Apartment Hunting (sort of)

[skiffrace]

was wondering, as you get closer to PCC and L&C colleges, say on Kerr Pkwy, do the apts there become more "college kid focused"?

PCC: probably not. Community College students are usually locals who live somewhere else.
L&C: probably yes. Private college with a few locals but also a lot of out-of-town and out-of-state students. L&C has a nice dorm, but some students prefer to rent nearby. The area around L&C is very nice, but also quite pricy.

Not sure if the Bull Mountain area is too far off the freeway for me

It all depends where you need to go. Bull Mountain is a very nice area. Unfortunately, the main "escape route" - Hwy 99 is horribly congested during rush hour, especially when going through Tigard, and quite slow at any time. If you settle in Bull Mountain and plan to commute to downtown, seriously consider the bus.

[NickyBilly]

Red Lion Lloyd Center

[psichick]

More questions about areas. I'm narrowing down my focus (sort of) since I hope to find something next Tuesday when I fly up.

I recall passing through the Murray Hill area. Kinda cookie cutter, but still pretty (when CA is all brown, anything green is pretty). I was wondering though, I really liked the LO area off of Boones Ferry Rd near Kerr. I recall grabbing Kruse to get back to Tigard and it moved pretty fast. I liked that area because of all the lush/mature trees. I can't recall what Murray Hill looked like. Is it like that? Or not. I've read that it's a nice area.

I decided to stay out of the Bull Mountain area because I remember being on Pacific Hwy at 5pm, not moving. That wasn't fun. Scholls Ferry seemed to move better and there were a lot more side streets I could take to avoid the main road. Well, at least that's how my GPS took me.

Any thoughts on the LO area btwn Boones Ferry, Kruse, Kerr, and 5?

Or near Scholls Ferry btwn 121st, Murray, Walnut to Brockman?

I figure for now, those areas are close enough to the freeways and I can put up with things for a years lease. Hopefully any job I find won't be way out on the other side of the city.

Thanks. Got a list of apts to hit when I get there, I'm just trying to narrow my focus since I'll only have a day to secure something (or at least find a few possibilities).

[skiffrace]

Once again, the most critical question is: where are you going to commute to?
Lake Oswego is a winner not just because of it's upscale nature, but because of the location near the downtown, with several alternate routes to get there. The only exception is the area of LO *south* of the Oswego Lake, blocked by the lake to the north. That part has bad commute to downtown because it has to squeeze either through narrow opening on the east end of the lake (Hwy 43), or the congested I-5 on the western end.

Murray Hill is great, but... I lived there until 4 years ago, actually, I lived just south of it, on the northern slope of Bull Mountain. The traffic was horrible then, and it is even worse now. Schools Ferry Road is a parking lot, not just during rush hour but for much of the day. If your job is in Beaverton or Hillsboro, the commute is OK, although the Murray Blvd is quite congested during rush hour as well. If you need to get to downtown from Murray Hill or northern Bull Mt, you are in trouble.

Last but not least: you appear to be thinking

close enough to the freeways

equals freedom of movement. This may be true in Iowa, Indiana or maybe parts of California, but not here.
Freeways are packed and slowly moving for a big part of the day, and being near one does not give you much. Ditto for many of the highways, ex. Hwy 99, Hwy 26 on east side, Schools Ferry Road and many others.
The solution is not to be near freeway, but near place of your work or school, or at least near public transportation like Max that will take you there.

[psichick]

Originally Posted by skiffrace

Once again, the most critical question is: where are you going to commute to?
Lake Oswego is a winner not just because of it's upscale nature, but because of the location near the downtown, with several alternate routes to get there. The only exception is the area of LO *south* of the Oswego Lake, blocked by the lake to the north. That part has bad commute to downtown because it has to squeeze either through narrow opening on the east end of the lake (Hwy 43), or the congested I-5 on the western end.

Murray Hill is great, but... I lived there until 4 years ago, actually, I lived just south of it, on the northern slope of Bull Mountain. The traffic was horrible then, and it is even worse now. Schools Ferry Road is a parking lot, not just during rush hour but for much of the day. If your job is in Beaverton or Hillsboro, the commute is OK, although the Murray Blvd is quite congested during rush hour as well. If you need to get to downtown from Murray Hill or northern Bull Mt, you are in trouble.

Last but not least: you appear to be thinking
equals freedom of movement. This may be true in Iowa, Indiana or maybe parts of California, but not here.
Freeways are packed and slowly moving for a big part of the day, and being near one does not give you much. Ditto for many of the highways, ex. Hwy 99, Hwy 26 on east side, Schools Ferry Road and many others.
The solution is not to be near freeway, but near place of your work or school, or at least near public transportation like Max that will take you there.

I know, I know. Live close to work. Unfortunately, I will be moving without a job, so I could end up working anywhere. It's why I'm trying to find something "centrally located". I can put up with a crappy commute for a year. After that, if I need to, I can move out of my apt and closer to work. Worst case scenario, I break my lease and move.

As for the freeway bit. You're right....and wrong. Yes, I'm a SoCal girl which means I love my freeways. However, when I was there for 2 weeks, I stayed in Tigard near the 217/5. Hopped on the (dammit, gonna have to stop saying "the") 5 to get to downtown or the NE side. Grabbed the 217 for Beaverton. Grabbed the 5/205 to go visit my cousin in Oregon City. Convenient. Drove to Oregon City on streets from Tigard, that sucked big time. And I'm sorry, except for 5pm rush hour, if that's your idea of a "packed" freeway, then I'm good to go. Even at 3-4pm, traffic was light (IMHO) on streets and freeways.

I have come up with a lot of apts. It looks like most of them are in the Mt. Park area of LO. Doesn't look like it'd be easy to get from there to say,the north area of Beaverton. I will rethink the Murrayhill area as I have a lot of apts on my list, I guess where it is will determine things. BTW, at about 8am, I drove from Tigard to Hillsboro/Aloha on a lot of smaller streets (not Murray/Scholls/Pacific). Not too bad. Coming back, I took the freeway at 5pm. Yikes. Now that was ugly.

Thanks. I'll keep looking. It is hard to find a place w/o knowing where I'll be working. I have a feeling I'll end up in the LO area if I can afford it...seems like there's a LOT of added costs to rent (I have never had to pay for a covered parking spot before).