It rains a lot! Drizzly Misty Crap Rain! I cant stand to hear "its pouring out" -- it doesnt pour here. The summer is what really is keeping me here. Im used to it being 102 w/ 100% humidity out, but here its great. I cant say that Ive done too much around here though. I have a 7 month old so that keeps me pretty occupied, but I will venture very soon.

The only time Ive been in Portland was when I was moving here and drove through. It looked like a cool place and I plan to go there in the next couple of weeks.

If you do come -- go ahead and get prepared for the wetness.

 

Well I am almost 27 and single (and intend to be for awhile), so I don't need much and this would be my first home purchase. It really depends on what job I can get up there, but I would be looking for something very modest, like under $180k. I have found quite a few listings for properties that look like they fit the bill. Ideally I would want a tidy, newer (or well-updated older) 2-3 bedroom property with at least a single car garage that is not more than 20 min. from downtown. I don't know if this is unrealistic? Geographically, anywhere around there is close enough to my interests of the city, Mount Hood, and Ocean, but I don't know anything about the different neighborhoods.

Regarding the Portland market, to put things in perspective, right now here in Santa Fe there is virtually nothing (that doesn't have wheels under it) close to any kind of civilization for under $200k. Combine the very low average income here and the high cost of living, it's pretty rough, and Portland looks like it HAS to be better.

I was afraid I'd get flamed off this forum for posting this thread, but everyone was right when they said NW people are nice, you are all extremely helpful!

 

Ive personally posted worse things and everyone was open to lending a hand. Pretty nice crowd around here from what I can tell. Ive only met a couple of my customers face to face, but talk to many of them on a regular basis.

 

Your price range for a house will be difficult to obtain for a 3 bedroom place thats modern and not old. If you need an agent here let me know. I have several family members that do real estate for a living. However, if I were you, I wouldnt look at buying any property until 2009. Markets are getting hammered right now, but that has a lot to do with the time of year. You can get a good list of local listings and prices here:
www.rmls.com

Just like any other city, there are good places, and bad places to live. This is where having a good agent can really help you out to scope out your area. Its also worth looking on www.zillow.com for some properties that you are interested in since you can get an over head view of what the area actually looks like. Here you will also find that the average 2 bedroom house here will run you around 213k and OR is around 40k higher, on average, then other areas in the US. These are all averages of course, so your mileage may vary.

I can give you a nice tour of the area once you get here, if you would like. Its a nice place and, for the most part, the people are great.

 

I can deal with a smaller place, but a garage is key, and I just don't want to get stuck with a condo that's a bad investment and rip off fees etc. Otherwise, I'll get what I can. I can wait until 2009 to purchase real estate. I just might take you up on the tour too. Thanks once again for the help.

 

I would have to disagree with this statement. I think that right now is a good time to buy a new home. Interest rates are really low and there is a ton of inventory on the market, meaning you can pick and choose what you want and you will be able to get a good deal. If you want until 2009 for the market to pick back up you will also be waiting for prices to pick up, which probably isn't what you want as a buyer. I don't claim to be an expert, but I make my living analyzing residential markets.

I personally live in North Portland, about two blocks north fo the St. Johns Bridge (use google earth). North Portland, in particular St. Johns, is a fairly up and coming area where you can still get a home for under $225k. There are a couple condo projects that offer pretty nice units for under $225k. This area also benefits from being about a mile from Forest Park which has miles and miles of running and biking trails, if you are into that. In addition, downtown is about 15 minutes away via Highway 30. I am probably biased, but in my opinion North Portland is a good place to buy right now, and it is one of the only places where you can get all the things you seem to be looking for in a house.

Alternatively you can look in Gresham, Beaverton (traffic), Hillsboro (traffic and longer than 20 mins from downtown P-Town), or a smaller place in SE Portland. Feel free to ask any other questions.

 

Thanks! You guys are a great help!

 

Condos have historically appreciated slower than single-family homes but if you want a single-family home you will have to pay more for less. If you do research on the Portland market you will probably find a lot of talk about how the market has wayyyy more condos than it can sell. This is true to some regard, but is really only talking about the high end condos in the downtown, pearl, and south waterfront districts. If you are looking for a condo around the $200k price point then I wouldn't pay attention to these stats, but definitely do stay away fromt the apartment conversions as they are ugly and who knows what will break down in the future. Just my opinion.

 

If you move out here you must keep this a secret..... We tell people all over the nation that it rains a lot over here so they don't come up here and over crowds the place.... dooh I just ruin the secret huh? Anyways I just moved to a new house in the Hillsboro/Beaverton area and have a townhouse for rent/sell if your interested PM me. I'm almost done cleaning it out...

PDXEvo is correct, stay in washington/clackamas counties is best. In the Hillsboro/Beaverton area if you go west you'll hit the coast in about 1.5hrs and if you go east you hit the mountains in about 1.5hrs (depends how fast you drive). If you like Snowboarding or Skiing Mt hood is pretty awesome.

Plus in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area theres a few Evo owners out here so you won't be alone. I work at Intel and I'm off Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and some Wednesday, so I'll behappy to give you a tour of the place too.... Just PM me.