A young couple thinking of moving from SF to PDX (Portland: real estate, apartment)

[vpatanka]

Hello Everyone,

Here is a little bit about our background -
me - I am 32, software engineer - currently employed at a financial services software company in downton SF
my wife - 28, graphic designer and self employed
We've been married for the past three and a half yrs and have been together and living in San Francisco for the past 5 years and own a 1bed/1ba condo here.
We've been thinking of moving out of the city for some time but nothing seriously until may be a month or two ago.

We feel like we're ready to move out of SF now and we're planning to start a family in a year or two and would like to have our own house (rental for now to begin with) with a backyard n stuff. I went to school at Portland State back in 2002 and have always loved Northwest so we're thinking of moving back to Portland. My manager has already approve me for becoming a remote employee and the paperwork is in progress which should be done in the next month or two n we might be out of the country in Jan so we're planning to move sometime in February. Here are some of the criteria -

1) Quality of food - We have an awesome Food co-op here in SF which where we shop every week for groceries and also go to Farmer's market as we cook a lot at home but we do love to go out to eat that serve quality food so having that option would be nice too. From some basic research it looks like Portland has a food co-op. Is that correct? We'd probably be looking to rent a house with a backyard where we can grow some veggies

2) pet friendly - We've a 3.5 yr old terrier mix so we'd definitely like to know if Portland is dog friendly

3) Availability of recreational activities like camping, hiking etc. - We did camping and hiking back in 02, 03 and 04 when I was up there at PSU but being in a grad school it was pretty hectic so I haven't explored it a whole lot during that time.

4) Good neighborhoods that are affordable - We're planning to rent our condo here but that won't fully pay for the mortgage and HOA payments so we'll be paying some money out of pocket and will be paying rent on a house in Portland so we're looking to spend around $1000 to $1300 a month on a house rental with a min of 3 beds and 1.5 bath. I have been checking rentals on CL but nothing seriously yet.

5) Sustainability - Are businesses and people are conscious about sustainable lifestyle in Portland? just curious as SF is known for that and we love that aspect of the city and try to do whatever we can as our contribution.
6) Good high speed internet access - Because I will be working remotely from the house I certainly will need a good high speed internet connection (preferably Cable internet) which is what we have currently from Comcast.

Here are a few questions I have -
1) Is $1000 - $1300 is a decent budget for a house rental in and around Portland in a good neighborhood/town around city that can provide us with good internet access? If the range is too high for the city of Portland, what other towns you can suggest that we may can consider around PDX which aren't too far from PDX?
2) I saw some postings on CL in SE and also some in NE which were in our price range but I would like to know what parts of SE and NE are good? like what neibhorhoods or what streets/freeways should be we considering as a boundary.
Even though I lived in Portland from 02-04, I was staying on campus and without a car so I am not too familiar with the stuff outside of downtown in Portland area.

Thanks in advance
Vik

[Nell Plotts]

I don't think internet access will be an issue in Portland Metro. Those who need corporate access often choose Comcast.

The current issue (August 2012) of "Entrepreneur" has an extensive discussion of Bend's tech professionals from the Bay area. Hard to know whether or not it is a puff piece or an honest portrayal. Keep in mind that flights between Redmond (Bend's airport) and the Bay area are more expensive and less frequent than PDX.

Portland metro is dog friendly but that doesn't mean every landlord is. When you are looking to rent a house you are renting from individuals. The housing market is tight, you may need to go out a ways to find a house in your budget. I suggest you find a dog friendly apartment initially if all you have to spend is $1,300.

You don't mention whether or not you intend to keep your Bay Area condo. If you plan on renting it consider using that income for Portland housing. The San Francisco rental market rates as a whole are significantly higher than Portland's, you should some left over to help pay down your condo mortgage (there are great re-fi rates at the moment, I can point you to a thread in a forum I frequent about this). My daughter lives in the Silicon Valley, she tells me that residential real estate has recovered so if you don't need the option of returning to SFO selling the condo would free up cash. If your condo is in Vallejo or Oakland the picture may not be as bright.

All the rest is available here.

