Good place to live? Here's what I'm looking for. (Portland: real estate, violent crime)

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by showson1

davef,
I think you misunderstand my situation, so allow me to restate it.

I'm collecting data on potential places to live, I'm not looking to find something immediately to move right away.

I would agree with your statements if I was in the situation that I had to move or I was about to lose my job / unemployed and finding a job was an immediate concern, none of these are the case.

My move will not be for at least two more years, I have no interest in rushing into a move and I am not in a position where it's a priority to find another job.

What is a priority is finding places that are good to live, for my family (based on the criteria at the beginning of the post) that I can find employment in.
Once I have several areas that I'd be comfortable raising my son, I will target those for jobs and go with the areas I can find employment in.
I'm collecting this data now so I have ample time to find an appropriate location.

In my situation there's absolutely no point in "casting a wide net" to areas I might not, otherwise, be interested in living or raising my son. That would just be a waste of my time and the time of the hiring individuals / companies.

It'd be incredible irresponsible of me, in my situation, to move to an area just because I found a job without considering the impact on my wife and son.

Pittsburgh, PA. Affordable, good schools, lovely environment, outstanding museums and educational cultural offerings. Kinds of a PNW climate at about 40% of the price, and better economy and wages. Check it out. This from an Oregonian.

[davefr]

Originally Posted by showson1

davef,
I think you misunderstand my situation, so allow me to restate it.

I'm collecting data on potential places to live, I'm not looking to find something immediately to move right away.

Here is what we're looking for in hopes someone could help with areas in Oregon:
1) Safe - Low crime / gang activity

Low crime would be outside of the Portand metro area. Portland does not have high crime but it's also not low. There's lots of gang activity.

2) Great schools

The best schools are private. Do a search for the link to public school rankings. The best public schools are in the expensive neighborhoods.

3) Affordable houses that would allow for a yard my son could run around in.

Define affordable? Is it in proportion to wages or are you looking at an absolute number? Portland is the most expensive and also high housing costs relative to wages. Look at eastern/southern Oregon. Klamath Falls might be a good possibility for this criteria.

4) As mild winters as possible - I grew up with "real" winters and don't mind snow and cold weather, just not a lot of it.

Western Oregon will be very wet and cold 6 months out of the year. Eastern Oregon will be colder but drier and more snow. The coast will be mildest temps but the wettest.

5) Tech industry, If possible

Tech. is dying in Oregon. Most of it is centered in Wash. County but most employers are downsizing. (ex: Tek, Intel, etc)

6) Slower paced lifestyle - I'm done with the stressful commutes and road rage (from other drivers).

Definately stay away from the Portland area!! Road rage isn't that common but commutes are hell.

In summary you likely won't get all 1-6 criteria met in Oregon. You'll need to do a pareto of what's most important because there will be significant tradeoffs.

[jrkliny]

You are not the first Californian to decide to leave. Over the past few decades millions have left and every city in the western half of the US has seen the influx. You can use the City Data site to look up population growth statistics, but Las Vegas, Reno, Albuquerque and many other areas have grown 15-20% in the period from 2000- July 2008. Along with the population growth, has been a growth in jobs and industry. Many businesses have also relocated to these new growth areas. By contrast, Portland has only grown 5.4% during that period. Oregonians and Portlanders seem to be pretty clear. They do not want the growth. Unfortunately in addition to the slow growth in population, the economy and business growth has been much worse. If you have a family and you need to work, you need to be very cautious.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by davefr

Here is what we're looking for in hopes someone could help with areas in Oregon:
2) Great schools

[b]The best schools are private.

In California, that's most often true. In much of Oregon it's also true. But there are places like Corvallis, Ashland, Eugene and Lake Oswego where private schools have struggled to get established because the public schools there perform at such a high level. Even the high schools (the K-12 level where performance is the biggest problem) there rank 9-10 out of 10 on the greatschools.org rating.

[NomadicBear]

Originally Posted by jrkliny

...Las Vegas, Reno, Albuquerque and many other areas have grown 15-20% in the period from 2000- July 2008. Along with the population growth, has been a growth in jobs and industry. Many businesses have also relocated to these new growth areas. By contrast, Portland has only grown 5.4% during that period...

This is not true. The economy in NV is the worst in the history of the state. Unemployment, statewide, is more than 13%. The state is losing population as there are no jobs. Be careful about passing on erroneous information.

In response to the original poster- I think, like many people, you're looking for a needle in a haystack. People want to find a job like they have in CA, in Oregon. It just doesn't work like that. That's why, historically, house prices are very low in Oregon. There's a **** poor economy. If everyone could leave CA behind, and find the same sort of work but a better quality of life in OR, Oregon wouldn't be cheaper, it would be equally, or even more expensive.

