Couple from Texas moving to Oregon looking for the perfect place. (Eugene: for sale, rent)

[Brysky777]

My wife and I are looking for a change of scenery and we're interested in Oregon. We are trying to find a place that might have 5 acres and stay close to some of the smaller towns there. Preferably a place with an emphasis in education for my son. Any suggestions?

[PNW-type-gal]

Will you be looking for employment, how old is your son, what is your (ballpark) budget and what kind of climate are you looking for?

[Larry Caldwell]

Perfect is the enemy of good enough. Education for your son starts at the kitchen table. 5 acres with a decent house can be very expensive. You might contact some realtors to see if it's inside your budget. It can run anywhere from $250k in a rural part of Eastern Oregon to $1.5 mil in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. They haven't made 5 acre parcels in Oregon in almost 40 years.

[texasdiver]

"Small town" and "emphasis on education" do not tend to go hand-in-hand in Oregon.

The higher-rated schools are pretty much all going to be found in the cities and affluent suburban areas around the larger cities. Also the college towns like Corvallis.

Land use patterns are very different from Texas. If you want your 5 acres in the country then TX is a much better place to do that because TX is something like 95% privately owned and there are few if any restrictions on subdividing farm land. So you have near infinite choices of options for rural land in TX.

Oregon is the opposite. Much of the state is tied up in state and federal lands that can't be owned. And there are rigid land use laws that prevent the subdivision of farmland and sprawl outside urban areas. So, as Larry mentioned, you won't find any new 5 acre lot subdivisions anywhere in the state and the only places like that are old lots that are grandfathered in from the 70s.

[Larry Caldwell]

Also be aware that a 5 acre parcel may not be buildable. My zone is ag-forest, 80 acre minimum lot size, 160 acres for automatic building permit. There is a 5 acre parcel right next to me that will never get a building permit. The lot was created in the '60s, but was never developed. Too late. The last sale data I looked up, some out-of-state utopian paid $235,000 for it. They obviously didn't do their due diligence before plunking down their money. The county has it appraised at $15,000, and I think that's wildly optimistic.

You can get a building permit for small rural properties if you can demonstrate a few years of $50,000/year income off the property. A few pot growers may get there, but it's easier to lose money than make money in agriculture. According to the newspaper, there are tons of weed going unsold because of overproduction.

The way most people develop rural acreage is to buy a few acres with a junky old mobile home, bulldoze it and build a house. That generally means a new septic system, but you can almost always get a permit to replace a residence. Once you start, don't stop, because you only have one year to take advantage of that. At least your power, water and road will be in, which saves $50,000 or so.

Whatever you do, have a long, heartfelt discussion with the county planning department before you spend any money.

[leastprime]

You'd be looking at 40K-50/ac bare land, within urban growth boundaries. Very rare. SR5-EFU zoning., midvalley, hill lot, Salem-Keizer school district. There may be some properties at 1+ acres, if you know where to look and know a good RE who has the contacts.
We sold early 2018.

[leastprime]

What do you want to do with 5 acres?

[texasdiver]

Honestly as the others have all said, if you want a small piece of rural land you are better off staying in TX or buying someplace nearby like Northwest Arkansas where you have endless options.

If you want to do Oregon, and experience what the state has to offer, then instead of looking for your little rural homestead, you are better off finding an ordinary suburban house in a town and neighborhood to your liking and then get a small camping trailer or RV or a boat to experience all the outdoor public lands and waters that the state has to offer.

If you really want that acreage in the country and want decent schools then I'd look to the hills southwest of Eugene where the land is too hilly for agriculture and there are occasional rural houses for sale on small acreages that are still in the Eugene 4J School District. They won't be cheap though, compared to Texas you'll find the prices shocking. But it's one of the few places I can think of where you can find rural acreage and still be in a higher rated (for Oregon) school district.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...48434170_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...48419603_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...93484511_zpid/

[StealthRabbit]

"...looking for a change of scenery and we're interested in Oregon."


Where from in TX?
Why Oregon? (9% income tax, high CoL)

What kinda scenery do you like? (Wet and green or dry and brown? ) OR has both.

Edu for a kid? What age?

WA and ID are , 5 min away from Oregon, and have similar scenery but better funded schools than Oregon.

When your kid can pass a college entrance exam (EZ), they can go to College Full-time for FREE in WA. (2 yrs) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Start ; since 1990

Consider homeschooling, millions do it in TX, OR, WA... Gave us the freedom to be 'wherever'. Our kids where never hindered by age segregated socialism. Got along great with all ages, especially adults (good thing since they will be your first bosses...)

Don't miss looking at WY on your way west (very good schools / people / and inexpensive and GREAT University. ) High paying energy jobs (during boom times). WY is Income tax free state (like TX) (As is WA, AK, SD, NV on your quest west).

MT, like OR is sales tax free, but has lower school support as well.


Let us know WHY Oregon, then we can answer.

BTW: I'm enjoying my TX home at the moment.
Very cheap, (Hill Country acreage) often sunny when OR (PNW) is socked in for the winter.

PNW has great weather during the 3 months TX can be miserable.

My homes in each place were CHEAP, both have multiple living spaces, so I rent out the main house and stay in the slave qtrs. (Free on either end)

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Brysky777

My wife and I are looking for a change of scenery and we're interested in Oregon. We are trying to find a place that might have 5 acres and stay close to some of the smaller towns there. Preferably a place with an emphasis in education for my son. Any suggestions?

The criteria you gave isn't helpful from a local perspective. For starters, we have strict zoning laws, but contrary to what the others are saying you can get 5-acre parcels and there are a few AR5 parcels zoned with each urban growth boundary change. Not very many though. The question isn't can you get it, but what can you afford. In Marion/Polk counties 107 4-6 acre parcels with homes sold this year so they are out there.

Emphasis on schools means south and west Salem, Keizer and Silverton, in my area. Now you are down to 35 properties that sold of that 107. You can get a 1300 Sq foot manufactured home in Silverton on 5 acres for about $300,000 that is farther out from that city. If you want the Salem schools you are looking at a cosmetic fixer for that kind of acreage that will be in the $350,000-$450,000 range. Homes ready to go and in good condition will be $550,000+.

So, if you say what kind of price point you are hoping to hit, then we can give you cities that will meet those criteria. Cheap acreage in Oregon is out in the middle of nowhere and there won't be good schools that go along with that address.