Suburbs with old houses/historic downtowns? (Portland, Gresham: real estate, 2013, neighborhoods)

[JIer]

We've been browsing around looking at homes to get an idea of what's out there, and we're pretty bummed about what we've found... Other than Portland itself, it looks like the housing is primarily mass produced tract homes featuring monstrous garage doors as part of the front facade.

I'm hoping we're just looking in the wrong places!

Are there any older areas outside of the city that have homes from the 1910s-1930s?

Or maybe even newer developments based on New Urbanism?

Do any of the suburbs have older downtown areas?

[sorupaa]

oregon city has a couple of houses from all the way back to the 1840's and a old down town

[Minervah]

Forest Grove comes to mind. It's a beautiful suburb with old homes. I have heard the schools are good too.

http://www.forestgrove-or.gov/

[Twilighter]

First Addition in Lake Oswego has some, but they are prohibitively expensive. You can find a smattering of them in West Linn, particularly in the Willamette neighborhood, but they are sprinkled here and there.

[gypsydoc]

There are fewer older homes like you describe out here simply because of the timing of the building and migration westward...

Construction went from east coast to west coast... spanning 300 years.. so the midwest is full of homes of that era and the further west you go, the fewer homes from the 30's and more homes from the '50s and newer. Does that make sense? The classic traditional family houses like that here are at a premium. Expensive and highly prized... while houses like that in the midwest cities... like Indy, KC, etc... not so much.

They do exist, but expect to pay a premium for them. The mid-century modern homes are replacing the Victorian of decades ago. They are in better shape, spacious, mature plantings by now and also quite desirable. Happy hunting!

[HiggsBoson]

I second Oregon City and first edition area of Lake Oswego. I have to ask though, Portland isn't a huge city, if you like the old historic homes and neighborhoods, why not just live in Portland?

[SETabor]

Which suburbs are you looking at? Hillsboro has a pretty neat downtown but I've heard it's not the best place to live. Gresham's downtown is all pretty new with a smattering of older buildings. Oregon City is the oldest town but the old part is below the bluff. There's limited land availability there so housing availability will be tight. Forest Grove might be your best bet but not if you're commuting to work in Clackamas.

As for new urbanism, the only one I can think of is Orenco Station.

[Nell Plotts]

Actually there are lots of pre WWII homes but you need to look in older areas. This is the best tool for finding listings where you can filter by age: RMLS.com™ Regional Multiple Listing Service - Residential Search

I came up with 50 constructed between 1910 and 1935 listed between $200T and $500T in Clackamas County alone.

[JIer]

Thanks everyone; definitely some good places to check out in there. We're not ruling out Portland itself, just trying to get a feel for what the other options outside of the city might be. We currently live on one of the barrier islands surrounding Charleston, SC. The city itself is beautiful, but most of the area around it is just dime-a-dozen Anytown, USA - plazas and subdivisions. We won't get to visit the area before moving, and were just trying to see if there were going to be other options outside of the city itself that we'd like.

My office would be in Lake Oswego (Autodesk). My husband went back to school for a second degree in Electrical Engineering and is finishing up in April 2013. He's already been contacted by Intel here in SC, so we have our fingers crossed for opportunities in Hillsboro.

Ultimately, I'm sure we'll need a real estate agent's help, but it looks like we'll have a bunch of places to look into, so thanks!

[crisw]

You might check out Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Jennings Lodge and Gladstone. All have some older housing stock, especially along the Trolley Trail. We are in the process of buying a 1923 bungalow in Jennings Lodge that's on the Clackamas County historic register- they are out there!