Blindly moving to the area.. (Eugene, Springfield: apartment, rentals, violent crime)

[Mirsie]

So, I have a job offer in Eugene, and my partner and I have sidework in Oakridge. Hopefully my job in Eugene will be full time, so we would like the commute to be less than the commute to Oakridge.
We currently live in Texas, and don't have the funds for a trip to go scope it out, which is why I say we would be moving blindly.
I am having trouble finding housing in our range. We want a house(not an apt or duplex or townhouse), at least two bedrooms with a fenced back yard, rent lower than 1000 a month. We don't mind loving out in the country, or what school districts are where since we homeschool the two children.
Obviously don't want to end up in bad neighborhoods either.
Not finding alot of housing to meet our requirements, is it unheard of to find what we are looking for?
Also, any known rent to own places would be awesome to find as well.

[Metlakatla]

The only places you're going to find for that price range are in Oakridge. There are still some good rentals there.

There's really not much in between Eugene and Oakridge besides Dexter and Lowell, but I've never seen many rentals in either area. The commute between Oakridge and Eugene looks great on a nice summer day, but that changes quickly when it's the middle of winter on pouring rain or black ice. The good news, though, is that there's a little commuter bus that goes between Oakridge and Eugene called the Diamond Express. It's cheap and reliable.

[ryan_ninenine]

If you're from a rural part of Texas you could live in Oakridge, but if you're looking for a more normalized suburban city, yeah you're going to have to commute from Eugene. Maybe look in North Springfield near the new hospital? Or perhaps North of Beltine near River Road. Those are areas I can think of that are cheaper but not totally seedy. The general rule of thumb I tell to people is to avoid the Whiteaker, Glenwood, Four Corners (where 99 meets Roosevelt), and the "Inner City" parts of Springfield. Remember when we talk of crime in Eugene it's almost always property crime, drug abuse, and just generally shady people hanging about. Violent crime is not an issue here. If you've got some more specific locations you'd like to ask about or just any more questions in general I'd love to help.

[Steve McDonald]

Parts of West or North Springfield would be cheapest and they'd be closer to much of Eugene, as well as Oakridge, than River Road or Bethel area neighborhoods. That road to Oakridge is the most dangerous in our region. There's many highway trucks that use the route and the weather can turn icy very fast. It gets colder in Oakridge in the winter and can get blazing hot in the summer, but that wouldn't be very different than much of Texas. Economically, Oakridge is close to being a ghost town. It once thrived with large lumber mills, but that is all past now. But it could be a cheap place to retire, regarding housing costs. I looked at houses there once and found many at 1/3 to 1/2 of what they would have cost in Eugene or Springfield, but that 45 miles of dangerous road was a deal-breaker.

[Metlakatla]

Looks like they're going to have to do that commute one way or another because they both have side work in Oakridge. Guess it depends on what the hours of that side work are an how occasional it is. If by side work they mean regular part time jobs, they might be better off doing the Diamond Express into town from Oakridge for the full time job, but if the side work is just some sort of occasional deal, north Springfield might be better -- just don't know how they'd find something decent at their desired price, though. One of Oakrdige's advantages is that there really aren't any "bad" parts, and you can get an actual house for what you would pay for a small apartment in Eugene.

[Faith_1966]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Looks like they're going to have to do that commute one way or another because they both have side work in Oakridge. Guess it depends on what the hours of that side work are an how occasional it is. If by side work they mean regular part time jobs, they might be better off doing the Diamond Express into town from Oakridge for the full time job, but if the side work is just some sort of occasional deal, north Springfield might be better -- just don't know how they'd find something decent at their desired price, though. One of Oakrdige's advantages is that there really aren't any "bad" parts, and you can get an actual house for what you would pay for a small apartment in Eugene.

Great information! You have helped me as well! Thanks!

[Faith_1966]

Originally Posted by Steve McDonald

Parts of West or North Springfield would be cheapest and they'd be closer to much of Eugene, as well as Oakridge, than River Road or Bethel area neighborhoods. That road to Oakridge is the most dangerous in our region. There's many highway trucks that use the route and the weather can turn icy very fast. It gets colder in Oakridge in the winter and can get blazing hot in the summer, but that wouldn't be very different than much of Texas. Economically, Oakridge is close to being a ghost town. It once thrived with large lumber mills, but that is all past now. But it could be a cheap place to retire, regarding housing costs. I looked at houses there once and found many at 1/3 to 1/2 of what they would have cost in Eugene or Springfield, but that 45 miles of dangerous road was a deal-breaker.

