Advice on Portland needed:)

[rpanic]

Has anybody on here transplanted from Los Angeles to Portland. We have three kids 7 and under, a house, jobs, and have lived here in LA our whole life. Wife has been offered a great job in Portland and I would be able to be a stay at home dad for a while. Financially I think we would be better off and less stressed about us both having to work and we have a lot of equity in our house. I have been to Portland during the spring and liked it a lot, and have been told its gloomy most of the year. We have talked about leaving for years, we don’t have any family support structure helping us out we are pretty much on our own so that’s not holding us here. My two youngest are mildly on the spectrum so it would be nice if one parent could stay home and deal with that, right now I work mostly nights and then when I get home, my wife goes to work which also sucks but that would probably change once all of the kids are in school. I think our biggest fear is just the unknowns, and the weather, this would be a huge life change for us.

How are the schools, in Portland area? Can anybody that has made the move give me some honest pros and cons that have made the move either way?

I really like the outdoors, hiking, biking, and gardening.

 

[bearxor]

I've been to Portland.

 

[KeithTalent]

I've been to Portland.

Me too.

KT

 

[manimal]

do it. We moved to the midwest and considered portland. Watch out for the crazy lady masturbating in public. or was it a dude.

 

[pete6032]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/portland/

 

[Wingznut]

My family moved here (from Detroit) when I was a kid. I absolutely love it here. We have two boys, 16 and 20.

Like any decent sized city/suburbs, you are going to find a huge range of school quality. Where are you planning on living, more specifically. I would guess somewhere near your wife's job?

 

[rpanic]

My family moved here (from Detroit) when I was a kid. I absolutely love it here. We have two boys, 16 and 20.

Like any decent sized city/suburbs, you are going to find a huge range of school quality. Where are you planning on living, more specifically. I would guess somewhere near your wife's job?

Her main office would be 3 mile east of downtown. We just want to be near good schools. Right now we both commute about 70 miles round trip, we would like to live within 20 miles of her office. Anything has to be better than the sprawl of LA.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I've been in Portland my whole life. My wife moved up here from the LA area (Agoura Hills), so I can ask her how it compares as a transplant. Given how many Californians we see relocate here, I think a lot of people see it as a better place to live than SoCal.

The weather thing is kind of a myth. We don't get as much sun as LA obviously, but it's also not always gray and rainy; we aren't Seattle. And the rain is a good thing; everything is naturally green and lush, as opposed to brown and drought-stricken. It's a lovely place.

 

[alkemyst]

 

[Dirigible]

I've been in Portland my whole life. My wife moved up here from the LA area (Agoura Hills), so I can ask her how it compares as a transplant. Given how many Californians we see relocate here, I think a lot of people see it as a better place to live than SoCal.

The weather thing is kind of a myth. We don't get as much sun as LA obviously, but it's also not always gray and rainy; we aren't Seattle. And the rain is a good thing; everything is naturally green and lush, as opposed to brown and drought-stricken. It's a lovely place.

When I've visited, that myth has been pretty damn realistic and convincing.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I lived there for about 2.5 years before going the opposite direction.
Honestly, I miss it. SoCal is great for many things, but nothing beats the natural beauty that surrounds the Portland area.

 

[zinfamous]

lol!

sounds like a no-brainer to me, OP. I would relocate to Portland (From SF area) in a heartbeat if I was in the same situation. Obviously, I'm not in the same situation so I don't really know everything else you aren't telling us, but it seems like a major step up when you consider the CoL improvement, and most likely QoL improvement.

Portland is a nice place, too, with plenty around to explore when you need to get out.

 

[AdamK47]

Hipster capital USA.

 

[T9D]

I've been in Portland my whole life. My wife moved up here from the LA area (Agoura Hills), so I can ask her how it compares as a transplant. Given how many Californians we see relocate here, I think a lot of people see it as a better place to live than SoCal.

The weather thing is kind of a myth. We don't get as much sun as LA obviously, but it's also not always gray and rainy; we aren't Seattle. And the rain is a good thing; everything is naturally green and lush, as opposed to brown and drought-stricken. It's a lovely place.

You need to leave to realize how bad the weather is. I've lived in the Portland area for 20 years. It's 8-9 months a year of grey and rain. Sometimes you'll be lucky to get a great year and have 7 months. Actually even though Seattle get's more actual rain, Portland has more cloudy days. Yes it's bad. However it's a great city. Traffic is getting way to bad though and it's getting way to crowded. And insane amount of people have moved up trying to Escape California (where I live for years too when I was younger).

But I had it with the rain and the traffic and crowding. I moved out of Lake Oswego and Portland to the Columbia Gorge. Only an hour or so east of Portland and it's like California sun. Barely ever rains, sunny all the time. We get the same rainfall about as LA. No traffic and beautiful nature, lots of wineries out here. Love it in the Gorge. Never like going to the city anymore. Was supposed to be temporary but I'll never go back to Portland now that I've seen how awesome it is out here. Wake up everyday with an amazing view of the river and sun coming through my windows. Can't tell you how many times I've went to visit family in Portland and would start the drive, it's beautiful out, sunny, warm, drive a half hour toward Portland and it's cloudy and dark, wet, and depressing, then you hit traffic. Screw all that rain.

 

[nakedfrog]

When I've visited, that myth has been pretty damn realistic and convincing.

I'm sure that it was your fault in some fashion or another.

 

[Dirigible]

I'm sure that it was your fault in some fashion or another.

You've been listening to your mother again, haven't you? She's never liked me.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Never been to portland, but, its on my short list of places where I would consider moving if my employer opened the doors to remote working full time.

 

[Chapbass]

Never been to portland, but, its on my short list of places where I would consider moving if my employer opened the doors to remote working full time.

