Pro and Cons on Klamath Falls (Portland, Joseph: real estate, job market, transfer)

[Bart_3500]

I won't say anything good or bad about "K-Falls". I will say that during the summer time around sun down the bugs are soooooooooooo thick that they turned by Red Dodge truck and white camper to a solid green that was more than an inch thick. I'll NEVER driver through there again at that time. There are still bug guts in places on that truck that I can't clean.

[Imperial1904]

Originally Posted by Bart_3500

I won't say anything good or bad about "K-Falls". I will say that during the summer time around sun down the bugs are soooooooooooo thick that they turned by Red Dodge truck and white camper to a solid green that was more than an inch thick. I'll NEVER driver through there again at that time. There are still bug guts in places on that truck that I can't clean.

It's annoying isn't it? Especially after washing and waxing your car or truck, all of a sudden you got little bugs splattered all over. I never seen anything like it before I moved to Klamath Falls. Walking through it isn't fun either.

[live4kidz]

In a few weeks we have planned a 10 day trip to so. Oregon and Shady Cove (NE of Medford) and are going to check out a few areas that we feel where we might want to semi-retire (don't think we'll ever totally quit working). We have K-Falls on the list and will be using our resort plan, staying at the Running Y Ranch. I'll be watching for those women in the Daisy Duke Shorts and bare mid-riff tops. Sounds like one heck of a good place to do some 'people watching' of the locals! Anyhow . . . . just my 2 cents worth on the weather/climate issue. Another place we looked at was Tri-Cities in WA state. Good economy - growing quickly - high desert - but not as pretty as K-Falls. It all depends on what you are looking for. Everyone has their own set of personal criteria that they try to meet!!
Happy Hunting everyone that is contemplating a change of place. A good book on that subject is "The Power of Place" in case anyone wants a good read!

[Cornerguy1]

Daisy Duke shorts at the Running Y.... ROFLMAO


Only cutoffs with the Versace label are allowed out in high-rent country.

[PNW-type-gal]

I posted this in another forum (the Retirement forum), but it's applicable here as for WHY someone would choose Klamath Falls:

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

KFalls is a good 5-6 hours south of Portland, on the east side of the Cascades (the wet/dry divide in Oregon). I'm not sure KFalls meets "sizeable city" - the overall area is about 40,000 (according to the Chamber of Commerce), but the city population is about 20,000 (according to City Data).

For us, KFalls was the chances to buy several acres, a chance to be near some of my favorite Cascades and Sierras "alpine" hikes and my favorite "high desert" hikes. It's also the home of the Klamath Wildlife Refuge, and, seasonally, you can see just about every type of migrating bird western North America has. I'm not a fanatic birder, but I do enjoy it.

The town of Klamath Falls is still in the "up and coming" stage - the core downtown area has (Main and 6th, say) has some small boutique shops, but, in the past, a lot of them struggled to stay open. Talking to many residents, a "shopping trip" used to mean the 70+ miles over the pass to Medford, but in an interesting "backward" move, Klamath Falls has more and more of the "big box" stores (Best Buy, Target, WalMart, Office Depot and the like) opening up, and the increased availability of the big items means people are LESS likely to think "out of area" for shopping, and that the downtown area has been doing much better - the big boxes actually created an environment in which the downtown can do better.

The stretch of big box stuff, out toward the airport, gives Klamath Falls the "anywhere USA" look - but it also makes KFalls a self-contained city. It's far enough off of I-5 that it's not a "gas stop" town. It is still a fairly rural area, with a lot of farming and ranching, but it's also got an amusing live theater/music hall (the Ross Ragland Theater) and in summer there is the "Kinetic Race" - people from all over the country bring human-powered vehicles for a combination road race/boat race/hill climb.

It made "Relocate America's" top 100 places list for 2007
http://www.relocate-america.com/states/or/cities/klamath.htm (broken link)

It does have a very upscale large "resort community" (not retirement community) just outside the city, called the Running Y, with homes and condos in the 300,000- 3,000,000 range.

Also mentioned elsewhere is that the City-Data weather records for the area show the "% sunshine" never falls below 50% average for any winter month. If I have to put up with some snow (but not a lot - Bend gets more on average) to get that sunshine, that's the way it works...

[LarryMorris]

I grew up there and didn't realize how good a place it was to grow up until I left. The scenary is incredible and there ia a lot to do outside, but the bugs are thick and the lake has a lit of algea. Employment is sketchy. If you can work for Jeld-Wen there is stability. You're probably righht on the home prices. Although you should be able to find something closer to $350.

One of the reasons taht it is so expensive is taht it is so close to CA. Many retires have moved up here as it is less expensive and the can easily get back to friends and family.

