Lake Oswego, OR neighborhood advice (Hillsboro, West Linn: house, neighborhoods, to buy)

[loveblumes]

Hello there,
We moved here from Belmont, MA and are actively searching for a home in Lake Oswego. We don't really know the different neighborhoods yet. We know we want a home in a top school district. We also want to buy in a neighborhood that is consistently sought after or "coveted" so when we do sell, it will have appreciated and be easy to sell. What are the most prized neighborhoods in LO? First Addition is obviously up there and if we want a teeny tiny cottage we would be able to buy there. But if not, what are other prime neighborhoods? We are only interested in LO for now. Thanks so much.

[texasdiver]

There aren't any bad or undesirable parts of Lake Oswego. All the schools are going to be top-rated.

But off the top of my head I would say the more prestigious parts of LO are going to be those that feed into Lake Oswego HS rather than Lakeridge HS. Lake Oswego HS feels like the more tony and prestigious of the two schools. The blue and purple areas on this map, not red and pink areas. Or generally speaking the northern half of the city rather than the southern half.

https://www.losdschools.org/Page/2746

[CARas2020]

Originally Posted by loveblumes

Hello there,
We moved here from Belmont, MA and are actively searching for a home in Lake Oswego. We don't really know the different neighborhoods yet. We know we want a home in a top school district. We also want to buy in a neighborhood that is consistently sought after or "coveted" so when we do sell, it will have appreciated and be easy to sell. What are the most prized neighborhoods in LO? First Addition is obviously up there and if we want a teeny tiny cottage we would be able to buy there. But if not, what are other prime neighborhoods? We are only interested in LO for now. Thanks so much.

My in laws lived in Belmont. It was in the late 90's. What a beautiful city with all those old homes. I really have always wanted to live in Boston. Of course now it is so ridiculously expensive we can't.


As far as a house probably one right on the lake is going to hold its value but as someone said there is no bad area to LO. Good Luck on your search. :-)

[mlhm5]

Still looking - no bad areas in LO. Best schools in OR. You can tell when you drive into LO from West Linn. Much nicer town than West Linn. I would not consider Hillsboro, Rock Creek, Raleigh Hills, etc unless you work in that area. Traffic can be a real pia.

[blazenjames]

LO has the highest school test scores. That doesn't mean they are the best schools. LO is a snobby community. I wouldn't live there under any circumstances.

[E-Twist]

I like LO. I am not impressed with the lake, tho. I wonder if it will dry up if we keep getting droughts every year. But yes, LO is a nice area. I haven't seen any homeless camping out there.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by blazenjames

LO has the highest school test scores. That doesn't mean they are the best schools. LO is a snobby community. I wouldn't live there under any circumstances.

Having good schools helps somewhat, but having high test scores is mostly the result of having a large population of higher IQ students. It's this way everywhere, not just in L.O.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Having good schools helps somewhat, but having high test scores is mostly the result of having a large population of higher IQ students. It's this way everywhere, not just in L.O.

No, it mostly means they are richer. Test scores correlate almost perfectly with wealth for a whole lot of reasons.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

No, it mostly means they are richer. Test scores correlate almost perfectly with wealth for a whole lot of reasons.

Income also correlates with IQ. Higher IQ usually mean higher wealth.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Income also correlates with IQ. Higher IQ usually mean higher wealth.

Not when you are talking about school kids. No kids in Lake Oswego or anywhere else have any income yet unless they have a lemonade stand or do baby sitting. So it is the parent income we are talking about not the kids.

Yes, of course, really bright people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk tend to have higher incomes. But that isn't relevant when talking about things like standardized test scores and why wealthy districts perform better on these metrics than poorer districts.