Any advice for a couple of aggies moving to the area in 5-7 months? We will both be looking for jobs in the legal field.

I would say bring a good rain coat. They consider the times when the sun shows through the clouds to be newsworthy weather. I'm over on the dry side of the state.

We both lived in Michigan for 3 year, which is a very dreary state, so I think we'll be fine on that.

It won't be near as cold as Michigan. It's been in the high 50's there lately. They just get lots of rain. We like visiting Portland. The summer and fall there is fantastic. It's got big city lifestyles, w/ the ability to get into the mountains or the coast w/ in a few hours.

Yea that was one of our main reasons for picking Portland. I know it's not as cold, but the cloudy days in the winter are similar. We mainly just have to pick out an area to live and find jobs...which looks like it's going to be a chore.

Economy is pretty bad here right now but housing has remained expensive, I'd be very cautious about moving prior to finding guaranteed work.

Consider Vancouver, WA to live and work in and Portland to play in. I don't personally follow this, but you would get the best of both worlds tax wise (no state income in WA and no sales tax in OR).

If you don't already like booze, I highly recommend acquiring a taste for it. Portland has some of the world's best beer and the Willamette Valley produces arguably the best pinot noir in the country.

I've been trying to find employment there before moving, but that's pretty much impossible. We have to be there to take the course for the bar exam and to take the bar exam anyway. The responses that I have received from resumes have all been "call when you are in Portland."

We have been looking online at housing options. We have seen some places that aren't too high. We really don't want to be in the burbs unless we have to.

The micro brews and distilleries were one of the draws for us, so we are looking forward to enjoying those.

The job thing is going to be the toughest part. But right now in the legal field, I don't think we could find jobs anywhere without living there. I've been trying to find some connections to make but I'm just not having any luck being so far away.

Spartan -- I've lived in Portland for 6 years now (and LOVE it!!) and have a good friend that is currently taking the course for the bar exam. She'd probably be more than happy to give you some advice if you'd like me to put you in touch with her.

As far as housing goes, have you thought about renting first before deciding on a house to buy? It's really crazy how every neighborhood in this city has it's own unique personality. I've lived in NW, in the burbs, and now live in SE in the Sellwood neighborhood. Sellwood is by far my favorite ... but everyone seems to find their own niche here.

We are actually only looking for places to rent.

Marcel Ledtbetter - awesome post name. Old Jerry Clower is still some funny stuff. To make this thread related - I am out in Oregon as well on the dry side, but make trips to Portland. It is a great city, lots to see and do and you can get in and out of town quickly unlike other large citys. OP - you will enjoy the endless outdoor opportunities with a couple of hours of PDX.

OAg, I'm couple hours east of you over in Burns. We get over to Bend fairly often. Jerry Clower was great! How'd you wind up in Bend?

portland is like austin but better because tu isnt there..

My office is in Vancouver, WA so I live there. Otherwise, I'd have to pay one of the country's highest state income taxes. There is no income tax in WA. It sounds to me like you want to be in Portland, and to be honest, I don't blame you. I live downtown Vancouver and am closer to downtown Portland (7 miles) than a lot of folks that live in the city.

Anyway, if you've lived in Michigan, Portland won't be bad at all weather-wise. It gets a bad wrap, but the average precipitation is only somewhere in the neighborhood of 37". It rarely snows and rarely dips below freezing. I like to surf and snowboard. I'm less than an hour and a half from both. I've lived here 6 years. I'm looking to move back to TX in the next 6 months or so. The lady friend and I are about to get hitched and want to be closer to family before we start making any additions to the family.

The Portland Aggie club is good for games during football season. The beers in this town are some of the best in the world. I'm not exaggerating. When summer rolls in, summer rolls in. It's like a switch that turns off somewhere around the 4th of July and turns on again somewhere around Halloween. It typically doesn't rain AT ALL during this period. 85% of the residents don't have a/c, and for good reason. It rarely hits 90 in the summer.

The music scene is decent as well. Usually the big names stop by on a west coast tour, and the local scene is pretty good too.

OregonAg03 - I was at Saburo's in Sellwood on Thursday. That place is outstanding.

OP - I'm happy to answer any questions.

[This message has been edited by itgoes211 (edited 3/6/2011 7:56p).]

I should add. My least favorite thing about this place is the short winter days. But, if you've been through Michigan winter days you're likely acclimated.

Portland is sure pretty in October when the trees are showing their fall colors. Lots of maple and fabulous weather.

quote:

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Portland is like Austin but better because tu isnt there..

