Coming to Oregon the end of March to find a town to live! (Portland: to rent, how much)

[cgerard]

My Wife, 3 young children and I will be flying to Medford towards the end of March to begin our search for the town/city we want to move to. Our goal, like most families, is to find the perfect place to raise our children. We are renting a car in Medford and plan to drive north up I-5 and check out towns along that route. We do not have any set reservations at this point so any advise on where to look would be great.

A little about our current situation:

We currently live in Las Vegas and have had enough of the Heat (100+ degrees for over 90 days in a row) and lack of sufficient public education. The schools here are overcrowded and under funded. The summers are so hot that our children stay indoors all day because you can only "play" outside for about 30 minutes in the heat. Everyday when I leave to work I get to look at the brown haze hanging over the city and wonder about how it affects us to breath it in everyday.

A little about what we would like:

We would like to live somewhere our children can receive a good public education. Parent involvement in the schools is important so any areas with high parent involvment would be great. It needs to be safe, of course, and have a real sense of community. Parks, outdoor activities and youth sports are all a plus. We would love to have four seasons so our children can experience what it is like to have snow in the winter. Rain is not a problem all though we would like to live somewhere it doesn't rain 40 inches a year if possible (not overly important as I know Oregon gets a lot of rain). A small town close to a larger community is fine as long as it isn't too far away. I have not found a job yet so we are open to all options at this point. I have read a lot on the internet and would like some feedback from people who actually live there or have lived there.

Any advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Jillaceae]

This is kind of a hard one. Unfortunately, a lot of what you are looking for climate wise you aren't going to find along the I-5 corridor. Oregon isn't a place with very pronounced seasons; it has a very temperate climate in the more populated ares. In the valleys you aren't likely to see much snow, or necessarily any at all in a given year. I have never lived further south than Eugene, and I think some places further south do get slightly more snow, but I unfortunately I can't really speak to it. (You may want to actually check out Medford itself.) And you are definitely going to see a lot more rain that you are looking for if you are only looking along I-5.

Based on your criteria, the place I would most recommend is actually Bend. Or, you if you want the smaller town close to a large community, something like Sisters. It is more of a high desert climate, so the summers are going to be warmer (although I don't think as consistently hot as Vegas), but your trade-off is more of a defined Winter. Also, there will be less rain. There are a lot of great outdoor opportunities around Bend as well, and the air will be cleaner than it would living near someplace like Portland. Bend is about 2 hours east of I-5.

Like most other people on this board will tell you, unless you have a lot of savings to live off of, it would be wise to have a job first, before moving. The job market in Oregon is worse than most places in the country right now. There are a lot of people moving to Oregon because of how much is has to offer, so you are competing with an ever expanding population for a not-so-expanding pool of jobs. Not to get you down, but I think a lot of people move to Oregon convinced this issue is not going to effect them when it will. Or maybe you are independently wealthy. Hey, I think if I were independently wealthy, I would move to Bend!

[Silverfall]

If you want four seasons, then Bend would be a good choice.

Honestly a lot depends on what you can afford and what type of employment you are looking for.

The valley does not get a lot of snow. My son is 8 and has played in the snow three times in his life at our home. We just head to the mountains for our snow fix every year.

Please understand that Oregon schools are underfunded as well. I don't know how we compare to Nevada, but they are stating that 1/3 of Oregon schools may have to close a couple of days early this year due to the budget shortfall.

My son's school, which gets great test scores here in Salem, has 24 kids in his second grade class, and my daughter has 24 in her kinder class. The Salem-Keizer school district got a bond passed in the Nov elections so we will have 4 new schools sometime in the next few years to ease overcrowding, but our schools have issues here as well.

On a positive note, I have a friend who moved to Bend last summer and her son is in first grade and there are 18 kids in his class. She is very happy with his school so far.

[cgerard]

Thanks to both of you for the information. It appears that we may look into Bend, Redmond or one of the towns on the east side of the cascades. Any suggestions on towns to avoid?

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I would try Bend, Klamath Falls, Grants Pass and LaGrande (if that town isn't too remote for you).

[Bendite]

Except for the employment part, Bend would probably suit you well. Yesterday, one of our largest employers,TRG, announced it will be hiring 350 people (mostly customer service jobs for Apple). However, there are about 12,000 unemployed people in Deschutes County and last night's news reported that Worksource Oregon said they had about 100 job openings in the area in addition to these newly announced jobs at TRG. In other words, lots of competition for every job that opens. Same job situation applies for Redmond which is just north of Bend. I really can't recommend moving here (Central Oregon has the worst unemployment in Oregon) unless you have a job lined up or enough money to live on for several months while you're looking.

[dsh1127]

For the four seasons, Bend may be good. I have never been there, but have heard great things about it. We live in the Grants Pass area and are very happy with it. It does not snow regularly here, but some years more than others. If you get in the outlying areas you get more snow. It also isn't a far drive to snow, if you want to enjoy it without living in it! I think the schools around here are good. I can't speak for any others, but the schools my kids go to (elementary & middle) are very parent involved. Yes, the schools here are also underfunded - not sure you can escape that! There is alot of outdoor recreation close, and within a couple hours you can be a the coast, or snow skiing! Plenty of sports for the kids. Are you looking to live in town in a standard neighborhood, or out of town on acreage?

By the way - I lived in Las Vegas in 1986 for about a year!

[Smiled]

From an economic standpoint, Portland would be your best bet for good work and schools. Portland does tend to support its schools strongly, as does Beaverton, one of its suburbs (and some other suburbs too). It's true even in Portland that salaries are lower than elsewhere, and jobs are hard to find - more people want to live here than the employment pool can absorb. I may be biased against risk - I moved from the Bay Area in 1994 with $2K in savings, no job, and a wife and son. There were some tense moments, and it did take me three months to find a decent job.

[cgerard]

dsh1127- I can live in town or on an acreage. An acreage would be nice as long as it's not too far to town. My commute right now from Henderson to my job in Las Vegas is 25-35 minutes depending on traffic so the drive wouldn't be a problem. I look to rent for at least a couple years wherever I end up.

[Minervah]

Three young children? Please consider waiting until the economy is better if you don't have a lot of savings to fall back on. Unless you are a doctor or have some other profession for which there is a need it will take a long time to find a job.