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I am hunting for a house to purchase on the west side of Portland. I found quite a few newer homes or affordable homes along sw 185th ave area. Is there anywhere I should totally avoid? I know TV Hwy and adjacent area is considered ugly and bad, but how far should I avoid? Like 3 blocks or something?
Did anyone visit Polygon Autumn Creek? Is that area (north of baseline) considered nice area to live? I like Autumn Creek's location (near max) but I think the price is pretty high.
How about the following sections? Which area is better than the others?
1. Between Baseline and TV hwy
2. Between TV hwy to Farmington
3. South of Farmington
I heard Aloha high school is bad and Westview is nice. However, I looked at greatschools.com and found that Aloha high is rated 5 out of 10 and westview is only 7 out of 10. I don't think 7 sound too good either. Do 'most people' generally just avoid Aloha or Aloha school district when they buy houses?
I live off of 185th south of Farmington. I don't think there are any truly bad (as in dangerous) areas along 185th.
Between Baseline and Farmington, there are more older, less-expensive subdivisions, with smaller houses that are in need of cosmetic work -- fine for first-time buyers or people with limited budget, but probably not what you'd want if you can afford much over $200K. There are some nicer ones, too -- you just need to drive around and look, if that's an option for you.
South of Farmington, the houses get nicer, especially as you climb up Cooper Mountain. It's also a matter of looking at individual neighborhoods, because they vary considerably in appearance. In my neighborhood, houses are just on either side of $200K. When I bought over a decade ago, it was a bit drab-looking, because nobody bothered landacaping their yards. I remember one beautifully landscaped yard, and that was it. My wife and I fixed up our yard in an attempt to make it look like something out of Sunset magazine -- and, one by one, other neighbors started doing the same, until a tipping point was reached. Now the neighborhood, although it's nothing fancy, looks pretty good. However, you can go a few blocks away and find neighborhoods with comparable houses where people haven't taken as good care of them.
Westview High School has a good reputation academically. A lot of Intel families live in the area, so the income level is high. One of my stepsons went there during his senior year, and he got teased a lot because he wasn't into designer clothes and expensive cars. My younger stepson went to Merlo Station High School, which is an alternative public school. There are programs for science whizzes, young unwed mothers, older students who dropped out and are returning, and students with ADD or dyslexia who do well in smaller class sizes. It was outstanding school, but students can't attend unless they fit into one of the categories served. I've heard mixed things about Aloha High School -- that it's good academically, but that there are problems with gangs. My sense is that, if a student can avoid the gang influence, he or she can get a good education there.
If you don't mind tiny yards and houses that are crammed together (which is the case with almost all new construction in Washington County now), then Polygon Autumn Creek is a great option. My wife and I are shopping for a new house, and Autumn Creek is the first place we checked. We've heard that the houses are well made, and they look very nice inside. Their biggest home is 1,780 square feet, which is a little too small for our needs, but the 10-foot-wide back yards were the deal breaker for us. However, if you hate yard work (I enjoy it), a small yard is a plus. The location is great: close to Tanasbourne shopping, a couple blocks from the Willow Creek MAX station, and close to Hwy 26. The location is what you're paying for at Autumn Creek, but you can get more for your money with an older existing house. Our realtor says that anything along the Hwy 26 corridor is a good investment, because getting to downtown Portland is easy, and there are plenty of businesses in Beaverton and Hillsboro, Intel and NIKE chief among them.
Aloha overall is fine. Parts of it are desirable, and parts are, um, cosmetically challenged. Again, if you live in the Porltand area, my advice is to drive around and look at individual neighborhoods.
I also lived in that area for about a year, and everything HonuMan says is about my experience.
My major problem, and the reason I moved, is that it was just too dang far from the highway either going down 185th or TV highway to commute on, or go downtown. I pretty much had to budget an extra 30 minutes of travel time just to deal with traffic getting to either highway 26 or 217.
I also agree with HonuMan's assessment. I went to Westview for a year before moving farther west into Hillsboro, whereupon I went to Glencoe HS for a while. Westviews academics really were outstanding while I attended. There are a lot of very smart kids, from largely higher SES families, so activities, events, etc. are well supported. The price is exactly what HonuMan stated -- pressure to have a certain image and wear expensive clothes.
I wouldn't hesitate to send my kid there for the academics.
I also lived in that area for about a year, and everything HonuMan says is about my experience.
My major problem, and the reason I moved, is that it was just too dang far from the highway either going down 185th or TV highway to commute on, or go downtown. I pretty much had to budget an extra 30 minutes of travel time just to deal with traffic getting to either highway 26 or 217.
Indeed. That's one thing I dislike about Aloha. If your work schedule is flexible, though, and you can commute outside of peak rush-hour times, then it's not as bad. I work in downtown Portland, and if I leave the house before 7:00 AM, it's about a 30-minute commute. If I leave much after 7:00, it quickly rises to 45 minutes. (In the afternoon, it's 45 minutes regardless, which leads me to conclude that more people leave work in the afternoons than go to work in the mornings. I should look into getting a research grant to study the phenomenon.) You can get some great deals on houses in Aloha, though, which is the positive side of the trade-off. Because of that, my wife and I haven't ruled out Aloha for our next house, but we'd prefer an area closer to Hwy 26 or 217.
