99% chance of relocating to Bend(area options for housing) (Medford: ski resorts, rentals)

[mikalalnr]

My wife and I brought our kids out to Oregon for some scoping a couple weeks ago. She had a very successful interview at St. Charles, and since being there I've got a solid prospect for work as well. Needless to say, we enjoyed our time out there. I was offered a job in Medford, but while the "green" of Grants Pass offered a nice option for a community, we were turned off by Medford. A truck spilling sewer on one of the steets near downtown created an awful smell as we drove past the many "low rent" used car dealers and pawn shops.

Bend was a little more like a town we wanted to move to. Relatively small, and comfortable. While its beautiful, we were a little turned off by the blowing dust and dirt that comes in a brown environment. I'm wondering if there are any areas nearby that are a little greener, and possibly a little cheaper. Both of our job opportunities will be centrally located in Bend, and part of the reason we are moving is because I have an hour commute that I want to eliminate from my day to day, so we don't want to be too far out of Bend.

The house that were in right now was 96k ten years ago. That's right, not even a hundred thousand. That's one thing Muskegon, MI is good for I guess. My wife is a RN and I am a Field Service Engineer currently working for Canon. We make a pretty good living, but are by no means ready to move into some of the neighborhoods that we saw in Bend. A house like that would surely consume more of our income that what is reasonable.

We are hoping to move when school here gets out early June. We would hope to find a nice area with good schools nearby. From what ive read, we should probably stay away from Summit High schools as we are more like blue collar type folks. During my wife's interview, I brought the kids to Juniper Elementary and I really liked that area.

[BendLocal]

Unfortunately dust is part of living in the high desert. Wash the car and it's dirty a few of days later. The heavy pollen from the juniper and pine trees adds to the mix. I don't know of any nearby areas that are less dusty.

[Coniferian]

The median price for a single family home in Bend is $325K and Redmond $212K, so hopefully your house in Muskegon has appreciated too. We chose Redmond because we got more house for the money. We're retired and so don't have to commute to Bend for work, but it's only 15 miles away. We had some pretty stiff winds yesterday but I didn't notice any dust. Juniper pollen is currently high, however. I took this shot with a Canon A2300 hung from a kite from NW Redmond.

[mikalalnr]

Thanks for the replies. My potential manager lives in Sun River (Sunriver?), he suggested that as well. Unfortunately, the asking price now for our 3 bedroom, 1 bath house is 86k. We've have about 20 showings the month its been on the market and no offers. Realtor suggests we drop the price more. Ouch. Were going to rent at first, so I guess we'll be in that market, and we'll see whether we like living away from family. Were mid-thirties and want an adventure. Neither of us have ever lived outside the Muskegon area before though, so the whole thing is a bit intimidating. We'd be leaving a large comfort zone.

[redguard57]

Sunriver is even more expensive than Bend for the most part.

Yeah, 250-450K is needed for a decent house in Bend, 175-300K for a decent house in Redmond. Actually the prices are starting to equalize between Bend and Redmond - the reason Redmond's median is so much lower is because Redmond has a lot of older, smaller housing stock in various states of disrepair - those medians are not apples to apples. With 2 middle class jobs the bank will lend you enough to afford something in the ~300K range but your payments will be much higher than you're used to.

My own house's value has gone up something like 15% in one year. It's insane. Everything is great here except for the housing prices. That's probably why it costs a lot to live here. As for your existing house - is the mortgage paid off? Would the rent be at least $150 more than your mortgage payment? If so, renting it out is a viable option.

Congrats on the job offers - jobs are not easy to come by around here. I agree with you on southern Oregon. Ashland is nice and Medford/Grants Pass have their nice-ish areas, but in general if you want to do Pacific Northwest living I don't recommend the state of Jefferson area.

[Thom52]

I have been lurking for a while on the forum. Finally jumping in officially.

Hopefully you are getting a good salary differential increase for moving from the Midwest to the West.

My wife and I just went through Bend Sticker Shock, as we looked for a rare one-level rambler retirement house with little to no yard. Thought we would bankroll an early retirement with selling our paid for house in Kirkland WA. Instead finally found a place that wasn't quite a straight rollover or negative, and locked in on that before prices rose more.

