bend 'hoods (find a job, living, garden)

[pth]

Dude, its like you read my mind.

While i've been scouring the craigslist ads, I pretty much click on anything with "NW" "SW" or "westside" but have been really curious as to which streets are the best. Usually I'll click it and check it out on google maps...then i scroll left to see how close we'd be to the forest haha. To be able to bike to coffee, beer, and groceries would be awesome. I'll have to dig around on those streets you've mentioned.

As for housing..as long as my lady and my dog are comfortable then we're happy. We're the kind of couple who tries to live comfortably but minimalistically...meaning..we're not gonna be the hippies with the milk crate shelves and a matress on the floor...but we're not gonna be excessive either!

[pth]

Originally Posted by kapetrich

The summers in Central Oregon are nicer than VT. No joke. No humidity and no rain, ever. Nights cool down so much that the idea of AC is almost laughable. Also, I'd never known what a truly cloudless day was until I moved here. It's UNREAL.

If you're a coffee shop musician you'll be right at home here. We have just as many, if not more, locally run coffee shop roasters (they make all their own beans - PNW is a huge coffee mecca) as breweries. Many offer open mic nights.

Just from this short back and forth, I'd definitely suggest the west side of town. You'll have walking access to very good restaurants, downtown, local coffee roasters, local bakeries, local produce shops, local groceries, local bagels shops, etc. It's pretty special. I can honestly say that I have more amenities on my block here in Bend than I did in DOWNTOWN Baltimore city. Also, I haven't been to a chain store/restaurant since the first week I moved and that was out of pure necessity with furnishing my home and the ease of buying everything to start life in one place. So we have em', but life is easy on the westside without em', if that's your kinda thing.

Yeah the strip mall thing has been quite a culture shock after moving back from VT to home (NC). I'd like to buy locally again and at smaller shops..but i like the idea of being able to hit up a target or something if i need it!

One gripe about burlington was that it DEFINITELY rained in the summer. You just had to count on it, hahaha. We'd go cliff jumping or mess around at some waterfalls and try to be in the car before the late afternoon-inevitable- thunderstorm!

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by SuperFreak

PTH, the more I read your posts, the more I'd encourage you to dig deep, as you say, and find a rental on the west side. You will still have access to plenty of recreation on the east side of town, but trust me, you will feel incredibly isolated as compred to the west side. The west side has the coffee shops, bars, restaurants, better access to trails/mountain, the river and the "scene" that you're looking for.

3rd Street is the 5-lane, main "business" drag through town, and anything west of that should be your focus. Look for homes that are in the Galveston ave. area, or better yet, off of 14th Street/Century Drive (off of Newport Ave or Portland Ave is also good). If you can get west of the river, that's the place to be. All the ski-bums, snowboarders, mountain bikers/athletes will live on that side of town. (If you want to drunkenly bike home from a bar, FORGET the east side...you'd probably be pedaling right past the police station!)

I'm 33, but I've lived in Bend on and off for 11 years. Unequivocally I will tell you that, in my early-mid 20s, I wouldn't have DREAMED of living on the eastside. East of 3rd street, you have your families, rednecks, senior citizens and what few strip malls exist in Bend. It's also somehow windier and dustier over on that side of town, with fewer bike-friendly streets. It's way more "desert" and westside is way more "forest". East side is more republican, west side is more Democrat/liberal.

West of 3rd street you have independent music venues, innumerable coffee shops and bars, and a relatively vibrant downtown with a theater that occasionaly shows Warren Miller ski films. (keep in mind, it's a town of 80,000 people, so think more Burlington, less Austin)

Everything is a trade-off, of course, and you will likely see increased rental prices on the west side for inferior housing, but in my experience, the average 26-year-old tolerates a messier/older house with roommates in favor of a good social experience, nightlife, and access to recreation everytime. At my age, married with a 4-year-old son, I am more focused on a bigger/newer/cleaner house near schools and family-friendly parks, and the east-side is probably better for that. Even still, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping my wife and I -- now that we're short-selling our NW Bend house -- can find something on the west side that is both family-friendly and affordable. I'm not holding my breath, though. At best, we may be in Southwest Bend, a few miles from downtown.