Depending on what part of downtown you're going to, Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway (OR 10) is a great alternative to 26. It puts you on Barbur Blvd, which becomes 4th Ave, the main northbound artery thru downtown. It's convenient unless your destination is pretty far north.
The area is fine, very suburban if that is what you are looking for, but nothing really special about the area. It is definitely far in terms of commuting to downtown. If you have to do it for work, it isn't a big deal, but you probably won't be going to downtown or the neighborhoods of Portland regularly because it would more than likely be too much of a hassle dealing with the sometimes unpredictable traffic on Hwy 26.
I really appreciate everyone's insight, especially HonuMan. I have lived in SE near 82nd street & Powell for 7 years. I have seen enough bad stuff. When I drove around TV hwy and Aloha, I actually didn’t feel these areas to be bad because I am living in the worst area after all. However, my realtor keeps telling me to avoid Aloha and that got me curious.
My work in downtown is near 405 and Whole food. My hours are typical so having easy access to Max is a big plus to me. I can’t imaging spending 45min in traffic on Tv hwy or Farmington each way to downtown every single day. I think I prefer pay more for the location in exchange for the convenience and time saving. Max probably will take me 40-45 min door to door from 185 max station but at least I can read or sleep on the Max.
Is there a potential safety issue to live so close to the max? (Autumn Creek) Their sales staff is very aggressive and only says the good things about the community.
I lived out in Hillsboro for a brief time at Baseline and ~230th. Not exactly the area you're talking about but I did drive through it regularly for my job in Beaverton. The traffic to run regular errands (e.g. groceries) in that area killed me. It just seems to be a crossroads where a lot of different people are trying to get through. I suspect if you don't have to drive for work then dealing with it once a week won't be so bad.
I really appreciate everyone's insight, especially HonuMan. I have lived in SE near 82nd street & Powell for 7 years. I have seen enough bad stuff. When I drove around TV hwy and Aloha, I actually didn’t feel these areas to be bad because I am living in the worst area after all. However, my realtor keeps telling me to avoid Aloha and that got me curious.
My work in downtown is near 405 and Whole food. My hours are typical so having easy access to Max is a big plus to me. I can’t imaging spending 45min in traffic on Tv hwy or Farmington each way to downtown every single day. I think I prefer pay more for the location in exchange for the convenience and time saving. Max probably will take me 40-45 min door to door from 185 max station but at least I can read or sleep on the Max.
Is there a potential safety issue to live so close to the max? (Autumn Creek) Their sales staff is very aggressive and only says the good things about the community.
You should ask your realtor why he or she is telling you to avoid Aloha. It could be as simple as your telling him/her, "I don't want to have to deal with a long commute." Good realtors pick up on the things you say, and they steer you accordingly, which helps avoid wasting your time and theirs. Our realtor, who has been in the business for over 20 years, and whom everyone else in the business we run into knows and speaks highly of, tells us that Aloha is a great location. The schools are good, it's close to the various Intel campuses and other businesses, and home prices are lower than in areas closer to Hwy 26. If you're looking for future resale value, she advises, "Buy near where businesses and good schools are located."
Last year, the Oregonian ran an article about Aloha. One potential drawback is that it's unincorporated (i.e., it's not part of either Beaverton or Hillsboro), which means that it doesn't have certain services of its own, which means that some business owners are reluctant to open businesses there, which reduces the tax base, which means that it could suffer economically in comparison to incorporated areas. If I recall correctly, Aloha recently won a large grant to find ways to make the area more attractive to businesses, which could in turn lead to incorporation at some point. I didn't entirely understand the subtleties of the article, because I'm not aware of any services we don't get. I've never been assessed for road repairs or anything like that, which happens in some places, such as Multnomah Village.
My downtown work place used to be within walking distance of a MAX station, so I took the MAX for years. I'd usually go to the Elmonica station, but sometimes I'd go to Willow Creek or Qatama. I never felt even remotely threatened -- it's primarily a business and student commuter crowd that rides the MAX from the western 'burbs. I wouldn't worry about safety at Autumn Creek. Crime can occur anywhere, of course, but I've been frequenting that area since 1999, and I've always felt safe.
We were dealing with Elizabeth at the Autumn Creek sales office. She was very nice to us, and wasn't pushy. There was another woman there who was a bit aloof and unfriendly, so we always asked for Elizabeth. Our realtor used to work for Polygon properties, as well as a couple of other places. She has no vested interest anymore in steering people there as opposed to elsewhere, but she said that Polygon homes are well made, and she could wholeheartedly recommend them. I think Autumn Creek would be a good investment, due to being so close to the MAX line, Tanasbourne, and Intel. If we didn't want a bigger yard and a slightly bigger house, my wife and I might have bought there.
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Their sales staff is very aggressive and only says the good things about the community.
