Can anybody tell me about Prineville? (Portland, Salem: foreclose, for rent, credit check)

[Sign]

Just heard on the Central Oregon News yesterday that there have been NUMEROUS car break-ins in little Prineville........in the last month or so. Still looking for the thief(s) too.
Doubt this is 'typical' of this community and I've never been there but the numbers are astonishing for one month's time, nevertheless......for a town of its size.

[karlsch]

Most are unlocked cars.

"Most occur at night, residents are encouraged to lock their cars."

The whole morbid story here:
Central Oregonian - Prineville, Oregon

[BlackShoe]

Have visited Prineville twice,and liked it.However,when doing a bit of research came up with something rather disturbing,and that is the crime rate,in particular,the extremely high assault rate.Looking at the numbers given on the Prineville page of this site,over the past several years,the rate has ranged from almost triple the national rate to nearly five times the national average.Not trying to be sarcastic,but it would appear that one of the favorite pastimes of the town is to hit the bars and then go at it with each other with pool cues and beer bottles.Is Prineville really as violent and dangerous a place as the numbers would indicate,or are the stats somehow out of line?Am assuming that the numbers are the FBI's UCR figures as reported to them by the local law enforcement agencies.

[Sign]

Originally Posted by BlackShoe

Have visited Prineville twice,and liked it.However,when doing a bit of research came up with something rather disturbing,and that is the crime rate,in particular,the extremely high assault rate.Looking at the numbers given on the Prineville page of this site,over the past several years,the rate has ranged from almost triple the national rate to nearly five times the national average.Not trying to be sarcastic,but it would appear that one of the favorite pastimes of the town is to hit the bars and then go at it with each other with pool cues and beer bottles.Is Prineville really as violent and dangerous a place as the numbers would indicate,or are the stats somehow out of line?Am assuming that the numbers are the FBI's UCR figures as reported to them by the local law enforcement agencies.

Maybe the bar patrons just duel it out in the street and the quickest draw.....wins.
Nah.....that would have probably been true a few years back, but not today?
Pool cues and beer bottles are probably what it is......along with a LOT of alcohol and maybe some anger from being unemployed and having a house getting foreclosed on.
Oh....and LOSING whatever paycheck you were lucky to have......betting it on ONE game of pool while your wife blew her money at the casino.
Just a theory.
Crimesprees have resulted from such a scenario.

[rural lady]

Its all in what you like, Prineville is a very small town, when I lived out that way there were not alot of stores for shopping like a mall, there was one large food store Thriftway (it could have been renamed by now) and the smaller Sentry if that is still there, the Sentry is very small, they did have a new Bi-Mart built some years ago.

You will need to drive into Bend if you want to go to a mall or downtown Bend also for a variety of stores, it takes about 1 hour to get into Bend, maybe 1/2 hr to Redmond.

This drive is not for ones who hate driving in the snow or ice (black ice) one good thing is it can snow all night and morning and be melted by noon.

It will take some time to get adjusted from where you live now, its nothing like a big city, but what it has is access to to the Ochoco Nat'l forest and going east there is a lot of things to see such as the Painted Desert, beautiful!

No you would not want to drive from Prineville to Bend on a daily basis, that would wear off real fast.

Powell Butte would be fine as to live there, its close to Prineville and driving from Powell Butte to Redmond or Bend takes 15 min or 1/2 hr to Bend.

I suggest going there and staying there for a week check it out, drive to Redmond and Bend and get the feel of the place.

[ak.nessa]

I definitely recommend checking it out in person. I grew up in a high crime city so Prineville seemed quite safe to me, considering the entire time I lived there I never saw any shady stuff going on. I am from a suburb of Portland, Oregon where I regularly had people breaking into cars & houses, not to mention gang fights galore. Didn't see any of it while I was living in Prineville. There are terrible people everywhere, I figure places with lower populations are typically safer simply because there are less people.

Oh and lots of people commute from Prineville to Bend. It is doable but I wouldn't do it myself. I knew someone who did it and they didn't mind it, the drive is more like 40 minutes and it's a pretty direct and easy route. Most of the year there wont be ice either, and if there is just get studded tires.

If you do visit, don't just hang out downtown. Good God if I had only seen downtown I never would have fallen in love with the town. Go explore the nearby attractions like Smith Rock State Park (on a sunny day of course), or head into the forest, or even head east to see what's near Mitchell and John Day - there are the beautiful Painted Hills in the John Day Fossil Beds (yes there are fossils out there, it's neat)!

Make sure you like a place BEFORE you move there though, I have made this mistake more than once. It's great that you're going to visit. Hopefully the weather is nice and sunny, and not too cold!

[ak.nessa]

I definitely recommend checking it out in person. I grew up in a high crime city so Prineville seemed quite safe to me, considering the entire time I lived there I never saw any shady stuff going on. I am from a suburb of Portland, Oregon where I regularly had people breaking into cars & houses, not to mention gang fights galore. Didn't see any of it while I was living in Prineville. There are terrible people everywhere, I figure places with lower populations are typically safer simply because there are less people.

Oh and lots of people commute from Prineville to Bend. It is doable but I wouldn't do it myself. I knew someone who did it and they didn't mind it, the drive is more like 40 minutes and it's a pretty direct and easy route. Most of the year there wont be ice either, and if there is just get studded tires.

If you do visit, don't just hang out downtown. Good God if I had only seen downtown I never would have fallen in love with the town. Go explore the nearby attractions like Smith Rock State Park (on a sunny day of course), or head into the forest, or even head east to see what's near Mitchell and John Day - there are the beautiful Painted Hills in the John Day Fossil Beds (yes there are fossils out there, it's neat)!

Make sure you like a place BEFORE you move there though, I have made this mistake more than once. It's great that you're going to visit. Hopefully the weather is nice and sunny, and not too cold!

[delta07]

Originally Posted by ak.nessa

Make sure you like a place BEFORE you move there though, I have made this mistake more than once. It's great that you're going to visit. Hopefully the weather is nice and sunny, and not too cold!

Hope the OP is not coming this weekend! It's snowing in Bend right now! I don't mind snow at all, but I wasn't ready for it this early. The leaves haven't even come off the trees. My silver maple is losing branches as I write this.

[amympa]

I just moved from Bend. As someone who works with people in the criminal justice system, I would not live in Prineville. For a town as small as Prinville it has an unusual amount of problems. I would suggest Bend, Redmond or Sisters. Really take your time looking at houseing, you can get an excellent deal wheter renting or buying. There are so many neighborhoods all with a different feel. I really wish we would have taken more time looking for our home. I am sad we had to move, it is such a beautiful place! And the winters are really no big deal. Enjoy Central Oregon!

[Cindyhello03]

We live in Deschutes Woods, Bend, OR and are interested in a few homes in Prineville. We're looking at a couple at "Ochoco West" which is about 10 miles from Prineville.

Can anyone tell me about Ochoco West?

Does anyone have a map of the subdivision. The pool, trails, lakes etc?

Do the homes in Ochoco West or Prineville proper gain any value over time compared to other places?

Can you grow vegetables in Prineville?

My husband is 70 and likes to work part time. Are there any chances for employment there? He's a great worker and reliable.

One consideration is I can't drive but my husband can and it doesn't look like there are any convience stores located there. So what do you do if you run out of eggs or milk?

Thank you Thank you Thank you!