Pro and Cons on Klamath Falls (Portland, Bend: income, living in, prices)

[Imperial1904]

Originally Posted by sarahkate_m

A very informative post! Thumbs up to you!

***I'm curious about the free concerts: what style venue?***

When I drove through KFalls in summer of 2006, it was a very pretty town. The mosquitoes were eating me alive (July), but I was very impressed by the pretty architecture & community pride evident in the the downtown area.

Pretty architecture?

Are you sure you drove through Klamath Falls?

[sarahkate_m]

Originally Posted by Balco9

I said it was expensive because i could not find a home on the MLS under 400k.

Try searching the real estate sites: some listings aren't on the mls. Also, try FSBO (for sale by owner). Craigslist, also.

KFalls is a good relocation prospect IF you have a job prospect lined up & if you have a plan on entertainment/recreation that fits with what the area offers.

If you have kids, that's extremely important (activities). Lots of nature in the this region if you're into the outdoors. Hunting is big. And birding.

[sarahkate_m]

Originally Posted by Imperial1904

Pretty architecture?

Are you sure you drove through Klamath Falls?

YES! In the business district. I love old buildings. I didn't see much of the residential. I realize it can be one extreme or the other. It's an old town. But the downtown did seem to have a charm!

[Imperial1904]

Originally Posted by sarahkate_m

YES! In the business district. I love old buildings. I didn't see much of the residential. I realize it can be one extreme or the other. It's an old town. But the downtown did seem to have a charm!

I don't like old buildings myself, to each his/her own.

I thought it was a nice "downtown" at first, but it doesn't last long when you've lived here for a couple years.

[PNW-type-gal]

I think downtown is doing a bit better. The turnover rate has always been fairly high, but there are a number of new/renovated things going in. If they can get enough business going and thrive, I think downtown will be a nice place. There are already several good place to eat; more would always be nice.

I was here with DOGAMI (Department of Geology and Mineral Industries) after the big quake, looking at Hwy 97 and the various damaged buildings in town (mostly fascia and unreinforced masonry failures). There's been a lot of progress in downtown since then.

[live4kidz]

There has been alot of discussion, positive and negative commentary, about Klamath Falls. We made the trip there in May and stayed only 4 days. We are going back in March of this year and staying 6 days, after trying to learn all we can of the area. We are pre-retirees who love the mountains, high altitude, lots of sunshine, low humidity and want to get out of big-city living. PNW type gal talked of preferring Bend over Klamath Falls, mostly due to the lower costs of building a house and living costs, in general, in K-Falls. We lived at the base of the Wasatch Mountain Range south of Salt Lake City for 10 years and moved back to Portland area 4 years ago. No, we are not LDS/Mormons, so living in the heart of the Mormon kingdom was, in itself, a unique and different experience. We grew to love the mountains, sunshine, 5,000 ft. altitude, wildlife, and yes - even the snow. It was much easier to drive in snow (dry powder almost always) than the stuff up here in the western portion of Oregon, when what snow there is quickly turns to slush then freezes and makes driving treacherous. Winter of 2003-2004 we could not get out of our driveway for 4 days because of the snow that turned to ice. That never happened, in our experience, living in Salt Lake area and that IS Snow Country! We find the area around K-Falls breathtakingly beautiful and pristine. For more action - if we want it - we can head west to Medford/Ashland area, but we are not big city folks. I'm from Portland - but have a small-town heart and I married a small town Iowa farm boy - who hailed from a town of 329 people. He left Iowa upon completion of college. We met in Arizona and married and lived there 8 years. Then to Dallas, TX, Portland/Seattle area for work, San Diego, etc. All big city areas. We are tired of working and fighting the traffic and are ready to welcome a slower pace. We'll rent out the lower level walk out apartment in our large home just south of Portland, and keep the upstairs main level as our 'other' home so that we have something to come back to as our kids are in the Portland area, grown and on their own now. Neither one of us thought we'd ever live in gray and gloom again. We simply don't feel good in this, physically or mentally!

Vertigo says "mountain scenery is breathtaking. It's so beautiful here when there is a snow cover. And I can see the attraction of moving here if you've spent a large portion of your life in a large city". Those are even more reasons we have a high interest in K-Falls and either buying a home or perhaps having a couple of acres with a manufactured home built on it. I have a cousin who is a retired law enforcement agent and he's lived in K-Falls for 35 yrs. Raised 4 sons there and they all are college grads and have great careers. We visited him and his wife in May and they had nothing but good to say about the area. This cousin had also grown up in Portland, as did his wife, and they both said they would never go back to the rain and the gray skies.

