Salem area (Portland, Eugene, Bend: estate, property taxes, transplants)

[skypros]

This month I visited Oregon.... Looking to re-locate
Here is my travels....
Portland to the Coast (astoria to newport)
Coast to Eugene
Eugene to Bend
Bend to Portland then to Salem

I liked the "Troutdale area" but I hear the wind is awfull
I liked the West Linn area..... But I really can't afford

While on the trip..... My Brother-in-law found a place he liked in Salem (Aumsville, just outside of salem) and it is on 3 acres on a creek.... It is so nice..... He is buying it.

I also liked the Salem area..... The prices tend to be reasonable and they have all services there (IE: costco LOL)

My question is:
What are great areas?
What are bad areas?
Around the Salem area

Thanks in Advance
Steve C.

[speedracer5]

In regard to Salem, anything south of Bush Park is nice. The Area around Bush Park (which is in the central part of the city, near downtown, adjacent to Willamette University) is full of older homes and is a nice neighborhood. Southeast Salem is nice. The Battlecreek area is rapidly growing. If you're into more affluent neighborhoods try South Salem and West Salem. Keizer is another city adjacent to Salem (but in my opinion, its really just north Salem), and it has some nice neighborhoods, but some really rough neighborhoods. I've never lived there, so I am not sure which areas are good and bad.

Areas to avoid:

Anything near Lancaster Drive.
Anything near Portland Road.
Anything near the fairgrounds.

These areas are all in North Salem. As far as I can tell, the Northern parts of Salem have the most problems (even though I'm sure there are some nice neighborhoods). North Salem is the older area of town and is also more of the poorer areas. Alot of the Section-8 housing is in North Salem, and there have been alot of meth busts in the North Salem neighborhoods.

I don't live in North Salem, so I'm not sure which areas are good and bad. I live in South Salem and its nice.

[skypros]

Thank You Speedracer5
I think SE Salem will be the place I concentrate on (for the salem area)
I am also thinking about Silverton, Woodburn & Newberg areas.

[Summertime]

There are lots of variables in Salem. I have been here
for almost 20 years, and live in Southeast Salem.

Depending on what you want for housing, your
particular age group, you can find most anything
you want here in housing accomodations.

If you are older, there is an excellent gated manufactured
housing park, Terrace Lake, on Robin's Lane. The
park rent includes trash, cable, water, sewer and
property taxes. The last I heard it is about $408 a month.
You don't own the land under the homes.

If you are older, there is across from Robin's Lane,
a new Senior Center, on Fairway.

There are also nice condominiums across from the
center, and you don't need to feel you are too old
or too young...lol

This complex has younger than older people,
lol

and it fronts on the golf course.

The last one I read that sold there was under $150,000.
zillow.com can give you some of the selling prices.
I am not sure if it is Battlecreek Estates or not, though.
Two of them sold just recently.

If you are older, there is next to that complex,
Battlecreek Commons, which is a secure community of
condominiums, with 2 pools, tennis court, saunas
home owners' association fees that include trash,
sewer, cable, insurance, water, exterior maintenance,
security, landscaping, repair and painting exteriors,
for under $315 a month. There were a couple of condos
for sale in there last month.

Moving along Fairway, there are other homes
on the left, also gated, and on Rees Hill, manufactured
homes to the left, up 20th Street, up to Nomad
and Navaho, an adult park, I think, and to the
right, on Rees Hill, there is Cinnamon Hill with
higher priced homes over $275,000. Not many for sale in there.
But the area is lovely...

Continuing along Rees Hill towards Sunnyside, you
have another community of homes on the right,
nicely landscaped, quiet neighborhoods.

On Sunnyside, there is the VERY affluent Creekside
Estates, and Kooskooske.. (*not sure I spelled that
right..) this is just north from Rees Hill.

If you go across the Marion Street Bridge in
downtown Salem, there is West Salem, which is
growing like Topsy, and not very well, traffic-wise.
The commute across the bridge can be horrendous,
especially one time when someone was trying to jump
off the bridge... traffic was held up for HOURS.
That doesn't happen often, though, but accidents DO.

Another small town near Aumsville is Turner.. literally
a curve in the road.. but people are moving there.

Outside of Salem is Sublimity, a pastoral area,
Stayton, which needs some cosmetic work
and Silverton, which is quaint but can be congested
at times.

South Commercial in Salem is becoming as congested
as the to-be-avoided-at-all-costs Lancaster Drive.
There is Walmart, Big Lots, Winco, Safeway, many
fast food places, and the infamous Kuebler Ave.
which is going to become a developer's paradise in
a few months... plans are being discussed for
a theatre, a huge mall, thousands of new homes.. by an
ABQ developer. When all is said and done, it will be
I-15 in Escondido, CA all over again.

(*could be that Kuebler will be made into a few more
lanes.. but until then.... )

The people who are cashiers, gas pump servicemen,
firemen, policemen, waiters, waitresses, all are
a friendly lot. I often look at them and think that
surely they aren't the ones I see driving behind,
beside and past me on a daily basis.

