep in mind is that the Oregon Coast has two seasons too. Rainy Season and Summer. While it don't rain all the time, it's frequently a drizzle, more frequently grey skies and morning and early afternoon fogs. You also need to contend with cold arctic winds, and all the storms that will hit the Coast areas first.

Lastly, jobs are scarce along the entire Oregon Coast. Most jobs revolve around the tourist trade and when tourist season ends, so do the jobs.

[ccjarider]

My wife and I are born and raised cheeseheads (Me-Madison; her-Appleton.) We lived in WI for 45 years and raised our two kids near Milwaukee. We now live near Portland OR (ironically, in a town called Milwaukie) and we really like it here.

Portland area is not the coast so unfortunatley I cannot speak to that, but I can tell you Oregon is a very nice place to live and work. We have been here for 1 1/2 years and have found weather to be very nice. We will take moderate winters and rain over extreme cold and snow anyday. Frankly speaking the midwest can be very gray in December/January too so it is not all that different.

Cooler summers, low humidity and few mosquitoes make this place really nice compared to midwest.

The variety of outdoor activites in Oregon beats WI. We snow ski, snow shoe, surf, go crabbing, salmon fishing, hunt elk, camp in mountains, near the ocean or in the desert all within a few hours of home. It has been an absolute blast learning all these new places. Once you get to know some folks, they are good and decent friends.

We did not move children as they were grown, so our move was less hectic. We moved for my work but my wife had no problem finding work here in Portland.

While I cannot offer specifics to your situation, I can tell you that if your husband really wants the job, you should consider going for it. Change is exciting and Oregon is far from the worst place you could end up.

It helps to realize that nothing is final. If really necessary, you can always go back.

I wish you luck in your decision.

It is a bit harder to watch Packer and Brewer games here though

[Nell Plotts]

The OP could look for housing in Pacific City, a few miles north of Neskowin. Both communities are served by the same school district: About us | Nestucca Valley School District

As you can see by the SD description of the communities your daughters will be moving to is essentially a rural area. They should be fine but if they were my kids I would enrich their education with field trips and activities. Sports, after school activities will entail a lot of time on a school bus. If your girls are serious soccer players there is nothing like conditioning on beach sand.

[bay721]

Thank you all so much for your insight!! My husband is scheduled for his 2nd interview tomorrow (Friday 9/14) so this all helps immensely. We are calling our realtor today and keeping our fingers crossed for the rest.
Take care

[Steve Pickering]

Some of those places on the coast are somewhat short on housing and most are short on quality schools.

[Beenhere4ever]

This "quality school" thing is interesting. I wonder if a combination of a local school plus some sort of distance learning could challenge a bright student enough. I would never just enroll a student in computer learning exclusively, but I'm wondering if technology is providing parents with something to insure the kids can compete on the highest level. After all, normal schools don't prep kids for the National Merit Scholar Exams. Either being in the best local school OR using outside resources would have to do that.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

T I would never just enroll a student in computer learning exclusively, but I'm wondering if technology is providing parents with something to insure the kids can compete on the highest level.

OHEN: Oregon Home Education Network: Helpful Resources