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I spent a few hours scouring threads in hopes of not being too terribly repetitive, so I apologize in advance if I am.
The lowdown:
My husband and I plan on relocating our family to the Portland area in early August 2013. We both love the PacNW and have wanted to move for nearly a decade but various obligations (mainly his schooling) have kept us here (Orange County, CA).
My husband works for his father (he is still CEO, but sold the company almost a decade ago) and the parent company has a Portland office (on NE 172nd). The plan is for him to transfer to that office and basically do his same job (designer/sales/engineer) while shopping his novel and working on getting published and, eventually, a college-level teaching job. We are still working out the details of this transfer, but it seems pretty much in the can.
My background is as a litigation secretary. I make a very comfortable salary with excellent benefits, but I really would like to be home with our children and focus on my side business (a children's Etsy shop that is growing), especially given that I would be taking quite a salary cut, while our daycare bill would remain nearly the same (we pay almost $3K per month including our eldest's tuition).
I have family in the Portland area (Aunt/Uncle, three cousins and their families). My parents also plan on relocating to the Portland area in the next 5 years as does my younger sister and her family (although they will probably be in Beaverton).
Despite our white bread sounding professions, husband and I are pretty eclectic people (so we like to think) and our friends in Portland assure us it is a great place for us (and from our experience visiting there over the years, we wholeheartedly agree). We are languishing here in Orange County. I feel like I have been marking the days on my prison cell waiting for my husband to finish his education so we could move away.
I know it's gloomy. GLOOOMY even. I know there are a lot of butthole Californians that move there and ruin things. We don't want to change Portland, we love you the way you are. We just want to insert our little family into your little city. We're hoping to ditch one of our cars eventually and wear the tires of our Burley trailer out exploring your restaurants and gardens and shops. I'm dying to trade in my awesome gigantic container garden for raised beds and a composter and a worm colony. I want to be somewhere people don't treat me like a weirdo for cloth diapering and extended breastfeeding my children or making my own babyfood. (Not that all of Orange County is that way, to be fair). I hate the heat and although I love the beach, I am okay leaving it behind. We love biking to the farmers market and cooking together as a family. We are well-read, happy, outgoing people. We live in paradise, but it isn't OUR paradise.
Our credit is spotty (something we are working on improving quite a bit before the move - we have a nice amount of money coming in at the beginning of the year earmarked just for resolving old debts).
Our plan is to move up with $25K, my husband's job transfer, get a place in the $1300 range (looking for a house preferably, but a duplex with house amenities like a yard and garage will work). We are prepared to pay six month's rent in advance and/or a larger deposit due to our credit. My cousin is a realtor and prepared to help us buy when we are ready. We are also using her as a resource to narrow down neighborhoods. We'd like to save up for a house down and eventually buy (given the city doesn't chew us up and spit us out as I am beginning to fear it will given the dark responses most posters seem to get on here).
We are going to move ourselves-no professional movers. My parents are going to drive the rental truck with the second car, my brother and SIL are going to drive up with us as well. My family (including the Portland family) will help us move in and get settled, then my CA family is going to drive back down together.
I swear there are questions in here. Look, here they are!!! (If you made it this far I will bake you some cookies when we make it to Portland).
1. Does our plan sound solid enough? If not, any suggestions for making it more likely to succeed?
2. Given our rental budget - which neighborhoods might be the best blend of affordability, decent schools, walkability, lower crime, and still interesting and eclectic? Keep in mind we've lived in Hollywood (very crime ridden), Long Beach (very mixed), and Orange County (very low crime). We don't expect no crime, but we would like to be safe. My husband will be working on NE 172nd and would prefer to take mass transit.
3. Any tips in general? The ones I see most popping up here tend to be of the "make sure you have a job already" and "if you love sunshine, don't come here" to boil them down into two camps.
4. How many glasses of wine does it take to stop freaking the heck out over this even though Portland is a town we've had a love affair with over the past decade? Ugh.
I'm not quite sure why you're panicking. It sounds as though you have put a lot of thought and preparation into it. Much more prepared than we were, at least.
One suggestion I will make, since you have one or more school age kids: if they will be attending public school, try to rent in the same district (and preferably the same school boundaries) that you eventually hope to settle in. I know that's hard to do without knowing the area.
The difference in sun will be quite noticeable to you, coming from such a sunny place Whether it will be a problem depends mainly on your temperaments. You may want to keep an eye on everyone's vitamin D levels.
When you are a season away from moving, you might keep in mind shopping for rain gear and warmer clothes for the kids. Especially if you can shop at the end of the season.
Haha, I wasn't really panicking until I found this forum, honestly! Everyone just keeps telling us how great it will be and that we shouldn't have any troubles. Then I read all these posts and it seems like there's a giant sign at the Portland City Limits that reads "Stop! Turn Back! No jobs! No rentals!"
