Considering job in Tanasbourne area (Portland, Beaverton: for sale, apartment, renter)

[redguard57]

I currently live in Bend, OR. I'm considering taking a job that's in the Tanasbourne area outside of Portland.

I travel to Portland area now and then but rarely get that far west of the city, so not very familiar with it. Even though in Bend our housing costs have gone insane, it seems PDX is much worse and that's an expensive area of it. I can't afford much more than $250K or $1250 a month. Is there anywhere I could commute from where housing would be in the 200-250K range and low crime?

I'm considering Beaverton, but people have told me there is a gang/crime problem there. Is that true?

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by redguard57

I'm considering Beaverton, but people have told me there is a gang/crime problem there. Is that true?

Have you looked at a map of Beaverton? Where exactly are these gang/crime issues? Is everywhere in Bend equally safe and beautiful? This is just me, but if an employer, located in a tony (nice) part of town wants me to come work for them, unless they pay me sufficient salary to live IN said tony area, I am not interested.

[Yankeemama]

Aloha outside of Beaverton is supposedly the area with crime and gangs. I think parts of Hillsboro have the same issue but I could not comment from first hand knowledge. I moved to Beaverton this past Summer from a nice area of NE Portland and it is wonderfully quiet and relaxing here.

[patches403]

Originally Posted by redguard57

I currently live in Bend, OR. I'm considering taking a job that's in the Tanasbourne area outside of Portland.

I travel to Portland area now and then but rarely get that far west of the city, so not very familiar with it. Even though in Bend our housing costs have gone insane, it seems PDX is much worse and that's an expensive area of it. I can't afford much more than $250K or $1250 a month. Is there anywhere I could commute from where housing would be in the 200-250K range and low crime?

I'm considering Beaverton, but people have told me there is a gang/crime problem there. Is that true?

The vast majority of the West suburbs are pleasant places to live; there are very few areas affected by gangs and the areas that do have higher crime have mainly non-violent crime, things like theft, car prowls, etc. Those areas tend to be pretty obvious when you're touring the area so as long as you avoid choosing anywhere that looks sketchy you should be fine.

You haven't said if you have a family or not but your biggest issue will be budget; 200-250k will get you no more than about a 1,200 sq ft condo/townhouse on the West side of the metro and $1,250 in rent will get you a one bedroom in a good complex or a 2 bedroom in a lower-end complex. So depending on how many bedrooms you need and whether you want a SFH, you may not be able to afford the kind of housing you want very close to your job. The nice thing about working in Tansabourne is more affordable towns like Forest Grove are only about a half hour commute away so that could be an option. I would definitely recommend renting rather than purchasing for at least a year to give you time to get a better feel for the area and where you would prefer to live.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by redguard57

I'm considering Beaverton, but people have told me there is a gang/crime problem there. Is that true?

A while back, I asked someone to point me to this horrid, slummy, violent part of Beaverton where the worst social problems exist, and I didn't hear back.

Your price range is another issue entirely. We almost closed on a house in Forest Grove for around $260K, but it had too many issues. I'm not sure how far out you have to go to hit your price point now, but if you were willing to take a very small house, you might find something. I just got my property tax statement and it turns out that my house dropped in value, but the value of the land went up more, so I interpret that to mean that increasingly you're paying for the piece of dirt.

[thedownlow]

None of these areas are remotely even close to worth what they are charging these days. I hate to see the rent costs a year from now.

[bler144]

I like a lot of the areas around Tanasbourne, and even a few complexes in Tanasbourne (lived in one for a few years while the prices were exploding), and I find the crime thing overrated, even in Aloha.

Cost of housing, OTOH is a real problem. Even with all the development over there, things are squeezed. According to forrent.com the 2BR/2BA, 1050 SqFt apt we moved into for $850 or so in 2010 now costs $1500/mo.

[lovelysky]

IMHO, I think you can find a house around 250k in Hillsboro. It will be a modest home in an older neighborhood... and probably will be a great investment one day as Hillsboro is growing and tech/manuf companies are moving there. And the house will probably have more yard than many of the new homes popping up with asking prices over 500k.

I also think the crime may be overrated. The schools do have low scores and that is something that may or may not deter you. The shopping in Tanasbourne is great!! And you will be within an hour to the Ocean.

Good Luck.

Here are some examples of houses for sale in the mid 200K.

1383 NE OLEANDER Ln
Hillsboro, OR 97124

2146 SE 54TH Ave
Hillsboro, OR 97123

[redguard57]

Some more info that people have asked about...

It's just myself and my wife. We don't plan to have kids in the short term so schools are not that important for the time being. I would be the one with the job, the main reason I'm considering the move are for her job prospects. Central Oregon is horrid for jobs... it's all service and McJobs. Quite frankly I don't know where people get their money to afford the half-million dollar homes around here.

My commute is currently 30-35 minutes (I live in Redmond... cannot afford to live in Bend by a long shot) so I can tolerate up to about 45 minutes one-way. Since I only go to PDX to visit, I'm not exactly sure what kind of radius around Tanasbourne that gives me. Other than the bridges over the Columbia River, I've never really experienced bad traffic there, so I'm not sure what kind of flexibility that gives me east-west or north-south.

I would much rather buy than rent. I was pretty sick of being a renter before and really never want to go back to apartment living. I may make 40-50K from selling my house here in c.o. which I can leverage toward a down payment. We could afford more if we blanked our savings out... but a safe proposition would be a house in the 200K range give or take. We currently live in a 2/1, 1000sf and so we don't need much more than that (would love to have 1300sf though).

[Nell Plotts]

There aren't many (any) problematic neighborhoods in that area. Back in the day Cornelius used to be a farmworker community but I don't know if that is true today. I recommend you look online for the locations of homes in your price range, target areas from that search, and look.