Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know there are TONS of forums on here very similar to this but in order to get every one of my questions answered, I figured I would write my own personalized post. My boyfriend (24) and I (21) are currently saving to relocate to Oregon this December. We are strongly considering Portland. We are both from south Georgia so this will be a huge change for us all around.
I've been doing as much research as I can to try and narrow down our neighborhood choices. Our goal is to be able to find a decent 1 bedroom apartment for less than $1000 a month. $800 would be amazing. Nothing too fancy necessary but a neighborhood we feel safe in is important and it needs to be relatively close to a grocery store, job opportunities, etc. We are mostly homebodies and aren't interested in the bar/club scenes if that's any help. My boyfriend wants to put away 6 months rent for when we move just so we have money to fall back on should anything happen. We plan to try and secure jobs before the move.
My boyfriend is a car guy and drives a really nice car that he's put thousands into with modifications so I was wondering about the car break ins. I know that seems to be a common crime in Portland. Any areas we may be safer? How much more do you think an apartment with a garage would run us? I won't be bringing my car on our move so I also need to be close to the MAX or public transportation so I can commute to work.
As for jobs, I am a coffee fanatic (which I know is not uncommon in Portland) and my ultimate goal is to open my own coffee shop one day. I would love to move there and work as a barista (I will have 2+ years as a barista by the time we move) until I can open my own shop. I know coffee shops are easy to come by but with so many young people moving there, is it still hard to secure a job as a barista? My boyfriend is a vet tech currently and has been for 8 years now. He doesn't necessarily want to continue in that field once we move and would be more interested working in a mechanic shop somewhere in town. How easy is something like that to come by without a degree?
We ARE interested in continuing our education once we move. We may wait until we can secure in state tuition to apply. Is it a one year wait in Oregon? We aren't interested in any one school particularly but I want to complete my major in business and he wants to get certified as a diesel mechanic.
Are there any neighborhoods which may be able to accomodate all of the above? I am more concerned with being near coffee shops since I won't have a car right away. I will have a car by the time we apply for school so it is okay if that is a 15 minute drive or so. We are used to driving that far for ANYTHING where we live now.
One last note, out of all of the research we've done, Portland seems like an amazing fit for us BUT I've read about the lack of jobs and rising real estate prices. If there are any towns somewhat nearby you recommend BESIDES Portland (I've heard Eugene is nice but haven't looked into it much) please let us know! We are still pretty open to anything at this point! Thank you so much!!
Have you been to Oregon yet? Why are you choosing to move to The West coast from The South? I only ask because it is pretty expensive to live out this way, even for professionals with good jobs lined up. I think you may find Eugene or Portland Metro to your liking but they are different. I advise you to google Stumptown Coffee which is a local brand that has won the hearts of foodies worldwide. We have some of the best coffee in the country. Come for a coffee trip and if you like beer... drink that, too! I think you and your boyfriend need to spend some time here first before you spend your savings on a move that will get eaten up very quickly. Portland isn't cheap. Other posters can address the school residency requirement but I am sure you can find out for yourself quickly. You may want to check out PSU. Good luck.
We are still pretty open to anything at this point! Thank you so much!!
Are you open to continuing your lives in South Georgia for the time being? Seriously, I read your post a couple of times, and I don't see anything in it that indicates readiness for the challenges of a cross country relocation. You are both way under-educated, under-saved, and not at all prepared for the realities on the ground in a place as different from where you live now as Portland is. My SO has three graduate degrees and I have advanced IT certifications and still Portland drained a good portion of the 50K in savings we brought with us. That's right. 50K. You want to live somewhere safe and attractive, you have to pay for it. $800/mo. won't come close to getting you someplace safe and attractive. Nor will $1k/mo. I tell people in your situation to forget completely the idea of vehicle ownership in Portland, or anywhere. You can't afford it. A nice car to boot? You will need a garage. More money. Daily driving in Portland traffic means you WILL wind up in a minor accident in two years. Body and fender work: $$$. Added insurance $$$. Don't do it. Think this through again.
