Must leave the frying pan (Portland, Beaverton: for sale, condo, hotel)

[jealousy]

My husband and i have been in Kingman AZ for the last 25 years now and have come to the end of our rope. We have just shut down our third and finale construction company. All the poop going on in the country made the death of our company quick and very painful. We were in the Portland Astoria area in 05 and just loved it all. I come from southwest Massachusetts and my husband is from souther California. We met in Arizona, raised our kids and did the best we could, now its time to move out of the frying pan. My husband of course is in construction and although i to am in the construction field i am by profession a Dog Groomer of 17 years. We love the outdoors, camping, fishing and hunting. We don't care to much for big cities and have been looking at maybe Hillsboro, Beaverton or some other out lying area. One way or another we are heading in that direction. Everything we have here is for sale. As soon as our house sells we will store all that we have and head to Oregon. this site will make it a bit easier to do this as i can chat with people who live in the area. I would like to get back to Grooming and my husband is going to go back into building maintenance, maybe for a hotel or resort. I would like a little feed back on Beaverton Hillsboro and other areas. And if any one knows if i will have to obtain a license for my grooming other then city type license for operation. By the way hello to all from the pan.

[Candle]

I wouldn't consider Hillsboro and Beaverton to be one of the outlying areas. Sure it's technically outside of Portland but congestion is high and there isn't much open space, relative to other areas nearby.

Go visit those cities first if you can...because they are cities. If you are looking for a smaller city but not too small, look around Scappoose. It's about a 20 mile drive west of Portland.

[jealousy]

Thanks i will check that out. it is going to be a field experiment, I think a little trailer will be a good way to go till we decide. I'm sure no matter where we look it will be very different from Arizona and not just in the obvious. we look forward to the adventure.

[Bluesbabe]

I was glad to read that your husband intends to redirect his trade, because construction companies are having a helluva time here; in fact, several BIG ones have closed down. New single-family residences are at a standstill.

I don't know what your financial situation is, or what type of housing you're looking for. If you're after a condo, check out Orenco Station in Hillsboro. A little pricey but you may love the condo village, plus it's a short walk to the light-rail to Portland. So convenient.

I live in Hillsboro and like it. There are many nice neighborhoods in and around the city. The biggest problem here is gangs. LOTS of Mexican gangs, which means neighborhoods (older parts of town) that are not safe. It's almost rare to see single cop cars pull anyone over; it's almost always in pairs, sometimes more. At least the city is well-staffed with police.

Beaverton is a more yuppie'ish burb, and also with good emergency services. Traffic is a *****, though ~ ALL OVER! Worst lack of traffic flow imaginable. Much dense housing. And if you're interested in utilizing mass-transit then study the system maps well. Because much of Beaverton ~ the south side ~ is NOT served well by it.

You should also check out Forest Grove. It's a college down but very quaint, close to beautiful Haag Lake. Scappoose and St. Helens are other options.

[John Shaft]

All good suggestions. You can actually find some nearly "country living" in the outlying areas of Hillsboro and Beaverton (outside the urban growth boundary).

I do want to second the caution about the construction industry. The nationwide mess is just now starting to hit this area, so if you've already experienced it elsewhere, it won't be fun to experience a second time.

[Candle]

Originally Posted by Bluesbabe

I was glad to read that your husband intends to redirect his trade, because construction companies are having a helluva time here; in fact, several BIG ones have closed down. New single-family residences are at a standstill.

I don't know what your financial situation is, or what type of housing you're looking for. If you're after a condo, check out Orenco Station in Hillsboro. A little pricey but you may love the condo village, plus it's a short walk to the light-rail to Portland. So convenient.

I live in Hillsboro and like it. There are many nice neighborhoods in and around the city. The biggest problem here is gangs. LOTS of Mexican gangs, which means neighborhoods (older parts of town) that are not safe. It's almost rare to see single cop cars pull anyone over; it's almost always in pairs, sometimes more. At least the city is well-staffed with police.

Beaverton is a more yuppie'ish burb, and also with good emergency services. Traffic is a *****, though ~ ALL OVER! Worst lack of traffic flow imaginable. Much dense housing. And if you're interested in utilizing mass-transit then study the system maps well. Because much of Beaverton ~ the south side ~ is NOT served well by it.

You should also check out Forest Grove. It's a college down but very quaint, close to beautiful Haag Lake. Scappoose and St. Helens are other options.

Beaverton gives me flashbacks of southern California.

[Wicked Felina]

Originally Posted by jealousy

And if any one knows if i will have to obtain a license for my grooming other then city type license for operation.

Hi, jealousy. I know very little about the areas you're looking at for relocation.

I met a lady who runs a boarding/grooming place in Tualatin, where I was thinking of boarding my dog. She was from out-of-state and told me that all she needed to open up her shop was a business license from the city. She also told me that anyone can open up a grooming shop, trained or not. I wonder how accurate that is in your experience?

[Bluesbabe]

Originally Posted by Candle

Beaverton gives me flashbacks of southern California.

Why is that? Traffic? I don't like Beaverton, myself, but a lot of people obviously do. It's gotten pretty doggone pretentious in certain 'hoods. Personally, I much prefer Hillsboro all-around.

[Candle]

The traffic, the look of the city itself, the demographics, the lifestyle (ok yeah it is a city but...), the weather...

[jealousy]

wow I'm so glad I got all this response, I thought for sure that my post had now been bumped to the bottom never to be seen again. yes my husband and I are out of the construction game. After over 25 years this last hit was it for us. Construction is bad all over the country but Arizona is one of the worst behind Nevada. We built three beautiful custom homes and all of them went back to the bank in forclosure. He has been applying for jobs there in the building maintenance field and getting good feedback but I think the fact that we live in Arizona is stopping him from being hired. He is more then willing to go there before me to secure a job , and I would follow later. We plan not to buy right away, but to buy a fifthwheel and scope out the area's we are interested in first and buy land to build on, or distressed properties for fix up. it will be in the out lying area's for sure, we are just not city people. We love to hunt and fish. A nice garden and a few livestock would be ideal.

As to the question of grooming, yes it is the norm that a person can open a grooming shop with little or no training at all. I went to work for a pet store 18 years ago that needed a groomer and didn't care that I only had true training in bathing and not in grooming. I worked there for two years and received training in the trial by fire class. I then moved to a bigger and better shop in town when I had improved enough. I now own my own shop in my home and all though its a very new shop and work is slow I'm enjoying finally being able to give to my clients the one on one treatment I always wanted to offer.

Anyway all this will be nice when we get there but for now I wait for my home to sell in a very crappy market....this could take a while. I so enjoyed hearing from all of you and look forward to more