Best SE Neighborhood to buy a house? (Portland, Beaverton: apartment complexes, lease) - Oregon (OR) - City-Data Forum

TygrrEyzz · 03-16-2012, 10:11 AM

I have been looking at houses in the SE neighborhoods... This would be my first house and I'm looking for something in the 100-130 range. Brentwood has a lot to offer in this range but I want to make sure it's a nice place to live. I would be willing to live in any neighborhood in the area as long as it's safe and affordable. Thank you!

12MILBID · 03-16-2012, 10:45 AM

Brentwoods OK but be careful, there are very sketchy areas and not so sketchee areas.
Plenty of petty crimes.
Your defination of "NIce" is what?
If you cans affford it, look in Woodstock.
Google portlandcrimemapper and input the address of the house that intrests you for crime stats.

TygrrEyzz · 03-16-2012, 05:30 PM

I have definitely heard good things about Woodstock. I realize that my word "nice" is pretty vague. Let's just say... nice as in the houses are well kept, I can feel safe walking at night, leaving a window or two open during the day, that sort of thing. Doesn't have to be upscale or anything fancy but yeah.. nice.

davemess10 · 03-16-2012, 09:31 PM

Ah! Someone who needs my help!

We bought in Brentwood Darlington last year. We got a 4 bedroom/1.5 Bath 1360 sqft. house with attached garage for $126k. Granted we got a pretty good deal on this house (Better than most), but I really don't think you'll find that kind of a deal ANYWHERE else in the city.

The neighborhood is kind of transitioning from a worse area 10 years ago (most of the houses still have driveway security fences, flood lights, and metal bars on some doors and windows) to a more mixed neighborhood. All the people who complain about Pdx having no diversity need to come hang out at my house for a while. Brentwood is a VERY diverse neighborhood, with whites, blacks, hispanics, Asians, and Russians. There are quite a few older couples who have hung on from the older days, so it's not quite as vibrant as some of the newer, hipper neighborhoods, but I think it's transitioning a little towards that (though lacking a true "town center" or shopping/restaurant district I don't think it will EVER rival Alberta or Hawthorne. It is definitely working class, or Blue Collar there though. You won't find many yuppie types. I remember the average household income in Brentwood/Darlington is around $50k/year or so.

Were we worried about crime a little, but we've been here for 7 months now (and knock on wood), have really had no issues other than the occasional piece of litter thrown into our lawn (and we live on a pretty major street with a busline, so get a lot of foot traffic. I actually crime mapped our old apartment (over in SW on Beaverton HIllsdale Hwy), and it had higher crime scores than our current house. Honestly I think it's much safer in our neighborhood than in our friends' who live in Vancouver. We are not worried to walk outside at night, and have been pretty happy with the lack of crime so far. There are a few sketchy pockets here and there. Not to sterotype but many of them seem to revolve around apartment complexes (one of the most notorious being the apartments North of Mt. Scott community center (which is awesome by the way) on SE 72nd. It kind of goes house by house/block by block. Some are well maintained, other are kind of crappy. There are blocks here and there where almost all the houses are nice.

One thing to think about. If we had it to do again, I would have tried to buy in Mt. Scott Neighborhood (adjoining to the North). Brentwood/Darlington was only incorporated into Portland in the 80s, so many of the streets do not have sidewalks (it's the weirdest thing some streets, mine included, have paved sidewalks, house by house, as that owners of each individual house probably had to approve or pay for the paving). There are a lot more unpaved, super sketchy Mud roads too. We live on Duke St. which is an arterial running East to West. It's also the dividing line between Brentwood and Mount Scott. WE live on the Brentwood side, and our side does not have continuous sidewalk, but the other side (Mt. Scott) does. The houses kind of bounce around in value too, for instance, our neighborhoods two houses away have a house valued at $280k.

I do think the prices for Mt. Scott will be up a little higher. But I monitor houses around us quite a bit while walking the dog, and there are still plenty of reasonably priced and great deal places. (there is a new one that I saw the other day on Carlton at about SE 65th. All in all, a good move in ready house in the area can probably be found for $130k. If you're willing to do a little work though, there are A LOT of good options that will probably net you a decent return if you do some updates.

