Things are only slightly cheaper anywhere else in teh Bay Area. Scan some rental prices on SF CL if you doubt me; unless you're going way inland (where it's much hotter and less desirable) or to the slummy parts of Oakland or Emeryville, you're paying well over $1000/month for a 1bedroom apt. Nicer ones, for location or amenities, are $1500+.
I like living in the area, but as I often tell myself, I can live anywhere, since my work is online. I get paid part time for this site, and make more doing freelance writing/editing projects, but the point is that all I need is an internet connection. So, on a semi-whim, I looked further north, and checked out prices in Portland, Oregon, and around Seattle, Washington. (I like the west coast, I like cooler weather and clouds, I love mountains and nature and trees and snowboarding, I like the ethnic and cultural diversity of the coasts, etc.)
And I about fell off my chair when I looked at the apt rental prices. Apts just like mine are $550ish in Portland. Yes, half price. I could rent a 3 bedroom HOUSE for less than $900 there. You can't even find a STUDIO in a decent neighborhood within 30 miles of SF for that much.
So suddenly and unexpectedly, I'm envisioning living in a much nicer apt, for maybe 2/3 what I'm paying now. Thus I'm bouncing the idea off of everyone I know, including semi-random, semi-strangers in a D2 online forum....
Anyone live in Oregon? Even visited? Everyone I've asked so far says it's very nice... maybe it's a plot to lure me in?
|||Quote:Anyone live in Oregon? Even visited? Everyone I've asked so far says it's very nice... maybe it's a plot to lure me in?
My sister lives in Portland. From what she's said, it's filled with the hippie trash who fled the results of what their beliefs caused in CA.
|||My brother has lived in Oregon for the past dozen years or so, mostly around the Medford area. I've visited him, and it's beautiful there. I can't get used to the fact that state law precludes people from pumping their own gas, but that's probably not a reason not to move there in and of itself.|||
|||My understanding is that the SF bay area is one of the most expensive places in the US to live. Plus it's full of crazies. Find some place the weather isn't as nice (I live near Chicago, but in the burbs) and there are way less crazies. I know it's not a coast, but there's a very diverse group in Chicagoland. Less so as you move out into the fringe areas, but great food.
I've heard good things about where you're looking, Oregon and Washington are known to be beautiful. Take a trip up there, talk to some folks, check it out. That's all you really can do.
Other places to check out that I've heard are nice is Houston area, (and not as kooky as the rest of texas), and North/South Carolina.|||Sol Cal but I know people in OR and if you don't mind the wet it's fine.|||I'm pretty sure Portland has the highest amount of strip clubs per capita too.....so yeah.
Seriously it's a nice city, though if you ever plan on actually owning a home the property tax is insane there from what I've heard (to make up for lack of state income tax and what have you). If you can find a place you like closer to Seattle I'd recommend that as the Puget Sound area is pretty incredible, but both areas are beautiful Flux.
I moved from CO up here to Bellingham (about 80 miles north of Seattle) and I don't regret it at all.|||So I talked to my dad since he's traveled a lot on business and spent time in Oregon. And he was full of useless anecdotes about wearing onions on his belt.
Actually, he was pretty useful, with stories about Portland. He also suggested I look at some of the other semi-big cities in Oregon, since they might be cheaper, and were at least marginally closer to my current location. I don't see why that really matters; it's 500 miles from SF to Portland, and 380 from SF to Eugene.
So much closer! I will rent a smaller truck and make 2 trips!
Or not.
Anyway, I typed up the results as I researched other options in Northern California and Southern Oregon, and sent them in an email to him. And since there might be some marginally interesting analysis of apartment rental markets within... I present here an edited version. Read it or don't. The links were all good as of April 30th, but they'll probably be dead in 3 or 4 days the way CL churns their offerings.
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I just spent an hour reading about portland and other potential cities north of me. Eureka is too small, Redding is way too hot, and Bedford Oregon is still too hot. Which leaves Eugene, Salem, and Portland. They're all very, very white, too. Like 88% white, with portland the only one with more than like, 2% Asian or anything else. That seems boring to me. Plus I like Asian girls.
Eugene is the home of Oregon U. It's 111m south of Portland. Apts there are lame; very small selection, compared to Portland, and they're all fairly low-quality 1bdrm. Far, far more 2-3bdrms offered, and while they're slightly cheaper than Portland, they're not impressive. Less competition for rentals + poor students = crappier options?
http://eugene.craigslist.org/search/...1&addTwo=purrr
That's Eugene $500-1100, 1bdrm+, allows cats. And there are hardly any listed. Most of the 1 bedrooms are 500-650, and they're pretty plain. I didn't see any that were more than an incremental upgrade from where I live now.
