Seeking our utopia - does it exist in Oregon?

[Silverfall]

Fairmount Hills is nicely wooded in Salem, walkable, I would consider it safe (I mean the governor mansion is in that neighborhood), and McKinley Elementary is a good school. Salem is missing the vibrant piece though.

I pulled sold comps for Corvallis for the neighborhood that GeorgiaT is talking about and the cheapest this year was $287,000 (1600 sq. foot 3 bed). They don't come up for sale often, sell fast and often over $300,000. You'd be pushing it to get in under 300k. Otherwise I agree that neighborhood in Corvallis would be a good choice.

[bluebird39]

Just wanted to add that if you're even remotely considering a health care IT job as a back up (which would be prudent), I'd stay in PDX. There are lots of hospitals there, especially compared to places like Corvalis or Salem. But of course there may be more competition.

I worked in health care, and just like so many other businesses, more and more of it is being "outsourced". I don't know about IT, but I'd suspect that is too. I'm seeing more and more departments also being "privatized", and workers being paid less for doing almost inhumane amounts of work.

PDX would have a larger selection of hospitals, plus there's Oregon Health Science University there.

I've always lived in smaller towns in Oregon, so as far as big city, mass transit, etc I'm no help there. HTH

[bluebird39]

I'll take that last statement back. I lived in Portland for a year while studying at OHSU. Loved it, but didn't have any time at all to enjoy it. Used to have nightmares about the traffic and finding my way around there. Lots of curvy, twisty roads...

We have always had family there too, so we visit often. It's grown incredibly fast in the last 20 years, but for a city, it's a nice one!

[sdrsbro]

I would def. give much thought before moving to Portland. Yes it has some great qualities such as hiking/mass transit and good food. But you better be ready for the political climate, as well as a populace that seems to never get excited or relish in real life conversation. Most people I encountered there seemed to be missing the joi de vive. The conversations you overhear on the Max can be very annoying and fake. I just didnt care for Portland. Its sad because I did manage after 7 years to make a few long-term friendships and miss those people. I do get back every now and then and after 3 days I am reminded why I would never live there again. Good luck to you and your family. Please visit there a few times. Dont go on a whim. Do me one favor: google Portland Sucks and read the rants.