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No apts in PDX for 1700?? I can understand maybe not getting a house? Wow, are prices that expensive? It is just like California prices. I thought Oregon was a lot cheaper.
we were paying around 1800 plus utilities for a large house (around 2000 sq ft, i think. no pets allowed) in Garden home a year ago, so I'd think you could possibly get a smaller house closer to hillsboro at your price point. The pets may be problematic, you can see there are many threads on this forum about finding places that accept pets. You mention you have a "soon to be" dog, can you explain that a bit? Is there any way to not acquire that dog right before moving??
I am not familiar with the schools in hillsboro, as we have never considered living there. The schools in bethany are pretty good, they are in the beaverton school district. If i had to suggest one place for you, it would be bethany because it is close to intel and has good schools and access to a lot of amenities. As for what $1700 will get you in bethany, you need to look on craigslist/padmapper/etc to see what is available and who is accepting pets. You can get more for your money further out but you trade off for that with driving time, less access to certain amenities, etc.
Our first rental did not allow pets and was professionally managed by a property manager. Our second rental which we recently vacated was managed by the owner and so we had the freedom to have pets. Unfortunately the owner ended up being a real pain in the youknowwhat and so I would caution you against renting from an owner-managed rental unless you are absolutely desperate for what they are offering.
Have you been up here to visit? Driving the local roads here takes longer than in other places, so things look deceptively close on a map. this was something the regulars on here mentioned before we moved and it is absolutely true. Since you are overwhelmed and not familiar with the area, to start I would recommend living no further than ~5 miles away from work to give you a radius to focus your search on.
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700 posts, read 1,499,982 times
Reputation: 1132
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mossy
How do I know the good schools? I.e. great schools? Are there any other ways to find school ratings in Portland? Is Bethany in the Beaverton school district and isn't goose hollow downtown?
Many people often describe entire school district as "good" or "bad", but in reality it's more complicated .
Individual schools may differ a lot - the quality of individual school may be deduced from saying 'like parents, like children'.
Bethany is largely populated by educated Intel, Nike and IBM employees - people who expect their children to excel academically, and demand the schools to achieve.
Ditto for Goose Hollow. Even though it is in (not so great) Portland school district, Goose Hollow is heavily made up by OHSU employees: science researchers, MD, PAs, NPs etc. Goose Hollow schools are reflection of that demographics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mossy
How long would commuting be from goose hollow? I am going to look more into goose hollow as someone else told me about living here. I agree about commuting a long way. My husband does it now and we don't like it.
It looks like from Goose Hollow to Hillsboro Central Max station the train ride takes ~40 to 45 minutes.
Don't judge the length of the commute in Portland by distance in miles. The traffic here crawls - average freeway speed is ~22MPH. Surface streets are not much better - driving even a few miles may take long time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by christiner81
...Unfortunately the owner ended up being a real pain in the youknowwhat and so I would caution you against renting from an owner-managed rental unless you are absolutely desperate for what they are offering.....
Ugh, I would strongly disagree with that. You can stumble upon really bad owners, and very good ones as well, most hovering around 'average'. Ditto for agencies (who act on behalf of owners anyway)
Last edited by skiffrace; 04-21-2014 at 01:01 PM..
we were paying around 1800 plus utilities for a large house (around 2000 sq ft, i think. no pets allowed) in Garden home a year ago, so I'd think you could possibly get a smaller house closer to hillsboro at your price point. The pets may be problematic, you can see there are many threads on this forum about finding places that accept pets. You mention you have a "soon to be" dog, can you explain that a bit? Is there any way to not acquire that dog right before moving??
I am not familiar with the schools in hillsboro, as we have never considered living there. The schools in bethany are pretty good, they are in the beaverton school district. If i had to suggest one place for you, it would be bethany because it is close to intel and has good schools and access to a lot of amenities. As for what $1700 will get you in bethany, you need to look on craigslist/padmapper/etc to see what is available and who is accepting pets. You can get more for your money further out but you trade off for that with driving time, less access to certain amenities, etc.
Our first rental did not allow pets and was professionally managed by a property manager. Our second rental which we recently vacated was managed by the owner and so we had the freedom to have pets. Unfortunately the owner ended up being a real pain in the youknowwhat and so I would caution you against renting from an owner-managed rental unless you are absolutely desperate for what they are offering.
Have you been up here to visit? Driving the local roads here takes longer than in other places, so things look deceptively close on a map. this was something the regulars on here mentioned before we moved and it is absolutely true. Since you are overwhelmed and not familiar with the area, to start I would recommend living no further than ~5 miles away from work to give you a radius to focus your search on.
When we rented we always rented from an owner which we found better here as we always felt the management companies were nickel and dimming us for everything but I will take your advice and go thru a management company as this seems to work better in Oregon. So besides Craigslist where do I look? The more and more I hear everyone's advice it seems to be the best place is Bethany to live in. It isn't as far as downtown even though I would love living in downtown. I would rather have my husband home quick than to have a long commute. He does 45-60 minutes now in California and my daughter and I hate it!
