Best blossoming city in Southern Oregon for progressive young couples. (Eugene: real estate market, job)

[Tyalder]

Originally Posted by gray horse

Thanks, I didn't want to pay $ to view for example the farm you are going to? Do they have a bunkhouse or do you stay in the main house?

Can't say exactly because I haven't been yet

Butttt... most of them have either an extra room or a separate building for WWOOFers, sometimes private, sometimes shared. Each farm is different. You can still search the WWOOF sites and read farm bios without purchasing a membership, by the way.

[Tyalder]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

You might be able to find land for $1K an acre way out in the southeastern corner of Oregon. Out where there are no people and there is no water. I don't think you can still get land for $5,000 an acre in Northern Klamath County, and that has water, but no business, no jobs, and only survivalists and hippies for neighbors. It's been years since I saw land that cheap there.

Maybe you can find something in Christmas Valley. But again, no water and no jobs, and nobody has any money.

Any place that is wonderful to live, with lots of fun activities, good restaurants, fun shops, health food stores, and great people with money to spend on things they consider to be important is not going to be a cheap place to live.

Good points. Do you or anyone know if the State of Oregon does land trusts and grants? Like if I had a business plan for an ecotourism site, does the state have programs to fund such things?

[gray horse]

Originally Posted by Tyalder

Can't say exactly because I haven't been yet

Butttt... most of them have either an extra room or a separate building for WWOOFers, sometimes private, sometimes shared. Each farm is different. You can still search the WWOOF sites and read farm bios without purchasing a membership, by the way.

Thanks I did some googling, the hops farm has people pitch tents. I wonder how that goes over with the neighbors, when basically migrant workers are pitching tents? I know the hops farm you are talking about, it's small, maybe 5 acres. There are rules for farm labor housing in Oregon.

[Larry Caldwell]

There's 5 unbuildable acres next door to me. It is nothing but goat slope, with a 20' vertical cut along the county road. I doubt there's a septic site on the place, and no water. If you drill deep enough you hit salt. The last time it sold it was over $60,000, though I think it was just some ignorant out of state buyer who hadn't even seen the place. There is probably $20,000 in timber on it, but logging it would be tough, requiring closing the county road.

[Vampy13]

I have lived in Southern Oregon my entire life from Merlin to Ashland. It IS expensive, theres no doubt about that, but it sounds like you two shouldn't have a hard time finding jobs with your educational background, and since Ashland is a college town itself, there should be many opportunities to find some good information that can help you apply your ultimate goal to becoming a thriving, successful business in the Ashland area. It is known for its residents to commonly have, down to earth, naturalistic beliefs also, and the fact that you love the music/art scene couldn't make you more perfect to blend into this town and provide you both with the jobs and the activities you seem to have a huge passion for. I can't think of a better place, by the description you gave of yourselves as a couple, than Ashland. I can guarantee, anyone who I know that has ever wanted to live in Ashland, then did so....has never once regretted their decision. Good Luck!!

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Tyalder

Good points. Do you or anyone know if the State of Oregon does land trusts and grants? Like if I had a business plan for an ecotourism site, does the state have programs to fund such things?

No.

[tonysam]

Find a different state to move. Southern Oregon has NO jobs unless you are in medical or retail. It's strictly for retirees.

If you rent, few landlords will allow you to have pets.

I am stuck in this pit only because when the economy went south in Nevada, I HAD to move in with relatives. I can't get full-time, regular work in any field to save my life.

[tonysam]

Originally Posted by Vampy13

I have lived in Southern Oregon my entire life from Merlin to Ashland. It IS expensive, theres no doubt about that, but it sounds like you two shouldn't have a hard time finding jobs with your educational background, and since Ashland is a college town itself, there should be many opportunities to find some good information that can help you apply your ultimate goal to becoming a thriving, successful business in the Ashland area. It is known for its residents to commonly have, down to earth, naturalistic beliefs also, and the fact that you love the music/art scene couldn't make you more perfect to blend into this town and provide you both with the jobs and the activities you seem to have a huge passion for. I can't think of a better place, by the description you gave of yourselves as a couple, than Ashland. I can guarantee, anyone who I know that has ever wanted to live in Ashland, then did so....has never once regretted their decision. Good Luck!!

