Best Area to Relocate in OR? (Portland, Eugene: real estate, home, job market)

[Wood & Creek]

Hello, my family would like to move to Oregon within the next three years and I was hoping to get some pointers on a good location. I will be finishing school within the year with degrees in anthropology and environmental studies and a permaculture certificate. My boyfriend has a business/marketing degree and currently makes around 60K a year. I also have a five year old daughter.

I am looking for a rural area to build our dream log home or possibly some form of natural building and to grow some possible crops very small scale. We want to be reasonably near (no further than an hours drive) a city or town with life and culture. We will most likely need jobs at least for the first couple of years though we would ultimately like to be able to live off our land selling crops or through a small home business. We have about 100K to put down.

Though we want to be semi rural we don't want to end up in a conservative area and the liberal, environmentalism of Oregon is a huge draw for us. Land prices will be a consideration as well as we'd like at least a couple acres and don't want to spend more than around 75K on land.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks

[Wood & Creek]

Did I say something wrong?

There has to be a nice liberal area near a decent sized town with jobs somewhere right?

[Silverfall]

It's the $75,000 for two acres of land that is garnering you no comments. Not sure where you can find that. Nowhere in the valley. If you want liberal areas you have to stick to Portland, Eugene, and the Salem area. So you will have to give on something...pay more or more conservative town.

Maybe if you give us a little more criteria, we can make some suggestions.

[Wood & Creek]

Aaah, ok. What kind of prices should I expect for land surrounding areas such as Ashland, Grants Pass, Medford ect?

Ashland is liberal isn't it?

[furyu]

The progressive people of this fine state of Oregon concentrate, as progressives in general do, in the larger metropolitan areas, i.e., Portland, Eugene and to some extent Ashland. Yes, Ashland is 'liberal,' and it's a nice but very small town; it's bordered by the conservative area of Medford, Central Point, and Grants Pass. Personally, I'd easier stick pins in my eyes than move to the Medford area, and from the tone of your post I think you'd feel the same.

So that leaves Portland and Eugene. Portland is larger and will offer more job opportunities. There are many areas around Portland, within an hour's drive, that may offer you land possibilities. Prices? Sorry, I really don't know, but you should be able to research this in the newspaper, The Oregonian, either on line or in print, or else do some research on the many realtor-dot-com () sites. That's probably the easiest way to go.

One of the things that came to mind when I read your post is the area west of Eugene, heading towards the coastal town of Florence. It's an hour's drive from the Florence area to Eugene, along two state routes, State 126 and State 38 (out of Reedsport) which goes along the Umpqua River. There are quite a few rural towns along those routes, as well as a lot of open land. It might be worth "virtually" exploring to see if this area fits your needs.

Given the current down trend of real estate, you may be able to luck into something, although Oregon hasn't been hit as hard (yet) as California.

One other thing: you'll be a little surprised about the so-called 'environmentalist mentality' in this state. It's not as predominate as outsiders think. Yes, there are many of us who promote and/or support environmental causes but the state government has a conservative faction (the Republicans) that thwarts these efforts in numerous ways. There is pressure from the timber and fishing industries to 'keep jobs.' Both of these industries have had a detrimental impact on the environment, but of course, their supporters will argue you to death about the extent of that impact.

I hope this helps. If you and your family are 'intent' on moving to Oregon and doing as you state, then you will find a way to do it and make it succeed.

Best wishes...

[Wood & Creek]

Thanks for the recommendation Furyu, I will definitely look into that area. I didn't know the Medford area was so bad. I'm pretty liberal and while it's not the end of the world to live near a conservative or two, one of the reasons I am drawn to Oregon is the progressive people so I'd hate to end up in an ultra conservative pocket like I've read exist over there.

I live in Minnesota, not far from many small towns in WI that down right scare me. I definitely want to spend some time cruising through Oregon to get a better picture for myself.

Thanks again

[bobmulk]

I would suggest you move someplace where your animosity towards people who don't think like you is celebrated. We have enough hatemongers in this state and they're not necessarily always conservative. Many of them attempt to pass themselves off as "progressives".

[thunderstuff]

We are somewhat similar, Wood & Creek.

Me and my fiance, both college educated and in our thirties, are looking to move from NJ to Oregon. Even though we make more than the median national average, we basically spend what we make because the cost of living is insane here. I had fun the other day comparing prices at Pathmark to those at Safeway by comparing their online fliers. Meat and Veggies and Diary is real cheap in Eugene compared to here, canned goods and household products are about the same.

Our Long Term Goal is about 10-20 acres of hilly, mostly forested land somewhere between Eugene and the Coast. That way we can pop down to the city to get some Thai food or take in a movie or something periodically, or drive down to the beach once in a while.

Like that Billy Joel song - we like living in the city, we like living in the country, we don't do the in-between which is the worst of both worlds in our opinion.

I see a lot of posts warning that the Medford-Klamath area is becoming rapidly Suburbanized... which reminds me...

We are totally unfamiliar with the West Coast. I have pretty much been everywhere up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard from NH to Florida, but never west of the Rockies.

We plan to do some "Recon" in May.

As for people, we picked up the phone and made some calls to check out the job market... very different attitudes with Oregonians than dealing with NY/NJ gov't employees (or, to be fair, any kind of customer service, public or private)! One even called my fiance back in an hour to see if she was successful with registering at their website (we were open-mouthed at this amazing courtesy!!)

Most importantly, there IS a Dunkin Donuts in Eugene, right?

[timber mt]

One thing you will find in Oregon is that more people are nice no matter what their political bent. I didn't find rural Minnesota to be filled with nice people. I lived in rural MN for many years.

[Steve97415]

It is a common misconception that Oregon is a "liberal" or "progressive" state from top to bottom. There are 36 counties in the state. 31 or considered "red" counties, only five are "blue" counties. Those counties include the greater Portland area, Eugene and Corvallis, and so include the majority of the population, but only about 5% of the land area.
Southern Oregon, in particular, has a less-well educated populace that harbors a great deal of anti-government sentiment. You seldom see the support for building community prosperity that you do farther north. In southern Oregon, "Me" is the center of all that is good and right; extreme tax resistance is the official state religion. This area is often called "The State of Jefferson" (google it to find out more) and has a very different vibe than Oregon. After living in Oregon for 12 years, I moved to the State of Jefferson and almost feel like I'm not living in the U.S. at all, much less Oregon. It has some of the state's best climates and landscapes, but the attitudes are definitely isolationist. Look for closed libraries and increasingly negative solvency.