Corvallis is where Oregon State is located, and I didn't check housing, but it's got to be interesting. The city population is only 54k, and there are 23k enrolled at OSU. Counting teachers and staff that's got to be what, 60% of the town population? Amazing they can maintain a fairly successful major college athletic department, and football team, with such a minuscule population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvallis,_Oregon
Salem is about the same as Eugene. Similar population, but it's only 40m from Portland. Apt options there are pretty bad, for the same reason as Eugene. 1bdrms are cheap, but very plain and crappy. Lots of individual houses.
http://salem.craigslist.org/apa/2354701312.html -- Talk about a shack!
This is about the most luxury 1bdrm in Salem. Ugh. $725.
http://salem.craigslist.org/apa/2352699199.html
Most of them are just boxes with beige carpet and white walls.
http://salem.craigslist.org/apa/2350002918.html
Which is, admittedly, where I live now. Except I have big balcony/patio here and lots of good sun. Which I wouldn't get in Salem, Oregon. Don't think I'd pay $500/month more for that, though.
I think this is economics in action. These smaller towns don't really have desirable locations, like downtown/riverfront Portland. So apt rents are quite cheap all over town, with only slight variation, and no one's making really nice apts since there's no market for it. (Plus the per capita income in Salem, Eugene, etc is quite low, $32k or something like that. It's 41k in Portland, and the city population is 550k, compared to 130k or less for the others.)
In Portland there are more people with money to rent something nice, and there are desired locations that command high rents. This creates incentive for other developments to compete for those renters, but since they don't have the location, they have to build much nicer/larger units.
Which brings us to...
http://portland.craigslist.org/apa/
main listing; you can sort by price and number of bedrooms, pets, etc. You can also look by neighborhood. I don't really have a preference, so I'm not using location restrictions.
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/apa/2355699008.html
Typical example of the higher quality 1bdrm type in Portland.
300sq/ft larger than mine, washer/dryer, fireplace, open kitchen. big patio, etc. I didn't see a single 1bdrm anythign like this quality looking at dozens of listings in Eugene, Salem, Eureka, etc.
The problem with most of the more luxury 1bdrms is that the price is coming from either location, or amenities. I don't care about a crappy little gym, basketball court, bougie-designed lobby, etc. I much prefer the sort of layout that I have in my apt, or that I had at [my ex's]. Just a cluster of 2-3 story structures with 4-8 units connected in each building. So everyone has a balcony and some exterior walls.
I don't want to have to walk through some lobby to get inside, or ride an elevator to get to my front door. Especially not when those "features" raise the rent $200 a month.
This is a good example of that type.
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/apa/2355688172.html
$900 for nothing that special, or at least $200 over market. But when you view the apt complex's website... it's got a big gym, shiny lobby, etc.
http://www.thorncroft-farms.com/
I had this one saved as my favorite interior I'd seen thus far.
$944, huge loft -- http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/apa/2353886912.html
$959, huge loft -- http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/apa/2355673814.html
Exact same property and ad. But they raised the price $15 from 4/29 to 4/30. Heh. I love that unit, for the huge living room, open kitchen, washer/dryer, high walls/big windows/loft, but it's more than I want to pay (even though it's $250 less than I'd pay anywhere decent I moved in the SF area.) And it's in a fantastically bougie complex with a giant pool, lounge areas, gym, racquetball court, etc.
http://www.udr.com/CommunityOverview...k-RentSentinel
That apt would be $2000+ anywhere nice in SF region. That apt w/o all the pool and "on site massage therapist" crap would be $800, and I'd fly up there tomorrow to rent it.
But I don't think I'll find any apts that nice, that aren't in a bougie complex which tacks on hundreds to the rent with features I don't really care about. Alas.
http://portland.craigslist.org/grg/apa/2355670627.html
The epitome of paying too much b/c there's a beautiful lobby. Lobby photo is the top thing on the page.
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/apa/2355615052.html
$755, not very large or special, but in a nice complex.
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/apa/2355279792.html
another nice one. $800, but very nice kitchen and attractive building exteriors. It's in Sherwood, 14m southwest of Portland.
I could list 50 more, since they seem to add 200+ listings per 24hours, but this is a representative bunch.
TLDR: Flux looks at apts for rent in Oregon and complains.|||Portland has the underground city so fun that way now.
Next stop Shanghai
:-(|||Quote:
Other places to check out that I've heard are nice is Houston area, (and not as kooky as the rest of texas), and North/South Carolina.
go to any small town in Texas and you're in for a real southern treat. you'll see people ride their horse to McDonalds's and maybe even school.
stay away from Vidor unless you believe in white power. Quote:
I'm pretty sure Portland has the highest amount of strip clubs per capita too.....so yeah.
im so jealous, Flux. i plan on moving to Seattle myself when i have the money to go. Forests, rain, clouds, beach. What's a girl not to love about it?
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