I would second the recommendation of Woodstock, it has a GREAT town center, and there are good restaurants and shops (we have about 4 hardware stores within a mile of us!). Problem is that your price will go up quite a bit. We actually bid on a house on SE 51st, only a few blocks from Woodstock downtown (but kind of trapped by dirt roads), and we lost it at $118k. It needed a good bit more work than our current house (like the kitchen probably had to be redone to be functional), but those kind of houses are available on occasion. If our house was within 5 blocks of downtown woodstock though, would guess it would probably have cost us $165k or so. We're only about a mile from Woodstock though, which is a pretty easy bike ride or long walk away.

One other thing to note, these neighborhoods have GREAT access to 205, which can actually put you into downtown pretty quickly, or up to Vancouver in a flash (we have friends who own a climbing gym in downtown Vancouver, and we can get there in under 20 mins., which is about how long it would take us to get to the PRG or Circuit in NE Portland). You'll also have good access to the MAX green line, so getting the airport is pretty easy.

So long story short, I would highly recommend Mt. Scott. Good Community center with fitness center, great indoor pool, and even a roller rink. A few good restaurants, His Bakery (great), and we have 4 decent parks within 1 mile of our house. Good proximity to Woodstock, and pretty easy access to workplaces in the SE and outer NE (I work at Providence Hospital and it's a super easy 4 miles to get there). Don't let people scare you with talk of "Felony Flats". Many Portland have never been to this area, and really don't know much about it.

Feel free to PM me with questions, or if you want me to go take a look at a particular house you find (as I said we're walking through the neighborhood daily with our great dane).

Sorry for the length, guess I just have so much to say (I do live here after all).

TygrrEyzz · 03-20-2012, 12:13 PM

Thank you so much for your lengthy and detailed reply. It's really helped me envision the neighborhood. I was drawn towards it because I like the SE area but cannot afford Woodstock prices. I suppose it would have to be a situation where I'd need to see the area for myself and know what kind of street I was moving in on... But yes I will probably be messaging you in the future. Thank you SO MUCH for your help!!!

davemess10 · 03-20-2012, 09:59 PM

yeah, honestly it is one of the last cheaply priced neighborhoods in Portland.
It's not super trendy, but it's a pretty good place to live.

Happy searching, and don't hesitate to contact me.

One issue you will run into though is lots of "Where is that?" of "Isn't that in Clackamas?"

TygrrEyzz · 03-21-2012, 04:11 PM

It'd be a starter house for me... My boyfriend and I will be fresh out of college and we just can't afford anything in the "nicer" neighborhoods. We are happy with a place that is safe and clean, it doesn't have to be anything trendy for fancy. I was surprised that the prices are so much lower than woodstock and surrounding neighborhoods... realized there had to be a reason for it. As long as I lived on a safe block I'd be all right.

davemess10 · 03-21-2012, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TygrrEyzz

I was surprised that the prices are so much lower than woodstock and surrounding neighborhoods... realized there had to be a reason for it.

Portlanders are fickle, and the price for walkability is at a Premium here.

Heidi60 · 03-21-2012, 07:33 PM

If you are buying your first home be sure to look for earthquake structure damage and consider:

http://www.oregoninsuranceadvisor.co...-a-fault-zones

When you think you have found the one, use your own independent property inspector as someone who works with salespeople may not have your best interest as top priority. Avoid trees close to the structure as rats or other critters can use them to get into your attic and chew on wires, which is why a good electrical inspection is also a good idea. Remember, location is really important when it comes to selling your first home in the future. Don't buy too close to a convience store or high school.

Nell Plotts · 03-21-2012, 10:00 PM

PLEASE don't buy a house right now, rent. You and boy friend are not yet married. Wait until after you have 4-5 years of employment and are married at least a year before purchasing a house.

As high as rent is now let me assure you that a mortgage, insurance, property taxes, utilities, and maintance will be more. If you rent you can move if your place of employment changes without incurraing the high transaction cost of selling and buying another house, even if you must pay to break a lease.