Forest Grove/Hillsboro area (Portland: hotel, townhomes, established neighborhood)

[deegers]

Hi gang,

my "bou" is taking a job offer in Portland and his area will be in the Forest Grove/Hillsboro area. I'm too lazy to do a search right now on information of this part of the valley. Anyone have anything they can share of this side of the valley?

IF you need specific subjects: are they newer communities that are growing? Cookie cutter homes or older homes? How far is that a drive to downtown Portland? Do you like the areas? What is your experience....

Thanks!

Oh, and if you do know of a thread that is a good place for info on this, feel free to link it as well.

Any pictures???

[tiffela74]

well, in Forest Grove they have the BEST fruit stand ever!! Pruits. (i thnk thats the spelling) and if they are out, or not open for some reason, theres a couple more, including YouPicks right there in the area that are simply outstanding! So, theres a bonus.
My dad lives out in FG. He really likes it there. The area he lives in is an average neighborhood, I think the house was built in about the late 70s/early 80s, on 3/4acre, just inside town. My husband and I actually looked into buying there about 8/9 yrs ago, we looked at both some new construction neighborhoods, and even better, some very old farmstyle and victorian homes. There are some quite beautiful ones out there!
Its I guess a pretty average smallish town. They have the stores like Safeway, Bimart, FredMeyers, and then several smaller locally owned places. Theres an incredible McMinnimums out there, it used to be a very highend nursing home, and then was bought out and turned into the pub/resturant/hotel/etc. Its neat, I really liked it, we had our HS reunion there.....
Uhmmmmmm...lets see.....theres plenty of parks out there in/around FG. Also some protected wetlands w/paths and informative centers that can be fun to go through. Henry Hagg Lake is right up the road and a very popular spot for boaters/fishermen/swimmers/hikers/etc. Might be able to google it. I remember too many a summery day that friends and I...well,.....took out of school a bit early a day or two,here and there...to go play at the lake. (bad me!! bad bad bad!)
I cant think of how long it takes to get to Portland from there to be honest....I grew up out there for several years, so I was all over the backroads, cant tell you too much about how long things take to get to much out of town.
The HS was fairly crappy when i was there, but they have a newer principal that came in and turned everything around, making some impressive headlines and all. I hear great things have been happening there the last few years....
anyhow, theres a few of my thoughts....I figured Id just drag you in w/the fruit stands and youpicks! LOL
Tiff

[tiffela74]

Washington County -- Scoggins Valley Park / Henry Hagg Lake
for Hagg Lake questions/answers....

Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce

FG, w/some pics and links you might want to check out...

[John Shaft]

Forest Grove feels more like its own self-contained small town than a suburb of Portland. It's quite a commute if you are going into downtown. They are building some high-end homes out there but I suspect the housing downturn is really hurting them that far from PDX.
Hillsboro is much larger and more spread out, so it's hard to give a similar quick overview. A lot more established houses and new construction is primarily limited to cookie-cutter TINY lots or townhomes with shared walls. FWIW I wouldn't buy anything built during the housing rush over the last 4 or so years - there was no incentive to build it well because people were gobbling up everything - and there was plenty of incentive to throw up junk, overcharge, and quickly move on to the next construction site. Out there IMO you will get more bang for your buck (sturdier construction, larger lot) if you go for an established neighborhood.

Obviously, for Hillsboro, the commute time is less than from FG, but not inconsequential (depending on where you are going, of course).

[deegers]

Wow, thanks guys for your info! Tiffany, great stuff that you posted. I'll will definitely check out those sites. Anyone else have opinions they would like to share?

ANyone have pictures?

[scone]

If you haven't already done so, I'd download Google Earth to get a good look at the area. Also, there are local Hillsboro and Forest Grove newspapers online. I'd definitely read that stuff for background. I'd post the link but I'm not sure it's allowed. Just google "Forest Grove" "oregon" and "newspaper" to get there. Forest Grove is particularly nice, in my opinion, because of Pacific University. Students add a lot of energy there. Also there are wineries, some shops, and my favorite lunch place, Maggie's Buns. Lots of carb-loading pastries, also great salads and sandwiches.