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I'd agree with that..though the OU fans can be just as bad. I'm in Dallas but stayed in Portland and traveled around the state a few times the last year and lived every bit of it. Portland is a diamond in the ruff from my opinion...it doesn't get the national pub that other cities do..and that's not such a bad thing. I can't claim to know the lifestyle since I'm not there all the time, but had a great experience. The fact that it has the most breweries per capita in the US is never a bad thing

Moving in roughly 2 months now. Looking for places to rent is kind of tough from 2000 miles away. Most places we are finding are in SE or SW. The landlords are just starting to get notices for May but damn it sucks waiting to find a place to live.

Spartan -- As you see houses come available, if you want some insight on specific neighborhoods I'd be happy to answer any questions! I'm pretty familiar with both SW and SE and the neighborhoods can vary quite a bit within both of those areas.

itgoes -- Saburo's is my absolute FAVORITE!! We live about a half mile from there and could honestly eat there every night.

Thanks OregonAg. Are there any places you would suggest staying away from?

I can't think of any specific areas in SW that I would avoid, just don't live right on Barbur Blvd --- the traffic and traffic noise is pretty bad there. I think SW Portland has more of a suburb-type vibe than other areas of Portland.

In SE, the closer in you are the better but overall a really cool part of town. I personally would look as far as about SE 65th-70th but wouldn't go out much further.

NE and N Portland are a little bit more difficult. They each have some pockets of good neighborhoods, but they also seem to have the highest crime rate.

This website really helped me when I was moving here. If you scroll to the bottom you'll find a neighborhood guide with some great information.

http://www.movingtoportland.net/portland_neighborhoods.htm

How high are utilities in Portland? We have found a place that we are going to email about, but we just don't know how much the other stuff is going to run. It seems like it's in a great location though.

Here it is: http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/2264114565.html

Utilities are pretty cheap, in my opinion. We have both electric and gas, and both of those bills vary quite a bit between summer and winter. We have a small (1000 sq ft) 100+ year old house that doesn't have the best insulation -- and there are two of us (just to give you an idea for comparisons). In the summer our electric bill averages about $40/month and our gas bill averages about $25/month. In the winter our electric averages about $75/month and our gas bill averages about $90/month. Water usually hovers around $60/month (we pay every 3 months).

When you email about that property, I would ask about traffic noise. I've only driven through that area, so I'm not sure how loud it is once you get inside a residence ... but it looks to have pretty busy roads on each side. Nice looking place, though!

Hope this is all helpful!

Thanks OA...that's really helpful. I think that's probably about as close as we are going to be able to get to downtown. We are emailing them now. Once we get up there and get settled in, we should go out for a beer or something. We'll need to find some good micro breweries.

Drop in when you get in

still looking for a place to live. we are planning on getting there May 20 though. will let you guys know when we are settled. it will be good to meet some ags in the area.

one of the reasons we picked portland was for the weather.

For the most part the weather is overblown, especially if you are living in the city. The rain isn't all that bad and you are only a couple of hours from the desert if you really need to get some sunshine in. The rain is typically pretty light, just get a good light raincoat with a hood and you will be fine. I don't think I've ever used an umbrella here.

We just recently moved out in the country and the rain gets on my nerves a lot more now than when we lived in the city. Mud control is tough with animals and I've got a ton of outdoor projects that have been sitting in limbo for months.

I myself might be moving up to the Vancouver/Portland area. Getting tired of Houston and my wife would love it there being from Alaska.

We were there last week. Portland is a great town to spend time in. The Cadillac Cafe has great breakfast, and the Marrakesh Moroccan restaurant on 21st is outstanding.

I'm probably the only person in the state w/ two briskets on the smoker right now and just finished eating mesquite smoked chicken and potato salad for supper.

found a place to live in NE! we will be there in about a month and a week. can't wait.

Congrats, Spartan!! Good luck with the move!

Marcel - we just wanted to try something different. We were living in Houston and were tired of the heat and had some relatives in the Bend area. Brisket, sounds good. I would kill for some Texas smoked BBQ. There is a place that opened in Sisters last year that ships in sausage from Elgin. Their BBQ is about as close as you get to Texas BBQ.

OAg,
I'll have plenty of bbq over here once it finally decides to warm up. I just finished serving bbq at a local working ranch horse sale. I sold out of my first brisket by 10:30 in the morning! I love cold, hungry ranch hands. I got to watch the ranch style bronc riding from my trailer window, as well as the team branding event. On May 14 I'll be selling bbq at another larger ranch rodeo here in town. I have some other gigs lined up already. I can smoke a case of brisket and pork shoulders at the same time.
I've heard about the place in Sisters, but ever time I go through there it's closed. Have you tried Baldy's there in Bend? We get over to Bend every few weeks or so. Great town.

Yep, I know the owner of Baldy's and have eaten there quite a few times. They seem to add a Carolina twist to their BBQ, so it is not the same to me as Texas BBQ. Are you grilling in the Bend area any this summer?