Is vancouver a cool sister ? (Portland, Tigard: renting, homes, to buy)

[PDXsailor]

Portland offered to extend the Max train into Vancouver when it was being constructed, but Vancouver refused. Such as things are with Vancouver. The City does not like to be part of the Portland Metro area. Another bridge needs to be built, and it will be interesting to see if Vancouver will want to cooperate.

[chocobot18]

Originally Posted by babycoleslaw

I am living in Omaha right now and do agree...we're relocating to the northwest this summer and have mainly focused on Portland just for that reason.
I would be interested to learn more about Vancouver though. Is there an area there considered the 'safest' with great education, especially for a child w/ a disability???
I'd love any input!!!

Hey Babycoleslaw,
Well if you're looking for a place in or around Portland, I'm one of the guys to talk to. Beaverton and the rest of Washington County (west of Portland) are expensive and overpriced but the schools are good. East county (Gresham and Troutdale) have their good and bad parts. Troutdale and the Reynolds School District is doing ok though. South Portland area (Lake Oswego, Tigard, West Linn, Oregon City) are expensive and I don't know much about the schools. Vancouver is ok too. They have two school districts, Vancouver and Evergreen. Evergreen gets top marks as a school district. Vancouver is like any city, some parts good, some bad. East Van is full of cookie cutter houses but is rapidly growing and covers Evergreen SD. West Vancouver and downtown are older but still appealing. Although if you live in Vancouver, you're living in WA so sometimes one can feel left out of the next door large Oregon mainstream. Kinda like what you said about Omaha and Council Bluffs.

[babycoleslaw]

Originally Posted by chocobot18

Hey Babycoleslaw,
Well if you're looking for a place in or around Portland, I'm one of the guys to talk to. Beaverton and the rest of Washington County (west of Portland) are expensive and overpriced but the schools are good. East county (Gresham and Troutdale) have their good and bad parts. Troutdale and the Reynolds School District is doing ok though. South Portland area (Lake Oswego, Tigard, West Linn, Oregon City) are expensive and I don't know much about the schools. Vancouver is ok too. They have two school districts, Vancouver and Evergreen. Evergreen gets top marks as a school district. Vancouver is like any city, some parts good, some bad. East Van is full of cookie cutter houses but is rapidly growing and covers Evergreen SD. West Vancouver and downtown are older but still appealing. Although if you live in Vancouver, you're living in WA so sometimes one can feel left out of the next door large Oregon mainstream. Kinda like what you said about Omaha and Council Bluffs.

Thanks Chocobot18!
I'm thinking we're not going to look much into Vancouver...I just really feel the pull to Oregon.
I think we're focusing on the south/southeast areas of Portland from Lake Oswego to Clackamas (including Milwaukie) south as far as Wilsonville. Though Oregon City seems cool I got an e-mail from their director that they do not practice inclusion so they are out right away.
Do you know anything about Milwaukie? Their homes seem pretty cool and not as expensive and their district seems inclusive...on the internet anyway! Did see that the Johnson Creek area has flooded so we want to avoid that. Is flooding there the norm or are their flood plains???
Thanks again for your help!!

[Tobin]

If you live in Vancouver and work in Portland your commute will suck. There's only two ways to get across the Columbia river to reach Portland from Vancouver. And one of the bridges is way out East. So there's really only one straight-shot way to cross from city to city (I-5).

Camas will aways be known as a mill town. No matter how many residential developements they put out there.

[babycoleslaw]

Originally Posted by Tobin

If you live in Vancouver and work in Portland your commute will suck. There's only two ways to get across the Columbia river to reach Portland from Vancouver. And one of the bridges is way out East. So there's really only one straight-shot way to cross from city to city (I-5).

Camas will aways be known as a mill town. No matter how many residential developements they put out there.

Thanks, again, Tobin! I really think we're wanting to be on the Oregon side of the Columbian...I'd hate that commute I think!!

[Jackman]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

Many years ago, Vancouver, WA had a reputation for being somewhat of a tax-shelter haven: you could live in Vancouver and not pay any state income tax, while shopping in Portland and paying no sales tax.

