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Old 02-12-2015, 03:54 AM
 
11 posts, read 16,877 times
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Hello and thanks in advance for taking the time to read/reply.

My wife and I currently live in Melbourne FL we have an 11 year old in the house and a boy in the Navy soon to be stationed in Pearl Harbor. We love the outdoors, hiking, snorkeling, photography and nature in general but we also enjoy some nightlife options as well, movies, food, pool, Shooting (Not nightlife I know), festivals etc. We both have lived in and love cold climates/snow etc and absolutely hate the heat in FL. (Places lived, Chicago, Long Island, Syracuse, MD and vacationed TN in the winter many years)

We are considering moving to Oregon but would be doing so with no local support network (family friends etc whole new fresh start) so I want to try to compile as much of a picture as possible for trips and planning prior.

Our ideal plan would be to purchase a standing business and move to it. (Bar/pub etc) Workwise now we are a teacher and an electrician in a dead end economy and geographical area. What I would like to know is what are good areas along the coast of the state for bringing in a family. (30-45 min commute to the coast is ok) Strongest economies for growth without becoming lost in some big city. Best Schools. Housing markets Our first hurtle is to try and home in on specific areas of interest where we can fly out and take in as much as possible in two or three visits.

Any previous Floridians that have moved, that could give us their insight on the transition from FL to Oregon.

Any pros cons from anyone else for that matter. This post is rather vague but it will help us hone future posts based around what insight is offered by others.

Florida to us is just a dead end and utterly boring state and we hope to find someplace to build a better brighter future for our family. A friend suggested Oregon knowing me and my likes for nature and the oceans (Whales) and having looked at as much as we can on the net without waving the white flag in surrender we are very interested now.


ANY input greatly appreciated. Thanks
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Old 02-12-2015, 07:23 AM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,729,982 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GuynDani View Post
Our ideal plan would be to purchase a standing business and move to it. (Bar/pub etc) Workwise now we are a teacher and an electrician in a dead end economy and geographical area. What I would like to know is what are good areas along the coast of the state for bringing in a family. (30-45 min commute to the coast is ok) Strongest economies for growth without becoming lost in some big city. Best Schools. Housing markets Our first hurtle is to try and home in on specific areas of interest where we can fly out and take in as much as possible in two or three visits.
The Oregon coast does not meet many of your requirements at all, particularly in terms of economy and schools. The coast is isolated from the rest of the state by the Coast Range and it is generally about a 2 hour drive out from the state's population center. The largest city on the coast is Coos Bay, with around 16,000 people. Coos Bay does not have a healthy economy and not much potential for one. The best economy in Oregon is in the Portland metro area.

Florida has 19 million people in 65,000 square miles, Oregon has 4 million people in 98,000 square miles (there are more people in the Miami area than in all of Oregon). The largest city in Oregon is around 2.2 million population (Portland) and the next largest is the Salem metro area with 390,000 - if you look at a map of Oregon, the area between Portland and Eugene (the Willamette Valley) has about 75% of the state's population.
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Old 02-12-2015, 11:05 AM
 
4,059 posts, read 5,584,472 times
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Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal View Post
The Oregon coast does not meet many of your requirements at all, particularly in terms of economy and schools. The coast is isolated from the rest of the state by the Coast Range and it is generally about a 2 hour drive out from the state's population center.
If you're talking about Portland, that's about right, but for most of the valley 1 hour is a much better gauge than 2. Eugene-Florence, Corvallis-Newport, and Salem-Lincoln City (or McMinnville-LC) are all more or less 60-65 minutes on a typical run in decent weather.
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Old 02-12-2015, 11:49 AM
 
11 posts, read 16,877 times
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Thank you both for your input.

A lot has come up about Eugene how does that area stand vs others overall?

The info on population is wild. Had no idea. Not a deal breaker as we like solitude. Hehe
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Old 02-12-2015, 11:24 PM
 
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I think you may like Eugene. It is only an hour or so to Florence (small town on the coast). Eugene is better place for a family with a young kiddo. The coast is not very populated and leans heavily to retires, not young children. I would rather live in Eugene, Corvallis, or Portland (not Salem) but that's me.

We don't exactly have a booming economy though, although I'm not sure who does.

There is an Eugene sub-forum here if you wanted to ask more questions.
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Old 02-12-2015, 11:54 PM
 
11 posts, read 16,877 times
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Thank you Lizzaa. So far that's where I've been leaning towards as it's kinda dead center.. Just wanted as much info as possible or views I should say.
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Old 02-13-2015, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Portland, OR
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Do either of you have experience running a restaurant/bar? That seems like a risky and expensive business, especially when you are moving into a market area with which you have no familiarity.

