Washington or Oregon? (Portland, Gresham, Beaverton: sales, 2015, house)

[mxcolin]

We are moving from California next year and one of the areas we are seriously considering is the Portland/Vancouver area. Our goal is to find a safe, clean, family friendly suburb close to amenities. We also have 2 kids (2 and 5) so good schools are probably our main conern. We visited Portland last December and loved the city. The people were friendly (compared to Orange County someone even acknowledging you exist is friendly) and the city was walkable and cool. We really liked the idea of Camas, WA as the schools get really high ratings. We drove around the Vancouver area in December and really couldn't see much although we really didn't plan things well or have a lot of time, and must have missed the main areas. I wouldn't be commuting for work as I would be working from home so that's not a concern. Which areas would you consider in our situation? Our budget will be around $450K although we'd ideally like to spend less. Washington having no income tax is appealng but living in Oregon isn't a show stopper.

[Hemlock140]

Vancouver is big enough to have decent amenities, and yet just across the river from just about anything you need in Portland. WA has no state income tax, and Oregon has no sales tax. Vancouver is the best of both worlds. Live there, and drive over the bridge for any major purchases. Camas is smaller, but not that much farther from Portland, and we prefer going in on the 205 bridge anyway. For us, either Camas or Vancouver is a must-stop on the way back from Portland or CA for Dutch Bros. Coffee, which we can't get here.

[Nell Plotts]

Keep in mind the fact that if you work in OR you will pay OR income tax.

[patches403]

If either of you will be working in Oregon, you should be looking at living in Oregon. If either of you works in Oregon there will be little benefit to living in WA and a lot of drawbacks. There are lots of good schools in various Portland suburbs that are as good or better than the schools in Camas. The commute from WA into downtown Portland is well known as about the worst in the area, likely an hour or more one way; the commute from Camas one way would likely average well over an hour most days. Portland is one place where you should live as close as possible to your work; the narrow roads, limited number of traffic lanes and geographic obstacles make traffic much worse than it should be for a city of its size. Especially you will want to avoid needing to drive across either the Columbia or the Willamette rivers to get to/from work.

Places to look at around Portland with a $450k budget would be the far West and NW parts of the city of Portland (on the Western side of the West Hills), Beaverton, Sherwood and maybe parts of Tigard to the West, West Linn to the South (although $450k won't get you very far in West Linn) and Happy Valley to the East. Where you should be looking all depends on where the main employment for your household will be. If it's downtown, any of these cities will work, if the work is in Beaverton or Hillsboro Happy Valley would be a bad choice. If the work is in east Portland or Gresham, Sherwood, Tigard, and Beaverton would be bad choices.

Now if both of you work from home or your jobs will be in WA, then Camas would be a great place to live.

[bler144]

Today was a pointed reminder of the bridge problem. With the backups this morning even getting from Cascade Park to the airport (3 miles as the crow flies?) was well over an hour.

I-5 Interstate Bridge reopens to traffic following 5-hour closure due to overturned truck | OregonLive.com

And that was over an accident that happened in the middle of the night.

[Ms_Christina]

Camas does have an odor to it that you will have to get used to due to the paper factory. But the schools are top notch. Downtown is very charming and there really is no bad area around there.

Salmon Creek and Ridgefield are northern Vancouver. You have access to both i-5 and i-205 so it is easy to choose the fastest route (usually 205). Up here we are also north of the gorge winds so you will see winds knock out power every once in a while in Camas and the city of Vancouver but not up North.

We have nice views of Mt.St Helens, and Mt. Hood. Shopping is nearby and since Portland is so easy to get to we are always enjoying the city.

$450K will also get you WAY more of a house and land in WA than the Portland area.

[PDXJ]

Just curious, if you can work from home, why choose the Portland metro area? We're experience a boom of in-migrants, especially from California, so it's interesting to hear what motivates this migration. You mentioned friendliness here vs. Orange County. Are there other factors?

[AndyAMG]

Camas tends to attract Californians en masse. Just make sure your job is in Washington, to take full advantage of living in Camas. My wife and I were looking at house on snob hill (the views are incredible) but since our jobs were in Oregon we decided there was no real advantage in Clark Co. Wa. So we Moved to Clackamas Co. Or.

[58rhodes]

I find it pretty much stupid that someone would come on to an Oregon/ Portland forum and ask the question Oregon or Washington. Gawd help us all

[mxcolin]

My job will be working from home so the tax will be an advantage. We will have no need to commute to Porland for work and will mostly be going there on weekends. I do travel a lot so access to the airport every few weeks is about as much commuting as I'll be doing.