early Portland house scouting, advice welcomed

[bler144]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

There's no getting around that we won't get the same thing in Portland that we'd get in a smaller city for the same price. We just have to figure out how to get max bang for the buck. I suppose we might end up considering that, if that's what it takes.

The issue you have, really, is that in the 200-240k range you're competing with the vast majority of other potential buyers, including speculators/flippers/etc. In short, you want what pretty much everyone wants in a time window where available stock is low for a variety of reasons.

Kicking up to 300k+ is likely to be putting a lot (if not all) of your financial eggs in one basket, but it's also about the only way to start separating yourself from the herd in the housing market. If you think the market will stay strong or go up, then it's a sound investment. If you think prices will drop if and when rates ever rise or for any other reason, then you may find it imprudent.

I can't recommend it as a course of action unless you make six figures, but it's an unpleasant reality. Even in the 'bargain' parts of town, 240k (much less 200) is going to be pretty limiting in 2014. Now, if you could travel back in time to 2010, then sure, you'd have a few options.

[j_k_k]

Thoughtful perspective, bler144, and kind of what I was afraid of (but need to hear and absorb). It's one of those cases where we can wish all we want that this happened then, not now, but in the meantime we have to work with what we have got. I'm hoping that Hillsboro will have something like what we want. The advantage is that the commute is not daily; half the time my wife goes someplace other than the office. Of course, far from everything is still far from everything, but it can mean avoiding the worst of it some of the time.