Illahe Hills Neighborhood / Illahe Hills Country Club (Salem, Keizer: rent, homeowners association)

[martinJR]

Hello,

My wife and I have a strong possibility of having to to relocate from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Salem area this year for a new job. I have taken a look at some areas of the city online. We may rent month to month at first, but as soon as we sell our home in CA we plan on buying a home in Salem. We have a budget between $400 and $600k for a home. The Illahe neighborhood seemed to look very nice. I was hoping for some feedback from anyone familiar with the neighborhood or area.

We are both in our early thirties. She is expecting our first child in the summer. It is a tough time to move to a place where we pretty much do not know anyone, especially for my wife! We will most likely have a lot of visiting family (our parents), but she plans to stay at home with our first child. I figured the idea of a country club might fit our lifestyle. She is very active, I love to golf, we are friendly and outgoing, and it may be a way for us to meet new people.

So a couple of questions:

1. What is the Illahe hills neighborhood like? What is the feel there? Is it one of the nicest neighborhoods in Salem?

2. What is the feel of the Country Club? Is there a fairly large group of younger families mixed in with the older members of the club. Are people pretty welcoming of newcomers to Oregon. Is it tough to become a member? Do you need sponsorship? etc. etc.

Thank you very much for any and all input!

[Silverfall]

Illahe is a nice neighborhood. I think it is a pretty typical golf club subdivision. What I do like is that all of the homes are custom in there so it doesn't feel cookie cutter at all. Creekside Estates, which is the other golf community here, is more cookie cutter as builders purchased tracks in there. As far as being "one of the nicest" it is one of the nicer neighborhoods but we have others that are more luxurious than Illahe.

Illahe has a lot of older members. There are some families in there but it is mostly older, as is true of many country clubs. They did just redo their pool which I think made the families very happy since that is geared towards them. I know there are memberships available so I don't think you would have any issues becoming a member.

People are welcoming to friendly people in Oregon. Since your wife would be new to Oregon, I'd recommend one of the MOMS clubs to meet other moms. She might meet a few people through the country club but honestly probably not a lot.

[martinJR]

Thank you Silverfall, we will look into MOMS clubs. What are some of the other luxury neighborhoods you mentioned?

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by martinJR

Thank you Silverfall, we will look into MOMS clubs. What are some of the other luxury neighborhoods you mentioned?

Luxury-ish Neighborhoods in Salem

Golf course communities
Creekside Estates
Illahe

New construction
Bella Cresta
Bailey Ridge
Majestic View

Acreage
Chinook Estates
Spring Lake Estates
Rainbow Hills

Old and Established
Fairmount Hills
Laurel Springs
Cambridge
Alderbrook

Other
The Heights
West Hills Estates
West Meadows Estates
Croisan Mountain
Circuit Rider

I think you should consider Cambridge or West Hills Estates.

[bobmulk]

Ilahee is Salem old money. It has tremendous cache and is in an absolutely gorgeous area. There are a couple of other neighborhoods nearby, too.

[martinJR]

Thanks for the input bobmulk. It is just so surreal for me to see what one gets in terms of a home in Salem for the price. When I compare what my home in the Silicon Valley is worth it is enough to make me sick. That is one very nice thing about a possible move to Oregon. My salary doesn't change much but it seems like it will go great deal farther when I am not having to spend $4000 a month on a mortgage for a 1400 square foot house!

Since I am only 30 and don't really come from money, but have a job that allows me to live comfortably, where might you recommend? A nice safe neighborhood for I guess "new money." I never really considered myself any type of money at all I guess. Newer construction maybe. Families with younger children. Thanks for the help!

[SalemGolfer]

Originally Posted by martinJR

Hello,

My wife and I have a strong possibility of having to to relocate from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Salem area this year for a new job. I have taken a look at some areas of the city online. We may rent month to month at first, but as soon as we sell our home in CA we plan on buying a home in Salem. We have a budget between $400 and $600k for a home. The Illahe neighborhood seemed to look very nice. I was hoping for some feedback from anyone familiar with the neighborhood or area.

We are both in our early thirties. She is expecting our first child in the summer. It is a tough time to move to a place where we pretty much do not know anyone, especially for my wife! We will most likely have a lot of visiting family (our parents), but she plans to stay at home with our first child. I figured the idea of a country club might fit our lifestyle. She is very active, I love to golf, we are friendly and outgoing, and it may be a way for us to meet new people.

So a couple of questions:

1. What is the Illahe hills neighborhood like? What is the feel there? Is it one of the nicest neighborhoods in Salem?

2. What is the feel of the Country Club? Is there a fairly large group of younger families mixed in with the older members of the club. Are people pretty welcoming of newcomers to Oregon. Is it tough to become a member? Do you need sponsorship? etc. etc.

Thank you very much for any and all input!

As an Illahe Hills CC member with a young family, I can assure you that you'd feel very welcomed and right at home at the club. The club's membership has gotten significantly younger in the last decade, with many, many young families with kids. It's a tremendously friendly club and not difficult to join. Give the club a call and ask to speak to the General Manager and he can get you all of the information, invite you out to play the course and tour the facilities. Great junior programs for kids in the summer, brand new pub in the clubhouse, and the indoor tennis courts all help provide for a great environment.

While Silverfall gave you great information on the Salem neighborhoods, if you do hope to make golf and a country club a big part of your family's life, living "on-campus" in the Illahe neighborhood would be a huge advantage.

Hope to see you out there at some point in the future!

[martinJR]

Thank you for the feedback Salem Golfer! Great to hear your thoughts about both the club and the neighborhood. We will keep that in mind when we start looking. Hopefully this all works out for us.

[bobmulk]

I would check out Creekside Estates which is wonderful and also in South Salem. It's a much newer community. Right next to Ilahee is Bailey Ridge which has large homes and the prices have come down considerably. Both of these places (along with Ilahee) are homeowners associations. McNary Estates in Keizer is another gorgeous area and is also a golf course community. Creekside is the newest of the areas--Bailey Ridge is very new, too. Avoid anything east of Interstate 5.

There are some very nice neighborhoods in West Salem, too. The unfortunate thing about West is the bridge which can be a nightmare at rush hour. Nevertheless, there's LOTS of newer construction with quite a few neighborhoods that aren't built out yet. I manage one homeowners association over there that has quite a few lots left.