It seems everyone I talk to about neighborhoods is giving us conflicting information. I feel like a big part of this is nailing down at least a *general* area we would like to live in. We were looking at neighborhoods in the SE (Mt. Tabor to name one) and some in the SW, as well as NW although that seems to be a shadier area.
live in. Presumably, husband's office will be in the NE. I'm not sure where it's realistic to move that satisfies our criteria (decent schools, homes not apartments, good walkability, pretty safe) that would be a place he could commute via mass transit as he hopes to. Also, I just don't have any grasp on transit times and personal opinion of areas from people with experience are priceless. Maps and walkability scores only tell you so much.
You may want to look at some of the areas east of Portland that are tiny little townlets - like Maywood. They aren't part of Portland or Gresham and have are part of the Parkrose school district. I know nothing about the quality of Parkrose but it's smaller than PPS or Gresham Public Schools which can be a good thing. Because they're not in Portland, it can be cheaper to live there.
Number one and most important. Find a realtor. Tell them what you want. Find a house or duplex whatever and wherever they may be available. That will be your biggest challenge. Forget the "raised beds and a composter and a worm colony" and the other nice stuff for now. That will come eventually. Focus on the bare necessities. Like housing and work. Housing first since you do have a good little nest egg to fall back on. A good realtor will tell you what's available in your price range and where you can find them.
The people on CD can give you a little insight to what the neighborhood may be like once the realtor has given you an idea of what will be available. But the key word here is "available." And that is something a professional person is going to be aware of more so than anyone else.
I do have to be honest with you though. Your profession of litigation secretary will be a tough business to get into. I am sorry but I know those who have changed careers who were in that field out of frustration because of the extreme competition. You may as well know that going into the the field here. But, never say never and perseverance may get you something in time. The right place at the right time and lots of networking can turn the trick. Don't limit yourself to law firms. Large insurance companies and other corporations use litigation secretaries. And there are employment agencies that specialize in placing them.
No one is intentionally doom and gloom. You sound like you are someone who would fit right in but people are telling the truth about the negatives to which you are referring. But you seem to be very well prepared, a lot more than most. So best of luck to you.
Thank you for the input! I did find some cute places in the Parkrose District that I liked.
My cousin will be our realtor for any rental/home purchase. She is helping us, but I am hoping to get a variety of sources. We'll be going up a few times before actually moving to see neighborhoods in person, I am just at this point trying to get together a budget and backup plan and narrow down that search.
I hope to not work as a litigation secretary. However, I actually do have some word of mouth referrals for firms up there if it ends up I am going to need to seek employment. Your comments regarding the insurance litigation field are extremely reassuring as I have worked for large insurers in the past, and also in the insurance litigation field. I'm actually pretty ridiculously qualified and have knowledge of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada state laws as well as Federal law and am a senior litigation secretary to managing partners. But, again, I hope to end my tenure as a litigation secretary and focus on my small business and children. I've worked hard putting my husband through school and now it's my turn to devote some time to my passions. Of course, realistically, we will do whatever it takes to further the future of our family. I am willing to make a career change as necessary, and it is good to know in advance that might be something I will have to do.
Looks like I need to talk to my cousin a bit more in depth this week and next and see what we can come up with together. It may be that I am being a bit premature and I really just need to wait until we go up and look around. It has been a few years since our last trip up north and our lives and needs have changed a lot since then. The neighborhoods I loved as a musician touring through Portland are probably not the ones I will love as a mother of three.
First off, what is wrong with being "White Bread"?
But having asked that question, You are going to do just fine. In fact you are one in a hundred posting here with a real plan that should produce a successfull outcome. Welcome and good luck.
Nothing! It takes all types to fill the bakery; I was just trying to give a more in-depth description of us and adding a little levity to my long and boring post.
Thanks again, everyone. I am going to talk to my cousin this week and will hit you all up in the nearish future for some sagely advice regarding the neighborhoods we narrow down. Glenfair/Maywood/Parkrose is where we are starting.
My cousin has assuaged my fears A LOT. We're going to focus on the Mayfair/Parkrose/Parkrose Heights area. The walkscores, crime map data, types and prices of homes, and proximity to my husband's work are all big selling points. I like their little school district a lot and the NAC goals and participation seem good as well. The home prices aren't increasing as fast as other parts of PDX, but they are increasing, which is encouraging.
My question to you folks is this:
What's the difference between Parkrose/Parkrose Heights/Maywood? I know they have different NACs, but just as far as local perception. Can you maybe rank them for me?
Any neighborhood with a NAC is going to end up being a neighborhood with too much drama.
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