[vpatanka]

Thanks Nell Plotts for the reply. It's good to know that internet is not a problem in Portland Metro.
We aren't planning to sell the condo and are certainly planning to rent it but the thing is unfortunately the rental income that we will have won't fully pay the monthly mortgage + HOA (Total of $28xx/month). With knowing SF rental market to some extent I think we should be able to get about $2200/month may be $2300 or $2350 so that leaves us with the remaining $500 /month towards our mortgage + HOA which we'll be paying out of pocket and that's why I set a budget of about $1300 for a house rental in PDX.
I know we can get an apartment but we are really looking for a house with a little backyard etc and wouldn't mind renting somewhere around Portland. I heard about Milwaukie, Oregon City, Tigard etc. Do you think a house rental for $1300 would be a possibility in suburbs/these towns I just mentioned around PDX if not in Portland?

[missclinks]

Look on Cragislist to compare. That's how I've found my places to live here. It will tell you all you want to know.

When I find a place I like, I google maps to look at the area. Even when I lived out of state and was looking at streets via google maps and then came to live here, I found that from what I deduced from viewing the maps proved to be true i.e. you can see just from the maps alone whether a neighborhood has a good feel.

[Nell Plotts]

Tigard would be a good choice in that it is reasonably near the intersection of I5 & I205. It is hard for me to envision a San Francisco couple content with either Milwaukie or Oregon City. It isn't that these aren't fine places to live, I just don't think it would fit you socially.

One thing to keep in mind is that technology employers are concentrated to the west of the city. You don't want to commute across the metro area in the future.

If Bend is still on your short list be sure to consider its suitability for vegtable gardening.

[sorupaa]

in oregon city your by some rivers the willamette, mollala and clackamas

theres a lot of mexicans in canby and in oregon city theres a little less

theres some meth heads in tigard and oregon city but what city doesn't

[vpatanka]

Thanks Miss Clinks, Nell Plotts and drum bro for all the valuable info.
Nell Plotts - We aren't considering Bend, OR at this time. Actually when we started looking into options in OR, that's one place we were thinking of. I have a similar post on Bend forum but we have dropped that idea for now. We don't know anyone there, job scene is very bad compared to Portland (I have a pretty stable job and it's not that I am going to look for a job when we move...but you never know) where as I still have friends from school who live in Beaverton, Seattle, Vancouver n places around PDX n job market is certainly better in PDX being a much bigger city..Anyway so because of too many unknowns we dropped the plan to move to Bend and decided on Portland. We'll visit Bend once we move to Portland next year and may consider moving there in the future
By the way we're okay to increase our rental budget by another 200 or 300 bucks for the 1st yr if that's going to be enough to get us a house rental (min 3 bed/1.5ba) in a good neighborhood in Portland metro area. I'll start checking posting on CL

[Nell Plotts]

I am not sure where 'drum bro' is coming from. The communities that he mentions are not known for meth heads at all.

Portland is chuck-full of graphic artists by the way. Your wife needs to maintain her current business network in the move.

You may want to p.m. coreymlong as he is a software project manager who recently found a position in the area.

[hamellr]

Portland has a ton of Food Co-Ops. We also have a ton of organic groceries stores. Plus most the other stores have Organic Natural sections.

I'd say Portland is more gun-ho about sustainability then SF is based on my experience. I will also continue to maintain that Portland has more good restaurants per a capita then SF does.

With your job skills, you're going to want to look at living in Hillsboro or Beaverton. The odds are that you're going be working in one of those two cities, so might as well live there.

Your wife also has a good chance to work with one of the multiple companies here that employe graphic designers, Nike, Adidas, Wieden and Kennedy, a bajillion web design companies, Dark Horse Comics, etc, etc.

Comcast is the go to Internet People in Portland, not because they're the best but due to some huge technological reasons that date from the 1970's. FIOS is available in many areas, but not all. You'll need to call the phone company and give them the address to confirm.

[vpatanka]

Thanks hamellr.
Good to know about food co-ops and organic food.
I am going to work remotely for my current employer and won't be looking for a job after we move to PDX. My wife wants to stay in Portland metro at least for the 1st yr so we would like to rent a house in Portland with a backyard as she is into gardening and growing vegetables etc.
I was just looking on CL and noticed that if I up my budget for a rent from 1200 to 1500, there are quite a lot of nice houses available for rent with 3 bed/1.5 or 2 ba with backyards