So, all I can surmise from these discussions is that each and every one's experience is vastly different from the other! We all have our passions and those intangible 'things' that cause our creative juices to flow, happy thoughts to formulate in our heads, and 'feelings' of awe and wonderment conjured up at the beauty of one's surroundings. It is a different 'list' of things that matter for every single individual. Some of us have some of the same items on our lists of must-haves, and some are polar opposites. I find it refreshing to read commentary from all types of folks who take the time to post. It is heartening, however, to see the discussions handled with a modicum of maturity and respect. Without that, it becomes difficult to read these posts.

QUESTION: Does anyone happen to know if housing prices have dropped in the K-Falls area in the past 8-10 months, with this being the case in so many areas of Oregon? I'd appreciate first hand response from people on this list. Of course, I have contacted a real estate agent but sometimes I feel I get more of the inside scoop from those of you who have no hidden agendae! Thanks in advance for any responses!

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by live4kidz

PNW type gal talked of preferring Bend over Klamath Falls, mostly due to the lower costs of building a house and living costs, in general, in K-Falls.

Other way around - I like the more eclectic mix of people and shopping in Bend, but housing prices and traffic are beyond ridiculous in Bend.

Originally Posted by live4kidz

QUESTION: Does anyone happen to know if housing prices have dropped in the K-Falls area in the past 8-10 months, with this being the case in so many areas of Oregon? I'd appreciate first hand response from people on this list. Of course, I have contacted a real estate agent but sometimes I feel I get more of the inside scoop from those of you who have no hidden agendae! Thanks in advance for any responses!

Just sold my house in the Portland area and sold it for about 15% less than I'd have gotten for it a year or so ago. Ouch. According to my builder friends here, the real hits in Klamath Falls have come in spec-built houses - builders who were using the proceeds of one house to build the next got in an awful bind. Prices aren't down so much as inventory is going up - but if that trend lasts much longer, prices will go down, too.

I just mentioned this on another thread today, but KFalls has two housing markets, the $175k-$250 zone and the high end around and above $500k. There aren't many jobs in the Basin that support the kind of income required to pay $500k for a house, and a lot of that was generated by out-of-area transplants coming in from higher-priced areas. Since the higher-priced areas tend to be the ones hit hard by the housing bubble, that's slowed down a bit.

Commercial real estate is down a bit, having cooled off last summer, but the rumor is that there are several projects out for bid right now and things should pick up (mostly in the "big box" end of things) next summer.

[tulegirl]

Love it here. Got a foot of snow out my window. Had a white Christmas. Central location for the beach, desert, shopping, hiking, watersports, whatever. We have had more growth in the last 10 years since they opened this burg.

Housing prices have gone up (mainly from the influx of Calif newbies - building new homes in the new resort (Running Y). But they are still VERY reasonable. We have NO sales tax and a minimum wage over $7.

Tech companies are moving in - my Sis was employed by one (they eventually sent her to Ohio), and there is a new place just outside the airport.

I am going to miss this place when my husband retires and we move East.

[xena1000]

PNW's post above missed a key housing segment here in KFalls: $80k-180K. While we do have two neighborhoods in town considered "bad" and undesirable, you can routinely find houses in this price range in a couple of the best neighborhoods, including Pcaific Terrace, Conger, etc. where house sizes vary from 2bdrm bungalos 1100sqft to 4bdrms 2400sqft. We do have our McMansion neighborhoods (3 of them) where house sizes are also 3-4bdrm, but sqft is 3-4000+, so it depends on what you like. Personally, I much prefer the closer-in, traditional craftsmanship, Victorian or vintage 20's and 30's homes.

I looked hard at homes back in Aug. 2007, but with 2 days before close the house failed inspection, so I got a rental and tabled buying for awhile. I've just gotten back to looking, and I'm seeing a solid 20% or more drop in housing prices in the 110-160K price range, house comps that would have been too high for me 6 months ago are now at the middle or low end of my range, including several in Pac Terrace and southern suburbs.

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Originally Posted by tulegirl

Love it here. Got a foot of snow out my window. Had a white Christmas. Central location for the beach, desert, shopping, hiking, watersports, whatever. We have had more growth in the last 10 years since they opened this burg.

Housing prices have gone up (mainly from the influx of Calif newbies - building new homes in the new resort (Running Y). But they are still VERY reasonable. We have NO sales tax and a minimum wage over $7.

Tech companies are moving in - my Sis was employed by one (they eventually sent her to Ohio), and there is a new place just outside the airport.

I am going to miss this place when my husband retires and we move East.

I recall that it was you who posted all those great snow pics in another Oregon thread re: It rains all the time. Love to see more as we are in North Carolina and seeing snow here is a rarity away from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Is Klamath Falls where that female Mayor is being harasses for posing in her skivvies on a fire truck?