Need advice (Portland, Union: houses, per square foot, income)

[Mrs Kich]

My husband works for the Union Pacific railroad and as such as the economy is going we are thinking of relocating to Portland from Reno, NV. My main questions and concerns are:

1. Is the cost of living lower in Portland area than here in Reno?

2. I would love to stay home with my 2 yr old twins, but would like to take them fun places to visit.

3. We have snow here (yuck) but do have quite a bit of sun, am I going to regret the weather??

4. What are the summers like? Temps?

Thanks to all of you that can help with hard decision. I dont mean in this in a bad way but Oregon was my last choice, but such as life, I need to do whats best for my family, so I need any POSITIVES you can give.

THANKS

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Originally Posted by Mrs Kich

My husband works for the Union Pacific railroad and as such as the economy is going we are thinking of relocating to Portland from Reno, NV. My main questions and concerns are:

1. Is the cost of living lower in Portland area than here in Reno?

2. I would love to stay home with my 2 yr old twins, but would like to take them fun places to visit.

3. We have snow here (yuck) but do have quite a bit of sun, am I going to regret the weather??

4. What are the summers like? Temps?

Thanks to all of you that can help with hard decision. I dont mean in this in a bad way but Oregon was my last choice, but such as life, I need to do whats best for my family, so I need any POSITIVES you can give.

THANKS

1. Houses are about $210-240 per square foot. Property taxes are about $1,200 per year for every $100,000 of assessed value. State income tax is about 8%. I think groceries are very reasonable if you shop at Winco or somewhere like that. Stack that up against Reno and determine which is cheaper. Across the river in Vancouver, WA houses and property taxes are about 25% cheaper.

2. I think any city with over 2,000,000 people (metro area) and the Columbia River National Scenic Area, coast & mountains near by should provide plenty of fun.

3. You'll have little to no snow and about 70% less sun, and a lot of rain. It's not the best place for kids to play outside. Many non Oregonians find the constant gray skies very depressing, but others get used to it.

4. The summers are wonderful. July thru September have average high temps in the mid 80's and we average about 15 days per year above 90. The humidity will be much higher, but it's certainly bearable and nothing like the southern US. We have lots of parks, bike trails... great place to be in the summer.

[EnricoV]

There are tons of things to do with kids in Portland.

This website (http://www.alphamom.com/hotspots/2008/10/portland-oregon-things-to-do-with-kids.php - broken link), provides an interesting star.

Here's another one that looks more like an events page, but will give you ideas of what's out there.

This one has a lot of info, but it seems a bit harder to search.

[subsound]

There are tons of things to do, events every weekend for everyone.

Temps are pretty narrow to more dry inland areas, between 50 and 80 average so far in my experience. It can reach between 40 and 100 temporarily. A good amount of clouds, not as much rain but enough for a good amount of moss to thrive. Rarely snow, even an inch can get people talking about emergency procedures.