High End Areas - Moving to Portland - Advice (Burns: houses, neighborhoods) - Oregon (OR) - City-Data Forum

RoatanMan · 10-08-2010, 08:45 AM

Hello,

My girlfriend (soon to be wife) and I wish to move to Portland from Southern California... I am tired of it out here... I know you all dislike Californians, but just know that I am not from here nor is my girlfriend... =)

In any event, we really like the area of Forest Heights and the West Hills (I think it's called)... Can any of you tell me the pros\cons of this area and recommend any other area... We would like to be in at least a 10 min drive to downtown... I used to work for Intel so I have been up there a lot and I love it; the weather does not bother me...

Profile:
Want to purchase a home
Budget: ~650k-750K
We are in our early 30's
Both Self Employed
Want to start a family

Thanks in advance...

Nell Plotts · 10-08-2010, 10:29 AM

You need to pay attention to soil stability when buying a hill side home in the Pacific NW. A home inspection should provide for a site inspection also. There has been a lot of in-fill construction on sites my parents wouldn't touch (Dad was a Soils Engineer).

Disclosure here: Except for an absence noted below I have lived in the west hills from 1945. I raised & educated my children there.

I strongly recommend my neighborhood. The schools are strong, there is a real sense of community, most of the homes are older and of 'proven' construction.

The area north of Burnside is made up of two sub-neighborhoods, Hillside & NW - both served by Chapman School. Activities for children center around Wallace Park and for preschoolers Friendly House. There is Hillside community center (former Catlin Gabel gym) with activities for children also. Look for housing west of 25th, because you will be having children I wouldn't buy on Cornell Road (busy street).

South of Burnside the west hills are bisected by Canyon Road (the Sunset Highway). Those neighborhoods don't really have a community center... except perhaps for the Multnomah Athletic Club. They are in the Ainsworth enrolment area. Lots of elegant homes.

We recently moved back to Portland after a 15 year absence and could easily have purchased in Forest Heights. We didn't because access to the city center required driving over the hill and it just doesn't feel like a neighborhood to us.

Yankeemama · 10-08-2010, 10:33 AM

Tried to rep you Nell, but can't so I will say thanks for the good advice. This us the kind of info. people come to this site for.

RoatanMan · 10-11-2010, 07:53 PM

Bump... Anyone else...?

philwithbeard · 10-11-2010, 10:15 PM

You should not rule out Eastmoreland, or the Irvington neighborhoods.
Some of these homes may be in your price range, others may be mostly above it.
Many large spacious homes, multiple floors, but smallish yards. The best ones will be the Victorian revival homes built prior to WW II.

I have only lived in PDX for a bit under 18months. I have noticed that many older homes (+70 yrs old) were built spacious, and with tall ceilings. My thinking is that during the rainy season, people are driven indoors a lot, and a spacious home will feel less like the unset of cabin fever walls closing in. However, the basic bland cookie cutter designed-for-your-generic-'burb style ranch homes which I have visited (only 2 of them in PDX) just gave me the impression of enforced claustrophobic encasement. Naturally, YMMV on this perception of houses.

I am sure you have Googled "Moving to Portland" and read up on the City Of Portland Neighborhoods from a couple of web sites Google links you to. Property Taxes are higher in the City than in the 'burbs of the neighbor counties.

palvar · 10-12-2010, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

I have noticed that many older homes (+70 yrs old) were built spacious, and with tall ceilings. My thinking is that during the rainy season, people are driven indoors a lot, and a spacious home will feel less like the unset of cabin fever walls closing in.

Tall ceilings in older homes has more to do with historical heating and cooling costs. Prior to A/C tall ceilings allowed the hot air to rise and give the people in the room a bit of cooler air. Heating was very cheap thanks to abundant coal.

philwithbeard · 10-12-2010, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by palvar

Tall ceilings in older homes has more to do with historical heating and cooling costs. Prior to A/C tall ceilings allowed the hot air to rise and give the people in the room a bit of cooler air. Heating was very cheap thanks to abundant coal.

I don't know, Out here in Portland, I have found the temperature to be quite mild and moderate. Summer heat is very low humidity with almost 30 degree swing from afternoon high to morning low. Cross ventilation more of an issue I would have thought. Still, I wasn't around, so I can't say one way or the other. It could be that the style of home from the East Coast which was subject to the Weather along the Mid-Atlantic states, could have been imported across the Rockies to the Pacific Northwest as is.

Phil

Nell Plotts · 10-12-2010, 02:24 PM

Back in the day, maybe 50 years before my time (a long long time ago), Portland homes were heated with coal or sawdust. They didn't heat bedrooms at all and many homes had screened sleeping porches on the second floor (thought also to prevent contagious diseases such as tuberculosis). The kitchen was warm because of the heat from cooking (one grandmother cooked on a wood stove), the parlor and the dining room were on the 'heating system'. Residents dressed warm in cold weather even in the house.

With the advancement of medicine tuberculosis was less of a death threat, heating systems became more efficient and sleeping porches were enclosed.

Rooms with high ceilings are much more comfortable in the summer, for those few days when it is hot some families slept in the basement, others headed to the beach (when it is hot in the Wmt. Valley it is cool & foggy on the coast). Air conditioning is truly unnecessary for those older homes.

Yankeemama · 10-12-2010, 09:51 PM

Yup! We have an old home in the NE- almost a hundred. We didn't get an air conditioner for this past Summer and I noticed that the enclosed sleep porch connected to my bedroom was cooler, esp. with the breeze from the open windows. When the really hot nights came, our family of four slept in the family room down in the basement which was at least 20 degrees cooler than the top floor.

Discovery1 · 10-13-2010, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoatanMan

Hello,

My girlfriend (soon to be wife) and I wish to move to Portland from Southern California... I am tired of it out here... I know you all dislike Californians, but just know that I am not from here nor is my girlfriend... =)

In any event, we really like the area of Forest Heights and the West Hills (I think it's called)... Can any of you tell me the pros\cons of this area and recommend any other area... We would like to be in at least a 10 min drive to downtown... I used to work for Intel so I have been up there a lot and I love it; the weather does not bother me...

Profile:
Want to purchase a home
Budget: ~650k-750K
We are in our early 30's
Both Self Employed
Want to start a family

Thanks in advance...

BINGO !!!

You actually picked one of the best area in Portland. Forest Heights is my top choice beside lake Oswego although i do think Portland housing market still have some further to fall. Next year shall be a better time to act.... Just keep an eye on it.
Good luck.