[bake2152]

Good Eve!! How do you guy's feel about Bandon? We are going to move there in about 6 months. I am retired . Sure liked visiting there a few yrs ago. Any complaints? Later REED

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by showson1

Hi all,
I currenly live in San Diego, CA and love it, but I'm a little nervous to raise my 4 year hold here because of the drug use and gang activity.

Plus it's very expensive and crowded, although my wife and I make decent money we'd like to have a mortgage that allowed for a little more freedom.

I've been doing research of places to look at for possibly moving and Boise, ID (and surrounding area) is on our list, but I'm having a REALLY hard time figuring out what would and wouldn't be good places to look at.

Here is what we're looking for in hopes someone could help with areas in Oregon:
1) Safe - Low crime / gang activity
2) Great schools
3) Affordable houses that would allow for a yard my son could run around in.
4) As mild winters as possible - I grew up with "real" winters and don't mind snow and cold weather, just not a lot of it.
5) Tech industry, If possible
6) Slower paced lifestyle - I'm done with the stressful commutes and road rage (from other drivers).

We were looking closely at Bend, but the more I looked the more I saw that it may not be ideal anymore since it grew too fast.
I was looking at the Medford / Ashland / Grants Pass area, but not crazy about it being built around the freeway and not sure about school systems.

Everything I find is conflicting information, so I could really use the advice of people that live in Oregon currently.

If anyone has first hand experience moving there from San Diego that'd be even better!

Oh, and before I get the Anti-Californian post (as I've seen to often in this forum) I'd be moving from CA because I want to leave CA.
Plus I'm from New Jersey anyway, so I'd much more likely be buying a slice of pizza than a trendy coffee.

Thanks all!

Where in SD do you live? we have lived in SD with our child for 8 yrs, and gangs are not a huge problem in SD county. We'v elived in clairemont, normal heights and carmel valley. Normal Heights was the only real urban area we were in, and it was too densely packed, and has homelessness and meth users around the area,owing to urban aspect....but other than that, gangs are notoriously low in numbers in SD county.
Perhaps a different area of SD is in order?
Also, Oregon has some significant meth and crime issues itself, notably Eugene and Salem. Corvallis is a very nice, truly bucolic college town that walks it's talk, though. If you can find work in that area, it's worth a consideration, IMO. Didn't find great pizza when I was there, tho'...(fellow east coaster here-boston).(:

[CCCVDUR]

Originally Posted by davefr

Southern Oregon has crime and drugs just like every other community. Housing has become more reasonable, schools vary and the climate is pretty decent.

In my recent observations of touring all the major towns in Western Oregon, definitely not all of Southern Oregon has crime and drugs. Medford has meth (see the other threadS), although other areas do not. Ashland is safer, as it is upscale with retirees and tourists, and the place needs to be kept safe for those reasons. Ashland has a low rate of crime compared to the national average for college towns. However, does anyone reading this still have concerns about Ashland? There was a stabbing at the Suncrest Rest Area in Talent the other day!

Unfortunately, Eugene on first observation of the City has a significant drug, crime, homelessness, and unemployment problem, as does Salem, although nearby Corvallis is safer. I have never seen so many homeless people than in Eugene, and to be fair, also in Santa Cruz and Flagstaff. Too bad that the residents don't care about their homeless in these places. I'd rather live in a more liberal, caring community, since Cities that don't care about their homeless usually have bigger problems, such as an uneducated populace not interested in public service. Ashland has a very high educational attainment rate compared to Eugene. Anyway, I digress.

Check the crime indices for each city at city-data.com Nevertheless, due to high Oregon unemployment and resulting thefts, the best advice is to use multiple (2 or more) anti-theft devices on cars at all times, 24/7, and don't go out at night alone. Never leave valuables unattended in a vehicle, and if you're a bicyclist, use the most expensive bike lock you can find ($80 and up). Use your bike lock even when it's parked in your residence. Also, a home alarm system is a good investment in this economy if it is loud enough. In Albuquerque, the place was a meth cooking neighborhood (and a former meth lab), and I spent $300 for a 12 station system over 800 square feet, I'm not kidding.

Also, apparently Eugene has a Police Citizen Review Board. What is this, and does it by any chance contribute to a lack of police morale, and an inability for the police to aggressively handle the horrific and disgraceful Eugene meth problem?

[Smiled]

"As crappy as the weather in Seattle is, I think I'd end up jumping off a bridge or something. "

Well... Portland - to - Eugene is pretty similar.

[Smiled]

I'll chime in about Boise a bit... The economy there is no great shakes either. Hewlett-Packard has been shrinking over the years; Micron also, though they did just buy another firm, and that may add jobs; Albertsons is now Supervalu (Minneapolis). And net migration to Idaho was about zero last year - tracking perfectly with the house-building industry. Idaho may even lose people this year, as may Nevada. Washington State is about to pass a big tax package to fill a huge budget hole (Oregon did this last month). In short, there are no magical places at the moment around this area.