Best areas for leasing a nice house? (Portland, Salem: new house, neighborhood)

[10ofus]

We are relocating from California and have decided to lease a house for a year while we transition. (We've come up looking for property/homes several times over the past couple of years.) We moved my mother to Sherwood last year and we have other family members in the Newberg area.
My question is: Which area would you recommend for looking for a house to rent? Somewhere outside of Portland, within 20-30 miles of Sherwood. (I'd rather be closer to Portland rather than Salem.) I'd like to live in a nicer, hopefully newer home with a good sized yard in a calm neighborhood and can go up to $2,500/month. (Just FYI - we've lived in an older ranch style home in a country setting for the past 30 years, so we want to try a different type of environment. That's why I'd like a "nicer, newer" home with some neighbors - but still need a big yard.) I'm not sure whether to look in Oregon City, Beaverton, Wilsonville, Tigard....? We have two elementary school aged children. Although we homeschool, I'd still like to be in a nice area with things to do - would like to carry on with ballet lessons, etc.
I'll be up next month to try to find a place, but really don't know where to start. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[NWGirl74]

Where will you be working?

[crisw]

If you're looking for subdivision-type "newer" you may want to check out Happy Valley, which is about a half-hour commute to Sherwood (when there's no traffic.) You probably wouldn't find a big yard in a new house though.

[bler144]

I don't recommend the drive from HV to Sherwood, personally. It can be a mess at the oddest times. Doable? Sure. Pleasant? No.

In general I'd probably stay west of the river. Lake Oswego/West Linn will have older homes, but as they're more upscale I don't believe ranch-style is significant in either. What $2500 gets you there these days, if anything, that I'm less sure of since it's out of my range.

As NWGirl asked, where would you be working/commuting to?

[10ofus]

Forgot to say, I work from home (internet based) and my husband will be a semi-retired building contractor. We're not super concerned about the commute. (We've experienced the traffic there.) Thank you for your input.

[Yankeemama]

Try Hillsboro.

[patches403]

Originally Posted by 10ofus

We are relocating from California and have decided to lease a house for a year while we transition. (We've come up looking for property/homes several times over the past couple of years.) We moved my mother to Sherwood last year and we have other family members in the Newberg area.
My question is: Which area would you recommend for looking for a house to rent? Somewhere outside of Portland, within 20-30 miles of Sherwood. (I'd rather be closer to Portland rather than Salem.) I'd like to live in a nicer, hopefully newer home with a good sized yard in a calm neighborhood and can go up to $2,500/month. (Just FYI - we've lived in an older ranch style home in a country setting for the past 30 years, so we want to try a different type of environment. That's why I'd like a "nicer, newer" home with some neighbors - but still need a big yard.) I'm not sure whether to look in Oregon City, Beaverton, Wilsonville, Tigard....? We have two elementary school aged children. Although we homeschool, I'd still like to be in a nice area with things to do - would like to carry on with ballet lessons, etc.
I'll be up next month to try to find a place, but really don't know where to start. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

In Portland, nice, newer homes don't come with big yards unless you're talking about very high end homes, which would be several thousand a month above your budget. Newer homes come on postage stamp sized yards here because of the land-use laws. Most homes built in the last 20 - 30 years are attached or so close together they just as well be attached and many don't come with anything beyond a large paved porch/patio and a patch of grass if you're lucky.

Your best bet for what you want with a big yard is an older home that's been updated, but your budget certainly isn't going to get you anything really high end. It also depends on what kind of neighborhood and neighbors you want. I would try Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville, and Sherwood to start and see what you find.

[Sherwoody]

Unless you are trying to put some miles between you and family I'd suggest Sherwood. The rental market is very tight everywhere and it maybe best to find an available rental that meets your needs and jump on it. (Nice homes rent in a matter of days) There are a few in your price range in Sherwood that I think are nice enough.

The Sherwood YMCA is hard to beat for year-round activities and I've seen home schooled kids in some sort of organized PE class in the afternoons sometimes.

Here is what Padmapper comes up with in Sherwood and surroundings

https://www.padmapper.com/?viewType=...lse&dogs=false

[AnitaBlack]

Older home, but has everything you want. About 20-30 minutes to Sherwood. I was looking at it for clients working at Intel, but they wanted something within walking distance. https://reliance.appfolio.com/listin...5-fb442fae92c9

[10ofus]

Great advice and suggestions everyone. Thanks so much!