thinking of moving to portland (Gresham, Beaverton: houses, buy, school districts)

[deboart93]

I am from Miami, Florida and my husband is from Grand Rapids, Michigan we currently live in Orlando, FL. We were thinking about relocating to the west coast because of what we hear about their more politically liberal mind set. We don't mind living in a big city if it is well organized and our tax money is put to good use, how is Portland in this aspect? We would like to maybe buy a home in the suburbs but are not really looking to spend more than $300,000 i was wondering in comparison to Florida home prices how are portland's? Do you get more for your money or less? We also like very friendly cities with a big art scene. what are the good things about Portland for a young couple that recently graduated from college?
If anyone could help i would greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[yayakats]

We also live in Orlando. I am originally from California and my husband is from many places. We are travelling to Portland this Monday for a week to check it out. Have you gone there before? If you like you can PM me and I can tell you what I think/see when we get back.

We miss the west coast and I really miss living closer to my family. We sort of feel like ducks out of water here in Florida. We are pro-green, liberal minded people who love the outdoors.

From what I gather on this message board, areas to look at are: Hawthorne, Sellwood, Lake Oswego, Multnomah Village, West Linn, Laurelhurst, Wodstock, NE Portland... Vancouver-Evergreen District, Sherwood, and Tualatin. Damascus and Ladds Addition too.

Beaverton can be nice in parts (good school district) but traffic is terrible.

This is what I have found in a nutshell... we are going to check out most of the "good spots" and like I said, I can get back to you with what I find.

[JakeDog]

You can get a decent home in the burbs for around 300K- nothing fancy, but decent. If you are liberal, you can't go wrong with Portland. Be prepared for the weather though.

[mobilemindstationaryreality]

If you want a good house for that price, you might have to avoid the areas with good school districts, like Lake Oswego, West Linn, Beaverton, Oregon City, etc. Try Gresham out! They have the Gresham-Barlow SD and Reynolds SD which are ok. Also Vancouver and Evergreen are good districts but I've also been told Evergreen is one of the best districts in WA. Problem is Evergreen covers the nastiest of cookie-cutter suburban houses in East Vancouver.