Relocating - Neighborhood recommendations in Lake Oswego, West Linn, Wilsonvillle? (Aloha: 2013, HOA)

[Mandy2k]

Hello. We are a family from CA. We will be moving to the area in 2013 due to job relocation toTigard. Based on a brief scouting visit, we are looking to buy a home in either LO, WL, or Wilsonville, but really need help to narrow down the neighborhoods. We can afford about $500K.

What we are looking for in our new home/neighborhood:

- Excellent high school with great football and baseball programs
- well-maintained and friendly neighborhood
- 3-4 BR, 2000-3000 sf house with a decent size lot (6K to 10K sf)
- nice views with accessibility to plenty of nearby walking/running trails
- under 30 mins drive to Tigard office during rush hour (preferably <20)
- loved the hills in WL during out visit but it was windy. Is it generally windy? We're on the hills now and the view is great but we are so looking forward to escaping the unrelenting wind!
- good resale value
- newer style home(built in last 25-30 years)

I personally love LO for its great schools, beauty, cleanliness, endless trails, and close proximity to our work in Tigard. However, I keep reading and hearing from coworkers who live there now about how "snobby" and "cliquish" the people and high school kids in LO are. In general, is this really the case? Our son will be entering high school and he is friendly, polite, smart, athletic (plays football, baseball, and basketball) but more on the shy side. Being new to the area, I am mostly concerned about him adapting well socially at school and making new friends.

Anyway from some of the posts I read, it sounds like this issue isn't as prevalent in WL. So, I have a feeling we will end up buying in WL. I would love to get some neighborhood recommendations from the locals or ex-locals.

My husband really likes Wilsonville, so I would appreciate some recommendations there as well. We did drive thru the Park at Merryfield and Canyon Creek Estates Neighborhoods, but found the CCE homes to be too close to each other.

Thanks in advance for any insider perspective. We'll be back in the Spring to hopefully purchase so your help in narrowing down our search between now and then is most greatly appreciated!

[hamellr]

Aloha's Football team is doing excellent this year. That's pushing it for 30 minutes of Tigard, but hits just about every else you're looking for.

[Twilighter]

We live on the hill in West Linn. NE side, near the top. I can tell you that it's rarely windy enough to notice. Not enough to be annoyed by it. Occasionally it does get windy enough to really get the firs swaying, or bring down branches. Generally when that happens it is also windy at the lower elevations as well. I don't know if my experience is the same as someone on a different face of the hill. One thing to consider is that you will see more ice on the hill in the winter; that said, I still manage to get where I need to go in a non-4w drive car. My husband drives to work in Durham, a small area to the SE of Tigard, and it takes about 15 minutes on surface streets.

When we moved here four years ago we had basically the same budget and checklist for house hunting as you do. We found that any house in Lake Oswego in our budget was at least 30 years old, most often without any updates, or much smaller (i.e. 2 bedroom) than we wanted. We found a number of houses in West Linn that met the criteria. We also looked a little bit in King City/Bull Mountain, as there are newer homes there. We found that the newer the homes are, however, the smaller lot you will get (in this price range, and move-in ready.)

The Robinwood and Willamette neighborhoods in West Linn seem to have the most organized and active neighborhood associations. This may translate to friendliness; I'm not sure. My experience is that people are receptive to any effort I have made to be friendly. You can be near walking trails and one or more parks in any part of the city.

You can look at my past posts to see what I have to say about my perception of the social differences between West Linn and LO. Basically, I am relieved to have not landed there. I have a 10th grader and an 8th grader. Neither is interested in sports, so I can't speak to that. The arts programs in the WLWV district are quite strong.

[Sherwoody]

I like Sherwood. I think you can find everything you mentioned in your post here. If you aren't familiar with it I would suggest a look before making your final decision.

[Mandy2k]

Sherwoody,

Thank you for the suggestion. We have heard great things about Sherwood and it was on our list. However, we kept hearing that the traffic on 99W is horrendous and to avoid it at all cost! So with limited time during our trip, wr crossed it off. Maybe they'll trying to keep Sherwood a secret. are there back roads to get up to Tigard to avoid taking 99W or is traffic really not THAT bad?

Anyway, what parts or neighborhoods would you recommend? Also do you know much about the local high school?

Thanks again!

[Mandy2k]

Originally Posted by hamellr

Aloha's Football team is doing excellent this year. That's pushing it for 30 minutes of Tigard, but hits just about every else you're looking for.

Yeah..30mins is really pushing it. That would be a tradeoff if we find a house and neighborhood that we knew was IT but just the distance. Anyway hopefully we'll get another opportunity to come visit before we make a final decision.

Thank you for the recommendation...I will look it up.

