Baker City, Oregon Snow levels, metal detecting, and housing

[Silverfall]

How Californians are treated is more of a joke than reality. I have many, many clients that moved here from CA and they have friends here and are doing just fine. Don't worry about that.

I've only visited Baker City so I won't comment on the snow, but with those credit scores and income, you would potentially qualify for a USDA home loan if you wanted to buy a home rather than rent. 640 is the minimum credit score required for the loan. Baker City is very affordable and the USDA home loan is a 100% financed (meaning no downpayment) loan. It's a good rural home loan program in case you were interested. Just thought I would throw that out there.

[arlafm]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

How Californians are treated is more of a joke than reality. I have many, many clients that moved here from CA and they have friends here and are doing just fine. Don't worry about that.

I've only visited Baker City so I won't comment on the snow, but with those credit scores and income, you would potentially qualify for a USDA home loan if you wanted to buy a home rather than rent. 640 is the minimum credit score required for the loan. Baker City is very affordable and the USDA home loan is a 100% financed (meaning no downpayment) loan. It's a good rural home loan program in case you were interested. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Thank you so much.
I was mostly concerned for my 14 year old, it's already gonna be hard enough transferring schools in the middle of high school and making friends in a whole new state. My husband is super pleasant and everyone loves him so i'm sure he'll find us some new friends in no time. haha. We did look a little into home buying but we want to make sure we can survive the winters first(coastal Californian's). Then if we still love it we will definitely look into buying the prices of houses are way more affordable in Eastern Oregon.

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by arlafm

Thank you so much.
I was mostly concerned for my 14 year old, it's already gonna be hard enough transferring schools in the middle of high school and making friends in a whole new state. My husband is super pleasant and everyone loves him so i'm sure he'll find us some new friends in no time. haha. We did look a little into home buying but we want to make sure we can survive the winters first(coastal Californian's). Then if we still love it we will definitely look into buying the prices of houses are way more affordable in Eastern Oregon.

You can adapt to winter. Get snow tires, traction devices for your footwear, and some warm winter clothes.

You are correct to be concerned about your kid though, especially moving at that age. Have you actually discussed with you kid? You might be surprised by the reaction.....good or bad.

I have had too many friends and relatives move to small towns "for their kids" and it was the kids who suffered the most. Small town teens are not usually the most accepting of outsiders, especially if they are different. I hear horror stories from my sister's now adult kids from their move to small towns as kids. We have friends that moved to their Perfect Mayberry small town with their Rad Skateboarder Dude son (A very nice kid, just liked to look a bit "different", and he went through hell, including physical harm, until they gave up.

On the other hand, your 14 year old might be the type that is willing to blend in and there is a chance the kids in YOUR idea of nirvana might be accepting of your kid, especially if he takes after your husband and makes friends easily.

Please, talk to your teen son. I considered the Small Town Move when our kids were teens, even nailed down a promising interview, and then talked to my daughters about the possible move. That discussion was eye opening enough that I pushed off the move until retirement, realizing it was for ME, not really the kids

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Thom52

You can adapt to winter. Get snow tires, traction devices for your footwear, and some warm winter clothes.

You are correct to be concerned about your kid though, especially moving at that age. Have you actually discussed with you kid? You might be surprised by the reaction.....good or bad.

I have had too many friends and relatives move to small towns "for their kids" and it was the kids who suffered the most. Small town teens are not usually the most accepting of outsiders, especially if they are different. I hear horror stories from my sister's now adult kids from their move to small towns as kids. We have friends that moved to their Perfect Mayberry small town with their Rad Skateboarder Dude son (A very nice kid, just liked to look a bit "different", and he went through hell, including physical harm, until they gave up.

On the other hand, your 14 year old might be the type that is willing to blend in and there is a chance the kids in YOUR idea of nirvana might be accepting of your kid, especially if he takes after your husband and makes friends easily.

Please, talk to your teen son. I considered the Small Town Move when our kids were teens, even nailed down a promising interview, and then talked to my daughters about the possible move. That discussion was eye opening enough that I pushed off the move until retirement, realizing it was for ME, not really the kids

This...

On a related note, a lot of parents seem enamored with the idea of small schools. This might be a good thing at the elementary level. But not always at the HS level. I've taught at various size high schools. The ordinary mainstream kids do fine in all of them. The average kids who want to be athletes also have more opportunities at small schools. For example, it's REALLY hard to make the varsity basketball team at a 3000 student HS when at the most 4-5 students per grade level are going to make the team. But if your kids are at all ecclectic and have non mainstream interests they are much more likely to be able to find their niche at a larger school where there is enough critical mass to have more diverse options. Both in terms of class offerings and student groups and subgroups.