Thinking of moving from Gresham to Bend... (Union: foreclosures, mortgages)

[archer75]

We were recently in Sunriver and the surrounding areas on vacation and my wife and I both fell in love with Bend. We have been thinking of moving for awhile now. Just a change of pace. Not that there's anything wrong with where we live now(Gresham). We have a good neighborhood and schools here. Just thought we'd try something new.
We both love the climate of Bend. We both love the fall. I love the winter and the colder climate. The smaller town. Lower crime. Fishing, biking, hiking,etc. The breweries. We have looked into house prices and have found we can get more house for less money than what we have right now, our current home is $300k and 2600sqft. I have seen bigger houses for under $285k in bend.

How are the schools? Our oldest is in an advanced 1st grade class now and our youngest isn't quite 2 yet. But we'd like to live in a good school district. Are there any particular elementary schools and districts that standout above the rest? Any to avoid? I hear good things about High Lakes, W.E. Miller and Elk Meadow. I hear bad things about Juniper, Bear Creek and R.E Jewell. I haven't heard anything about pine ridge or lava ridge elementary.

What are some good neighborhoods in terms of low to no crime? No HOA's!
How much of Bend is covered by Verizon Fios? This is very important to my inner nerd!

We're having a harder time discovering what companies are in Bend. I work in the semiconductor industry and have found one fab in bend, Microsemi. Are there more? Anyone know what pay is like there?

My wife is a Loan Officer at a credit union. She primarily does mortgages but also some car loans. I've seen a ton of credit unions and banks in bend, I don't know if that's a good thing. Any idea which are the better ones to work for?

I know it snows more in Bend than in Gresham. How good is the city at plowing roads? I'm just hoping my wife's little compact can handle it. We aren't in a position to buy a new car for her just yet.

Anyways, enough of my rambling for now. If I have more questions i'll post later.

[Dry Side]

Stay West of the Deschutes river for more desirable neighborhoods and less crime. Home prices continue to decline (currently at 2003 levels) in Bend with increasing foreclosures and unemployment rates. Great place to live if you don't make a living from the local economy. Weather is random with changes of 30 degrees from day to day. We run stud-less snow tires year round on front wheel drive cars and have no issues.

[Bendite]

Originally Posted by archer75

We were recently in Sunriver and the surrounding areas on vacation and my wife and I both fell in love with Bend. We have been thinking of moving for awhile now. Just a change of pace. Not that there's anything wrong with where we live now(Gresham). We have a good neighborhood and schools here. Just thought we'd try something new.
We both love the climate of Bend. We both love the fall. I love the winter and the colder climate. The smaller town. Lower crime. Fishing, biking, hiking,etc. The breweries. We have looked into house prices and have found we can get more house for less money than what we have right now, our current home is $300k and 2600sqft. I have seen bigger houses for under $285k in bend.

How are the schools? Our oldest is in an advanced 1st grade class now and our youngest isn't quite 2 yet. But we'd like to live in a good school district. Are there any particular elementary schools and districts that standout above the rest? Any to avoid? I hear good things about High Lakes, W.E. Miller and Elk Meadow. I hear bad things about Juniper, Bear Creek and R.E Jewell. I haven't heard anything about pine ridge or lava ridge elementary.

What are some good neighborhoods in terms of low to no crime? No HOA's!
How much of Bend is covered by Verizon Fios? This is very important to my inner nerd!

We're having a harder time discovering what companies are in Bend. I work in the semiconductor industry and have found one fab in bend, Microsemi. Are there more? Anyone know what pay is like there?

My wife is a Loan Officer at a credit union. She primarily does mortgages but also some car loans. I've seen a ton of credit unions and banks in bend, I don't know if that's a good thing. Any idea which are the better ones to work for?

I know it snows more in Bend than in Gresham. How good is the city at plowing roads? I'm just hoping my wife's little compact can handle it. We aren't in a position to buy a new car for her just yet.

Anyways, enough of my rambling for now. If I have more questions i'll post later.

Elementary schools - W.E. Miller just opened this year so it's hard ot say much about it except it is state-of -the-art and as green as possible. Many of the teachers went there from High Lakes which is enjoying a reasonable number of students now that Miller is open. It would be more difficult to attend those schools without being in a neighborhood that doesn't have an HOA. Speaking generally, west side schools perform better than east side but there are good schools on the east side too and there are a couple of charter schools.

You can certainly get a lot of house for the money right now in Bend. Prices have dropped incredibly over the past year and a half. The problem you may have is locating a home without an HOA. Most of the newer homes were built in HOA-run developments. Homes without HOAs will be found in the older areas of town both east and west side.

This is not a good time to try to find work in Bend. There are quite a few banks as you noticed. A couple of them are struggling, and one was taken over recently by a bank from Idaho. I bank at Selco Credit Union and the employees seem to be long-term which indicates they like their employer. Not as much high tech here as you would expect, especially in the semiconductor area. The Chamber of Commerce probably could answer your questions about what companies are here. The info may be on their website, but if not, you could call and talk to someone.

If you can drive on occasionally ice-rutted roads, you can get around pretty easily in a small car except immediately following a big snow dump. Main roads are fairly well maintained. Streets off main roads are typically not touched by city plows