West side, ALL THE WAY. Trust a Bendite.

This is wisdom speaking.....

Before I set foot IN Bend I thought I wanted a house with a couple acres just outside of town. I thought I wanted to be secluded. After traveling around Bend, I quickly realized that at my age, I needed to be closer to town and people like me. Superfreak's descriptions are SPOT on.

To add, look for rentals west of the river anywhere south of Aubrey Butte and north of "Century West" (as it's labeled on google maps).

[pth]

Yeah ive been hoping for a spot near aubrey butte to open up.

Is the southwest side of town nice? It seems closer to the forest...

[Bendite]

Originally Posted by pth

Some things I'm concerned about though after reading EVERY thread on this site about bend(haha):

-airport proximity and price
-night life
-isolation in the winter(do i need a big city though?)
-social life, meeting new folks
-live music

-The airport in Redmond is close to Bend (20 minutes)and while more expensive than flying out of PDX, you can still get some good flights. There's a shuttle to PDX too (though it takes a long time)
-there is a night life but nearly required that you must love beer. Not much in the wee hours though
-What isolation in the winter? I know people who travel to the valley every week in the winter. Yes, there are some bad days but the roads are well maintained.
-not hard to meet people but you must take the initiative
-We have live music year round but especially in the summer and some of that is free

[Dry Side]

Yes the SW side of Bend has the best access to the river and forest including the sno parks and Bachelor.

[Smiled]

Well, there is a saying... it sort of applies to Bend:

"There are three seasons in the High Sierra: July, August, and Winter."
Some truth to that.

[trixie09]

"pricey?" Really? I'm pretty shocked to read that, as Bend has some of the lowest rents and home prices now on the West Coast (including all of Washington, Oregon, and California.) I guess the East Coast is much cheaper.. but I consider $1,000.00 a month for a nice family home 3/2, to be a bargain.

I hear the Westside and the NW area of Bend to be the nicest.

Originally Posted by pth

After doing some research, the westside is where we wanna live if we end up tackling our move to bend. It's pricey but if you dig deep you can find some good rentals.

If it ends up being that we must shack up in the NE/SE side of bend, how accessible will the recreation opportunities still be? And are they bike-able? I know pilot butte is right there but I've been reading that the west side is much more bike-friendly and much closer to outdoor fun..and thats what we're all about

Coming from Burlington, VT (God bless the bike path), I'd say im spoiled when it comes to bike-able towns..and if bend is even half as bike friendly as I thought burlington to be then I'll be happy.

So whats accessibility like if we end up on the east side of town?

[delta07]

So, now that you've figured out where to live, do you have a job lined up? You said you were in banking....Bend has been hit really, really hard in this recession. Unemployment hovers between 12-14% currently. I'm not saying it's impossible to get a job, but if you both need to work to live in Bend, it's going to be tough. I know Kapetrich was able to land a job here when he moved, but the story isn't the case for many, including myself. If you are bringing a large savings with you that will help, but ultimately, I'd have at least one job lined up. Not many people are hiring, at least not full-time, year round positions.

[pth]

Originally Posted by delta07

So, now that you've figured out where to live, do you have a job lined up? You said you were in banking....Bend has been hit really, really hard in this recession. Unemployment hovers between 12-14% currently. I'm not saying it's impossible to get a job, but if you both need to work to live in Bend, it's going to be tough. I know Kapetrich was able to land a job here when he moved, but the story isn't the case for many, including myself. If you are bringing a large savings with you that will help, but ultimately, I'd have at least one job lined up. Not many people are hiring, at least not full-time, year round positions.

I'm on the retail side of banking(Cust. sales rep.) so I might have to take a pay-cut to come out there and climb down the ladder a bit, but as long as i have a job, I have no problem living within my means...especially after leaving a place like burlington where i made VERY little working in the outdoor industry