portland and surrounding areas (Eugene, Beaverton: low income, apartment complexes, rent)

[mmblarg]

Hello! here's the basic story, my room mate (21 yr female) and I (20 yr female) are planning to live in one of the areas surrounding Portland and I was wondering if anyone had any more insight in whatever area they choose and the types of communities.

Recently we took a trip from South Dakota to Oregon to check out Eugene and the university, absolutely hated it! But while we were staying with family on the border of Portland and Beaverton, just below PCC Rock Creek Campus, we fell in love with they city and the colleges.

here's our two main dilemmas...actually three...starting with we are poor and full time jobs are hard to come by no matter where you are... otherwise! we are faced with finding apartments from afar is really hard since there are hundreds of sites hosting different apartment complexes and I have found very slim pickings in our low price range that comes with utilities and the front door. Last is residency. We’ve been pounded from one side to another telling us how hard it is to achieve residency, especially if you let slip you are intending to attend a college. We are not just there for college. We have been looking for a place that we can settle into find jobs, take trades to begin with and find better jobs in the same area. I know this is a really hard way of working into the system but we have our reasons.

Right now the problem at hand is finding apartments in the right area. We would like to stay close to PCC and out of the inner city, but if money leads us in other places I would rather not find ourselves in what might be considered the "bad side of town"

any thoughts? Thank you for reading.

[Minervah]

The only thing I think would work for you is to see if your school can give you help with both apartments and jobs. Work is difficult to come by everywhere these days but Oregon has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation according to the Craig Wessel online buisness news report.
It would not be a very good idea to come here without a good size chunk of money to fall back on.

[subsound]

Near PSU and cheap unfortunately aren't too common, I wish it was but it's killer in the area. Irvengton is about the best I've found in the city, still at ~$500 a bedroom inc utilities cost, it's not very close but public transit pretty much drives you right to campus. It's not what I consider the nicest place either if you're closer to the commercial areas where most of the apartment communities are. The Beaverton border is about the same on the other side of Portland from it (at least what I have found in commute time, I've been looking to move), a good bit nicer, and a good bit cheaper.

Good idea to come out with a chunk of money if coming form out of state, without being a student or specialized skills it can be rough finding a job...being near the top of unemployment rates, especially for service industries is hard. Not even call centers and McD's are hiring, my wife was recently laid off and got 0 calls from anything requiring general skills (when she got laid off she applied to anything that would take her resume)...she did get picked up recently because she has 3 years of specialized hospital testing experience that requires months of training.

I have been wondering what it takes for residency in Oregon, thought about taking a class or two to keep current. Pretty much every place I lived just asks if you have a local address, filed a tax return, and note if you have been away for more then X number of months in the last year.

[scirocco16v]

Sounds like you have family in the Tanasbourne area (like the corner of NW Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro). This seems like a solid fall back. Cost of living is very high here considering the average salary. Based on your general "college" statement, it sounds like PCC will be the school you're looking to attend. Especially if you're in the Tanasbourne area. As far as apartments go and "bad areas", Portland doesn't have any REALLY BAD areas. There are pockets here and there that I would steer clear of, but realistically, the new suburbs have more shady folks than the old unkept houses. You can thank federally subsidized housing for this. A lot of apartments near the area you stayed are "restricted income". The tricky part about this is; you can't live here if you're attending school full time. It's like a creepy way of keeping all the poor and uneducated people in the same pocket. I would strongly recommend having a trade if you come over. The no skill job market is overflowing, and while minimum wage may be pushing $8/hr, it won't pay the bills. Oh, not to mention, all the trade schools have wait lists here. If you can do the Bohemian lifestyle and share a 3 bedroom apartment with another couple to help cut your expenses, you should be able to get a foothold. However, if this lifestyle isn't for you; this may not be a good time to try to relocate here.

[mmblarg]

My room mate and I are batting around ideas of taking college here or there first. and we're planning on saving at the very least three months worth of expenses before we make the move (rent, gas, food, etc.) I’m coming from Sam’s club and hopefully can work back into that kind of market, but can be transferred to the one and only Wal-Mart that's in the area to start off at if I can't. Gotta say, for an area that hates corporations with a blind fiery passion of doom, there are a lot of Fred Myer and Win Co's in the area and around the costal states, which has been explained as just the same as Sam’s club here. *shrugs* it's a choose your poison market to me, but your choices makes it fricken hard to just work myself into the same system >.< heh. Anyways, my roomie on the other hand has experience in lower management but not in a large enough company where she can be transferred, we are hoping to fall back on family ties if we can't dig up jobs on our own.

As far as apartments go, we're looking more into the Beaverton area as close to PCC Rock Creek Campus as possible. I’ve found a few apartments around the same price as what we're renting now which is at $710.00 a month including utilities. really rather stay out of the inner city anyways, so that area is great for us and we spent the entire time we visited around there, so it's already familiar ground.

I know $8 and hour is really hard to make a living off of, but since my roomie makes close to that an I’ve gotten myself up to 9.80 from 8.40 we've got practice in scrounging as long as wages and costs stay about the same if not better. Remember....ramen is a 20 year old's best friend.... so sad....

The only other problem I have is that even with that lower rent apartments that aren't low income they require making at least 3 times the amount of rent between the apartment occupants. We hardly make 2 1/2 between us with a $700 two bedroom apartment.

Other than that....any other thoughts on the city that comes to mind? Good bad, whatever, I like hearing about it, but most of the time when I read the other forum topics they are directed at a more mature audience o.o I like to still be young and can't afford sampling the great foods of the city, nor am I much into the politics of it at the moment. Heh thanks for the replies!

[EnricoV]

Minimum wage isn't "pushing $8, it's almost halfway past it. Oregon's minimum wage is $8.40 as of January 1, 2009.

[meltinjohn]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

Minimum wage isn't "pushing $8, it's almost halfway past it. Oregon's minimum wage is $8.40 as of January 1, 2009.

Thats HIGH for minimum. I think that exceeds most states.