Realistic commute times for best schools . . . (Portland, Beaverton: rentals, house, neighborhood)

[old bird]

At this point I'm considering all good options. We are relocating from Pittsburgh to Portland in the middle of next month. Our family consists of my wife and I and two sets of young twins, boys 6 and girls 3. Schools are our first priority, but much of what is precipitating this move is a 40 hour work week (better than the 80 that I work now). I don't want to replace the extra work hours with extra commute hours.

My office will be downtown (1st street near the Morrison Bridge), and I am able to work my schedule to avoid the worst of the traffic, I would plan on being in the office around 6:30 and leaving by 3:30. I would take MAX if it is convenient, but don't mind driving either.

Target rent for us is a 4 bedroom single family for less than $2000, but would prefer to keep it under $1800. We definitely prefer homes with character to new cookie cutters with no yard.

The areas we are currently considering are:

Lake Oswego
West Linn
Beaverton (if I'm reading reviews right, it seems like the south end has the best schools)
Camas, WA (but the commute scares me)
Happy Valley

I'm coming out in a couple weeks to get a look at areas and hopefully find a home. My question for you incredibly knowledgable and helpful people here is, what would realistic commute times be like for each of these areas and are they the best areas to consider?

Any info is appreciated!
I've seen homes in all of these areas that appear to fit our needs

[Nell Plotts]

The commute from Camas or Happy Vally would not meet your needs (aka routinely horrible).

Lake Oswego & West Linn you would be in on I-5 during commuting hours, not the best IMHO.

Beaverton would be easier as you can use local streets if need be or you can park & ride using the MAX.

Four bedroom homes are a rarity unless you can find an 'executive' rental in the west hills or Alameda neighborhood where your housing budget isn't sufficient. Bless you for throwing twos twice but at least while renting I think the kids need to sleep two to a bedroom. The standard house in Portland is 3 bedroom.

Welcome to Portland.

[EnricoV]

The commute from Happy Valley area (I'd try to make sure I was over the line into Clackamas County -- I think the schools would be better) could be done on MAX as well. Beaverton & Happy Valley are the only two that make a MAX commute feasible. Looks like it'd be a 30-45 minute ride either way.

[christiner81]

we were trying to target in between beaverton and downtown, looking for a similar type house, similar budget. the 4 bedroom ones will limit your search, but we did see a bunch that were 3bd/den or 3bd/office (which is what we got), if you are OK with that. my husband went looking and one of the realtors who showed him the rentals he'd scoped out on his own ended up showing him a house that was not advertised yet, as the previous tenants had just moved out. We signed the lease the day it would have been listed.

if you would like his contact info I can PM it to you. I've never met him personally (i'm still in arizona, moving up next week) but my husband has - and it seems like working with an agent directly might give you an advantage, especially since the kind of home you want isn't a dime a dozen.

[Nell Plotts]

Please be careful when dealing with 'agents' representing rental properties. Portland area has "property managers", not rental agents. Make sure that the 'agent' actually represents the owner of the house (you can find the owner of a property by entering the address on PortlandMaps). Recently a relative who had his house on the market discovered that a scammer had put the house up for rent and the 'new renters' were knocking on his door. Their deposit is long gone.

[old bird]

Thanks for the great responses.

The commute time between about 30 and 45 minutes is about what I am expecting, I would really just like to keep it under an hour. That should give some flexibility in where we go.

I saw some homes in the NW that might work as well. Cedar Hill area. It looks like the schools are good overall. Is the Portland School District good overall? The homes I saw listed today are just inside Portland, outside of Beaverton.

And thanks for the warning, Nell. I'm certainly not going to rent a house site unseen, and I will check public records prior to renting anything.

[figmalt]

Cedar Hills is a good neighborhood, and it's a pretty straight shot into downtown Portland on the MAX from the Sunset Transit center.

[Nell Plotts]

Portland Public Schools on the west side are fine.

My pre-school aged grandchildren are in the Skyline Grade School enrollment area, their mother thinks the facility is too crowded. The upper grades had been bussed to middle schools but that got horrendously expensive so they are back at the Skyline building. DIL thinks they need portable classrooms (there is more than enough land available). Lincoln High enrollment area.

Chapman (my & my children's grade school) has always been a strong school with a very supportive middle/upper income community. Lincoln High enrollment area.

Ainsworth Grade is up on the hill, has a Spanish immersion program, and upper income parents who do a lot for the school and students. Lincoln High enrollment area.

Bridelmile Grade School attendance area includes both Lincoln and Wilson High Schools. Again a school whose parents expect the best from their children, middle income.

The middle school serving these grade schools is Skyline which is actually two buildings.