[Mandy2k]

Originally Posted by Twilighter

We live on the hill in West Linn. NE side, near the top. I can tell you that it's rarely windy enough to notice. Not enough to be annoyed by it. Occasionally it does get windy enough to really get the firs swaying, or bring down branches. Generally when that happens it is also windy at the lower elevations as well. I don't know if my experience is the same as someone on a different face of the hill. One thing to consider is that you will see more ice on the hill in the winter; that said, I still manage to get where I need to go in a non-4w drive car. My husband drives to work in Durham, a small area to the SE of Tigard, and it takes about 15 minutes on surface streets.

When we moved here four years ago we had basically the same budget and checklist for house hunting as you do. We found that any house in Lake Oswego in our budget was at least 30 years old, most often without any updates, or much smaller (i.e. 2 bedroom) than we wanted. We found a number of houses in West Linn that met the criteria. We also looked a little bit in King City/Bull Mountain, as there are newer homes there. We found that the newer the homes are, however, the smaller lot you will get (in this price range, and move-in ready.)

The Robinwood and Willamette neighborhoods in West Linn seem to have the most organized and active neighborhood associations. This may translate to friendliness; I'm not sure. My experience is that people are receptive to any effort I have made to be friendly. You can be near walking trails and one or more parks in any part of the city.

You can look at my past posts to see what I have to say about my perception of the social differences between West Linn and LO. Basically, I am relieved to have not landed there. I have a 10th grader and an 8th grader. Neither is interested in sports, so I can't speak to that. The arts programs in the WLWV district are quite strong.

Twilighter, thank you for the detailed info! We visited the far end of Willamette (with easy to remember street names like Nicole, Michael). There was a mix of old and brand new homes. But what sort of turned us off was that while some lawns were meticulously cared for, the ones right next door were unkept with dead and overgrown grass/weed. Perhaps we were looking at the "not so great" section of Willamette?

Glad to hear that the wind is more of an exception than the norm. But the icy road is something we have not considered. I do like to run in the mornings and the idea of running down an icy road is probably not the best idea!

How is the traffic on 205 during rush hour? You said it takes your husband about 15mins to SE Tigard - does he take 205 or back roads?

I am pretty sure I've come across your other posts. Your username sounds very familiar but I will go back and look for them.

Thanks again!

[Sherwoody]

Originally Posted by Mandy2k

Sherwoody,

Thank you for the suggestion. We have heard great things about Sherwood and it was on our list. However, we kept hearing that the traffic on 99W is horrendous and to avoid it at all cost! So with limited time during our trip, wr crossed it off. Maybe they'll trying to keep Sherwood a secret. are there back roads to get up to Tigard to avoid taking 99W or is traffic really not THAT bad?

Anyway, what parts or neighborhoods would you recommend? Also do you know much about the local high school?

Thanks again!

I don't often travel at peak traffic hours but when I have had the occasion I find leaving Tigard it begins to clear after getting through King City heading towards Sherwood. I can't say I've ever been on the hwy to Tigard in the morning so perhaps someone else can speak to that. Roy Rogers Rd. will take you toward Tigard from Sherwood depending on what part of Tigard you are going.

I'm new to the area myself and my children are not of high school age yet, but there does seem to be a high level of support for the schools and their athletic programs.

[EnricoV]

I have no hard data, or anything. But I feel like I hear more positives about West Linn's sports teams than Lake Oswego's.

[Twilighter]

Originally Posted by Mandy2k

Twilighter, thank you for the detailed info! We visited the far end of Willamette (with easy to remember street names like Nicole, Michael). There was a mix of old and brand new homes. But what sort of turned us off was that while some lawns were meticulously cared for, the ones right next door were unkept with dead and overgrown grass/weed. Perhaps we were looking at the "not so great" section of Willamette?

Glad to hear that the wind is more of an exception than the norm. But the icy road is something we have not considered. I do like to run in the mornings and the idea of running down an icy road is probably not the best idea!

How is the traffic on 205 during rush hour? You said it takes your husband about 15mins to SE Tigard - does he take 205 or back roads?

Others may feel free to contradict me, but my observation is that the disparity in how "well-kept" the yards are is a metro-wide thing. Of course, if you visited in the summer, you would have seen more brown lawns because that is the result of no rain during the summer, unless one chooses to water. Many people choose not to water; it greens back up again in the fall. Aside from that, there is not the same proliferation of HOA type rules that you may be more familiar with. If you were wanting a more uniformly HOA-type area in West Linn, I would direct you to Barrington Heights, although your budget may not suffice there, and I would have concerns about the friendliness of the neighborhood.

It's not icy every winter morning, but more often than at lower elevations, and the ice lasts a little longer into the morning before melting off.

Husband drives back roads to work, and I believe it saves him about 10-15 minutes. It takes me about 15 minutes to get to Tigard on 205 at non-peak times. I rarely travel during rush hour, but when I do I have found it adds 10-15 minutes to any trip.