Moving questions: when and where (Portland, Beaverton: transplants, apartment complexes, rentals)

[Tycho Brahe]

Sorry for yet another thread on moving. If it helps, I occasionaly answer questions in my current locale, so hopefully I will have some karma coming my way.

My wife has an accepted an offer for a position in downtown Portland starting Sept. 15. We will be moving from Central California with a one-bedroom worth of furniture and a cat. We are looking for a 2BR (perhaps 3BR) house or townhouse. Please note, we are not from California and have only been living here for 2 years.

WHEN

My first question is when should we look for a place? Obviously since the job starts a month from today the answer is now, but that would not be realistic remotely. Would it be possible to find leases that start in the middle of the month? If we were to get a place starting on Sept. 1, how likely would it be to find any availability? October 1st might be a better date, but that would require living in a temporary location, which is difficult when you have pets.

If we were to look for a place starting Oct. 1, when should we start looking? End of August or early September?

WHERE

Yes, the age old question: where to move to? The ideal place would be a standalone house on a not huge lot. We do NOT want to be far from our neighbors. Ideally, a driveway separating the residences. Townhouses and multi-family houses are good as well, basically anything that is not an apartment complex.

Access to the MAX/public transit is important. Walkabilty is also important, but not as much. We would like to be able to walk to a restaurant or two, a bar and a small grocery store. We do not mind having to drive to access more goods and services, but do not want to rely on a car for something as simple as milk. Of course, we would love to live in a more bustling area, but do not want to have to fight for parking. Our current think of a price range is $1500-2000.

I can go on more, but I will try not to ramble even more.

[Nell Plotts]

I would look in the vicinity of Orenco Station. Rental housing is tight right now, you may need to settle for good enough vs ideal.

[Yankeemama]

To the O.P.- Thanks for assuring us that you are NOT from CA. Some of us regulars on C.D., like myself, are born and reared in CA. There are so many real California transplants that live here. You don't have to make a note that you are not FROM CA. Good luck.

[bler144]

The rental market is tight, and it's not a 'Town Home' city for the most part. SFH and then apts. will be more common, generally speaking but if you look enough you will possibly find a TH or SFH in your range.

Time of month doesn't matter that much imo. You might see a few more 10/1 postings than 9/15, but I don't think the difference is big enough to strategize around.

You can do some shopping remotely, but typically most postings are for things available immediately to 2-3 weeks out, and things tend to move so fast that no one is liable to 'hold' a property for you.

I'd recommend starting on https://www.padmapper.com/search/apa...egon/portland/ and just play around with the sliders. You'll likely find options on the west side (though even some places that fancy themselves as town homes are multi-unit), but in your case I might say the north side is worth more of a look.

You can find some smaller 2BR SFH up around Overlook/Arbor Lodge in that price range: Classic Craftsman, Around the corner from Adidas! and as far as public transport your wife would have the option of either the Greeley bus line or the yellow MAX line, depending on where exactly you were living.

[SETabor]

If the position is downtown, I wouldn't start the search at Orenco Station. That's a decent area and may be an okay place if you do need to settle for something quick but I think it's a pretty far commute for someone needing to go downtown every day.

I would start the search with ideal locations and then spread out from there. In your situation, I would start with Nob Hill and Goose Hollow. You likely won't find many rentals that aren't apartments but you could get lucky.

Then, move the search to the inner east side - maybe from Brooklyn to Sullivan's Gulch. Brooklyn may be too far south. These areas should still allow very easy (almost walkable) distance to getting downtown.

Then, move the search further east and maybe a little west. If you go to the northeast, look for something on the 4 or 8 buslines. If you head further southeast, look for something on the 4 or 14 busline. The west direction gets tricky due to the West Hills so you either have to have good bus access or be near a max line (e.g. Orenco Station).

I'm assuming you're already looking using padmapper.

[pdxmilw]

Bus service from all of the inner eastside to downtown during commute hours is good, and there are lots (tons!) of little sections of restaurants/shops to live near- Hawthorne, Division, Sellwood, Alberta, Hollywood, Irvington, Woodstock. At that price range, I'd think you'd find some small SFH or townhouses. There's not much out there right now when I glance at Craigslist, but I know I saw houses from $1400-$1800 when I was looking recently.

There are also a fair number of duplexes in Portland. The price is usually quite a bit cheaper than a house, from say $1000-$1500. If you go outside Portland, even less.

[Tycho Brahe]

Thanks for all the responses. I am glad that no one though my requests were not too demanding. Perhaps tough, but not impossible. I am looking for a neighborhood with a good walk score (we are used to walking tons), but nothing were parking at my own home is crazy. We have friends in Beaverton, and we know that the suburbs are definitely not for us. On the flip side, we would like to hang out in the Pearl District, but would not like to live there.

I have not looked at individual places yet because I am still learning the neighborhoods. Some are suggesting the west side, others the east side, very daunting. What would help me out immensely is a mapping site like padmapper where the MAX lines are highlighted. I cannot tell how far an apartment is from the MAX since I do not know the stations.

What exactly is a duplex? To me, that indicates a two-story apartment. How common are SFH and townhouse rentals?

EDIT: just noticed padmapper has advanced overlays such as walk score and mass transit. Very cool. They did not have these options two years ago.

[SETabor]

A duplex is like a two unit townhouse. When I hear townhouse, I think of multiple (at least 4) units stuck together.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by SETabor

A duplex is like a two unit townhouse. When I hear townhouse, I think of multiple (at least 4) units stuck together.

noun
1.
NORTH AMERICAN
a house divided into two apartments, with a separate entrance for each.

Right. The exact orientation doesn't matter - the two units could be upper/lower, front/back, or side/side. But a duplex is always two units - the 'two' is right there in the name.

Conversely a town home could be two units, or 4, or 20, but they're almost always in a side/side arrangement. So some duplexes are town homes, but not all, and vice versa.

[Tycho Brahe]

Sounds like a duplex is what I consider simply a multi-family home.

After reviewing some listings, apartment complexes with built in facilities sound very appealing. We will be new, so having community mixers would be great for us. Still undecided about SFH vs house. I tend to prefer houses since I prefer small landlords and not some management company.