Roseburg or where???? (Portland, Eugene, Coos Bay: mortgage, environment, real estate)

[writer77]

I grew up in Montana and have lived in almost all parts of the US. I just bought a new 2,000 sq ft home in Winston for $220,000. Winston is a town of about 8,000 people about 7 miles fron Roseburg. I did a lot of research about climate. It is between Crater Lake and the ocean and seems like a friendly place. I'm moving from San Jose.

[ladyflyfsh]

Originally Posted by writer77

I grew up in Montana and have lived in almost all parts of the US. I just bought a new 2,000 sq ft home in Winston for $220,000. Winston is a town of about 8,000 people about 7 miles fron Roseburg. I did a lot of research about climate. It is between Crater Lake and the ocean and seems like a friendly place. I'm moving from San Jose.

Well, you never know...we may be neighbors one of these days soon.

I've looked around Winston some so kind of know the area. I'm anxious to get moving so if my place doesn't sell here pretty quick I'm going to have to list with a realtor and pay the price!! Still looking for land in the greater Roseburg area so if anyone knows of a few+ acres for sale let me know.

[Marko3]

Hey LFF! How is everything going? Sounds like you've been having some probs with the local realtors. I can't steer a fellow Montana native in the wrong direction. Housing prices seem to be dropping little by little here! It's about time. Beautiful sunny day today in Roseburg. Keep us informed about when you make it down here!

[Norsk]

Land. Oregon has the strictist land use laws in the nation. You'll be hard pressed to find a few acres that don't come with a dumpy mfg home or a house in serious need of fixing unless you have over $300K to spend on it. You just can't buy a few acres like you can in other states.

[zenfull]

Something to be careful about in the area. Some rural areas are DIAL-UP only. After awhile you'll need to reconnect with educated people with some culture. It IS a black hole in many respects and sometimes the beauty of the land just isn't enough to offset the redneck attitudes.
You will DEFINITELY need an air conditioner in the summer.One recent summer we had the more than 30 days of 90 degrees or more with a string of them over 100. And to escape the heat unfortunately it isn't a pleasant drive to the coast, it's a snaky mostly two laner that is pretty dangerous with logging trucks & you won't want to go in the winter at all during the worst weather, so while "mentally" you may feel closer to the ocean it will always be further than you might like.The local grocery stores have a pretty small seafood section (probably because no one buys it & it goes bad) and a humongous meat dept.
well that's my two cents anyway. you might love it though as everyone has different levels of tolerance.

[sunspotsAZ]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

There is a cultural Mason-Dixon line that runs along the southern border of Lane County. North of it, the historic industry has been agriculture. Education and professional opportunity is valued from Eugene north to Portland. South of Lane County, is what many locals refer to as "red Oregon". People here have historically depended on resource extraction industries, and a blue-collar culture still predominates. Many residents are more preoccupied with being able to finish their beer than being able to finish high school.
Roseburg is in one of the most beautiful areas of the state (thousand valleys). The Umpqua River Valley is different from most of the rest of Oregon in that it tends to be quite warm in summer (temps over 100F are common). Winters are slightly milder and shorter as well. The overall climatic variation through the year is pronounced, yet within a nice range of temperatures. Falls are lovely. Average wind velocity here is almost the lowest in the nation. The area between both Roseburg and the coast and Roseburg and Crater Lake is a paradise for outdoor activities.
There are a lot of nice people in Douglas County and some beautiful historic homes there, BUT....Roseburg is still very much a lumber town and whether or not you can deal with the "redneck factor" is something only you can answer (if you have a 4-wheel and a shotgun, you'll fit in fine). Everytime I go through Roseburg I breathe a sigh of relief when I get back into the Eugene area. I enjoy the outdoor activities in the surrounding areas, but Roseburg needs a good deal of gentrifying before I, myself, would be able to live there.

Just curious if this is how you view Coos Bay? We've been looking at that area and I cannot deal with "Red Neck Mentality". I come from a quite liberal background and want the same for my children. Please if you have any insight regarding the Coos Bay population I would appreciate it.

sunspotsAZ

[Waterlily]

Some areas are changing. Here's a map showing the red and blue areas of the USA from the last election. 2006 Congressional Election Results

Anyways this thread is about Roseburg which is a pretty good place.

[ReturningWest]

I'm also returning home to Oregon and sticker shock on land prices I need a dryer climate than where I'm at. One of the places I've visited and am considering is NE Oregon...La Grande has a small college, access to lots of outdoor activities and close enought to some bigger areas to do major shoping. Land prices there are a wee bit lower. I've also looked right across the state line at ID area.

[Fishtracker]

Just a word about the town of Winston,
we bought a lot here,....a little against our better judgement, after looking in and around Roseburg for a week or so, and not finding anything in our price range. After a new Manufactured home and several out buildings for the boat and motorhome, and 1 yr later, we could not be happier in this small old town of 5,000 pop. And we have not had any problem w/ crime in our (main st.) area.

[sberdrow]

Hey I just arrived in Roseburg after a long time away. I stopped here on the way to seattle. The Albertsons, is Dell, and now Dell is a dead building, The Pizza place accross from Albertsons (former) is a mexican Restaurant. The Owl Restaurant is some asian restaurant. My East Wood rual neighborhood is a housing development. This used to be a nice field my friends and I used to have rock wars in, and shoot BB guns. Its Ugly what they did to my hood. The Highschool looks like somewhere I did not go. It looks like some kind of prison if you ask me. What happend to the Artic circle by the highschool. I know change is constant, but I was hoping to visit some of my haunts. The JR looks exactly like time forgot, Eastwood needs to have some newer buildings. Whats up with all the Asain restaurants. What happened to apple peddler Also, what the hell happened to the good real estate prices here....I can not imagine that the employment keeps up with the cost of houses. Californians could not be resonsible for everthing...I say this because I know thats what people are going to say. Still I took my kid to Stewart park...a place that I enjoyed as a kid and it look exactly the same. I would love to return here some day when I don't have to have a good job and take my future grand kids around and walk on the bike trails here.