Can you still live in WA and work in OR and not pay any state income tax in either state? I looked into doing this by living in New Hampshire when I worked in Boston, but it turned out that I still would have had to pay income tax in Massachusetts. Which is the worst scenario of all, since the money wouldn't even have supported my own state.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

Are there any plans to extend TRI-MET's yellow line over the river into Vancouver? Given Portland's reputation for smart development, I'm suprised they haven't done it already. With only two bridges, I would imagine the rush hour trip to Portland is pretty awful.

Vancouver is not as progressive when it comes to spending the money to extend the light rail into Wa. So if you move there plan on spending that money you save in taxes on gas while you are sitting on the 1-5 or 1-205 bridge.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by PDXsailor

...I can usually spot a 'couve car 100 yards away... it is usually the beat up ghetto car......

That's b-cuz we used to pay license fees on value of vehicle, so... a new car would cost you $500+ for annual fees. I just do what most of my friends in Portland do, we go to the abandoned vehicle auctions on Thursday, and pick something up that will get us by until it runs out of license plates.... (very popular in OR, as they have 2 yr expiration on tags) I have bought about 25 cars for under $50. and they work just fine, excluding leaky ones... ( I do title and license mine in WA so folks can 'spot' me , unlike my OR friends...)

Are there any plans to extend TRI-MET's yellow line over the river into Vancouver? Given Portland's reputation for smart development , I'm suprised they haven't done it already. With only two bridges, I would imagine the rush hour trip to Portland is pretty awful.

Yes, unfortunately.... the Vanc Mayor put his weight behind it last week, and told the Vanc Residents who don't want MAX to move to a 'small town'. I say unfortunate b-cuz PDX light rail is not very efficient or safe. (runs over people, wheelchairs and firetrucks ) and it takes A LONG time to get from point A to point B. If... they would have designed the system to run seperate from surface level auto, pedestrian traffic, (elevated or underground) it could have been good (witness, I-84 and I-205 corridors, which are fast and safe) instead, they turned a 7 minute drive (vanc to downtown) into a 30 minute; stop and go; dangerous and congestive commute; and really messed up the businesses (Interstate Ave).

Having lived in several international and US cities where you have to use Mass Transit, PDX really screwed up... They should have started with objectives of..."How can we get folks from Gresham, Hillsboro, and Oregon City into downtown in 20 minutes during peak hrs, and from Battleground in 30 min"; Safely without messing up the surface level transportation and commerce along Interstate, and Burnside. This would have been trivial, tho more intitial expense, ridership would have been sustained high, and the mutliple folks who have been killed or maimed by errantly crossing infront of a silent (but Heavy) electric train would still be contributing to economy, their families and riding MAX...

What is Camas like??? (from an insider...I'll still do my search! lol!!)

probably a decent option, thousands of folks think so. I would be finding work in WA. There are quite a lot of opportunities on the north side of the river, and no income tax (8% raise + 1+ hr / day commute savings + parking & fuel costs) I can handle commuting to PDX when working 'off-shift', but I'm not into the traffic thing.

Would be best to find a spot near your work (if you have a great job), if you have a 'this will do job', then find a nice place to live, and keep your work hrs to a minimum. It seems to me, it is much easier to find yourself in a ghetto in PDX and metro, than Vanc, but they exist each side. Do be aware of your INTRAstate commute if you stay south and work south, There are some ugly commutes within the metro area, but I-5 (bridge to Vanc, or south from PDX central) seems to be the consistant 'worse case'. Beaverton-Hillsboro can be a parking lot too. And recently I've heard traffic reports of I-205 backed up from SOUTH I-5 jct to SR-500 (~30 miles) Try to get a spot where you can walk to work (in the dark and the rain...) it will save on gym costs

[diggitydot]

Originally Posted by Jackman

Can you still live in WA and work in OR and not pay any state income tax in either state?

Well...yes and no. Because WA doesn't have an income tax, you wouldn't pay one there regardless of where you lived or worked. And if you do your work in Oregon, you pay Oregon income taxes. No way around it unless your company is based in Oregon, but you actually do your work out-of-state.

While WA doesn't have an income tax, it does have a sales tax on all items except food. Most people end up getting their larger purchases in Oregon to avoid this issue.

[chocobot18]

I've been told that if you work in OR but live in WA you do have to pay the income tax but you get most of it back each year after you do taxes. Don't quite know how that works though.