+1

 

[etrigan420]

Great city. Not too big, not too small.

T9D nails it though...traffic can be a nightmare. They are currently expanding light rail service to the southeast 'burbs, so that should alleviate *some* of it. (I still pity the fool trying to get anywhere on I-5 from Delta Park to Wilsonville between the hours of sunup and dusk on a weekday, or anywhere near the I-84 merge...or 217 merge...I've heard the I-205 merge is getting bad too...but I digress)

I was born and raised in the Milwaukie / Oak Grove area, and had a pretty great childhood. Good schools. Safe. Mostly mid-mid/upper income families. Fairly typical suburbia type existence.

I especially like Portland because it is a small(er) city, with all (okay, *most*) of the amenities of a large city.

Plus I like the fact that it's 1.5 hour drive to the beach one direction, and 1.5 hour drive to the mountains in the opposite direction.

Quirky? Sure. But it's a harmless quirky, and adds to its charm.

I haven't lived there in over 25 years (jesus...), but my father, mother, and 2 brothers still live in and around, and we make the drive 5 or 6 times a year. It still feels like home.

 

[AMD64Blondie]

Another Portland resident here.It's a great place to live...

 

[Wingznut]

You need to leave to realize how bad the weather is. I've lived in the Portland area for 20 years. It's 8-9 months a year of grey and rain. Sometimes you'll be lucky to get a great year and have 7 months. Actually even though Seattle get's more actual rain, Portland has more cloudy days. Yes it's bad.

C'mon... Sure, it's often cloudy up here, especially compared to SoCal. But "8-9 months of grey and rain" is an exaggeration.

 

[TridenT]

C'mon... Sure, it's often cloudy up here, especially compared to SoCal. But "8-9 months of grey and rain" is an exaggeration.

I lived in the PDX Metro and in Seattle. Portland is only minutely better. It's grey, rain, and wet roads most days in those 9 months. It's pretty bad...

That said, I think I prefer it over dying from the heat that the southern half of the USA goes through. (And the humidity, wtf.) Practically can taste the garbage in the air with how humid it gets in places like New Orleans. LA is drier but it has so much smog.

Portland is much better on that front. Much cleaner air. Weather is very unlikely to kill you. Terrible for driving during anything but middle of the night... even then, I usually have to drive on an obscene amount of city streets to get anywhere. (So those 10 mile drives frequently take 25-35 minutes with no traffic...)

I really recommend living near your jobs. Commuting is going to take time, go slow, and you're adding onto a problem that everyone doesn't want you to add onto. So, live close. She can bike to work.

Also, everyone in Portland has a kid. So, you'll fit in. Also, stay at home Dad? Everyone will love you...

 

[ViRGE]

The weather thing is kind of a myth.

Lies! It's dark and gloomy all the time. If you want sun stay South or head East. You definitely don't want to move to Portland.

Traffic is getting way to bad though and it's getting way to crowded. And insane amount of people have moved up trying to Escape California (where I live for years too when I was younger).

Another vote for the traffic being god-awful. There just isn't the capacity on the local highways and freeways to handle all of this traffic during the working day. It's so bad they're scheduling truck crossings for the Columbia river due to the fact that it's at maximum capacity 4 hours a day.

Coincidentally it didn't used to be so bad. Then all the Californians started moving up...

 

[rpanic]

Thanks for all the replies. My wife is flying out this Tuesday to check everything out and work out the details if everything is cool we will start the arduous task of relocating. If it falls through we are just going to keep looking we don’t want to move till one of us has secured a stable job first.

As far as traffic goes, is it worse than here in LA? I am use to always working much greater distances and using time instead of miles with commutes. We were using Redfin and it looks nice everywhere but the schools seems to get good ratings around Lake Oswego area, would that be a rough commute to a few miles directly East of downtown?

Also my dad will probably go with us and live with us or assisted living depending if we find a place with guest house. He barely has use of his legs, has spinal damage and relies heavily on the VA, does anybody have experience using the VA system in Portland, I rode a bike through the one near downtown it looks nice from the outside. He has about a 3-4 mile range with his electric chair so I am thinking a small city would be nice for him and it seem s much more accessible than here.

 

[TridenT]

Thanks for all the replies. My wife is flying out this Tuesday to check everything out and work out the details if everything is cool we will start the arduous task of relocating. If it falls through we are just going to keep looking we don’t want to move till one of us has secured a stable job first.

As far as traffic goes, is it worse than here in LA? I am use to always working much greater distances and using time instead of miles with commutes. We were using Redfin and it looks nice everywhere but the schools seems to get good ratings around Lake Oswego area, would that be a rough commute to a few miles directly East of downtown?

Also my dad will probably go with us and live with us or assisted living depending if we find a place with guest house. He barely has use of his legs, has spinal damage and relies heavily on the VA, does anybody have experience using the VA system in Portland, I rode a bike through the one near downtown it looks nice from the outside. He has about a 3-4 mile range with his electric chair so I am thinking a small city would be nice for him and it seem s much more accessible than here.

Omg do not live in Lake Oswego. You will be adding to the traffic problem. It will be an unworthy commute. Live near the jobs and inside the city.

LA traffic is probably on another scale of terrible but Portland is getting much worse. I've definitely had my commutes go from 20 minutes one way to 40-50+. I cannot imagine doing that everyday and sitting in stop and go traffic for so long. It's bad for the environment, it's bad for you. Just live close to your jobs and in the city. You take away precious time with your kids and family by just adding an hour or two of sitting in traffic so you can live in a somewhat cheaper suburb... Cheaper suburb or convenience and time with your family?

The dad thing complicates stuff but I don't think you couldn't manage in the city. (In fact, I'd say it's better because public transport is better and he would be able to get around using that if he wanted)