Much luck!
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Old 02-15-2015, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Sebastian, Florida
677 posts, read 867,365 times
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Hello GuynDani,

My husband and I began looking for a place to move to in retirement in 2013. All we knew for sure was that we both couldn't wait to get out of Florida, and I wanted to move back to the west coast. (I spent my twenties and early thirties in San Francisco). Wanting somewhat of a slower pace, not to mention a lower cost of living, we eventually narrowed our search to the Portland metro area. I joined city-data and got lots of help from the regular posters here.

We came out for our first visit in December, 2013 for a week. We stayed at the Heathman Hotel (thank you, Sayulita) and rented a car. We made a few more visits and knew this was the place for us. We bought our condo last June. Since this will be our last home, we bought a fixer-upper and we've been slowly remodeling it. Conventional wisdom says this is wrong, but we knew exactly what we wanted and what building we wanted to purchase in. We put our house in Florida on the market in November and sold pretty much everything we owned at auction. We moved by airplane and Fedex, which I highly recommend.

We moved in permanently in December and we couldn't be happier here. So many things in your post resonate with what we were looking for and what we were looking to get away from. While we don't have children, I certainly would feel more comfortable rearing them in Portland than south Florida or the Treasure coast, where you live.

We are retired so I can't help with the job market, although I plan to look for something part-time down the road once we are more settled. The COL is relatively high, comparable to Fort Lauderdale or Miami, but the quality of life is off the charts and worth every penny. The air quality alone! Feel free to DM me if you have any specific questions. It might also be helpful to look up my old posts.

Good luck!
Tulip
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Old 02-17-2015, 09:26 AM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,477 posts, read 47,405,393 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GuynDani View Post
....... We love the outdoors, hiking, snorkeling, photography and nature in general.........festivals etc. W............................plan would be to purchase a standing business and move to it. (Bar/pub etc) Workwise now we are a teacher and an electrician...............what are good areas along the coast ................. Housing markets Our first hurtle is to try and home in on specific areas of interest where we can fly out and take in as much as possible in two or three visits........
Oregon coast, minus the snorkeling meets most of your requirements. There is some great tide pooling, but the ocean is very cold and can be rough, so you would have to be awfully tough to snorkel. Festivals are frequent up and down the coast and there are good restaurants and lounge type of entertainment (not so much night clubs).

For photography, the Oregon coast and adjacent forest are top of the line for beautiful photo opportunities. I suggest north of Florance up to a little above Depoe Bay for the photography opportunities.

Jobs, not so easy to come by. My electrician on the coast was very eager to snag a fence building job from me for $12 an hour. I pay him more than $12 for electrical work, but not much more. He's a union electrician and gets some good union jobs on large commercial but they are few and far between.

Teaching jobs are hard to come by.

There are some businesses for sale on the coast. There is a nice looking gas station right across the street from my house that is for sale. It doesn't have a convenience store, but there are garage bays that could be converted. I'm in a tiny community (pop about 800) and the grocery store is extremely expensive. A convenience store could compete for business, and I think that selling beach picnics would be a good line to get into, as well as the money making lottery and tobacco.

I occasionally see restaurants and smallish motels for sale. There is heavy tourist traffic in the summer and on nice weather weekends in the winter. Some of the locals appear to be pretty canny about tapping into the tourist dollar, but I suspect that there is room for a clever competitor.

Real estate runs all the way from inexpensive to luxurious. Considering that it is west coast beach property, I think the prices are pretty darn reasonable. Not like Florida reasonable, though. Oregon Coastal Craigslist real estate for sale will give you an over-view and most of the agents have websites.

Newport is the largest town and if you could get your hands on one of the businesses down at the old harbor, and then run it well, I think you could make a living. I was there this weekend, wanting to hit the fresh fish market and cruise the tourist shops and I couldn't find a parking place, it was so crowded. Now, it was not a typical day; 3 day weekend with incredible warm and sunny weather, but it happens like that and the businesses are packed with tourists.

Depoe Bay is the prettiest and also a good tourist business location, but it is not cheap.

I've got a really good agent who showed me property in Depoe Bay, Lincoln City and Newport. Send me a PM and I"ll dig out his name for you. He doesn't work as far south as Yachats, but I used another agent to show me property in Yachats and Waldport. He's honest and hardworking, just not innovative. Honest and thorough are what you need the most in an agent. You're supposed to do your own due diligence.

There are gorgeous little mill shacks in Reedsport for not much money but it doesn't look like a great town to own a business in and ocean access isn't all that easy. Personally, I would not try to run a business in Tillamook, either. Real estate is cheap in Tillamook and there are a lot of businesses for sale.

Last edited by oregonwoodsmoke; 02-17-2015 at 09:38 AM..
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Old 02-18-2015, 08:02 AM
 
11 posts, read 16,877 times
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Originally Posted by BaseLineRoad View Post
Do either of you have experience running a restaurant/bar? That seems like a risky and expensive business, especially when you are moving into a market area with which you have no familiarity.

Much luck!
About 10 years combined in HIGH volume establishments. Running & working them.


(Reading the other replies now) Sorry for the delay... Life reared it's ugly head.
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