Buying a home in Vancouver & working in Portland. (Salmon Creek: for sale, real estate)

[muah3iluvzu06]

My husband & I currently live in Clackamas OR. I work near Beaverton and he works in Portland. We both have early morning work schedules (we both work Monday-Friday 6am to 3pm). We are thinking about buying a home in Vancouver and commuting to Portland. I know that typically the traffic is terrible, but would it still be really bad with our work hours? My husband even has the option of working 5am to 2pm. The reason we are looking at buying a home in Vancouver is because we can get A LOT more home for our money, and they have better school districts. We plan to try for our first child in the next couple years. We are both aware that we would have to pay state income tax in Oregon since we will both be working in Oregon. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[hml1976]

The morning commute would be easy. Unfortunately from Beaverton at 3 in the afternoon would be hard. Take a day off (not a Friday or Monday) and try it to see for sure.

[notnamed]

You're looking at 40+ mins to go from downtown Portland to just get 10 miles north across the bridge. After that is pretty smooth sailing, but you have to add the drive from Beaverton on the front of that. Starting right around 3. Dealing with the usual insanity at the on-ramps and cheaters in the HOV lane aggressively cutting you off if they spot a cop.

[Ms_Christina]

We live in Wa and work in Portland but by the airport so we avoid a lot of the really bad traffic. For instance if we take off during the week to go to the zoo with the kiddo it takes about 30min to get from Salmon Creek to the zoo. We eat lunch there then leave to go home about 2pm. It takes over an hour to get home. So your commute to work is going to be fine. Your commute home is going to suck.

I love living in WA and we don't mind the taxes because it is still less than living on the East coast. But I hate commuting. I really hated it back East. It's not THAT bad in Portland but being out here I'm now spoiled with a great commute. On the other hand you might like long drives to decompress from the day, listen to Howard Stern or an Audio book.

[notnamed]

Figure out your hourly salary, multiply by 1.5 for extra time spent commuting each day, times 5 days, times 52 weeks. That's how much a 45 min longer commute is costing you annually(as your time valued by your pay). That alone is pretty substantial mortgage payment for me. Way more than any real estate price differences across the river. But how you value your free time is more of a philosophical discussion.

[StealthRabbit]

You are 6+ yrs out from needing schools; Housing is NOT a bargain in Vancouver (at the moment).

SAVE money and time for now (work where the pay is best), vacation a LOT (while without kids is MUCH ezr)

When you have kids, keep the commute SHORT and time with family LONG. Do the best you can as parents, kids are very resilient, (thank goodness).

We ended up homeschooling (in WA) with about 100 other families, + living overseas for several schooling yrs.

Stuff will CHANGE, no way to have it PERFECT.

possibly you can secure WA employment within the next 5 yrs.

[NCDavid]

I've seen a number of contrary posts here lately re the cost of housing in Vancouver vs Portland. Some claim Vancouver is more expensive; others say Portland is more expensive. None of them cite any data to support their opinions (and they are only opinions unbacked by fact).
Obviously it depends on which particular neighborhoods you are talking about. There are low-cost neighborhoods in both cities and high-cost neighborhoods.
However, according to Zillow, the median home price in Portland is $335,000. In Vancouver, the median home price is only $231,00.
In Clackamas the median s $318,000, Beaverton $316,000. In contrast, I live in Felida, just north of Vancouver city limits, and the median price is $358,000 according to Zillow.
That said, Realtors will tell you that a comparable house in a comparable neighborhood in Portland will be more expensive than one in Vancouver.
So, OP, you are correct, you can buy a lot more home for less in the Vancouver area. Whether that is worth the cost and possible aggravation of commuting, only you can answer. Check out the traffic on the days and times you might be commuting and see what it's like. You can do that without actually driving it. You can model it by putting in start and end points on Mapquest and it will tell you how long it would take to drive.

[StealthRabbit]

If you MUST commute... work nights if possible. More pay, less traffic, fewer / no bosses, no day-shift whiners. Working 28 yrs of night shift allowed me spend a lot more time with family, as well as retire 18 yrs b4, age 65. (every 'day' is a day off,,, sleep is optional)

Vancouver (and Portland) is in the midst of 'bidding wars' for homes. All my 'RE investor' friends in SW WA are selling into this over inflated market. I too have a few 'surplus' places in SW WA for sale at the moment. It is time to collect RE CASH and wait for bargains.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by NCDavid

That said, Realtors will tell you that a comparable house in a comparable neighborhood in Portland will be more expensive than one in Vancouver.

Consider that the median home price in Vancouver has climbed by 50% since 2012 vs. about 35% in the city/Beaverton. And as someone who has looked at both rents and purchases over that span, I would say that the advantage on both has narrowed significantly for comparables.

Even within zillow you can see that somewhat (if one assumes the Zillow folks know what they're doing):

Pdx:
Top Tier: 477k
Mid tier: 303k
Low tier: 214k

Vanc:
Top Tier: 432k
Mid tier: 285k
Low tier: 200k

Below that top tier you're basically saving 15k (+interest & fees) over 30 years to eat the time and costs of a longer commute. Considering what that commute would do for hastening the death of a car, I'm guessing the math doesn't really work out.

And FWIW, Beaverton is 433k/310k/199k, so assuming zillow knows what they're doing in setting comps/tiers, really not that much different from Vancouver except in that middle band. Of course, their numbers could be total crap, but anecdotally, it tends to fit my own casual observation.

In the larger picture, I like Vancouver, but I don't see any reason for someone working on the west side to make that commute vs. just living in/around Beaverton. Even leaving promptly at 2pm it's starting to get dicey and there will be days where it runs well over an hour.

Also not an advocate for making that morning commute to arrive at 5am - yes, you'll beat the congestion, but...add in darkness and inclement weather and the possibility of drunk drivers who haven't made it home yet and I'm just not a big fan of risking it.

[JYT]

Originally Posted by muah3iluvzu06

My husband & I currently live in Clackamas OR. I work near Beaverton and he works in Portland. We both have early morning work schedules (we both work Monday-Friday 6am to 3pm). We are thinking about buying a home in Vancouver and commuting to Portland. I know that typically the traffic is terrible, but would it still be really bad with our work hours? My husband even has the option of working 5am to 2pm. The reason we are looking at buying a home in Vancouver is because we can get A LOT more home for our money, and they have better school districts. We plan to try for our first child in the next couple years. We are both aware that we would have to pay state income tax in Oregon since we will both be working in Oregon. Any ideas?

Thanks!

How can you get way more in Vancouver? What neighborhoods are you comparing?

If you work in Oregon, I would live in Oregon, or vice versa. You will be stuck in traffic and after years of it you will wish you spent 1-2 hours of commuting doing something else. Use a mpg calculator, and wait until your 30 mpg highway turns to 0-15 mpg because of stop and go.

The only economical way of life is this: High paying job in Vancouver, and commute from Oregon. Why? Reverse commute. All the Professionals making 30k plus will have it made because it is a reverse commute, and you don't pay income tax in WA, and you don't pay sales tax in Oregon.

Have fun being stuck in traffic otherwise. The only time that traffic lightened up was from the 2007-2009 recession.

Clark County plus Skamania County equals 80K commuters everyday!