I have family that lives at Runing Y and it's not as snobby as some here would say.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by LarryMorris

I grew up there and didn't realize how good a place it was to grow up until I left. The scenary is incredible and there ia a lot to do outside, but the bugs are thick and the lake has a lit of algea. Employment is sketchy. If you can work for Jeld-Wen there is stability. You're probably righht on the home prices. Although you should be able to find something closer to $350.

One of the reasons taht it is so expensive is taht it is so close to CA. Many retires have moved up here as it is less expensive and the can easily get back to friends and family.

I have family that lives at Running Y and it's not as snobby as some here would say.

My guesstimate for home prices was for what was in Running Y, houses in Klamath Falls are quite a bit less - though it does have an interesting "double bump" distribution. There are a lot of house in the $100k-$300k range, and then a lot of newer houses in the $500k-$750k range in the hills around town.

OIT is expanding programs, in conjunction with Oregon Health Science University in Portland - they have a rural medicine program and then a lot of classes in medical technologies. The area in general has seen a lot of growth in the last 10 years, but it's been of the slow and steady kind rather than the big boom kind, and the economy hasn't quite shaken off the timber/resource problems

[Imperial1904]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal
KFalls is a good 5-6 hours south of Portland, on the east side of the Cascades (the wet/dry divide in Oregon). I'm not sure KFalls meets "sizeable city" - the overall area is about 40,000 (according to the Chamber of Commerce), but the city population is about 20,000 (according to City Data).

For us, KFalls was the chances to buy several acres, a chance to be near some of my favorite Cascades and Sierras "alpine" hikes and my favorite "high desert" hikes. It's also the home of the Klamath Wildlife Refuge, and, seasonally, you can see just about every type of migrating bird western North America has. I'm not a fanatic birder, but I do enjoy it.

The town of Klamath Falls is still in the "up and coming" stage - the core downtown area has (Main and 6th, say) has some small boutique shops, but, in the past, a lot of them struggled to stay open. Talking to many residents, a "shopping trip" used to mean the 70+ miles over the pass to Medford, but in an interesting "backward" move, Klamath Falls has more and more of the "big box" stores (Best Buy, Target, WalMart, Office Depot and the like) opening up, and the increased availability of the big items means people are LESS likely to think "out of area" for shopping, and that the downtown area has been doing much better - the big boxes actually created an environment in which the downtown can do better.

The stretch of big box stuff, out toward the airport, gives Klamath Falls the "anywhere USA" look - but it also makes KFalls a self-contained city. It's far enough off of I-5 that it's not a "gas stop" town. It is still a fairly rural area, with a lot of farming and ranching, but it's also got an amusing live theater/music hall (the Ross Ragland Theater) and in summer there is the "Kinetic Race" - people from all over the country bring human-powered vehicles for a combination road race/boat race/hill climb.

It made "Relocate America's" top 100 places list for 2007
http://www.relocate-america.com/stat...es/klamath.htm (broken link)

It does have a very upscale large "resort community" (not retirement community) just outside the city, called the Running Y, with homes and condos in the 300,000- 3,000,000 range.

Can you really call Klamath Falls a "city"? 20,000 is hardly enough to call a place a city, even with 40,000 with surrounding areas. I grew up in a neighborhood with 30,000+ residents in one zip code.

Klamath Falls does not have a Best Buy or a Target. They have 1 Wal-Mart, 1 K-Mart, 1 Staples and 1 Home Depot. The only areas I'm seeing new devlopment is the Wal-Mart area and the Thunderbird shopping area though some open areas seem to have plans but are not building them just yet.

In my opinion and don't take it the wrong way, I think Klamath Falls is and always will be a "gas stop/1 night stay at the Holiday Inn" town.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Imperial1904

Can you really call Klamath Falls a "city"? 20,000 is hardly enough to call a place a city, even with 40,000 with surrounding areas. I grew up in a neighborhood with 30,000+ residents in one zip code.

In my opinion and don't take it the wrong way, I think Klamath Falls is and always will be a "gas stop/1 night stay at the Holiday Inn" town.

It has a central/downtown core, a commercial district, a shopping district, a small community college, the larger OIT, a reasonable-sized county courthouse, and a sort of organized set up of "suburbs" - sure, I'll call it a city, albeit a smallish one. The Census Bureau calls anything over 5,000 residents a city.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I think KFalls has a good shot at becoming a good-sized city, barring any kind of nation-wide economic problem. I don't think it's a "gas stop" town now, even, although you might disagree.

[LarryMorris]

A lot of it has to do with perspective. Portland would barely be a blip on the map on teh east coast.

While KFalls might not be a "city" it is certainly much more then a "gas stop" town.