Great info!!! Thank you!

[oregonresident2]

As someone who used to live in Oakridge for a few years and just moved recently, I'd say consider a shorter commute for a few reasons.

It can get expensive quick if you're buying groceries at Ray's Market even though you could do a huge haul a few times a month if you hit up Walmart using the Springfield shortcut (Jasper from crossing Lowell bridge). It does get so tedious driving back and forth between Eugene and Oakridge for any reason and a lot of drivers can be impatient trying to pass other slower drivers. I was not worried about driving ice during the winter because it's not that often we get snow days in Oregon, anyway. If you did, just switch to snow tires. I just hated driving during the dark because some areas are not well lighted and it's a hassle when the incoming traffic doesn't lower their headlights. Grrr.
Plus, we had an issue with vandalism on Main Street with someone shooting BB guns into shops. There are some town ordinances you have be mindful of such as using your chinmey---I think there's a smoke ban in effect due to the air quality standards not being passed in Oakridge. If you do rent a house, make sure it has built in heat and not just a fireplace that you cannot use without being fined.

I'd consider living near or around Lowell because that's just a quick commute to Eugene/Springfield in my opinion. Living in Oakridge did have its pros---gorgeous hiking and bicycling areas, fishing, scenic driving, the Fish Hatchery, the parade, and locals are generally friendly, the neighbors are senior citizens or young couples/young families. The town is growing, and is NOT a dead town like some PP assumed. That's old news. The tour season makes the town busy during summers when people pass Oakridge on the 58 all the time---it slows down during the off seasons, but we get around. If you want find news about Oakridge, there's a newspaper that cites all the latest news and upates called the Dead Mountain Echo. It publishes criminal incidents that the police attended to that I found interesting. Look at how the crime is through that.
Oakridge / Westfir Chamber of Commerce :: Dead Mountain Echo https://www.facebook.com/DeadMountainEcho/

Maybe consider other northern small towns like Coburg and Junction City. There's not anything seriously wrong with living in Oakridge, but like I said, the commute might get tedious (NOT dangerous) and it might be too expensive to buy food in town. Although you could buy fresh fruit and vegetables on the side of the highway or at the farms nearby -- there are a few christmas tree farms as well--fun for kids to do rides and field trips (that was the best thing I saw about living in Oakridge). Oakridge PD had limited hours for police working, but I heard they will increase hours and I liked the police chief. He transferred from Seattle to Oakridge and cleaned up the PD. They used to be good ol' boys club there before too many complaints were made and that was cleaned out.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

The only places you're going to find for that price range are in Oakridge. There are still some good rentals there.

There's really not much in between Eugene and Oakridge besides Dexter and Lowell, but I've never seen many rentals in either area. The commute between Oakridge and Eugene looks great on a nice summer day, but that changes quickly when it's the middle of winter on pouring rain or black ice. The good news, though, is that there's a little commuter bus that goes between Oakridge and Eugene called the Diamond Express. It's cheap and reliable.

Yikes, that's a 90 minute one way trip. That would be three hours on the bus per day. I don't know how people do that. I once had a 90 minute car commute. It was greweling. The only reason I did it, was because it was 90 minutes only one way. They other way was an easy 30 minute commute in off hours.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Yikes, that's a 90 minute one way trip. That would be three hours on the bus per day. I don't know how people do that. I once had a 90 minute car commute. It was greweling. The only reason I did it, was because it was 90 minutes only one way. They other way was an easy 30 minute commute in off hours.

Depending on where you go in Eugene/Springfield, it's more like a 60-minute one way trip. I lived in Oakridge for years and can attest to the fact that the Diamond Express is a well-used service.

You're probably getting your information about the 90-minute commute from here.

https://www.ltd.org/system-map/route_900/

5:30 PM 5:40 PM 6:30 PM# 7:00 PM

I find this really weird because the last stop is (at Westfir) is about four miles from the final stop at Ray's Market. There's no way it takes a half hour between places, and the same time frame isn't at play in the other trips -- I suppose if someone were really worried about, they could drive or bike the short distance to Westfir and take it from there. Personally, I don't believe that the bus sits there in Westfir for almost half an hour.