Where to live in Portland??? (Beaverton, Hillsboro: best neighborhoods, real estate, rental)

[ng12345]

Hello everyone:

My family and I are making a move to Portland this summer, and would like some info on the plusses/minuses on where to potentially live. Here are several questions if people don't mind addressing:

1) How is the commute from Portland to Vancouver, WA?
What is the best neighborhood with the shortest commute to Vancouver, WA? (Our workplace might be in Vancouver)

2) What are the best neighborhoods for professionals with young families?

3) We may be looking for a more suburbian type of neighborhood (where we can find a house with a backyard), but at the same time have coffee shops, nice restaurants, etc. close by?

4) What are some of the best daycare/preschools that people know of in the Portland area?

5) Can one compare the Lake Oswego, West Linn, Northwest Portland, Northeast Portland, Beaverton, and Hillsboro areas in terms of affluence, types of people that live there, etc.

Apologize for the myriad of questions, but any and all info is appreciated. Thank you!

[Nell Plotts]

I would much rather commute from Portland to Vancouver, but why?

If you work and live in Vancouver you will not pay Oregon's income tax, you will not need to pay a bridge toll over the Columbia (when, if ever, the oldest interstate bridge is built), and your travel time will be less.

Personally I am not a Vancouver-ite but if I worked in Vancouver I would not live in Oregon.

[philwithbeard]

Live in Vancouver.

Don't even think about commuting across the I-5 bridge on a daily basis.

Vancouver, WA has its own forum on this site.

[ng12345]

Thanks for the replies, but my wife will be working in Vancouver, WA, and I'll be working at OHSU. That is why we are thinking about living in Portland. Please, if anyone can comment on the areas in Portland that may be optimal for this, that would be helpful. Thanks!

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by ng12345

Thanks for the replies, but my wife will be working in Vancouver, WA, and I'll be working at OHSU. That is why we are thinking about living in Portland. Please, if anyone can comment on the areas in Portland that may be optimal for this, that would be helpful. Thanks!

That may be a problem.....

OHSU is kind of harsh with respect to employees and driving a car up on top of that hill. You do know about "Pill Hill" as in you have used Google Maps with terrain feature turned on, and you understand about the Mass transit options for getting up on top of that hill? (I seem to recall it is something like a 600 or 700 ft high.)

Check out a map, like Google Maps for example, and you will see I-405 and I-5 with downtown in between. In normal times, I do believe the best place for you to live would have been near an I-405 entrance ramp heading north. Between W Burnside and NW Lovejoy along NW 21st, 22nd, and 23rd is what is called (depending on the speaker) NW 23rd district, (s)Nob Hill (a reference to the famous San Francisco neighborhood), or Northwest Neighborhood. At any rate, I suspect many of your OHSU single and young DINKs co-workers will live up there, or close by. It is my opinion, and others will disagree, I don't think (s)Nob hill today to be all that family friendly. (I could of course be wildly incorrect, YMMV.) It is a Very Urban high density living (and homes with backyard will be out of your price range.) There is a status points for being able to live up there (but parking spaces are very hard to come by.)

Sorry, I got off topic a bit....

The person working at OHSU, would want to take a MAX line to Downtown and switch over to the #8 bus line going up to Pill Hill.
TriMet: Public Transportation for the Portland, Oregon, Metro Area

The person working in Vancouver will not, repeat NOT, want to traverse through Downtown Portland by any means. I also don't think you would want to live within walking distance to the Yellow MAX light rail line in North Portland area (I could be wrong, North Portland west of the Yellow line is a working class neighborhood, very earthy from what little I know.)

But I am going to recommend that you look for a rental along the #8 bus line along NE Broadway, NW Wielder, South Irvington neighborhood, or up along NE 15th street. Catching I-5 heading north at NE Broadway might be tolerable, but depends on your own internal morning coffee / caffeine intake reserve level. Commuting to Vancouver will not be fun. (I will forgo my joke about someone from out-of-state driving in Portland commuter traffic, full tank of caffeine, and having a firearm in the car...) BTW, on the Map, the Lloyd Center is a moderately large indoor shopping mall.

Be sure you Google: Moving to Portland.
You will get a couple of hits from Real Estate ladies who host web sites with lots of info about the City of Portland. A bit Rah-Rah cheerleader-ish, but what can you expect from Real Estate ladies? City of Portland is made up of lots a different neighborhoods, each with its own 'vibe' and feel.

Others on this board will offer you other suggestions.

Phil

[Nell Plotts]

The Overlook neighborhood is wonderful, not far from Kaiser's Interstate Clinic & the MAX yellow line.

I agree with Phil's comment about driving through the city center to Vancouver.

There are homes with back yards in NW (generally west of 25th) but they are not inexpensive. The public school is very strong. There are several day care and preschool providers in the area. If you have more than one child a nanny may be more cost effective. OHSU has (or at least used to have) a Montessori preschool. And, yes, you can walk to a variety of cafes and coffee shops.