Where to live around Salem? (Keizer, Dallas: short sales, foreclosures, house)

[breezybird]

Hi all! So me and my Fiance are looking at moving to the Salem Oregon area within the next few months. We've both lived in a couple different states, though neither of us have been to Oregon. I know to avoid the NE side of Salem, but where should we be looking?

We don't like living on top of our neighbors, and are fairly laid back. Love the outdoors. If we can afford it we want to get a couple acres <----I'm dreaming here. A 30 minute commute isin't a big deal, and we kind of expect it if we are going to try and live outside of Salem.

On a side note, how is the weather? I hear it rains alot there, but what is considered alot for everyone?

Thanks!

[mamh]

Hello
Our weather is easy to take, yes it rains but not like people would lead you to believe, we have beautiful fall, summer and spring weather..Winter is winter but mild compared to most parts of the country..We have beautiful sunny days in winter too..I look forward to the change of seasons.
Come drive around salem and look, you'll find pockets of good and bad in all parts of town..I live on the northeast side of town and have no trouble, but I'm in one of the nicer 55 plus manufactured home parks..
Where are you coming from..........I think you'll like up here..
Pull up on the internet some of the other small towns like Silverton Keizer , Dallas and others on the internet..Love Silverton, and live across I-5 from Keizer and love it too.
Good luck

[rbrannie]

check this out...
www.orebyowner.com
acreage, small town, about 30 minutes from Salem.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by breezybird

Hi all! So me and my Fiance are looking at moving to the Salem Oregon area within the next few months. We've both lived in a couple different states, though neither of us have been to Oregon. I know to avoid the NE side of Salem, but where should we be looking?

We don't like living on top of our neighbors, and are fairly laid back. Love the outdoors. If we can afford it we want to get a couple acres <----I'm dreaming here. A 30 minute commute isin't a big deal, and we kind of expect it if we are going to try and live outside of Salem.

On a side note, how is the weather? I hear it rains alot there, but what is considered alot for everyone?

Thanks!

In order to get a liveable house on a couple of acres in the area, you are generally talking about $250,000 and up. There are some foreclosures and short sales that have come on the acreage market recently so you might get a good deal on one of those, but that is a general rule of thumb.

Most Oregonians are outdoor loving folks and typically the reason people move here. There is plenty to do nearby to satisfy your outdoor needs.

As for areas, honestly it depends on where you work. I mean if you work on Lancaster I wouldn't recommend living in Dallas unless you love to sit in your car a lot. As far as avoiding NE Salem, there is some really nice acreage off Cordon Rd and Hazelgreen so if you are wanting acreage then things are different. It also depends on whether or not schools matter to you.

A 30 minute drive from Salem would take you out to Scio to the south, Stayton are to the east, Dallas to the West, and Aurora to the north. Salem is the main hub and then there are many small towns that surround the city. Which one might be a good fit for you depends on what you want in your city.

[breezybird]

Thanks everyone for the great information! It's helped alot to narrow down some of the things I need to research.

We are moving from southern Illinois, about 40 minutes from St. Louis, MO. It's not a bad area, but it is very flat and surrounded by corn fields. He grew up in upstate NY and loved it, but the taxes are outrageous because of New York City. I grew up an hour outside of Dallas, TX, which was nice but not where I want to end up. I can't wait to have mild winters I'd take rain over freezing weather any day.

Unfortunatly 250K is a little too far out of our budget. Like I said, I was dreaming. Though we will be looking for foreclosures and fixer-upers. My fiance is pretty good with that stuff.

From what I've seen so far, Silverton sounds really nice and laid back. My fiance is leaning more towards Dallas just because it is that much closer to the ocean. I haven't seen much chat on Dallas though, guess I should start researching.

Schools are not a deciding point for us. We are leaning towards home schooling when the time comes, and I've heard great stuff about the home schooling support in the area. We could always change our minds later, but that's a ways off yet.

Thanks again! It is so helpfull to have first hand advice.

[Silverfall]

Dallas is a nice small community. Silverton is more artsy and Dallas more laid back, I think anyway. Both are nice small towns though.

We have lots of home schooling groups in the area and there is an online charter school that is a home school/public school hybrid. It is really popular here. It's called Oregon Connections Academy.