Where in Oregon is right for 2 down to earth teachers? (Portland: for sale, house)

[ladybuggk]

Hello! My husband and I and our 3 small children are thinking of relocating from California to Oregon. My husband and I are both teachers. We're hoping to get some recommendations on a nice place for our family. Here is our criteria:

We'd like a half acre of land so that we can have chickens and a HUGE garden.
Progressive, forward thinking, open minded people
Farmers markets, co-ops, etc.
Education opportunities besides standard academic schools (charter schools, perhaps, and possibly a homeschooling community)
As sunny as possible
Park and Rec programs for our children
Near a lake or river that my husband can FISH in and we can swim in summer
Somewhat close to places where we can hike
Housing prices low enough to survive on one teacher's income $200,000 to 350,000 (maybe i could teach part time to add to the salary)

Any advice? We've been recommended to Hillsboro, Eugene, Bend. Thanks so much for your input. By the way, I've been told Oregonians don't like Californians.... will we be accepted??

[Wicked Felina]

Good, we need teachers. I'll answer as much as I can.

One major concern: Expecting half an acre in a metro area for your price range. I've seen 3000 square foot lots here for sale for 100K plus. I'd be very surprised if you found half an acre close to town for that price. Realtors, am I wrong here???

Second major concern: Sunny as possible? Check out this thread, it's descriptive and level-headed.
//www.city-data.com/forum/orego...oudy-long.html

I live in an older part of a Portland suburb. Maybe 5-7,000 ft. lots. You can have up to three chickens in city limits I think. You can grow a lot in a small area with raised garden beds! It's common to see that these days.

Hiking or finding a fishing stream and river would never be an issue. Pretty much any activity you want is easily within an hour or less drive.

St. Helens, Scappoose, Or Forest Grove, Oregon.

My best recommendation is to check out the Olympic Peninsula area in Washington. And the west side of Olympia. Charter schools, several home schoolers 'clubs', farmer's markets & food co-ops, etc.

Of course you will be accepted. Some of the newer neighbors have come from Colorado, Utah, Montana and California within the past few years.
Like somebody else said, everybody here is from somewhere else - me too!

Maybe when you get places narrowed down, folks could give you more specifics.

[Silverfall]

I have some friends that bought a 1/3 acre with a house in Bend for $329 or so. The 1/2 acre on a teacher's salary will be difficult there and in most areas in Oregon unless you look in some of the smaller towns that surround the metro areas, but then you lose the liberal bent you seem to want. Oregon has urban growth boundaries which restricts our zoning. As such land is at a premium.

I think Eugene, Portland area or Bend would be your closest bet for most of your criteria. I think you guys would have a difficult time finding jobs here though. Many teachers were just laid off due to budget cuts and things aren't looking pretty for school budgets for next year either.

[ladybuggk]

Thanks so much for your responses. I think we're going to come visit several areas of Oregon for a week over Thanksgiving. That will hopefully give us a feel for how the skies are.

And to respond to Silverfall about the 1/2 acre..... on realtor.com it looks as though there are at least a handfull of homes on more than 1/2 acre.... i wonder if they are in neighborhoods that aren't as desirable for some reason. it's so hard to figure this all out from southern california.

i appreciate your input very much!

also, thanks for the heads up on teaching jobs. we both are credentialed to teach college as well and i have a degree which allows me to also be a counselor from kindergarten through junior college. i'm hoping this will help open some doors, although i realize every area of education is affected right now.

[ladybuggk]

by the way, my husband teaches p.e. which is more of a specialized field. i know the portland area has an ABUNDANCE of p.e. teachers so he couldn't get a job there. but we're hoping there's a district that needs a p.e. teacher (it's so specific).

[davefr]

You're going about it all wrong. You need to be very flexible because the limiting factor is employment. (teachers are even effected but the very high unemployment situation).

In this economy you need to secure the jobs first and then optimize your goals for owning a home.

The best approach is to schedule some trips to start the job searches.

[ladybuggk]

thanks dave,
we realize that what you say is true about the employment being an important issue. however, we want to really narrow down which places we WOULD consider living in and then put applications in near and around those places. we could have lots of possibilities, but we're also trying to limit them to places where we'd be happy.

we won't leave our stable jobs where we are now to come live just anywhere because we got a job there.....

thanks for your input.

[davefr]

Originally Posted by ladybuggk

thanks dave,
we realize that what you say is true about the employment being an important issue. however, we want to really narrow down which places we WOULD consider living in and then put applications in near and around those places. we could have lots of possibilities, but we're also trying to limit them to places where we'd be happy.

we won't leave our stable jobs where we are now to come live just anywhere because we got a job there.....

thanks for your input.

I hear what you're saying. However don't just put in applications. I would try and visit each potential area and figure out a way to meet teachers/adminstrators in those speciifc areas. Networking is so important and most of it needs to be face to face.

Go to a teachers union meeting, visit some potential schools, try and attend some meetings/conferences, see if you know someone that knows someone that can help you get your foot in the door.

Prepare a budget that allows you live off one income should one of you need more time to secure a position.

Good luck!

[ladybuggk]

Valid points DAve! I hadn't considered the face to face aspect.

We're coming to visit in November..... will look into these possibilities.

[Steve97415]

I'm an educator and, unfortunately, I would have to say that teaching is one of the worst possible professions within which to try and find a job within a pre-identified target community in Oregon. Most school districts in Oregon have rapidly declining enrollment and thus the demand for educators is likewise on the decline. Portland might be the one exception.

Up until 2002 I thought my future in education was made. I had a very good work history. I had been involved at the very forefront of designing statewide proficiency standards for foreign language assessment. I was an in-demand presenter at state teaching conferences and had multiple requests each year to mentor student teachers. I am published in academic journals and have several teaching awards. In 2002 I followed my wife's job to the coast and picked up a California credential also so that I would have a greater geographic range. In the past seven years I have been unable to find employment in teaching and have only seen one job I could even apply for (for which there were more than 100 applicants). I have also seen other people get hired one year only to get riffed the next as a casualty of declining enrollment, so getting hired in the first place only brings cautious optimism.
I know it sounds dismal, but you need to realize what you are up against. It isn't like it was in the 1990's. There are fewer and fewer students in the K-12 bracket each year. You will have a huge backlog of pink-slipped teachers that you will have to compete against for a limited number of openings. Add to that the hundreds of new teachers that graduate from Oregon universities every year (who will be cheaper to employ than an experienced educator because the district can start them on payroll step 1). Most of the openings that do come up will be part time: .2 to .5 FTE. That might be what it takes to get your foot in the door, but I know teachers who have been holding onto those part-time positions for over a decade with no sign of a full-time contract in sight. Good luck. Check EdZapp for possible openings. Face-to-face networking has become more difficult now that the application process is mostly on line. http://www.edzapp.com/jobs/