Mid 300's in Bend is getting more rare by the moment. We so wanted to like Redmond, due to the much lower cost compared to the exact same house in Bend. Redmond was just not to my liking. I won't say why, to avoid possibly offending those that love living in Redmond. I would highly suggest driving around the Bend general area. Some things you just can't decide on the internet. We completely changed our priorities after a few intense driving tours of the area. This is a very diverse area. You need to experience the vibe of the differences and how they sit with you.

After the initial shock of prices, we figured we wouldn't buy until I can retire in 4 years. But then we found a cute little subdivision on west Boyd Acres, where we could build our spec one-level home for about $350k and be within a half mile of Sawyer park, on a bike route, and not close to the train whistle.
Do be careful about location relative to places where trains will be blowing their whistle. The track going through Bend is very active.

Irony is that we can't afford to live in the house we are building. Not many jobs for high tech oriented mechanical engineers in Bend. So we will be renting out our brand new, really nice house and only be able to live in it after it has a few years on it. We are actually losing a bit of money on rent versus house payments. People complain about the rents going up, but if you are buying new and becoming a landlord, you cannot make money at the going rate for rentals.

There are deals to be had in Bend. More if you can live with lots of stairs and no yard. But if you want a sprawling Midwest house on acreage for $90k that could be tough, and look out for train routes.

It is a desert. You will not be in Kansas(MI) anymore, for sure. We will be going from moss and rain to desert, about as opposite as possible. We are looking forward to exploring the differences.

Good luck on your transition!!

[delta07]

My husband is an RN at St. Charles and we live in the Orchard District, which is near Juniper Elementary. We like this area, and lucked out when we bought in 2009. Prices have gone up significantly since we bought, and I believe homes in our area are now in the mid 200s to 300s, depending on age of the home, size of the lot, renovations and square footage. Wages here for RNs are good though, so that does help.

In terms of dust and brown, it is just something you will have to get used to living in the high desert. Anywhere in Bend has a lot of dust, especially for someone coming for a lusher environment. Juniper Elementary is at the base of Pilot Butte, an old cinder cone, and a lot of dust comes off it. Our home is always dusty and dirty.

If you are looking for cheaper, you may have to push yourself to Redmond, or east of the hospital. As you said, you will be renting for a while anyhow. I definitely think that's a good idea. Not only will it allow you to decide if you like Bend, but it will help you to get an overall feel for the area and where you might like to live.

[mrwibble]

Originally Posted by Thom52

Hopefully you are getting a good salary differential increase for moving from the Midwest to the West.

Possibly not; Deschutes County wages 11 pct. below U.S. average | News - Home

[redguard57]

I currently see plenty of nice houses between 275 and 325K if you're willing to look at the east side of Bend. $300K will get you close to the nicest places in Redmond - they only go higher than that if you want some significant acreage.

A note on acreage - the way Oregon's land use laws are - acreage is not easy to come by unless you're buying a farm, and then it's very expensive because the farmers don't have high turnover, so when they sell it's to make a killing. 2-3 acres is an ENORMOUS lot around here.

Redmond was just not to my liking. I won't say why, to avoid possibly offending those that love living in Redmond.

I live in Redmond. Please, do tell! I promise I, for one, will not be offended. I think a lot of people tolerate Redmond because it's cheaper even though Bend would be preferable.

[mikalalnr]

Thanks again all. Wages are significantly better for RN's in Bend, but my industry which is Field Service for office equipment isn't exactly thriving anywhere. Its a very difficult industry to succeed in. You have to be very good to make a good living. I expect to make near what I am making here in Michigan. Im hoping for my offer tomorrow. I will most likely end up choosing vacation time as my battle with this potential employer. Money is neccesary, but time off will be very important as well.
We went to the top of Pilot Butte while out there, and took in the view. Its very nice.

I have one friend from high school that lives in bend and works in the marijuana business..hehe. He is a very "hip" type, back country skier dude. Ill be skiing with him, but ill pass on the other things.

What I like about Bend, is that its sort of isolated, and yet it has a lot to offer. Im tired of city driving(traffic), paying for parking, flat land, water so polluted you cant swim in it, commuting 45 miles, 300' vertical ski resorts. What I will miss is family, a HUGE amount of friends, and lake Michigan (only in late June, july, August and September). I may as well add cheap housing to the list as well, although after living in our "starter" home for over 10 years and having the likelihood of losing money on it when all is said and done, im not sure I ever want to own another house.