It makes me wonder who ARE the drivers here, as they
are not very up on the the rules of the road.. i.e.
running red lights, signalling, tailgating.

Last week the traffic cops did a saturation on Kuebler and gave out
a good many tickets.. 28 were given out, some people
were arrested, and one had drugs and another had a warrant
on him, and this was during a 3 hour period.

It could have been easily another few hundred tickets.

I guess you can see that there is a problem with drivers in Salem.

The hospital is excellent as is the Urgent Care Center in
Keizer.. which is associated with Salem Clinic on Capitol.

The paramedics are super ... I know, as I had an occasion
to be rescued by them a few years back.

Salem was a little town that grew and grew... and is still growing.
It has lots of growing pains but maybe someone in the
city government will rectify this in the future.

Right now the Cherry and Plum trees are in full bloom
along with the daffodils, primroses, and it is a pretty
sight to remember when Autumn/Winter rains fall
incessantly.

(which makes me think.. your brother-in-law should find
out if that creek he is going to buy land on, ever overflowed
in the past... about 14 years or so ago, we had flooding in
Salem and the creeks DID rise... Robin's Lane and Fairway
were under water and closed off... cows drowned in Tilamook,
and the Willamette River rose way above safety levels.
Homes in central Salem, on the creeks, river, had damage
from the unexpected water rising.

He should find out about the history of that creek...)

[bobmulk]

You don't want to live in Woodburn. As far as I'm concerned it's a slum. The schools have gone downhill since I went to school there over thirty-five years ago. Sixty percent of the student population (and probably the town) is Hispanic; test scores are very low. Crime is also higher in Woodburn.

Silverton is a quaint, bucolic, boutique-type town. The prices there are accelerating rapidly because it's so desirable. I don't know what you can afford, but a new 1500 square foot house will easily run you $265K.

Newberg is a great little city of 21000 people. It's the gateway to Oregon's wine country and has a fantastic private college called George Fox University. It's also got easy access to Portland and Washington County.

[oregon_mom]

there is nothing wrong with lancaster dr just because its in the poor area of salem i live on fisher and have no problem i live in the lanecaster commons which is very safe best thing to to is check it out for yourself

[SouthernBelle17]

Hello! I have the opportunity to transfer with my company to Salem and I was hoping to get some feedback on the smaller towns such as Sublimity, Stayton, Monmouth, Independence, etc. I have a son who is entering high school and I am not sure if we should live in a bigger town such as Corvallis until he finishes school and then take to the country or just let him go to school in the country. I grew up in a small farming community so it is what I know and love, but he has unfortunately been raised in very large cities so that is what he knows and is comfortable with. We are currently trapped in HELL otherwise known as Salt Lake City. It has been a very LONG 5 years and I have put my foot down and decided that it is time to move on. That said, I have spent several weeks reading as many posts as I can about the areas I am interested in and we are actually coming to visit in 2 weeks. Okay, what I would like to know is how affordable is it to own land? I would like a minimum of 5 acres, just enough room for some horses and my modular home. How hard would commuting into Salem be? Which communities are the most accepting of transplants? I hate being labeled as one since I was raised Military and have moved more than I care to remember but alas such is life! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time

[dakoda29]

For the question about Sublimity/Stayton area:

We moved to Stayton from California a year ago. So far, we really like it here. The home prices are decent (although they have gone up quite a bit in the last year). There's a huge home inventory in Stayton right now so I suspect there is a deal or two to be had. People are asking around $215,00 for 1200 sq ft or so and not much is selling. Something has to give sooner or later - either prices will come down or people will start buying again.

Stayton has most everything you need day-to-day (groceries, auto repair etc...) and for everything else, Salem is only 15 minutes away. Location is awesome - mountains 45 minutes to the east, coast 1.5 hours to the west and Portland a little more than hour to the north. Also, Silver Falls State Park is 20 minutes away.

Lots of nice parks in town and a great library. Not much interesting restaurant-wise, but Silverton is 15 minutes away and they have a couple good places.

Stayton has a real nice main street with some older buildings, but not much is going on. I've heard talk of some redevelopment.

Can't comment on schools - our baby is only a year old.

Although Sublimity is 5 minutes away, don't know much about it except home prices are much higher than Stayton and there doesn't seem to be much there. Not really sure why people are so into Sublimity, but I do see more high end development going on there.

Good luck!

[RuralSeeker]

Avoid Lancaster and Lancaster Commons! I was taken in by the lies of a "quiet, clean, friendly community." Ha!

[RuralSeeker]

What is the most quiet, affordable, rural area near Salem, OR? After years of living in the city and suburbs, I would like to realize my dream of living in the country away from all the noise, pollution, crime, overpopulation, and high prices. I am still a renter, but hope to someday buy a little house in the country.