Why Middle Class Americans Can't Afford to Live in Liberal Cities (Gresham: condo, living in)

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Clearly I don't know what your opinion of Portland is, feel free to state what it is if you want, I don't really care.

I have no disdain for Spokane, I was just stating a fact like you were.

You are right, I will never be able to say I was born and raised in Portland, I don't care that I wasn't and doesn't change the fact that I call Portland my home town. You are welcome to read my past posts about Portland, but not sure what you expect to find because I have lived here longer than I have been on this site.

Oh I reread what you wrote, you were simply stating a fact that Portland home prices have gone up 400% in 30 years, good to know.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by rzzzz

Median household income seems like a good way to define the middle class, since it's in the middle.

Maybe, though $50k for a household is fairly close to two people working barely above minimum wage. If two people are each making $15hr then they would be making $60k a year.

[redguard57]

God. I'm born and raised from Texas, now living in Oregon. I swear, the most annoying people in Texas are the yuppie transplants who rave about how great it is there & how much house they could afford. Texas gets a lot of people who parachute in with better educations provided to them by their states where the schools are funded properly and there's less crime. They can get those middle and upper-middle class jobs that the poorer Texans cannot.

For a household making around $55K which would be working class, they can probably afford a house that's somewhere around $150K or less. You can't find a house for that in Portland.

You can't find that in Houston either. I just did a Zillow search and there are two neighborhoods where 3/2 houses in Houston pop up at that price range - to the south and southeast of central Houston. I'll give you two guesses as to what demographics populate those areas and I'll give you another guess as to the crime rates.

There are plenty of houses in that range outside Houston - but then you're subject to those 30 to 50 minute one-way commutes every day in good traffic.

Portland is experiencing what most major metro areas in the U.S. are with regard to the housing market. Owning a home is beyond the reach of households making less than $70K (100K in the very expensive metros) unless major concessions are made by the prospective owner in terms of their expectations.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by rzzzz

Isn't the rise in housing cost the crux of the issue in a thread titled "Why Middle Class Americans Can't Afford to Live in Liberal Cities?" Thirty years ago the middle class could afford to live in liberal cities. Now they cannot, mainly because housing prices have gone up 400%.

Funny thing is, for the most part Portland WAS a fairly liberal "live and let live" city 30 years ago.
It was quite the place to express yourself.
Portland had personality, was finding itself, it was cool, fun, cheap, had good music, lots going on, it was an exciting place to be if you realized what was actually going on!

It just wasn't the kind of trendy, mainstream, commercialized "liberal" we have now.
It's now more of a playground for well heeled people who like to call themselves liberals.

FOR THE RECORD:
I AM NOT UPSET OR COMPLAINING ABOUT PORTLAND OR THE CHANGES PORTLAND HAS GONE THROUGH.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

clearly i don't know what your opinion of portland is, feel free to state what it is if you want, i don't really care.

You'll find out eventually, but I would very much appreciate it if you didn't constantly try to tell me what my opinions are.

i have no disdain for spokane, i was just stating a fact like you were.
Thank you!

you are right, i will never be able to say i was born and raised in portland, i don't care that i wasn't and doesn't change the fact that i call portland my home town. You are welcome to read my past posts about portland, but not sure what you expect to find because i have lived here longer than i have been on this site.

You keep embellishing your oregonian-ism, but you have also posted your history.
Keep it straight.

oh i reread what you wrote, you were simply stating a fact that portland home prices have gone up 400% in 30 years, good to know.

Thank you!

:d:d

[redguard57]

it was cool, fun, cheap, had good music, lots going on, it was an exciting place to be

Other than cheap, it still has all that. $150K houses can be found in Vancouver. A few in Gresham, Fairview, Happy Valley. That gives you a commute equivalent to living in Sugar Land, Katy, or Tomball outside Houston (still traffic is much worse there).

It's the same damn thing.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

:d:d

My history and ties to Portland and the Northwest have never changed, not sure what you seem to think it is but I wouldn't be surprised if it was incorrect.

You can have whatever opinion of Portland that you want, lots of cities change over 30 years because we all get older. The things I liked to do 10 years ago isn't the same things I like to do today and for my wife and I, Portland and the Portland metro fits with what we want out of a city.

For us it is still a city and metro where one can own a home if they work hard enough for it and have a decent paying job.

[almostjay]

Well, this thread sure has devolved.

Can we all at least agree that Portland/Oregon is better than New Jersey? I mean, that's just a cold, hard fact right?

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by almostjay

Well, this thread sure has devolved.

Can we all at least agree that Portland/Oregon is better than New Jersey? I mean, that's just a cold, hard fact right?

Haha, ain't that the truth.

[Tulippsy]

Also much better and slightly less expensive than greater Fort
Lauderdale.