Where do you come up with the statement "you two shouldn't have a hard time finding jobs with your education background"? One of the people in the OP is in education. THERE ARE NO JOBS IN TEACHING UP HERE. I have been trying for YEARS to get work in that field and cannot get any regular work--it's all substituting for years and years and years. The districts have a definite pecking order on who gets jobs--even for classified, no-benefit jobs.

Recently Eagle Point had three openings for special education teachers--an allegedly high-needs field--and I never made the cut despite being experienced, unlike most applicants. There were 45 people for three positions--the situation is far worse for elementary.

Since there is no demand for goods and services outside of medical, it makes no sense to move here and start a business.

Yes, southern Oregon is pretty, but there are few things to do unless you have money to do them. I lived in Reno for 26 years, and there was ALWAYS something to do down there that didn't break my wallet. The same is not true for the Rogue Valley.

If you are not in medical or retail, find another area to move.

[JukieF]

I've been looking at Oregon real estate for the past several months. We lived there in the past and want to retire there. We've been thinking about getting enough acreage to have a small farm, chickens, goats, etc. I've noticed that many of the properties that have several acres have wells. I don't know how reliable those wells are, but that might be something to look for if you're worried about water.

[lucky4life]

Originally Posted by Tyalder

Hello! I have been researching a lot about living in Oregon (mainly Southern Oregon) because my girlfriend and I have interest in moving there possibly next year. I've been reading a lot of posts on this forum, and it's been great information, but I figured I'd stop lurking and start my own thread.

A little about us: We will both be college graduates, she graduates in December in Psychology/Education and I graduated in 2007 in Business/Philosophy. She will be 23 and I will be 30 by the time we move. We are both from northeast Florida (Jacksonville). Basically, we are both interested in homesteading and creating an educational ecotourism site (that is a long term goal though). We want to get out of Florida due to the lack of variety in seasons (it's hot and humid 85% of the year and chilly for about a month or two on and off), lack of variety in native flora (no apple/pear trees here or wild mushroom harvesting, just citrus, pecans and a whole lot of palmettos ), and lack of variety in topography (it's very flat here and there are no natural stones or boulders anywhere, plus you can't build underground due to the high water table). We are both some kind of mix of hipster, hippy and redneck; meaning we are trendy and progressive, anti-corporate, love local economy and art/music scenes, craft brews, farm to table restaurants, co-ops, music and art festivals, have compassion for all life, believe in preserving the environment and working towards harmony with nature through sustainable practices, permaculture and technology, love the outdoors and hiking, working hard outside all day on farms and building things out of wood and cob and a general DIY lifestyle.

We've been told we would love Portland, but we think it's already over inundated, besides a large city like that is not ideal. I've been reading a lot about Eugene and Ashland, and both sound like great places, but have their flaws. Eugene seems kind of like a hippy burnout city and Ashland a trustifarian haven (cost of living and housing seem higher than other comparable cities of that size and style, but the culture seem rich and healthy).

Ideal city: population of 20k-100k, climate has four seasons, a healthy artist/musician community, local farms, co-ops, farm to table restaurants, a healthy economy that encourages startups, raw land acreage for sale at a decent price (1k-5k/acre) on the outskirts of the city.

Obviously, I know there isn't a place that meets all this criteria, but I'd love to get the forum's opinion of a great little blossoming city that you think people like us could thrive in. Thanks for reading.

Other than Eugene/Springfield, Southern Oregon won't be a good fit for you. It's not too progressive, the job market is awful, and the weather might just break you. Southern OR gets a lot of CA transplants that don't make it because of the weather. You need to understand that this part of the country has literally around 100 days less sunshine than what you're used to. If you like progressive hippy culture, but you don't want to live in a huge city, I would say your best choices would be Eugene/Springfield, Olympia WA, or Northern CA. If I were you, I would aim for somewhere like Humbolt CA, as the weather is a million times better than southern OR WA.

Also, if you have a southern draw, be prepared to be shat on by the type of people you're looking to befriend. Trust me on all of this, as I'm from south Texas.