Friendly to Newcomers? (Portland: affordable apartments, rentals, credit)

[xz2y]

Is Portland friendly to newcomers? I'm a 50-something single female looking to semi-retire in Portland. I love bigger cities with all the amenities, culture and opportunities for part-time work, etc. Portland is very liveable and civilized in many ways. I hope I can find a nice apartment, potentially in the city, and plan a visit in March or April to look at apartments. I have excellent credit and excellent previous rental references, and am hoping it won't be too much of a problem to find a rental when I visit, as a retiree. I have been reading on other posts about the difficulty of finding a rental for someone from out of state, but I'll be visiting there and going on "apartment interviews" and seeing places first-hand. So, I'm hoping it won't be a problem. In general, is Portland friendly to newcomers? And is the difficulty in finding a rental for a person out of state just an anomoly, or is Portland not friendly to outsiders?

[EnricoV]

I think the problem is that there's more of a premium on affordable apartments, so the landlords are more able to pick and choose their tenants. So they also get snapped up fairly quickly.

I don't think that most Portlanders (who can speak for them all?) have a problem with out-of-staters. I would, however, suggest that newcomers not spend a lot of time telling whomever about how much nicer they did things wherever they came from. Compliment the city, ask questions, and Portlanders will respond in kind.

[Minervah]

Rentals are indeed difficult to come by because there are more people who need apartments than there are apartments who need people. If you go out to the burbs you can find something but to find something in town is difficult.

ow I am talking about small neighborhoods within the city where there are not too many rentals so landlords can pick and choose their tenants. My last couple of apartments, including the one I am in now were attained because I lived in the neighborhoods long enough to know the landlords and how they treated their tenants. I made inquiries of the tenants as to how they were treated and even made acquaintance with a couple of the apartment owners. I found this was necessary having gone through some bad apartment experiences since Portland has little legal protection for tenants

Sometimes if you are in the right place at the right time you can get lucky. The best way to find a place if not word of mouth is to go looking for rental signs in a neighborhood you think you will like. Keep in mind though, that for a really great place to live one often has to ask the landlord to place their names on waiting list. That's what mine does. He hardly ever needs to put a sign out for a vacancy.

A couple of other things, I don't know what your skills are but keep in mind that Portland employers are not kind towards older workers. I won't go into examples but I can tell you from my experience and friends in their 50's and 60's that to be out of work at those ages is more difficult than for younger people. The job situation at best is not so good for most people in this town. It's just more difficult for older folks.

Finally have you checked out the cost of living here? It's pretty high compared to many other places.

Best of luck in moving to Portland. I hope you do find what you need.

[robertpolyglot]

Polite? Yes.
Friendly? No.

[xz2y]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Rentals are indeed difficult to come by because there are more people who need apartments than there are apartments who need people. If you go out to the burbs you can find something but to find something in town is difficult.

ow I am talking about small neighborhoods within the city where there are not too many rentals so landlords can pick and choose their tenants. My last couple of apartments, including the one I am in now were attained because I lived in the neighborhoods long enough to know the landlords and how they treated their tenants. I made inquiries of the tenants as to how they were treated and even made acquaintance with a couple of the apartment owners. I found this was necessary having gone through some bad apartment experiences since Portland has little legal protection for tenants

Sometimes if you are in the right place at the right time you can get lucky. The best way to find a place if not word of mouth is to go looking for rental signs in a neighborhood you think you will like. Keep in mind though, that for a really great place to live one often has to ask the landlord to place their names on waiting list. That's what mine does. He hardly ever needs to put a sign out for a vacancy.

A couple of other things, I don't know what your skills are but keep in mind that Portland employers are not kind towards older workers. I won't go into examples but I can tell you from my experience and friends in their 50's and 60's that to be out of work at those ages is more difficult than for younger people. The job situation at best is not so good for most people in this town. It's just more difficult for older folks.

Finally have you checked out the cost of living here? It's pretty high compared to many other places.

Best of luck in moving to Portland. I hope you do find what you need.

I really appreciate the information and advice. I have great skills, excellent experience and excellent references. I realize "age" can be a factor, though I'm not looking for "career" position, just an office job with benefits. The economy in Oregon has to be better than Michigan, which is in the pits. As far as the cost of living, I'm looking for a studio apartment in the $700 range, so I'll probably need to look outside of the city.
I do appreciate the comments.