Florence OR. real estate trap. Bay Area Oregon! (Portland, Eugene: for sale, real estate market)

[seansean1019]

Mostly Silicon Valley retirees are moving to Florence, OR. And here is why.
The appeal of moving to a small coastal town.
Price of living is less than the bay area.
Houses are still affordable.

What the city council of Florence isn't telling you;
Californian's are being targeted as buyers.
The migration of wealthy home buyers is raising the cost of living for everyone in the area.
The price of living is increasing.

The real estate market is attempting to make the prices high enough to discourage the middle
lower class and lower class of people from moving here. They figure if only a type of person
could afford to move to Florence, that the lower class people & minorities could not afford to live
there.
This type of real estate scheme has been attempted in all liberal towns & cities since the 1900's.
It never works. Towns & cities will still need the lower class to flip their burgers & scrub their toilets.
So the lower class folks finally move in to meet the demand for businesses.

Won't be long until Florence becomes another Portland of San Francisco. Just another big city
with a out of control populatipn that lives on welfare in the next 30 years!

[Nell Plotts]

You couldn't give me a place on the coast.

[texasdiver]

Well, there are no shortage of places for sale in Florence. Over 100 listings in the greater Florence area according to Zillow, although some of those are lots



But Florence is never going to be a big city. See all that green? Most of that is public lands (Forest Service and state forest lands) which are never going to be open for urban development. So Florence is pretty much constrained by the ocean on one side and the mountains and public lands on the other. It will always be a tiny coastal town as will pretty much all of the other small towns on the coast.

[Metlakatla]

From what I see on Zillow, Florence has 42 active listings with most of them being lots, some of which have been there for a long time. There's always at least some inventory, though, because it's a revolving door with the retirees as they age out and move closer to services or die or whatever, more come along to take their places. But no, Florence is never going to be a big city for the reasons you've mentioned. And it's been a California retirement community for years; that's nothing new.

Nonetheless, the OP makes some valid points. The funny part is that as the working class gets priced out, businesses don't have enough employees and the retirees can't find anyone to do their yard work and clean their homes. I personally could not care less and am enjoying seeing working class people have the upper hand for once even though I am not among their ranks.

So the lower class folks finally move in to meet the demand for businesses.

Why would they, and where would they live? There are labor shortages everywhere; no one has to move to little Florence for work.

As far as Florence being liberal, that's a joke. It may lean slightly blue as far as federal elections, but the city government is red as can be.

[oldtrader]

Looking at home prices at Realtor.com and home and apartment rentals, Florence is in the lower range around the nation.

It is not the horrible place that the OP claims.

In our small town in Eastern Montana, rents and homes are higher than in Florence. And compared to many towns and cities around the nation, Florence is just plain cheap in comparison.

When the tree huggers got the timber industry shut down, Florence had to find a way to survive as a city\town, and they chose the only path available, marketing the town as a destination for Retirees.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by oldtrader

Looking at home prices at Realtor.com and home and apartment rentals, Florence is in the lower range around the nation.

It is not the horrible place that the OP claims.

In our small town in Eastern Montana, rents and homes are higher than in Florence. And compared to many towns and cities around the nation, Florence is just plain cheap in comparison.

When the tree huggers got the timber industry shut down, Florence had to find a way to survive as a city\town, and they chose the only path available, marketing the town as a destination for Retirees.

Google doesn't tell the whole story. Apartment rentals are basically nonexistent here after the demand for them is factored in. And if you're getting your information on prices here from nonsense like Apartments.com, which is claiming that "the average rent in Florence is $627," that's just flat-out wrong. Rents start in the four figures here.

Not sure where you live in Montana, but there is an old dilapidated trailer house for rent for $1,400 in Florence with over 20 families fighting over it. I see quite a few much better properties for rent in Eastern Montana for way less than that.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by seansean1019

Mostly Silicon Valley retirees are moving to Florence, OR. And here is why.
The appeal of moving to a small coastal town.
Price of living is less than the bay area.
Houses are still affordable.

What the city council of Florence isn't telling you;
Californian's are being targeted as buyers.
The migration of wealthy home buyers is raising the cost of living for everyone in the area.
The price of living is increasing.

