Possible Move to Portland...Need Help!

[Portlander]

I am so curious if you've decided to move to Portland. If you are, which communities and neghborhoods are appealing to you?

[fllover]

Hey there!

We are going forward with Portland, it seems to gave everything we're looking for. Unfortunately, we are still not seeing any buyers for our home (Vegas has something like 20k homes currently for sale with lots of those being forclosed or bank owned). We haven't decided on a specific neighborhood yet but we're reaserching all of the areas suggested, I guess we're open at this point but we're dead set on Portland...just hope the job market isn't too bad!

[fllover]

Oops!, mean to say HAVE!

[canadadre]

Ok I have to add a note here. I am looking at moving to Portland as well and just joined this group as I see so many great people helping with info.

My husband (34) and I (30) have no kids and currently live just outside Tulsa, OK. I am from Victoria BC originally and lived in the UK for 7 years.

We are looking to move to a suburb of Portland and I am not sure which area to look at first. I think Cedar Mill was one area.

I am looking for a neighborhood outside of the high traffic town area but still accessable to downtown (isn't everybody? :-) We are looking for an area with people in our age group... Any ideas?

[bwcsmith]

Originally Posted by canadadre

Ok I have to add a note here. I am looking at moving to Portland as well and just joined this group as I see so many great people helping with info.

My husband (34) and I (30) have no kids and currently live just outside Tulsa, OK. I am from Victoria BC originally and lived in the UK for 7 years.

We are looking to move to a suburb of Portland and I am not sure which area to look at first. I think Cedar Mill was one area.

I am looking for a neighborhood outside of the high traffic town area but still accessable to downtown (isn't everybody? :-) We are looking for an area with people in our age group... Any ideas?

Hi - You asked about suburbs and most people will tell you that Beaverton is the largest suburb, which it is, and it truly is a suburb with all the housing developments, convenient shopping, and family friendly neighborhoods.

The Bethany area is very nice. You can get a home for about $360k which is great (considering the cost of housing is higher out here).
Cedar Mill is a nice area, too.

If you're used to getting a lot of house and a good sized lot for $360 you'll be shocked to see how little it gets you out here.

Traffic is nuts, because it's a suburb. When I say nuts, I mean lots of stop lights and plenty of local traffic, but if you're used to it (as I was having moved here from a midwestern suburb) you'll be able to put up with it.

Beaverton is literally 10 minutes from Portland so you'll have easy convenience to downtown from home. That is a plus.

Look north of Highway 26 (Bethany area), it may be what you're looking for.

You'll have fun driving around with a realtor ~ he/she can show you all the good spots in the suburbs. There's plenty on the market now, so you should be able to find what you'd like. Especially as fall approaches, as it will be more of a buyers market by then with everyone wanting to unload their home by the time a new school year begins.

All the best to you.

[ackackack]

My wife and I are also in our early 30s and moving to Portland from Las Vegas. We have lots of family there and are tired of the desert. We finally sold our home after six months on the market here. We have been planning our move for the last 2 1/2 years. In that time we have made countless trips to Portland to get better aquainted with the neighborhoods there. Like some of the others in here, we have had the hardest time deciding which area to settle down in. This was made more difficult because we have a large dog so finding a nice place that would rent to us was a bit of a chalenge. We really enjoyed the N/E and S/E neighborhoods, but unfortunately we were not able to find a place that we felt comfortable with and that was available when we needed it, so we chose our back-up, good ol' safe Lake Oswego. It's a drasticly different environment than Portland but we were able to find a nice apartment that would allow our dog. We like to bike so I guess we can do that and enjoy the parks in the area, but other than that, I don't expect us to be doing much in the suburbs. Tualatin and Tigard were other areas that we had a relatively easy time finding a decent apartment that would allow our dog. If anyone is looking like we were (and still will be once we get settled), I would suggest several trips there to get familiar with all the areas and their proximity to what you are looking for. The areas that we didn't like were Hillsboro, Beaverton, Gresham, and Vancouver. I guess it depends on what you are looking for. We wanted to live in the city, but didn't want to rush into something or just settle on a place we weren't excited about.

[suncat]

Ackackack, when you get up here, check out Gabriel Park in Southwest Portland. They have a nice off-leash dog park, and it seems like it would be a good way to meet other dog owners. I don't have a dog, but every time I go by in the early evening, there are lots of people there with their dogs.

[canadadre]

Thanks for your help! We just booked a trip to Portland for Aug 6-9 to look around and make some appointments! I can't wait!!