Thinking of moving to the Portland area (Milwaukie, Newberg: renting, low crime)

[lucara]

My fiance and I have lived in Florida just about our whole lives and we HATE it! We are looking for a new place to live in Oregon seems to fit almost everything we are looking for.
Right now we are looking at the Mount Saint Helens and Milwaukee (sp?) area. We would like to move to a place that fairly small and quite but is within 15-20min of Portland.

What is everyone's opinion on the cities that I mentioned and what cities would you all suggest?

I prefer the quite, country type living where as my fiance prefers the large cities and people so we are hoping to find the best of both worlds.
We both love the outdoors and look forward to FINALLY having a snowy Christmas and other regular season changes for once.
We are also looking for a VERY LOW crime area.

The job problem is a bit of a worry. What do you think of the job availability in the Portland and surrounding areas?

Also, what is the price of living compaired to Orlando, FL?

We are hoping to take a trip in June to visit Portland and the surrounding areas to kind of get a feel for it ourselves.

Thank you all in advance!

[upatnight85]

Why do you hate Florida? Nice weather there. Here in Portland it rains all the time.

[lucara]

Its overly hot and the humidity is almost unbareable. I hate all the theme parks and tourists that it drags in. I hate seeing subdivision and subdivision with no nature or wildlife outside of the random state park. I dont like the traffic and crime is beyond outrageous in most places in this state.
I hate not having season changes. It was 80* during Christmas last year. We are DEFINITELY ready to leave the rednecked hicks behind. I'm not talking about southern farmers either. I mean the rebel flag flying, beer chuging, jacked up truck driving morons who think they're the coolest thing since plumbing was invented.

Sorry for the rant. We're just sick of this place.

The Portland area seems perfect for us. We're going to look at renting in a smaller, nearby city like the 2 that I mentioned and then either biking, or using the public transportation to get to work and back.
I'm looking forward to the cool rainy days compaired to our drought seasons and wild fires. =/

[BLAZER PROPHET]

St Helens is a true small community, but it's got a lot of issues (it's beat up and a lot of crime). Milwaukie is just an extension of Portland and really isn't its own community.

If you do not want to actually live in Portland, but have it close by, I might suggest Wilsonville, Sherwood, Newberg or even Vernonia.

[Leisesturm]

I just finished up a post on something similar. I just don't get the: "I hate Florida heat, humidity, crime, etc." I'll move to Portland. This is not an attack just an observation. Oregon and Florida are extremes. You will hate Portland almost as much as you hate Florida if you simply jump from one to the other. Deep divers decompress for hours, even days if they have spent much time far underwater. Isn't there some state closer to Florida that isn't so hot, isn't so humid and doesn't have so much crime that isn't clear to the other end of the country? Just asking.

H

[lucara]

There might be but I'm not the only one moving. My fiance is completely obsessed with Oregon and has wanted to see it and possibly move there for the past 5-6 years. Personally I'm happy with some non-existant town in Pennsylvania (I have relatives there and used to visit every year).
My fiance is the picky one and honestly, Oregon in general seems like a very nice place to I'm completely open to the move.

I'm also against moving from place to place to place. I dont like the idea of packing up our lives every other year so where ever we move, I would like it to be the place that we stay.

[DFWgal]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

I just finished up a post on something similar. I just don't get the: "I hate Florida heat, humidity, crime, etc." I'll move to Portland. This is not an attack just an observation. Oregon and Florida are extremes. You will hate Portland almost as much as you hate Florida if you simply jump from one to the other. Deep divers decompress for hours, even days if they have spent much time far underwater. Isn't there some state closer to Florida that isn't so hot, isn't so humid and doesn't have so much crime that isn't clear to the other end of the country? Just asking.

H

I would like to know too.

My husband and I are tired of the extremely hot long Texan weather, or the super cold short "winter". It's extreme. So we've thought about Portland to "run away" to a nicer place, but if you say it's extreme too, what would you recommend?

Is there some place with something close to "mediterranean" weather, 4 seasons, with a nice city?

[cdelena]

I left DFW to get away from the unbearable summer weather (and other things) and am very happy in the PNW. But keep in mind there are more changes than weather... some good and some less so. Employment opportunities are more limited, taxes are different, attitudes are a change, housing types and availability different, and transportation better or worse depending upon your needs. I suggest you broaden your research and visit. This could be a great place for you or too much change.

[Minervah]

I'm also against moving from place to place to place. I dont like the idea of packing up our lives every other year so where ever we move, I would like it to be the place that we stay.

You might have to rethink this mindset. If you wind up being one of the many people who move here and then discover they can't find work, you could very likely be moving again in a year or less. Also, we very rarely have snow on Christmas but you can be almost guaranteed rain at that time.

[Massachusetts Yankee]

Lucara, I lived in Coconut Grove (Miami) for nearly 10 years before throwing in the towel. I got used to the perpetual sweat, mosquitoes and general hostility in that third world area. The one thing I could not get used to was the endless crime. Not just the street urchins or shadowy con men everywhere, but the city and county governments are corrupt beyond comprehension. It was humiliating to have to pay taxes that funded the most corrupt city in the US.

People in Oregon seem to take their status as citizens seriously. It really looks like the decisions of government are intended to benefit the majority of the public, not just the financial fat cats and corporate lobbyists.

Heck, the only drawback is the long Winter, which is generally mild, but wet. By comparison, the weather is much better in Oregon than Florida.

Take a vacation or two to sample the weather. This time of year will suffice for the worst weather and if you come in June or July you'll never want to leave.