| Author |
Message |
    
Eric Pena (Evalp)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 05:21 pm: | 
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I had another thread about the Seattle area but I have a few people saying they would go to Portland instead of Seattle.
I currently am looking to relocate and am trying to choose between Seattle and Portland to investigate further. Any Portlanders out there that can give me your take on the area?
Thanks is advance. |
Britt Easterly (Britt)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 12:29 am: |
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For everything that Seattle has (friendly people, economic growth, mountains, trees, hippies) Portland has, but much cheaper. |
Marc M (Mosi)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 10:15 am: |
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Hey Eric.... I believe you purchased a taillight from me last year.
I live in Portland and love everything but our state income tax. Since we don't have a sales tax (stupid), they think they can justify a 9% income tax! And they STILL can't get the budget right! Washington does have sales tax of 6-8% depending on where you are, but NO income tax. Oh and Oregon doesn't think we can manage to pump our own gas either.
Traffic wise, Seattle can be REALLY bad but Portland can get bad as well. Portland does have a great transit system with MAX running East/West and soon to be running North/South.
Housing is probably a tad more spendy in the Seattle area. I just had a new house built with some nice add ons in a nice area back in August/02.. 3 bedroom, den, 2 1/2 BA, 2 car garage.. 1760 sq ft on a postage stamp 3500sq ft lot... $215,000
any questions, don't hesitate to drop me an email mosi26@attbi.com |
Eric Pena (Evalp)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 10:31 am: |
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WOW  That is not bad at all. That sounds like a...lets see, 1760 sq ft...$300 - $320k home here in the Denver area.
Marc, I do remember you and the light; thanks again it was perfect.
What areas do you guys think is a good place to buy a house and live but is not far from downtown?
Are the trails OK there? How is the wheelin community? |
Marc M (Mosi)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 11:16 am: |
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I live on the West side in Beaverton (Bethany area) which is about 8 miles to downtown. There is a great parking area close by to hop on MAX and head downtown. There are still some houses in my neighborhood for sale too 
You won't have a hard time finding places to wheel here, and it's pretty much year round. I have wheeled in CO twice and Moab 4 times and Oregon/WA is a lot less rocky...If you ski, it's 1.5 hours to Mt. Hood. It takes an hour to get to the coast.
Let me know if you want to come out and check out the area and I will set you up at casa de Mosi for a couple of days. |
Brian A
| | Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 11:49 am: |
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Eric,
The place to buy in Portland is a neighborhood called the "Alberta Arts District." PDX is all about neighborhoods -- if you check out a PDX map, you'll see them all listed. Alberta is on the NE side, about 5-10 minute drive to downtown, depending on lights and traffic. It's the "up and coming" neighborhood with _lots_ of fixer-uppers (approx $175k for 1600 sf on 5000 sf lot) and a rapidly growing retail/dining scene. If that's your bag, this is the place.
Otherwise, there are more established neighborhoods in the city, too. Eastside is generally cheaper than westside.
As far as the suburbs are concerned, they tend to be just like any other city's. There are McMansion neighborhoods and other places where you'd better have all your shots up to date before making a visit.
As for PDX in general, as stated above, it's a great place. My wife and I had to make the same choice between it and Seattle a year and a half ago, and I definitely think we made the right one. If nothing else, the parking was the clincher for me -- I can drive downtown for a meeting and 90% of the time find a meter right in front of the building. If no meter is open, then I tool on over to the closet parking garage (usually only a block or two away) and pay just a buck an hour (on 10 minute increments, no less!). Moving from Boston, that just blows me away. You can never find parking in that town and garages are $7-10 and hour.
Good luck!
Brian
PS -- one other thing -- http://mcmenamins.com/ check out the Kennedy School and Bagdad in particular. The Kennedy School is an old elementary school converted into a B&B/Bar/Restaurant. Bagdad is even cooler - it's a grand old theater that shows second-run movies for $2 or $3. The great thing about it is that they also serve pitchers of their own microbrews and great pizzas. Added bonus, every other row of seats have been removed to make room for tables and your legs. |
Eric Pena (Evalp)
| | Posted on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 06:57 pm: |
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Thanks guys. That is all good info!!
Thanks Marc, I will! |
Britt Easterly (Britt)
| | Posted on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 08:16 pm: |
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oh yeah I almost forgot BEER! We produce the best beer. |
Eric Pena (Evalp)
| | Posted on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 03:55 pm: |
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The tax thing does not bother me much. Sales tax in some popular malls here are close to 10 percent and we have income tax as well. I am paying almost 5 percent right now so between 9 - 15 in Denver or jst a strain 9 in OR...I choose OR.
I live in an area where the sales tax is the lowest in the Denver area at 3.8 percent. |
R. B. Bailey (Rover50987)
Senior Member
Username: Rover50987
Post Number: 285
Registered: 07-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 02:16 pm: |
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Oregon is pretty nice to live in. But being a teacher in the Portland area, I am certainly feeling the pinch of a botched budget. OOOOHHH I could go on and on...
Anyway, I got my house with a view of the Columbia River, Vancouver, the PDX approach, Mt. St. Helens, etc... 2000 sq ft. garage, complete hard woods, three fireplaces, and in a nice old-folks type neighborhood for $170k.
Man they make good beer at McMinnamins, but you gotta watch out for the hippies. Especially down on Hawthorne, I used to live a few blocks from there... whew... it all gets tiring and depressing after a while... but that beer.............
http://landrover.mrbaileyshistory.net |
Daniel Covaciu (Danielcovaciu)
Member
Username: Danielcovaciu
Post Number: 44
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 07:28 pm: |
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Oregon has the best combination of fishing, hunting, snowboarding in the country. It outdoors type stuff is your cup of tea, Portland is THE place to be. |
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