Moving to Oregon, somewhere b/w Portland and Salem (great, moved)

[Caver Girl]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

For bucolic settings, look to the 99W corridor rather than the I-5 corridor.

Yes, I looked a bit at McMinnville and Newberg and they both sound nice! We are very excited to see the real thing in a couple months.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Caver Girl

Thank you so much for the links! I will study them before we come to visit. You are right that we're not familiar with Portland. I didn't think it would be like Chicago though, not at all. I have travelled the country (just not visited Oregon yet) so I know there are many a variety of "city"! You may have a false perspective on where we're coming from. We live an hour west of the city, in the suburbs. No skyscrapers around here either! But from Chicago out to us it's town after town after town (suburban sprawl). Past us you start to get some country areas between towns. I'm guessing that's what it's like going from Portland to Salem, outside of Portland it's mostly country with towns interspersed? I hope you're not saying Portland is like Phoenix! Good lord is that an ugly city (in my opinion). Mesa and Scottsdale and such are better, but Phoenix itself is like one big ugly suburb full of strip malls with a handful of tall buildings downtown.

From Portland to Salem which is about an hour's drive there are a few little towns and farmland. It won't look like the area between Chicago and Streamwood. There is no town after town or an abundance of strip malls as there is between Chicago and Streamwood. The lay of the land is very different as you will see.

Within the Portland city limits itself there is a dairy farm on the SW side of town so it is not like your typical urban density situation in all of the city. The SW side is more country looking. You can actually live within the city if you choose and still feel you are in a country setting.

The SE, NE and NW are more urban, but even they have their quiet little neighborhoods.

[skiffrace]

A few more points for you to consider:
1. Good areas to live usually come with good schools. Moderator cut: Per The Terms of Service: "Recommendations are allowed for posters that have at least 10 posts. One cannot recommend himself/herself." Also, no real estate posting you would need to be here and treat it as a full time job. Otherwise, Southwest Portland or Tigard/Tualatin are your best options: good schools and moderate prices.
2. Take your job location into serious consideration. Traffic is bad in many places, and can spoil your pleasure of living here.

[skiffrace]

PS. here is a few more points to consider:
1. In the greater PDX metro area, opposite to most other US cities, the closer to downtown Portland you are, the better/more expensive the neighborhood. Again, this is works for, say, 80 to 90% of the cases. There are exceptions, ex. Sherwood, a small town far away from Portland, and accessible only on a horribly traffic-choked Hwy 99, is a very nice place to live. On the other hand, Loyd district, right next to downtown, is crime ridden and not a place to be.
2. Consider the taxes you will pay on your house. In general, properties in Multnomah county pay 30 to 40% higher real estate taxes compared with properties in surrounding Washington, Clackamas and Clark counties.

[sacramentosally]

Tigard is great but not the best schools districts. Tualatin is great but might be a little more pricey but good neighborhoods and good schools. Wilsonville is nice but also might be pricey with homes the closer you are to I-5 but also a great school district... I would stay away from Woodburn unless you plan to visit WalMart and the outlets daily.

I fell in LOVE with Lake Oswego when we first moved to Portland but it's just not the crowd for us and the people that live there can be snoody. There are a lot of very wealthy families there and unless you think you can meet high standards with your home, car, clothes, etc, then I wouldn't move there with a family and school children.

Areas a little farther away from I-5 is West Linn and Sherwood.

GOOD LUCK!

[EnricoV]

I like Silverton. It's nearer to Salem, though, and not right on the 99E corridor, but not too far off. Not sure how the schools are.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

2. Consider the taxes you will pay on your house. In general, properties in Multnomah county pay 30 to 40% higher real estate taxes compared with properties in surrounding Washington, Clackamas and Clark counties.

This is a big one that most people miss.

The last house I lived in in Portland, I paid 11 dollars a day in property taxes for the privilege of living in Portland.
I now live outside Oregon City and life is much cheaper.
(5 dollars a day cheaper)

[Kentucky Kid]

Anybody know anything about Woodburn, OR- housing is too cheap to be true.................something wrong? Thanks KK

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Click below.

//www.city-data.com/forum/salem...-woodburn.html

[oregonwoodsmoke]

There's an excellent livestock auction in Woodburn. Some nice farms.. A huge truck stop.

There's nothing wrong with the area, except it is a bit plain.