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Old 05-01-2019, 11:39 PM
 
7 posts, read 7,512 times
Reputation: 19

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I'm really glad this thread was posted because I have lived all over Oregon for five years and I'm still trying to figure out where the amazing area of Lake Oswego is. Is the area where the Sur La Table is (around the lake, where the Whole Foods 356) supposed to be 'the nice area' ? I get that there are million dollar homes out there, but I'm just not getting the 'why?!' factor.

Additionally, can someone explain where ANYTHING is in West Linn besides the small strip mall around New Seasons? Where is the 'nice and upscale' part of West Linn?

I've been all over the Beav and Hillsboro and I actually do get why people think there are nice-ish parts to those areas. But I have seriously tried over and over to understand the Lake O thing and I am starting to wonder if I ever will. I've even had a co-worker move out there and rebuild an entire house to make this happen and I'm still at a total loss. Someone enlighten me! Give me specifics! Is it the Zuppans? They do stack those strawberries so perfect, I will admit that!
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Old 05-02-2019, 10:36 AM
 
Location: CA, OR & WA (Best Coast)
469 posts, read 519,969 times
Reputation: 433
Quote:
Originally Posted by alloverandover View Post
I'm really glad this thread was posted because I have lived all over Oregon for five years and I'm still trying to figure out where the amazing area of Lake Oswego is. Is the area where the Sur La Table is (around the lake, where the Whole Foods 356) supposed to be 'the nice area' ? I get that there are million dollar homes out there, but I'm just not getting the 'why?!' factor.

Additionally, can someone explain where ANYTHING is in West Linn besides the small strip mall around New Seasons? Where is the 'nice and upscale' part of West Linn?

I've been all over the Beav and Hillsboro and I actually do get why people think there are nice-ish parts to those areas. But I have seriously tried over and over to understand the Lake O thing and I am starting to wonder if I ever will. I've even had a co-worker move out there and rebuild an entire house to make this happen and I'm still at a total loss. Someone enlighten me! Give me specifics! Is it the Zuppans? They do stack those strawberries so perfect, I will admit that!
I've only been to LO by boat. From Foothills park (on the river) we walked straight up and the entire area looked pretty nice. Very much like every other posh place we have seen. We ate at Holy Taco on 1st street, its good but no taco truck thats for sure.

Some friends of mine just moved off the water into a small house in LO, its was a little over $1mm.
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Old 05-02-2019, 02:21 PM
 
7 posts, read 7,512 times
Reputation: 19
Quote:
Some friends of mine just moved off the water into a small house in LO, its was a little over $1mm.
Yes! My friends are putting more money than I've ever seen into this house and I am at a loss. I have lived all over the US, including expensive areas in Washington DC and Los Angeles. It is not that I dislike Lake Oswego... it is more that I don't understand what makes it worth the money. The school my kid attends in Beaverton is Really Good! The community here is tight knit and safe. My house is brand new with full energy efficient appliances. That is at a fraction of the cost of Lake Oswego. Not even to mention the mysterious West Linn. I have driven out there multiple times and I am so confused.
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Old 05-02-2019, 03:38 PM
 
Location: CA, OR & WA (Best Coast)
469 posts, read 519,969 times
Reputation: 433
Quote:
Originally Posted by alloverandover View Post
Yes! My friends are putting more money than I've ever seen into this house and I am at a loss. I have lived all over the US, including expensive areas in Washington DC and Los Angeles. It is not that I dislike Lake Oswego... it is more that I don't understand what makes it worth the money. The school my kid attends in Beaverton is Really Good! The community here is tight knit and safe. My house is brand new with full energy efficient appliances. That is at a fraction of the cost of Lake Oswego. Not even to mention the mysterious West Linn. I have driven out there multiple times and I am so confused.
Go look at Saratoga Ca, looks pretty much the same but houses are 4x of LO. I think most of this has to do with location (old money), LO is so close to downtown Portland as Saratoga is to San Jose

https://www.zillow.com/lake-oswego-or/home-values/
https://www.zillow.com/saratoga-ca/home-values/
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Old 05-03-2019, 02:19 PM
 
Location: Henderson, NV
7,087 posts, read 8,593,406 times
Reputation: 9978
It’s basically a different idea of what makes a place nice and absolutely I agree with you. In Las Vegas, we went to explore where we wanted to be and it was between Green Valley and Summerlin, with us figuring from online research we would love Summerlin. We immediately liked Green Valley as soon as we were there, it was actually green (not why it’s named that, but it is green), there was upscale retail in several malls, lots of retail along a big road called Eastern, and it was close to the Strip. We got to Summerlin and immediately hated it. There was nothing there! It was just rows of houses with seemingly no retail in sight, except a developing and still desolate downtown area that wasn’t much to see.

The point is, I’ve talked to the people who love Summerlin and it’s somehow great to them to “get away” from it all so they seem to think it’s a feature that there’s zero going on in their entire neighborhood and that it’s far from anything useful. They like how “quiet” it is. That’s like Lake Oswego, lots of nice houses, absolutely nothing going on there and you have to drive forever to get anywhere. My GF and I just have higher standards than that for proximity to restaurants and shopping - if it’s further away than 5-7 minutes it’s way too far. I won’t even leave the house to eat if it’s more than 7 minutes away 75% of the time. I expect restaurants close and I am not trading that for an isolated house in a nice area.

You’ll see a little bit of this in all kinds of “upscale” cities, like Beverly Hills is very nice and there is a huge amount of shopping (expensive shopping) and nice restaurants there, but you better be living in your little bubble because there isn’t a freeway anywhere near that place. It drove me insane when I lived in LA trying to get in and out of there because it’s a solid 15 minutes from a freeway so if it’ll take you 40 minutes to get to BH it’ll take you another 15 just to get where you are going within it. I think the celebrities love that, but for me? I want a freeway within 5-7 minutes too. Right now, I can hit two freeways in Beaverton fairly fast, one in 7 minutes and the other is about 7-9 minutes depending on traffic.
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Old 05-07-2019, 08:41 PM
 
Location: Oregon
908 posts, read 1,653,602 times
Reputation: 1023
i think LO / WL would be a better choice for a few reasons. you have easy enough access to downtown pdx and both sides of town without having to use the worst most congested roads. you can get to SE from there easily, and also clackamas county is a good county government. Schools are stellar, top rated. Bedroom communities, not business districts. I would say LO and WL have a more elite society and atmosphere than most areas, nearly no poverty, and yet friendly. I have lived in WL and far West Portland, near Beaverton. WL School District extends clear down to Wilsonville, on I-5, which also is a nice area, many large lots since it's former farmland now being continuously developed into housing, most of it medium to higher end.

Last edited by 2bpurrfect; 05-07-2019 at 08:52 PM..
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