Allready thinking of next year...
Once I return to the states, I'm thinking of moving from DC to Portland... Any one from there? I would love to pick your brain...

I'm from Seattle, a three-hour drive from Portland, OR. My brother used to live in Portland, so I've been down there a few times to visit. Feel free to pick my brain, for what that's worth.

Matt

get some great cement from portland.

Which Portland? OR, ME, TX, NY......

the one next to weymouth

Correct, Weymouth. Portland Cement, also in BS, EN and DIN

well, don't know what happened to my post, so I'll repost...
Thanks, delridge

I am wondering about the school districts in the area - how are the city schools? Which school districts would you say are the best?
In terms of living, which areas of the city do you recommend , why? can you give me a quick run down of the areas in the city? Thanks,
I know you said you're from Seattle, but would like your take on it

Thanks again

I'm from Portland, but I know nothing of schools. I've been gone five years, but still own a house there. What else do you want to know?

I'd like to know, do you also own a car there?

[quote user="cequirk" post="108193"]I'm from Portland, but I know nothing of schools. I've been gone five years, but still own a house there. What else do you want to know?[/quote]


ok. Tell me about the housing market.. Probably rent my first year there as I check it out. Tell me about the diff. areas in Portland and what the neighborhoods are like.

Well, it depends on what you've got in mind. Pdx is one of the few housing markets that has held value over the past year or so (indeed, it's gone up). Obviously, this is better for owners. If you're looking in the city there are lots of neighborhoods with bungalows and sears package homes from the early 1900s through the 50s, in NE and SE pdx. They're getting pretty pricey though. North portland has always been considered the "ghetto" but it's not that ghetto and is gentrifying rapidly. Most of the housing there is post war. When I lived there, only the bravest were moving up there. But now I know tons of people who have bought, so it's probably not even that cheap anymore.

The West side is much newer and more expensive -- most of the houses are in the hills and from the 1960s on. Then you have your suburbs in Washington and Clackamas county, which I find quite frightful. Sprawl isn't that bad because there's an urban growth boundary that limits development. But still. It's the 'burbs. Traffic is not that bad (though people there think it's the 7th circle of hell. The thing about Portlanders is they're pretty provincial and can't really conceive of even Seattle's traffic). Some parts of East portland and east multnomah county are seriously white trashy.

Portland public schools are plagued with bad management and lack of funding, but I don't know how they rank relative to anywhere. Suburban schools I guess are better.

Portland is a very livable city. It's not very big and beautiful in the summertime. It's very white and very liberal and if you are too, you will feel you have come home. I find it pretty bland, personally, but it's a good place to raise a family and be a vegan or a lesbian or a hiker or a biker or any of your crunchy stereotypes.

Thanks for the info - In the DC area, where I'm from, the housing market hasn't tanked either. There is little available under 500,000. May be a fixer upper...
I'm an ESOL teacher, Portland doesn't sound very diverse, hence maybe not many teaching positions for me - and the burbs are miserable no matter what area you're in. HMMM! I'll have to research a bit more.

Portland is the whitest city per capita in the country. No one can argue it's diverse. Because of the complexities of its urban planning policies, most of the non-white (largely immigrant farm workers) are clustered out in the suburbs where the housing is much cheaper. You'd be hard pressed to find many immigrant -types living in the city (mb some vietnamese) but out in the farming areas in Washington county there are quite a lot of Latinos, especially in the Willamette Valley. But would you live out there?

You can find stuff for under $500k. something decent in the $200-$300k range is doable, I think. It's definitely not CA or SEA.

wow - 200-300K. are you talking condos?

I'm from Portland, born and raised. From what I've read here, even I wouldn't want to move there. I worked for the Portland Public School District for 7 years, so I can tell you about the schools. I also own a house there. Portland is a small, but beautiful city. No it's doesn't have the most diverse population but does have a large population of native Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese speakers. It is a very environmentally conscious city with a great mass transit system. You have the beach, mountains, and desert within a few hours from the city. The thing that most people don't like about Portland is all the rain.