My daughter will be getting a therapy dog hence th reason I said soon to be. We have one indoor cat who is just awesome, no accidents or unruly behaviors. I see you are in Forrest Grove. Do you like it there and what are the schools like?
Are there any little village towns in the area that can be walked to? I was in Portland many years ago but I am sure a lot has changed. My husband is heading up there this week so I am asking him to check things out. Thank you very much for your input.
Many people often describe entire school district as "good" or "bad", but in reality it's more complicated .
Individual schools may differ a lot - the quality of individual school may be deduced from saying 'like parents, like children'.
Bethany is largely populated by educated Intel, Nike and IBM employees - people who expect their children to excel academically, and demand the schools to achieve.
Ditto for Goose Hollow. Even though it is in (not so great) Portland school district, Goose Hollow is heavily made up by OHSU employees: science researchers, MD, PAs, NPs etc. Goose Hollow schools are reflection of that demographics.
It looks like from Goose Hollow to Hillsboro Central Max station the train ride takes ~40 to 45 minutes.
Also, don't judge the length of the commute in Portland by distance in miles. The traffic here crawls - average freeway speed is ~22MPH. Surface streets are not much better - driving even a few miles may take long time.
Ugh, I would strongly disagree with that. You can stumble upon really bad owners, and very good ones as well, most hovering around 'average'. Ditto for agencies.
I think commuting for my husband would be fine but he does it now and we hate it because of the time factor for our family. I would rather him very close to work and probably no more than a 20 minute drive. I would take that over living because after a long day an hour commute is no fun IMO.
Why does the traffic crawl? I have read drivers (from this forum) are bad. What does that mean? In California drivers will run you over. I wished drivers were more considerate and used their blinkers, etc.
Location: Winter nightime low 60,summer daytime high 85, sunny 300 days/year, no hablamos ingles aquÃ
700 posts, read 1,499,982 times
Reputation: 1132
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mossy
Why does the traffic crawl? I have read drivers (from this forum) are bad. What does that mean? In California drivers will run you over. I wished drivers were more considerate and used their blinkers, etc.
Thanks for the advice!
Traffic crawls because the road network is insufficient for the ever-increasing number of cars on the road.
During the peak commute hours all the freeways are clogged even though there are no accidents - it's volume only.
And no, drivers here are not any worse (or better) than drivers elsewhere. The thread about "bad" Portland drivers is is a mix of rants and nonsense.
In fact, drivers here are quite considerate, and do use blinkers. At least that's my impression after some years spent in the East-Coast traffic.
Avoid using I-217, it is just overwhelmed with traffic.
Traffic from the city center to Beaverton/Hillsboro is constrained by hills that might be called mountains in other communities. There aren't many routes through those hills which is why taking light rail is often best because it uses a tunnel.
My daughter will be getting a therapy dog hence th reason I said soon to be. We have one indoor cat who is just awesome, no accidents or unruly behaviors. I see you are in Forrest Grove. Do you like it there and what are the schools like?
Are there any little village towns in the area that can be walked to? I was in Portland many years ago but I am sure a lot has changed. My husband is heading up there this week so I am asking him to check things out. Thank you very much for your input.
I like living in forest grove. we have a very nice downtown/walkable area and many beautiful historic homes. The town itself is not huge and because it's on the outer fringes of the metro area we don't have things like Home Depot/Costco/Target, etc. We have one main grocery store and if you want more variety typically you have to go to Hillsboro. I'm not the type who needs to make a Target run all the time, so it works for me.
Our schools are decent, IMO. My son attends one of the better elementary schools in town. By the time the kids are in 5th grade they all attend the same upper elementary school. School ratings in the lower elementary schools are all over the place depending on what side of town you are located in; the more affluent parts of town correspond with higher performing schools, though that is the case everywhere it seems. The high school seems pretty good. We also have a charter school and some kids choose to attend outside the city in the Gaston and Banks school districts so they can have smaller classes, different sports teams, etc. We also have Visitation Catholic school in Verboort and there is a private lutheran school nearby as well. There may be others, I haven't looked in to them at all.
Housing is a bit more affordable out here and there is more of a rural/farm vibe. Our home is just barely inside the urban growth boundary so there are no houses behind us, just farm fields. Banks would be better location for commuting (for us) but that town is a bit too small for my liking. Same thing for North Plains.
Thanks for the low down on Forest Grove. I think we will just live near Intel and explore and see what areas appeal to us. Maybe it will be downtown or out in the country. The catholic school seems like a cute little country school.
Again thanks for the input. Housing seems to go so very fast and it looks like we will live in an apartment due to our pets.
I think commuting for my husband would be fine but he does it now and we hate it because of the time factor for our family. I would rather him very close to work and probably no more than a 20 minute drive. I would take that over living because after a long day an hour commute is no fun IMO.
Why does the traffic crawl? I have read drivers (from this forum) are bad. What does that mean? In California drivers will run you over. I wished drivers were more considerate and used their blinkers, etc.
Thanks for the advice!
Traffic crawls because you're having to go through a mountain range between downtown Portland and Hillsboro. That limits the roads available.
As for places under $1700 - go to Padmapper and put in your parameters. You'll see there are lots of choices available.
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