Does This Exist in Portland? Seeking Your Advice. (2014, condo)

[Carlingtonian]

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I'm wondering if what I'm about to describe even exists in Portland. There's some chance I may soon have a job opportunity there. It would be a big move from the DC area (Northern Virginia, to be specific). Over on our forum, we too get a lot of "Where should I move to?" threads--so I will try to be as detailed as possible and will not just "post and run," never to be heard from again.

If I get the job and we decide to move out there, here's what my wife and I would be looking for:


1. Detached house, preferably prewar but small is OK. 3BR/2BA or thereabouts. We could live with smaller if we had to. We cannot do a townhouse or condo. (Done that before in our youth.)

2. Budget--let's say for now about $400-$500K. (Depends on how soon the Mrs. can find a job there too.)

3. Safe, quiet, suburban-style neighborhood within 45 minutes' transit commute to downtown--I assume I won't get parking at work--and with plenty of big trees. Again, we love old houses--the older the better.

4. Plot at least 6000 square feet, to afford good separation from neighbors and noise.

5. Area without panhandlers. I do have compassion for the mentally ill homeless, but I don't want them living or begging near my house. And when I see able-bodied but filthy young people hassling passersby for change--they seem to infest downtown Seattle--I want to shave their heads, hose them down, and send them to the Marine Corps for reprogramming. (Alas, the Marines wouldn't take them.)

6. I don't care about schools! We have no kids and usually don't care to see those of others. So bad schools are fine--although if they're bad because it's generally a struggling area of town, no dice.

7. Neighborhood where people aren't always in your face with their politics. We're liberal on most social issues, conservative-ish on a few others. But we think politics, like religion, is a private matter. I don't want some hippie knocking on my door asking me who I'm voting for or frowning at me all the time because we don't drive electric cars or Subarus. I loathe the tie-dyed, dreadlocked-white-person, social-justice warrior types--but we would be equally out of place in Vancouver, WA, if that means Chevy Tahoes, mommies who think they run the neighborhood, throngs of screaming children, and golf.

8. We would like an area where neighbors keep to themselves (e.g., no block parties or cliques) but are civil and friendly when they see you. The more DINKs, older gays, widow(er)s, divorcees, and empty nesters, the better.

I know--I'm crazy, right?

Thanks again--look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[CanuckInPortland]

You should look at parts of SW Portland or somewhere like Garden Home--sort of spread out country-in-the-city type suburban neighborhoods where things tend to be a lot quieter than closer in Portland yet you're fairly close to downtown and lots of old folks who keep to themselves.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland

You should look at parts of SW Portland or somewhere like Garden Home--sort of spread out country-in-the-city type suburban neighborhoods where things tend to be a lot quieter than closer in Portland yet you're fairly close to downtown and lots of old folks who keep to themselves.

Thank you! Sounds perfect.

[bler144]

If you aren't worried about schools, 400-500k is an ample budget for a SFH and opens up a lot of the city. So I'd say you have lots of options. Not to say you wouldn't be outbid now and again.

I was tempted to say Rose City Park / Roseway, but inventories in both those neighborhoods are miniscule. So I'll swing the other way and say you should look at NoPo - Arbor Lodge / Overlook / Kenton / University Park. Commuting in/out of downtown on Greeley via the Steel bridge is usually pretty smooth. Northbound you can get some backup for the turn at Killingsworth IIRC. But nothing that a NoVa person is going to blink at.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by bler144

If you aren't worried about schools, 400-500k is an ample budget for a SFH and opens up a lot of the city. So I'd say you have lots of options. Not to say you wouldn't be outbid now and again.

I was tempted to say Rose City Park / Roseway, but inventories in both those neighborhoods are miniscule. So I'll swing the other way and say you should look at NoPo - Arbor Lodge / Overlook / Kenton / University Park. Commuting in/out of downtown on Greeley via the Steel bridge is usually pretty smooth. Northbound you can get some backup for the turn at Killingsworth IIRC. But nothing that a NoVa person is going to blink at.

Thanks very much--good info there.

Interesting to see one recommendation for the north side of town and another for the SW side. Is there not one side that's regarded as safer/more upscale than the other?

I LOVE that Goose Hollow area, but it looks like everything there is in the millions.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Thanks very much--good info there.

Interesting to see one recommendation for the north side of town and another for the SW side. Is there not one side that's regarded as safer/more upscale than the other?

Go back 20 years and there was a more definitive answer. So much of the city has gentrified since that at this point it's mostly about personal taste/aesthetics than any sort of 'hard fact' on which side is best.

Not to say there aren't any undesirable pockets at all.

[Tulippsy]

Check out Sylvan. Beautiful area, close to downtown, single family homes in your price range. Along with the ones in the millions, of course. I think those are everywhere, nowadays.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by Tulippsy

Check out Sylvan. Beautiful area, close to downtown, single family homes in your price range. Along with the ones in the millions, of course. I think those are everywhere, nowadays.

Thanks, I'll do that.

[SETabor]

With your budget, I don't think you'll have trouble finding most of what you want. The 6,000 SF may be a problem as standard city lots are 50x100. Of course there are exceptions but most places in the city won't meet that rule. Newer subdivisions have even smaller lots.

I think you should consider Garden Home or Multnomah Village in SW, University Park and Overlook in N, Grant Park and Alameda in NE, Laurelhurst or Eastmoreland in SE and Sylvan in NW. There are other neighborhoods and things are changing throughout the city due to increasing housing prices.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by SETabor

With your budget, I don't think you'll have trouble finding most of what you want. The 6,000 SF may be a problem as standard city lots are 50x100. Of course there are exceptions but most places in the city won't meet that rule. Newer subdivisions have even smaller lots.

I think you should consider Garden Home or Multnomah Village in SW, University Park and Overlook in N, Grant Park and Alameda in NE, Laurelhurst or Eastmoreland in SE and Sylvan in NW. There are other neighborhoods and things are changing throughout the city due to increasing housing prices.

Thanks much. I'll add those to the list. Had no idea prices were on the rise out there. They have been in the DC area for a good 10-12 years, but government contracting (and to a lesser extent, the gov itself) boomed after 9/11.

(BTW, I'm no math whiz, but our current lot I think is 50 x 100, and it's 6600SF.)