Anyone from Grand Rapids in Portland, moved recently? (Detroit: apartments, to rent)

[brbie419]

Hey All,

The hubby and I are in Grand Rapids, MI now and we are moving to Portland sometime this summer or fall depending on his job. He is in IT management. I am a lawyer. What can you guys tell me about living in OR vs. GR, MI? Or, I would be happy for anyone's opinion from the midwest.

How are people in OR compared to MI? I have noticed in MI that education is a threat to co-workers, what about in OR? I have noticed in MI that you cannot have an opinion (as in you cannot disagree with the norm, you cannot state your true opinion on a blog or forum without it causing problems), how is it in OR?

Unemployment in MI is insanly high and I have been applying in Portland and have actually received a little response even though I am still here. Will I be able to find at least a customer service job while I try to find legal work? What about the IT field for the husband?

How easy is it to rent an apt? I have looked online and see most apartments are in the $500 and up range. Will two cats be a problem? Do you need great credit to rent? Will you need a job in order to rent?

I want to be able to use public transportation as we are going to have only one car once we are out there. It is really as good as people say in Portland? How much does it cost to ride around? Is there a unlimited monthly fee?

Any other tips/advice will be much appreciated. Thanks!!!!

[philwithbeard]

I moved from the northern suburbs of Detroit (Macomb county) last summer and I am aware of the Dutch ethnic and religious influence of western L.P. of Michigan.

Originally Posted by brbie419

How are people in OR compared to MI?

The 1st thing I noticed was the percentage of women with blond hair (80%?) and 2nd thing I noticed was how thin the average person is compared to Detroit. People in Portland that I have met eat meals in portions like they are normal modern people, not farm laborers who burn 5000 calories a day. YMMV.

People in Oregon tend to be introspective, and parochial, which being isolated by geography except to Seattle, can be understood. Also, while you are looking a a map, you will notice proximity to California. Thus the fashions and culture of CA has a strong influence on the culture on the PNW; just as NYC has cultural influence over much of New England and northern Mid-Atlantic..

In Portland, you can start a conversation with anyone in public, at anytime, and have a polite response, but it seem IMHO to be on a 90 second clock. After about 90 seconds, your conversation, as a welcomed stranger, expires. Very unlike Detroit, where strangers are just plain unwelcome (as a stranger, you might be a {gasp} LIBERAL. or even worse from another social stratification suburb. **see below for comment explanation** )

I have noticed in MI that education is a threat to co-workers, what about in OR? I have noticed in MI that you cannot have an opinion (as in you cannot disagree with the norm, you cannot state your true opinion on a blog or forum without it causing problems), how is it in OR?

Depends on who you ask. There are posters on this site who will proclaim Portlanders are permitted to have any opinion they want, as long as that opinion is approved by the Democratic Party Thought Police (DPTP) of Multnomah county.

This is only a myth. There are lots of people in the 'burbs of Portland that seek political opinions from Fox Cable TV news. 'nuff said

Seriously, have any opinion you want. But this town will react harshly to racist, anti-immigration, pro-anarchy, and pro-domestic violence (young male trash-talk expressing physical violence for dominance/control in relationships) opinions expressed verbally.

Unemployment in MI is insanly high and I have been applying in Portland and have actually received a little response even though I am still here. Will I be able to find at least a customer service job while I try to find legal work? What about the IT field for the husband?

Unemployment is high, as all across the USA in the Great Recession. There are jobs, but the trick is finding one. Every job opened appears to have many resumes sent in. Oh, wages are lower in Portland than MI. Fact of life.

IT field is kind of unusual in Portland from my Point of view. A fair number of MIS, or IS database and web database jobs but the programming language seems to be more UNIX, Linux, or OpenSource databases and interfaces.

But the IT field seems to be more of a hire from outside the PNW, burn them out, and replace with newer migrant IT workers.

How easy is it to rent an apt? I have looked online and see most apartments are in the $500 and up range. Will two cats be a problem? Do you need great credit to rent? Will you need a job in order to rent?

No! If your credit is bad, common in Portland is apartment deposit of 1st, Last, Security, and the Non-refundable part; expect at least $1500.00 upfront money. Your refundable security deposit may be twice the Landlord's nominal to cover his cost of hiring laborers to move you belongings out to the street if that should be necessary.

(Aside, you do know that Portland has a very large homeless population? Some estimates are 5,000, but in summer estimates could claim over 10,000. Landlord are reluctant to add to the homeless problem by renting to no-job newbies to Portland; evicting is unpleasant to everyone involved.)

That price for a 1brm is about right for Portland. There are cheaper rents, but... ah... can we just call it "for the experienced Portland renter; not for Portland newbies" areas. Not that it isn't safe, all of Portland is very safe compared to other cities of same size, but what I call the area of 'shot of beer with a tall glass of bourbon' areas.

I want to be able to use public transportation as we are going to have only one car once we are out there. It is really as good as people say in Portland? How much does it cost to ride around? Is there a unlimited monthly fee?

Our mass transit is one of the best in the country. Period.
TriMet: Public Transportation for the Portland, Oregon, Metro Area
Until you get here and actually ride it, it is totally amazing compared to other cities I have lived in. Monthly bus passed and ticket information is on the web site. Monthly passes can be purchased in most grocery stores.

As you might expect, bus riding depends a lot on the driver. Some are great, and a few drivers should never hold any job, EVER, that might possibly, or remotely, involve public interaction.

There are many threads on moving to Portland with lots of suggestions for web browsing. Google: Moving to Portland.
Print out maps of Portland's neighborhoods:Neighborhood Maps and Boundaries

Portland is not like Michigan, or other rust belt cities. The Suburbs of Portland ARE NOT socially, culturally, economic, and racially demarcations of isolation and stratification with rings and more rings of suburbs expanding further out into country side. Housing lot sizes will be smaller than what you are use to.
Also, don't expect to have voting polling places inside a church 'community room' meanwhile the Preacher holds prayer meeting in the main chapel for faithful to pray against the election of Liberals and non-Caucasians, as those may be Democrats.

Sorry for long post.

Phil

[pacowang]

i also moved to portland from michigan in 2008 after living in michigan for pretty much all my life. i grew up in midland, went to albion college and then university of michigan, and settled down in grand blanc. i never enjoyed living in michigan and always wanted to move out of state, but things never fell into place and it was too risky to take a chance and find work away from home. i pretty much could forsee the landslide that was about to take place in michigan's economy and bailed out of my workplace in 2007. moving to portland was an easy choice, though not the smoothest transition in terms of finding work. now that i am settled in, i have no regrets whatsoever. i feel like portland is where i always belonged- i only wish i moved here sooner. i despised the suburb life in michigan and made a vow when i moved here i would not make the same mistake. the only drawback is the cost of living and state income taxes. licensure is also quite difficult to achieve here, not sure what you would need to do to practice law, though.

[brbie419]

Thanks for the responses, I do appreciate everyone's time. OR has a pretty cool rule for attorneys that if you are active in another state (I am in MI), you can practice in OR with a firm. When I talked to the bar a year ago, they said they were trying to make it easier to become an attorney there if you were already one, but I have not checked up on it recently. I really hope we can move where public transportation is easy. We sold my Jeep and hubby got his dream car and then we are getting rid of his junker, so we will have only one car there. I cannot wait to be out there and it will be august at the latest. Smart that pacowang left MI before the economy tanked - good foresight!

[pacowang]

yeah, but it took me 1 1/2 years to sell my home in MI. we won't even get into that discussion!
you can easily survive on 1 car. just make sure you find a good location to live in portland.