Best/Worst small towns in the general Salem area?

[Eric G.]

Originally Posted by bler144

Does wife have a gig lined up? If so, where? If she doesn't have anything lined up yet, as others have noted, it can be a tough job market for teachers in OR. People were being gentle in saying "it's not a sure thing."

Nothing lined up yet, and won't be actively looking for a while. We won't be making the move until Summer 2016. Just looking right now. We have no illusions of her gliding into a teaching job quickly, but there are other things she can do in the interim while looking, including substitute teaching/tutoring/etc.

Originally Posted by bler144

If she's going to be looking for work, there's really nowhere in that range that really maximizes having options while also staying within a 30 min radius of where the jobs are. You almost have to choose the Corvallis (ahem) "metro" or the Salem metro. Living in Philomath in particular is going to put you on the wrong side of the valley to commute to pretty much anywhere other than Corvallis or Albany.

I've been looking at different schools in the different areas. There's a site called greatschools that has ratings of schools in different towns. I see a lot of good schools North of Corvallis, some good and bad schools in Albany. Lebanon looks fairly middle-of -the-road. It may end up being a longer drive if need be, to find the right sized property we're after. We don't want to be living in the city.

[therese marie]

Originally Posted by Eric G.

Nothing lined up yet, and won't be actively looking for a while. We won't be making the move until Summer 2016. Just looking right now. We have no illusions of her gliding into a teaching job quickly, but there are other things she can do in the interim while looking, including substitute teaching/tutoring/etc.



I've been looking at different schools in the different areas. There's a site called greatschools that has ratings of schools in different towns. I see a lot of good schools North of Corvallis, some good and bad schools in Albany. Lebanon looks fairly middle-of -the-road. It may end up being a longer drive if need be, to find the right sized property we're after. We don't want to be living in the city.

Did you ever move and were did you end up at ??

[Eric G.]

We haven't moved yet...will hopefully be this coming Spring.

We did come out for a "location scouting" trip and to look at some areas, talk to the locals, and visit some properties.
Albany is too big for us, but it's nice that it has everything we'd need shopping wise. Went to a Thai restaurant called "House of Noodle" that was amazing.
We liked Lebanon and Scio and Philomath. Very nice farm areas North of Albany as well.

The only thing we've soured on a bit is Sweet Home. Seems every time I asked someone in Albany or Lebanon about Sweet Home, they got pretty quiet and didn't know what to say.

When pressed, they didn't have much good to say. One woman that worked at a hotel we stayed at said "People around here have a saying..."Nothing good ever comes out of Sweet Home". Ouch.

And on the way into Lebanon when we were passing through Sweet Home at night, we were literally chased by some drunk hillbillies who were pissed at us for some reason. My wife swore she would never live there. And that was *before* we talked to people about the area.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Eric G.

We haven't moved yet...will hopefully be this coming Spring.

We did come out for a "location scouting" trip and to look at some areas, talk to the locals, and visit some properties.
Albany is too big for us, but it's nice that it has everything we'd need shopping wise. Went to a Thai restaurant called "House of Noodle" that was amazing.
We liked Lebanon and Scio and Philomath. Very nice farm areas North of Albany as well.

The only thing we've soured on a bit is Sweet Home. Seems every time I asked someone in Albany or Lebanon about Sweet Home, they got pretty quiet and didn't know what to say.

When pressed, they didn't have much good to say. One woman that worked at a hotel we stayed at said "People around here have a saying..."Nothing good ever comes out of Sweet Home". Ouch.

And on the way into Lebanon when we were passing through Sweet Home at night, we were literally chased by some drunk hillbillies who were pissed at us for some reason. My wife swore she would never live there. And that was *before* we talked to people about the area.

Scio has a really good K-8 school if they have any openings for teachers.

[SandraRose2016]

I have been researching the Salem and surrounding areas for a couple of years now. If you some land the most reasonable is Dallas. And this is a nice town. I have found the real estate has gone up everywhere surrounding Salem. Salem and Dallas is the most affordable.

[Eric G.]

Dallas is on my radar too. Lebanon, Dallas, Scio, maybe Philomath.
Keeping my ears and eyes open.

[vjanef]

Eric, I recently moved to Lebanon. Not impressed and am looking to move on when my rental lease is up next June, possibly out of Oregon altogether. Corvallis is definitely my favorite spot in the area if you can find affordable housing. I rather like that it is a college town as it gives it a good vibe. While the countryside is very pretty in Sweet-Home/Lebanon, Corvallis is far above, with both lovely scenery and wonderful little town! Best of luck in your search.

[Eric G.]

Yeah, I might not call Lebanon "impressive", but we're looking for some place out away from the larger cities, but still close enough to drive to them when needed.

Lebanon and Scio and places like those are usually considered boring or hayseed because of the lack of any kind of nightlife or "things to do" but my wife and I like smaller towns like that.

Corvallis is great, but I'm not going to find any 5 acre plots for ~150k in Corvallis.

[leastprime]

I got 13.x acres in Salem. within urban growth boundary, bordered by city on 2 sides. Undeveloped. Subdividable into 2 parcels.
Saw a RE agent today on our options.