What do you like and dislike about living in Florence OR? (Portland: car rental, rentals)

[Isabella13]

Please tell us what you like or dislike about living in Florence OR?
Is it a nice community having activities?
Do you see the city continually trying to improve the quality of life?
Is the Eugene Airport good for travel or do you just have to drive to Portland for decent priced and available
flights?
Are there car rental places in town?
Are new business welcome and coming to Florence?
Are drugs a big problem?
What neighborhoods are good to purchase in?
Are the beaches nice for walking ( relaxing wind and cold are a factor)
How are the medical services and police dept.?
Any thoughts you would like to share?
Thank you for your input.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I only drive through there. The shopping along the highway seems adequate.

Florence is famous for the sand dunes, so I would expect that the beaches are sandy.

New businesses are welcome anywhere in Oregon as long as they don't pollute. They are especially welcome if they provide a few jobs for locals. As to whether or not the town is big enough to support your new business, that is up to you to do the research.

Car rentals would be easy to find with a quick trip through google.

[crazyme4878]

A lot of different activities, a lot of art events, a lot of concerts, a lot of sport programs for kids.
I do think the city is always trying to better itself. There is a whole day set aside to participate in volunteer projects.
Eugene airport seems adequate enough, but we mostly fly out of Pdx because we usually fly SW. It is more expensive.
I don't know of any car rental places, but I don't need one since I live here.
I imagine new businesses are welcomed.
Drug problems just like any coastal town, but I don't think it is worse than most.
I am not the best to advise on neighborhoods; the WillowsLoop area has nice homes and 16th through 23rd Streets off of Spruce seem to be okay neighborhoods with more affordable homes.
The beaches are nice when it isn't windy and too cold. Many areas you have to climb over the dunes or trek through loose sand.
I can't get a regular doctor here because they aren't taking any more patients. I have to go to Eugene. I do go to the walk in clinic and it's decent enough. Long waits like most walk ins.
Police seem good.

Overall, it is a good place to live.

[patches403]

Originally Posted by Isabella13

Please tell us what you like or dislike about living in Florence OR?
Is it a nice community having activities?
Do you see the city continually trying to improve the quality of life?
Is the Eugene Airport good for travel or do you just have to drive to Portland for decent priced and available
flights?
Are there car rental places in town?
Are new business welcome and coming to Florence?
Are drugs a big problem?
What neighborhoods are good to purchase in?
Are the beaches nice for walking ( relaxing wind and cold are a factor)
How are the medical services and police dept.?
Any thoughts you would like to share?
Thank you for your input.

What type of business are you trying to open? Have you researched Oregon coastal climate and weather yet? Are you aware that the population of Florence is about 8,500 people and there are no other towns of any significant size less than an hour's drive away? You will need to drive to Portland for flights unless you don't mind spending a lot extra per ticket and adding a number of hours to your flying itinerary.

The beaches are very nice for walking if you don't mind lots of rain and cold wind. You would be walking in cold rain plus cold wind more often than not about 7 - 8 months of the year; you would be walking in cold wind virtually every day year round.

[OceanOcean]

How old are you, and what kind of lifestyle are you looking for?

Florence has great outdoor activities (four-wheeling, hiking) and also a good retirement community. It's a standard small town, coastal lifestyle. There are local bars and cafes, and I think local events pretty often. If you're searching for that, you may enjoy it.

My SO is from Florence. I enjoy visiting, but wouldn't want to live there permanently.

[wolfdog]

One of the best golf courses in the NW. Sandpines. And quite affordable, as well.

[oldtrader]

One of my sons and daughter in law live in Florance. He has a business a few miles away along the coast. As he describes what is happening in Florance is it has become a retirement mecca. Due to the amount of retirees, the town has put in the effort to improve so middle class retires will be attracted to the town. Shopping has been improved, and more events, etc. Medical system is improving quickly, with more and better doctors. We left the coast ourselves 20 years ago as my lungs cannot tolerate the cold damp climate in the winter. If I did not have this problem, we would be living on the coast today and Florance or Newport would be our home. Unless you have such a condition like mine, and can tolerate lots of rain in the winter, you will find it a pleasant place to live, especially if you are retired. Nice safe place to live.

[maverick974]

I lived in Florence and the surrounding area for 25 years. It was wonderful and I have no regrets but the weather finally got to me. The constant and incessant rain finally sent me south to tropical breezes and desert landscape.
Florence is beautiful with all the trees, all the lakes and of course the Siuslaw river going through town. The town has slowed down in recent years and doesn't have the vitality it once had but it's still a cool place if you like the rain.
Be aware that it's a "good ole boys" kind of place. The power brokers in Florence love the control they have and are not likely to give it up any time soon and that shows in what happens in Florence. Change is difficult to achieve there. Business has slowed there drastically in the last 10 years but it's still a cool place to have a business if you are so inclined.
The sand dunes there are pretty cool and the beaches are fabulous if you don't mind the rain and wind. Miles upon miles of sandy beaches with not a soul on them.
The shopping is ok and the drive to Eugene is only about an hours or less so you can anything you want there.
Personally, I liked Florence although I couldn't live there again. I thought it was better than most other coastal towns with the exception of the politics and bureaucracy there.

[CrltenSpke11]

It's been a long time I was there. At the beach, I could get the distant view of the hill with the Heceta lighthouse there. On the down side, I've seen some people there that were either homeless or unemployed, as I remember seeing a guy holding a sign that says "I fix computers" at the parking lot of one store there.

[xvrgaqu]

I’ll give my review for the few years I’ve lived here as a male in my 20’s.

It was wonderful... as a tourist, and if your not old enough to retire I’d keep it as a tourist town if you want to keep liking it.

Florence has been one of the most difficult places for me to live due to high prices and little availability. You can find work alright; However, most jobs don’t give you enough hours. You cannot afford rent on your own, even if you work at the hospital or casino. On local classifieds people constantly ask for too much money for their stuff, even if I haggled to a price slightly higher than reasonable they’ll reject the offer.

I’ve been single for the past eight years and five of those years I’ve wanted to leave the single life, the main problem with that is 99.99% of the women my age already have a boyfriend or have moved out for better opportunities and more options (I can just as easily say the same thing about the men only more at a 95% based on my friendship crowd)

There isn’t much for someone my age to do out here, people say there’s public events, ya sure, maybe once every couple of months. People have also said there are volunteer programs, the only ones I’ve been able to find is the food share program, habitat for humanity, and the humane society, other than that there really isn’t much on volunteering.

The weather will definitely get to you sooner or later.

In my opinion, don’t move to Florence, OR unless you’re ready to retire

P.S. I’ve worked with a lot of retirees who were once retired but had to work again.