I know there are TONS of forums on here very similar to this but in order to get every one of my questions answered, I figured I would write my own personalized post. My boyfriend (24) and I (21) are currently saving to relocate to Oregon this December. We are strongly considering Portland. We are both from south Georgia so this will be a huge change for us all around.
I've been doing as much research as I can to try and narrow down our neighborhood choices. Our goal is to be able to find a decent 1 bedroom apartment for less than $1000 a month. $800 would be amazing. Nothing too fancy necessary but a neighborhood we feel safe in is important and it needs to be relatively close to a grocery store, job opportunities, etc. We are mostly homebodies and aren't interested in the bar/club scenes if that's any help. My boyfriend wants to put away 6 months rent for when we move just so we have money to fall back on should anything happen. We plan to try and secure jobs before the move.
My boyfriend is a car guy and drives a really nice car that he's put thousands into with modifications so I was wondering about the car break ins. I know that seems to be a common crime in Portland. Any areas we may be safer? How much more do you think an apartment with a garage would run us? I won't be bringing my car on our move so I also need to be close to the MAX or public transportation so I can commute to work.
As for jobs, I am a coffee fanatic (which I know is not uncommon in Portland) and my ultimate goal is to open my own coffee shop one day. I would love to move there and work as a barista (I will have 2+ years as a barista by the time we move) until I can open my own shop. I know coffee shops are easy to come by but with so many young people moving there, is it still hard to secure a job as a barista? My boyfriend is a vet tech currently and has been for 8 years now. He doesn't necessarily want to continue in that field once we move and would be more interested working in a mechanic shop somewhere in town. How easy is something like that to come by without a degree?
We ARE interested in continuing our education once we move. We may wait until we can secure in state tuition to apply. Is it a one year wait in Oregon? We aren't interested in any one school particularly but I want to complete my major in business and he wants to get certified as a diesel mechanic.
Are there any neighborhoods which may be able to accomodate all of the above? I am more concerned with being near coffee shops since I won't have a car right away. I will have a car by the time we apply for school so it is okay if that is a 15 minute drive or so. We are used to driving that far for ANYTHING where we live now.
One last note, out of all of the research we've done, Portland seems like an amazing fit for us BUT I've read about the lack of jobs and rising real estate prices. If there are any towns somewhat nearby you recommend BESIDES Portland (I've heard Eugene is nice but haven't looked into it much) please let us know! We are still pretty open to anything at this point! Thank you so much!!
You should be able to find a grocery store. Portland's goal is for grocery stores to be within a 15 minutes of walking distance.
By the time you get there, you're not going to find a decent apartment for what you want. While you're saving rent money to get t your goal of six months rent, your goal total may be only worth four or five months rent.
Your best bet is to get to a neighborhood before gentrfication hits. Right now, it looks like the Montavilla neighborhood is the next to topple before the oncoming hordes. Also, a lot of the newer apartments don't come with parking spaces.
Part of your boyfriend's future may rest on how quickly Portland moves away from a car culture. May not be that much future work at mechanic shops. If I were him, I'd become well-acquainted with fixing hybrids and electric cars.
There are plenty of coffee shops. I suppose with Skype and other technology you can interview for them before you come out. Portland coffee shops seem to embrace quirky and alternative baristas.
Last edited by SyraBrian; 05-11-2015 at 10:19 AM..
I'm not sure I've ever heard of a 1BR apartment that includes your own garage. Parking lot, sure, maybe even a covered 'carport', but not the kind of thing in which you could work on a car and store tools. That's not just in Portland but in any of the parts of the country I've lived in. Admittedly are all major cities. Can you find options like that in rural Georgia?
I'm not sure I've ever heard of a 1BR apartment that includes your own garage. Parking lot, sure, maybe even a covered 'carport', but not the kind of thing in which you could work on a car and store tools. That's not just in Portland but in any of the parts of the country I've lived in. Admittedly are all major cities. Can you find options like that in rural Georgia?