The real estate market is attempting to make the prices high enough to discourage the middle
lower class and lower class of people from moving here. They figure if only a type of person
could afford to move to Florence, that the lower class people & minorities could not afford to live
there.
This type of real estate scheme has been attempted in all liberal towns & cities since the 1900's.
It never works. Towns & cities will still need the lower class to flip their burgers & scrub their toilets.
So the lower class folks finally move in to meet the demand for businesses.

Won't be long until Florence becomes another Portland of San Francisco. Just another big city
with a out of control populatipn that lives on welfare in the next 30 years!

I don't think so it will grow out of control. We get a lot of Bay area clients that move to Florence and after living there for a few years, realize what is really means to live in a smaller, more isolated town. Then they move closer to population centers. I've had several Florence clients that came to Salem originally from the Bay area.

Not saying that Florence doesn't have growth and housing affordability issues as most Oregon cities do, but I don't see it becoming a really large city. The topography won't allow for it.

[mlhm5]

Originally Posted by seansean1019

Mostly Silicon Valley retirees are moving to Florence, OR. And here is why.
The appeal of moving to a small coastal town.
Price of living is less than the bay area.
Houses are still affordable.

What the city council of Florence isn't telling you;
Californian's are being targeted as buyers.
The migration of wealthy home buyers is raising the cost of living for everyone in the area.
The price of living is increasing.

The real estate market is attempting to make the prices high enough to discourage the middle
lower class and lower class of people from moving here. They figure if only a type of person
could afford to move to Florence, that the lower class people & minorities could not afford to live
there.
This type of real estate scheme has been attempted in all liberal towns & cities since the 1900's.
It never works. Towns & cities will still need the lower class to flip their burgers & scrub their toilets.
So the lower class folks finally move in to meet the demand for businesses.

Won't be long until Florence becomes another Portland of San Francisco. Just another big city
with a out of control populatipn that lives on welfare in the next 30 years!

I lived in Florence for 3 years recently and her are some fun facts about Florence. The wind in Florence starts blowing around 12 Noon everyday and it is not uncommon for it to be at least 20mph all afternoon and dies down around 7PM. If you are on the beach there are no obstacles so it feels like it is blowing 30+mph. Easily blow a beach chair down the beach. Try Washburn Beach, LOL!. Secondly, there is not a Summer. Even if ever reaches 75 degrees [which it might on three or four days], on the beach it will be in the low to mid 60s and the wind will be blowing as above. Maybe during the three years, I wore shorts in the summer 10 times, but always had a fleece on. The only partially protected beach is the Heceta Lighthouse Beach. Third, you will be going to Eugene on a regular basis because shopping in Florence is really poor. They have a Fred's and a Safeway and some tourist shops, but that is about it. As far as eating out, there is an average Chinese restaurant and downtown 5 of the restaurants are owned by the same person so do not expect a great dining experience, just a step below Applebees but higher priced. Hotels/motels are at the bottom of the list for lodging. I often remarked where did the people stay when they came here to buy a house, probably Eugene. Where I lived many went to Eugene at least once a week 55+ mile on a two lane road with lots of RVs and logging trucks. If you own a boat and think you can easily get to the ocean to fish, think again. The Coast Guard is very strict about access to the ocean because of the path there. Most launch out of Newport which if 50 miles away. The two neighboring towns Yachats and Reedsport are really junk towns expecially Reedsport. The only thing I can say good about either is that Yachats has the Green Salmon for coffee and pastry and Reedsport has the Sugar Shack. Florence has a Rhododendron Day which is a mini Sturgis. If you own a sand buggy you will be in heaven. Winters are rainy and not so cold but the wind howls. Good luck if you move there.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by mlhm5

I lived in Florence for 3 years recently and her are some fun facts about Florence. The wind in Florence starts blowing around 12 Noon everyday and it is not uncommon for it to be at least 20mph all afternoon and dies down around 7PM. If you are on the beach there are no obstacles so it feels like it is blowing 30+mph. Easily blow a beach chair down the beach. Try Washburn Beach, LOL!. Secondly, there is not a Summer. Even if ever reaches 75 degrees [which it might on three or four days], on the beach it will be in the low to mid 60s and the wind will be blowing as above. Maybe during the three years, I wore shorts in the summer 10 times, but always had a fleece on.

Ha! Reminds me of that old Henry Weinhard's commercial

https://youtu.be/JU-_Sn2cDwI

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Ha! Reminds me of that old Henry Weinhard's commercial

https://youtu.be/JU-_Sn2cDwI

Those aren't CA beaches. Gotta love that bone chilling wind. lol