California family wants to relocate to Oregon (Portland, Salem: apartments, rentals) - (OR) - City-Data Forum

TLfamily6 · 08-05-2012, 06:27 PM

Hello I have been thinking for awhile to relocate to oregon. I love the cold,raining, snowy weather. I think I am allergic to the dry heat so Arizona is not an option. We are a family with Two teens and Two lil ones age 2 and 9. I am wondering some feed back where is a great locating in Oregon that is safe and family friendly. I work as a dental assistant and my hubby is in the commercial heating and air company. Please give me feedback, looking to rent first. Thank you! Also looking for a Great christian church close by, we are currently very active in our home church.

christiner81 · 08-05-2012, 10:09 PM

what's your budget & size for a rental?

hamellr · 08-05-2012, 10:31 PM

What do you consider "snowy weather?" Snow on the ground year round? Snow for a couple of hours every other year, with a few inches every 3 to 4 years?

TLfamily6 · 08-09-2012, 02:31 PM

We are a family of 6, two teens and 2 lil one's. we pay here 1600 a month and it is not that good of a neighborhood. My Hubby works for a commercial not residential company. And is the Supervisor for the service department making about 65,000 a year. I stay at home at the moment but have 14 years of experience in the dental field as a registered dental assistant so could go back to work if needed. Don't know how well they pay in oregon so wouldn't know how much rent we could afford. Never lived in snow so i would be new to living in it, going to work and driving in it. Don't mind cold and rain. I don't know if this is enough said but i appreciate your comments.

5thgenSF · 08-09-2012, 03:10 PM

so does this mean you are planning to come with no job lined up first?

BLAZER PROPHET · 08-09-2012, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLfamily6

I love the cold,raining, snowy weather.

Well, that certainly qualifies you to be an Oregonian!

Smiled · 08-09-2012, 09:22 PM

What part of California are you coming FROM? The reason I ask is that the climate here is quite a bit different - liking rain and cold is nice, but here it runs from mid-October to April with little break.
Pay is probably 30% less in Portland, less than that in smaller rural places. Rent, well, it's a bit less. Food can be a bit more expensive.
The economy is strongest in the Willamette Valley, spotty elsewhere.

Minervah · 08-09-2012, 11:45 PM

Are you confident your husband can find work? Have you checked into job opportunities and salaries?

Storm00 · 08-10-2012, 01:59 PM

Salem gets lots of rain. It is usually overcast, rainy, and 'cool' in the Spring and Fall, and overcast, rainy, and cold in the winter. Not usually more than a dusting of snow, unless you live up in the South Salem or West Salem hills - then you may get 1-4 inches a year, depending. The summers are nice, usually sunny, mostly clear skies, with 80-95 degree temps, on average. I'm not sure about the job market - I've heard it's picking up in this area, but I've applied for numerous jobs in the last year and haven't had any luck. And I'm currently working, which I *heard* was supposed to be ideal. As far as rentals, most apartments and duplexes are in the $650-$850 range and most houses are in the $900-$1200 range, at least that's what I've noticed.

Portland, I don't know much about, but it's a big city with lots of smaller surrounding cities. Weather is about the same as Salem. I personally would never live there (in Portland, anyway) because there is too much crime for my liking. But you have tons of Portland-lovers who disagree. I guess you would just have to look up the statistics if you're interested. Also, the traffic/road conditions between Portland and all of the smaller surrounding cities (Wilsonville, Beaverton, Oregon City, etc.) is not to my liking, either. Portland metro area rentals are a lot more expensive than Salem - probably $750-$1000 for an apartment, $1300+ for a house.

Bend is a smaller city in the middle of Oregon, much higher elevation so they do receive several inches of yearly snow, probably less than half the rain that Salem and Portland get, and beautiful, dry, cool, sunny summers. They also get over 300 days a year of sunshine, I've heard. It's a beautiful city but small - only about 75,000 in the city and then about 170,000 in the whole metro area. I thought about moving to Bend last year, but the lack of job growth scared me off. I'm not sure if it's doing better now... As far as rentals, the Bend area has a lot of houses, which is nice. Depending on the area, there are nice, 2-3 bedroom homes for $800-$1000 and then there are really nice 3+ bedroom homes for upwards of $1100-$1500. Apartments/duplexes are about the same as Salem, $650-$850 range.

The coastal towns are all small and I wouldn't advise moving to any of them without a job. I hate saying that because I'm moving to Arizona after the new year without a job first. But since the coastal towns are so small, I think it would be a lot harder to find a job if you wanted to live there. But the weather is definitely cold and rainy, so if you like that, then great. It's also very windy on the coast. Way different than the sunny So Cal beaches! But beautiful in a different way.

Most coast rentals are about as expensive as the Portland area rentals, from what I've noticed.

Klamath Falls and Medford are closer to the California border. K-Falls has about 20,000 people, Medford has about 75,000. Both are not economically sound, from what I've heard. I would be afraid to move to either one without a solid plan for housing/income. I moved out of K-Falls in 2004 because I couldn't find a decent job, and that was *before* the recession. From what I remember, you can find large houses in both cities for less than $1000 a month.

Eastern Oregon is filled with small towns. Burns has about 5,000 people (combined with Hines). I grew up there. I get nostalgic for it sometimes, but unless you have a very secure source of income, don't even consider it. There's also Ontario, Pendleton, up further north is Hermiston...all really small cities with about 10,000-20,000 people. The weather over there is similar from town to town - high-desert climate, dry, hot summers, minimal rain, cold, snowy winters. Rentals are usually super cheap in these towns.

No matter where you choose to live, I'm sure you can find a decent school for your children, unless you live in one of the really small towns where you don't have choices. A good school is important to me for my son, so I have done what I needed to do in order to send my child to the school of my choice. But, having said that, all of Oregon schools have been facing major budget cuts for years now. Unfortunately, Oregon hasn't had the greatest leadership the last several years, IMO, and for some reason, the same two governors appear to keep getting voted back in over and over. Makes no sense to me! I'm actually moving to AZ, as I mentioned, so I'm not really on the I Love Oregon bus right now, BUT I have lived here pretty much all my life and there are definitely great things about this state! And if you want to make it here, and you're choosing to be here, and you genuinely love the kind of weather Oregon has to offer, than I have no doubt you can be extremely happy here! Best of luck to you, hope I could help.

Larry Caldwell · 08-10-2012, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefanie99

Salem gets lots of rain. It is usually overcast, rainy, and 'cool' in the Spring and Fall, and overcast, rainy, and cold in the winter. Not usually more than a dusting of snow, unless you live up in the South Salem or West Salem hills - then you may get 1-4 inches a year, depending. The summers are nice, usually sunny, mostly clear skies, with 80-95 degree temps, on average. I'm not sure about the job market - I've heard it's picking up in this area, but I've applied for numerous jobs in the last year and haven't had any luck. And I'm currently working, which I *heard* was supposed to be ideal. As far as rentals, most apartments and duplexes are in the $650-$850 range and most houses are in the $900-$1200 range, at least that's what I've noticed.

I beg to differ. The Willamette Valley rarely gets cold. Typical winter highs in Salem are around 50 degrees, and very rarely does a day stay below freezing. "Cold" means below zero temperatures. The last time Salem got cold was December of 1972.

Early fall is lovely weather. The first Pacific storm usually arrives in November, often late November. December is the wettest month, and January is the coldest. February often has less rain than April, and we always get about 10 days of clear sunny weather in February. The last few springs have been wetter than normal, and the summers have been cooler than normal.