I am looking to relocate to Oregon-HELP! (Portland: casinos, live)

[molly2011]

I guess I'm like so many others I'm looking for a place to move to in Oregon that is small town attitude and friendly,not a lot of snow. My son lives in Medford, but my daughter and I are used to small town living . We're looking in the northeastern area for a 4 br house for the kids and us. Nothing spectacular, but a decent place to live , with place to have a dog or two maybe a horse. Any ideas on where would be a good place to start looking?

[Or3g0n]

Originally Posted by molly2011

I guess I'm like so many others I'm looking for a place to move to in Oregon that is small town attitude and friendly,not a lot of snow. My son lives in Medford, but my daughter and I are used to small town living . We're looking in the northeastern area for a 4 br house for the kids and us. Nothing spectacular, but a decent place to live , with place to have a dog or two maybe a horse. Any ideas on where would be a good place to start looking?

Northeast Oregon? Towns there with shopping places, restaurants, activities, hospitals, basically everything you need for a small town would be Pendleton. There is other similiar-sized town in eastern Washington (like 25 miles away, 40 minutes drive) called Kennewick. Other smaller town is Walla Walla. It's the towns I can get out of my head at this moment. Just to warn you, these places are extremely dry. If its something you are fine with, great!

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by molly2011

I guess I'm like so many others I'm looking for a place to move to in Oregon that is small town attitude and friendly,not a lot of snow. My son lives in Medford, but my daughter and I are used to small town living . We're looking in the northeastern area for a 4 br house for the kids and us. Nothing spectacular, but a decent place to live , with place to have a dog or two maybe a horse. Any ideas on where would be a good place to start looking?

I know you said northeast but maybe you should take a look at Glendale (north of Grants pass 25 miles). Y'all might like it.
Much less snow in Glendale, then to the northeast.

[haggardhouseelf]

Meford has a population of under like 100K, doesn't it? How small of a town are you looking for? If you want really small, perhaps you'd prefer something like Cottage Grove? It's still in the Willamette Valley, so it wouldn't get snow like the higher elevations do, but it still would get snow occassionally and it will get cold and wet and cloudy for much of the year.

Or perhaps a town on the southern coast, like Gold Beach or Brookings or something? Just remember Oregon's coast is not like California's beaches. People wear fleece and rain boots - not bikini's and arm candy.

[boredwithcalifornia]

Thank you all for all your insight. I agree with you that having gloom and rain for 9 months out of the year would depress me, since I have been in sunny California my whole life. Maybe Oregon is not the place for me. Maybe Texas is? My husband has been wanting to move to either Colorado or Texas and I have been adamant about staying on the West Coast. Maybe it is time to research Colorado or Texas. God Bless you all. Thank you again...

[CaptBeavs]

Originally Posted by boredwithcalifornia

Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate it. I actually live in Los Angeles. I am not looking for sunny California weather all year long in Oregon. I just don't want to deal with a whole lot of snow. If it snows once in a while, that is great! The weather is honestly not as important to me as finding a good community to raise my kids. I am not stuck on being in the legal field either and I have excessive experience in Management. The other important aspect of my relocation is housing costs. I would really like to buy a home. In my area in Los Angeles, an older home that is in shambles is selling for one million. I do not have that kind of money. I should have really thought about my previous list before I posted it. This is what I should have listed:

Good Job opportunities (in any field)
Good Community to raise kids; Good Schools
Decent Housing costs
Weather

I think this is a better list. By-the-way...my husband LOVES the snow and cannot wait to get back into it! I am sure my kids will agree. Therefore, I am the only one looking for an area with little snow. I heard Medford is a good area. Is that right? I would love to take a vacation next year and visit Oregon. However, a short visit will not give me the real inside scoop to Oregon. That is why I rely on your feedback. I really appreciate your time and advice. I have no one else to turn to and I do not want to go to Oregon and end up hating the area I relocated to, because I didn't do any homework on it before hand.

Thank you all, again!

Heh, if you're bored with California, do you think you will be excited by Oregon??

In all seriousness, I foresee you settling in Portland, if anywhere. No where else in the state has anything resembling solid job opportunities, least of all in the legal field. Look perhaps in Southwest Portland (you have some hills, so perhaps more lingering snow on occasion for the kids) where the schools tend to be of a higher caliber, crime is low, and you're still very close to all that Portland has to offer in terms of economic opportunity.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by Hawk J

Sometimes they wear bikinis in a Hot Tub...or even nekkid.

