Moving to Oregon Coast (agriculture, rental, job)

[klalchuck]

Just joined the forum. I live near Mapleton, last year we had 74 hours without power, that's pretty average for my road, out in the boonies. The winter storms and rain are large.
Tip for getting along with the locals, spend money at local businesses.

[CF_Eye_Care]

Originally Posted by arcticracer

Wow, this is quite a thread. Thanks everyone, positive and negative for the input. I grew up in Eugene, joined the Navy at 17, saw the world for 6 years, got a job in Eugene which took me to Eugene again, Roseburg, and Albany before moving to Fairbanks in 87.

I have loved Fairbanks, now have an extended family here, but the winters are wearing on me (imagine that) and with several years to retirement I am putting out feelers. One thing for sure, no winters in Fairbanks. Summers my wife and I will be here most of the time. I can't take it any more.

I dislike hot weather, big city life, traffic, people in a hurry. I have always wanted to live by the sea, probably one reason I joined the Navy. My current home sits right on the Tanana River. So this brings me to the notion of moving to the Oregon coast, probably between Florence and Lincoln City. Question is, can we handle the rain, wind and grey? I always loved going to the coast, and Florence was the closest place for us.

Which communities would be the most affordable to settle down in when it comes to housing? What is the market like now? I have some time yet to work, but am starting to look. Another option is the Port Angeles to Sequim area, which gets a lot less rain than the Oregon coast.

Input is welcome and appreciated.

We were living in Anchorage when we retired, sold the house, and started traveling full time in 2002. If you can tolerate the dark Alaskan winters, I would think that the gray Oregon coast winters would be a piece of cake for you.

After six years on the road, we have been looking for a place to park the motor home along the Oregon or Washington coast in the summers. We hope to close escrow on a place here in Coos Bay tomorrow. $70,000 for a quarter acre lot with a rotted-out fixer-upper house about 500 yards from the bay. Plenty of room to stay in the motorhome, connected to city utilities, while we rehab the house over the next few years.

If you are looking for modest housing along the coast, this area seems to have plenty of it.

Good luck!

[nicolette]

Anyone who is interested in moving to the Oregon coast should do it! It is beautiful! We are from San Diego and finally found our perfect oceanfront property in the Waldport/Yachats area! Take every comment on this forum with a grain of salt!! If we had taken the negative comments about the coast to heart, we may never had made it up there. Also, if you want to move here, do your OWN research, don't take someone else's advice...we flew up many times, especially during the winter so we could get a realistic taste of the weather...and you know what??? Didn't scare us one bit! The many positives about the area far outweigh(sp?) the very few and easily tolerable negatives. The people here are super friendly provided you are respectful, kind and genuine to them as well. Treat others as you wish to be treated......no brainer. We love good restaurants and there are a handful in this area that easily live up to any great, quaint restaurant in San Diego. What we like is that it feels like Waldport is definitely "up and coming" which is fantastic! More quaint restaurants/ art galleries/ boutiques, can't wait for more to pop up. It is truly a charming little town. We are excited & anxious to get started building our dream home on the Oregon coast.....we are SO ready to pack up and leave the crowds, traffic, high prices and pretentious people of Southern California!

Good luck to anyone who plans on re-locating to the Oregon coast....it's worth it!! And as future residents.....we welcome you!

[tiffela74]

CF-Eye Care,
Hey, I think i know the place you got! Great deal there for you!!! How very very exciting! Im happy you found a place that sounds like its gonna be terrific for you.
CONGRADS!! And welcome home!
Tiffany

[CF_Eye_Care]

Originally Posted by tiffela74

CF-Eye Care,
Hey, I think i know the place you got! Great deal there for you!!! How very very exciting! Im happy you found a place that sounds like its gonna be terrific for you.
CONGRADS!! And welcome home!
Tiffany

We closed escrow about 10 days ago and have filled two 10-yard dumpsters so far.

This is a lower working class neighborhood, with a mix of working folks and bums. The neighbor across the street was burglarized last night. They stole the wiring to his trailer, a bunch of welding rod, and metal parts for a boat he's building. We'll rely on our trusty mutt Larry to provide security for us.

The weather here is wonderful this time of year. Clear skies, highs 65-70, lows 45-55. Even better than the Anchorage summers we enjoyed before we retired and started traveling.

Lovely Wife is ripping out rotted wood, making the yard look great, and starting the refurbishing process on the house and garages. She is having great fun, while I mostly do Important Computer Stuff. This area has terrific Verizon cellular Internet service.

[Oregonbeachlover]

Originally Posted by CF_Eye_Care

We closed escrow about 10 days ago and have filled two 10-yard dumpsters so far.

This is a lower working class neighborhood, with a mix of working folks and bums. The neighbor across the street was burglarized last night. They stole the wiring to his trailer, a bunch of welding rod, and metal parts for a boat he's building. We'll rely on our trusty mutt Larry to provide security for us.

The weather here is wonderful this time of year. Clear skies, highs 65-70, lows 45-55. Even better than the Anchorage summers we enjoyed before we retired and started traveling.

Lovely Wife is ripping out rotted wood, making the yard look great, and starting the refurbishing process on the house and garages. She is having great fun, while I mostly do Important Computer Stuff. This area has terrific Verizon cellular Internet service.

Congratulations! Also, you will find that the winters on the coast can be beautiful too.

[coosbaytv]

As a newbie to this forum but NATIVE to the area, I have said this before...

Do your homework and you will be fine!

The Southern Oregon Coast is not for everyone, but neither is New Mexico. If the person matches the environment, then that peson is probably going to be very happy there.

If you are a nature lover and can do without LOTS of people, you will do well here.

[Kathleenh54]

I'm envious of all you posters who found your perfect place on the coast. My DH and I took three trips there this summer for five days at a time and looked at a few houses. All three times the weather was such that we didn't sit outside at all the whole time. It was either sunny but too windy, just plain misty, misty and windy or just plain too chilly. It was kind of disappointing.

[Oregonbeachlover]

Hi Kathleen. Lots of the beach houses have decks on the south side (I think I got that right) of houses, so as to not get the summer wind. Or, people just build decks with clear panels to block any wind. In my case, (and since our house was a fixer, we didn't get to plan this), the house blocks the wind from our big deck and it can actually get too hot, even when the temps aren't high.

[CF_Eye_Care]

Originally Posted by Oregonbeachlover

Congratulations! Also, you will find that the winters on the coast can be beautiful too.

We have spent our share of time on the California and Oregon coasts in the winters, and we don't plan to make a habit of it. We are full time RVers, and we plan to continue to head to the beaches of Mexico and the deserts of Arizona in the winters.

This part of Coos Bay, though, is pretty much ideal in the summer. When the wind is blowing 20-25 MPH two blocks away on the bay we get gentle breezes at most. I guess it's because there are lots of trees and houses between us and the water. Some folks who live in North Bend were remarking on it just yesterday. At their condo it was blowing hard, and when the got here it was dead calm.