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Old 07-09-2008, 08:27 PM
 
Location: Baltimore, MD
91 posts, read 427,665 times
Reputation: 48

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I've lurked around here and posted on a few sub forums. I'm doing the preliminary research on good places to move in a year when my girlfriend finishes law school. I started with a lot of those "what city is good for you?" quizzes and a lot of the results were in Oregon. Still, like any state or region, it's the people living there that really know the deal and can give advice.

I turned up Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, Medford, Bend...a real list of a lot of the big towns and cities. My question is about what you think would be good for us.

- We both prefer to live in a city. I love access to the country and the wilderness but I don't think fuel is getting any cheaper and it will likely keep going up in cost as it becomes rarer and harder to get at. The 'burbs that were great in the 70's and 80's when fuel was cheap are starting to look wasteful when you think about how much fuel you have to buy and burn just to get to and from work every day. It seems to me (obviously your mileage may vary) that the way to go is to live in a city where you are near other people and can get around to the places you need to get to without spending a fortune on gas.

- We are 29 and 31 currently and aren't in a hurry to have kids although it might be a possibility in a few years. We aren't huge partiers anymore but we like live music, pubs, and nice restaurants. I prefer unique places to eat/drink over chains but I'm not really a food snob.

- Public transit is always a plus. In general we would rather pay a higher tax rate to live in a city than pay less taxes and have to pay for amenities out of pocket. Parks, transit, etc. are all desirable.

- We probably aren't buying a house for at least a few years. We want to make sure we are where we want to be for a while and we are gonna wait for the housing market to correct itself before buying anything. Currently our combined salaries are around 90k but that is living in the DC/Baltimore area. We rent a nice place near Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and pay only $800/month since it used to just be my place until she moved in. Between the bump in her salary when she finishes law school and the possible lower cost, we would probably want to rent a nice sized 2-bedroom apartment or house for someplace around the $1200-1500/month range although that can be negotiable depending on salaries.

- The big one...jobs. There are tons of law jobs on the east coast but the competition is tough, the hours are long, and the cost of living eats up a lot of that salary. She isn't trying to work at some high-powered firm and make 200k a year, but there have to be decent law jobs. Secondarily, I work in video/audio/multimedia/IT/general geekery so I would prefer a city with at least some need for these services. I have had luck working at Universities in the past but it's just one option. Priority is on the girlfriend right now since she is trying to figure out where to take the bar and her line of work is a little more lucrative than mine

- Politics. We don't really care what other people's politics are. We are pretty independent/liberal but we aren't loudmouth partisans and can't really stand others who are either. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and we all have our own ideas about how to go about making the country/city/whatever a better place. Things work best when there is a welcome mix of opinion. I can tolerate gun nuts, hippies, war vets, war protesters, religious, atheist, etc. as long as everyone is generally live and let live. We aren't religious so religious community isn't a big issue for us.

If anyone has any tips, pictures, experiences, etc. let me know. I'm open to ideas and suggestions and they don't have to be confined to Oregon despite being interested in the state.

Thanks all!
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Old 07-10-2008, 03:26 AM
 
Location: Portland, OR
9,858 posts, read 11,877,000 times
Reputation: 10027
Portland. Where in Portland will be up to you both after you do your reseach. Why PDX? Because you mentioned mass transit. Later on, after your SO's career takes off you might want to explore the possibility of finding career options in less crowded sectors but starting out I would think a bigger metro area gives one options. You might want to rethink waiting 'a few years' for the housing market to "correct itself". It will do so long before that. As buyers you want to buy low, sell high, isn't that so? Think one year, maybe two. Going out on a limb here but you might also want to rethink that "...aren't in a hurry to have kids although it might be a possibility in a few years..." wrong. Regardless of which of you is 29, biologically speaking you have no time to waste. You think you do and that isn't your fault but the truth is you guys are already past your prime. Hate me now for saying it but have your GF freeze some eggs if you really want to go the middle class route. You may decide you really don't want kids and that's very cool, but if you decide you do, you'll thank me.

H
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Old 07-10-2008, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Baltimore, MD
91 posts, read 427,665 times
Reputation: 48
Yeah, Portland was our first thought but I posted about the legal market and heard all negative things. Thanks for the info as we are pretty much open to suggestions right now. I'm essentially window-shopping cities, states, and regions right now
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