Oh that's right! And all those nekkid people that go springin', too...

[ColoNative]

There are some beautiful places in OR that you would probably be happy with, the Willamette Valley is good, but gloomy. Northeast Oregon is nice, but being used to LA, you'd be sooooooo bored with anywhere around there, and it snows.

Colorado, the western slope, Grand Junction area is where I'm from. It's nice, I think the county has about 100k population, the annual precipitation is about 10 inches a year, some of that snow, but it usually doesn't last long. Something there though that you won't get in LA is a few weeks of below freezing temps. The Front Range can be just as cold. I believe Colorado's economy is starting to pick up, Denver/Colo Springs would be the place to look there. Smog in Denver can be bad, but not as bad as LA.

I'm not a huge fan of Texas, particularly North Texas. Houses are cheap, absolutely dirt cheap compared to California. The weather in No TX can be unpredictable at best. I'm talking sunny weather not a cloud in the sky, five minutes later all hell has broken loose. Then ten minutes later the rain will stop, clouds break and it's clear again. The Dallas/Plano area has more opportunity than Ft Worth. Ft Worth is kinda run down now. The Denton area north of there is nice, same weather. It does freeze in North TX in the winter, rain then freeze leaving sheets of ice on the freeways. Everything comes to a standstill then, people there aren't really prepared for it and don't realize that just because they have an SUV doesn't mean they can drive on ice. It gets pretty humorous to watch.

I would suggest either Austin or San Antonio. Opportunities are fine there and the weather is better. One thing about TX that you won't find anywhere in CA is 100+ degrees with 90% humidity. You get used to it after a few months, sometimes lol. What's hard to get used to is that the humidity will hold the heat so it'll still be 100+ at 3am. Everyone has air-conditioning...and ceiling fans in every room, especially over their beds. I prefer the San Antonio area, personally. The people are friendly and it's pretty. Austin has become a little run down, but nice.

Of the three states you mentioned, the San Antonio/Austin area would get you closest to LA weather. Stay away from the coast unless you like boarding up your windows every once in a while, and the beaches are nasty anyway. Denver/Colo Springs area in Colorado. But be ready for snow and hail in the winter. Grand Junction is nice too, but probably too small and little work. Oregon, it's drier east of the Cascades, so less snow. Bend gets about 10 inches a year of precipitation, and I like it (it's not too much different than where I'm from in CO) It almost never snows on the coast, but it is gray there. If you aren't prone to Seasonal affect disorder, and retiring, the coast is beautiful. I also like the Portland area. The Tigard/Tualitin/Wilsonville area is great, but it will snow. If I returned to Oregon I would pick the Portland area, Clackamas. Traffic around there isn't too bad so easy to get around anywhere in the Portland area from there.

[PrincessKick]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Take a clue from other Californians. My brother is an Oregon native who moved to West Texas just north of Dallas. It has all the things you are looking for.

Just one comment: West TX and Dallas are very far apart. If he's north of Dallas then it's North TX. I am only correcting that because they are pretty different in terms of terrain and lifestyle. I live in The Dallas area and love it. Summers are HOT especially this year but we don't get the ultra high humidity very much like Houston does and West TX is very dry compared to us.

[ColoNative]

I agree with PrincessKick, and if you look in the Dallas area, stay north -- Plano, Coppell, Richardson etc. Very nice areas, and green. There are hospitals all over that area (one of your requirements).

BIG difference between the Metroplex and West TX. For an LA reference, DFW would be like LA, the towns to the north kind of like Pasadena. West TX more like Calexio, but thousands of square miles of it. Dry and dusty, main industry there is cotton and oil. Unless you want to work in those industries there isn't too much to do.

Bored, you also mentioned not too hot and not too cold. That's another thing you aren't going to find when you move away from the Pacific coast. The ocean keeps everything temperate. Once you get inland there are pretty big swings from summer to winter. If snow is a deal breaker for you, TX is the way to go. Somewhere on the I-35 corridor. I can't remember ever wearing a coat there in the winter, maybe once or twice, but then I'm from Colorado and Portland where it gets really cold. Unfortunately if you want similar weather to LA, you'd have to look in San Diego, or if you like a pretty stable 60 degrees year round, San Francisco. If you don't want extreme heat, consider the west Puget Sound area. It'll get cold, but I don't believe they get a lot of snow, it's incredibly beautiful. A lot of people live on that side but work in Seattle/Tacoma area.