I've seen a few with full garages that in Tanasbourne at some of the more upscale complexes, but garage space is a premium cost, even above the cost of a carport (also premium and not included in rent).
So even assuming current 1BR rates are $850-900 (might be higher), IIRC the garage rental is something like an additional $75-125/mo on top of that vs 40-50 for a covered carport [or free for an uncovered spot].
So can it be done? Yeah. Can it be done on $800 mo? Probably not.
One last note, out of all of the research we've done, Portland seems like an amazing fit for us BUT I've read about the lack of jobs and rising real estate prices. If there are any towns somewhat nearby you recommend BESIDES Portland (I've heard Eugene is nice but haven't looked into it much) please let us know! We are still pretty open to anything at this point! Thank you so much!!
Vancouver WA is right across the bridge(s) I call it Portland North, less crowded, more affordable with the added benefit of no state income tax (if you work in WA) and you have all the benefits of Portland in a short drive drive (off peak hours of course.) The down town Vancouver area is really cool, and feels really quaint.
I travel for work, and I can understand the desire to move out West, I really dislike the South, and the North, with the exception of Chicago but have to agree its really expensive out here.
Vancouver is a good suggestion. Very little in the OP makes me think "has to be Portland!" and Vancouver is perhaps more in line with what you want anyway.
That said, for rents Vancouver isn't really THAT much cheaper than some of the other suburbs - most of the available cost savings comes in purchasing, which probably isn't on the table.
In terms of local education residents of Clark County do get some residency consideration at PSU, but you may just want to look at WSU-Vancouver anyway if living north of the river rather than commuting into downtown Portland for an education. And people in WA drink coffee as well.
"Our goal is to be able to find a decent 1 bedroom apartment for less than $1000 a month. $800 would be amazing."
Not necessarily impossible to find an apartment in that range in Portland, but most likely it will be near 82nd Avenue or Killingsworth (not nice areas as you can probably guess), 40+ years old and will feature paper thin walls and get frigid most of the year and boil during the summer months. Just warning you. The economy in Portland is terrible too, it's worse than you've been told. Trust me, it's extremely hard finding a non-medicine related job in Portland even if you have a degree. And once you get a job chances are it will pay little and you'll be treated very poorly. I have a friend who's in his early 50s, he's a teacher and has multiple degrees and he can't find work in Portland because he's "overqualified".
Another thing is I think you'll be disappointed in the public transit. Trimet is good enough that it makes a decent supplement to your car, but I'd advice against leaving your car at home. I lived there without a car and I felt quite trapped, it took forever to get anywhere and I found myself unphased by walking 2 or 3 miles to get where I needed to go. Sometimes it was actually faster than waiting around for the next bus.
I think Eugene is a better choice. Outside of South Eugene and the university it's not exactly the prettiest or classiest burg, but it's far from a hell hole and the people here are really kind and outgoing unlike in snotty Portland. It's MUCH cheaper than Portland too, you can find one bedrooms for $600 or less here. I just moved here from Portland and I like it. Eventually I do want to leave the West Coast, but for now Eugene is great.
I'd also suggest Asheville. From everything I've seen and heard, it's very similar to Eugene but without the rampant drug problems, douchey frat-boy mentality in the college area and it's a much prettier city and lies in what I would consider a more scenic area, though the Eugene area is very beautiful too. I have a good friend there who likes it a lot, only thing is it's not very walkable unless you live in the downtown core. It's probably the most liberal city in the South, though it's in a very conservative state with bad politics, though IMO Oregon is quite backwards in many ways too describe being pretty liberal.
Last edited by Mini-apple-less; 05-12-2015 at 01:18 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but have to agree its really expensive out here.
The economy in Portland is terrible too, it's worse than you've been told. Trust me, it's extremely hard finding a non-medicine related job in Portland even if you have a degree. And once you get a job chances are it will pay little and you'll be treated very poorly. I have a friend who's in his early 50s, he's a teacher and has multiple degrees and he can't find work in Portland because he's "overqualified".
