On my way to Oregon

[cosmik debris]

I will be moving to Oregon in the summer, and I need advice on Democrat-Friendly businesses. Do you have any Democrat-Friendly real estate agents in Central Oregon? I am considering the option of manufactured housing. Is there a friendly manufacturer? Any home builders I should avoid. What advice would you give to a Texan who is looking to improve his situation by moving to Oregon?

[oregonjen]

1. Welcome to Oregon!

Can't help you with your question, but I wanted to welcome you to the best state in the nation. Hopefully, we won't be having a horrible fire season. We didn't get a lot of rain this winter, although we are having some now. Be careful where you choose to settle, central Oregon is prime for fires.

[cosmik debris]

2. Thanks for the welcome

Actually I am retiring to Oregon, so I can live any place I can afford to live (Not Portland) Do you have any suggestions on an economical place where Democrats are not hated (like they are in Waco TX.)

I like dry better than I like wet, that is why I thought about Central Or. but there are a couple of things I need to feel at home: Democrats and trees. (Waco has only a few of either) If I have to accept the risk of fire, I will mitigate as well as possible, and then just live with it. Life without trees is . . . well, Texas.

[oregonjen]

3. The Eugene area is full of trees and quite liberal

University of Oregon is there and it is a nice college town. Plenty of trees and the Willamette river flows through. Great jogging trails along the river, too.

I live in a suburb of Portland and in my city, it's about 50/50 dem/repub. Love the weather, trees and love how we are so close to the coast, mountains and desert. It's a great place to live.

[LWolf]

4. It sounds like the Eugene area is what you are looking for.

I'm in the middle of a move to central oregon; I've got family there. It's high desert, with trees. Juniper trees. The Bend area is beautiful; surrounded by mountains, recreation, lakes, rivers, trees, etc.; still high desert. That means less annual precipitation, and a dryer climate. It isn't as liberal as Eugene, although I'm told it has an active group of democrats.

Eugene, being on the west side of the cascades, is wetter, greener, and still has plenty of trees, as well as a university.

I've got a house in escrow down south, and am heading north to take care of some family issues and find a house.

[HuckleB]

11. Look into the Sisters area.

Yes, overall it's a Repub stronghold, but there is a strong and active progressive contingent there, with an incredible bookstore in Sisters that attracts progressive authors for readings throughout the year (I believe the name of the store is Paulina Springs Book Company). It's also more dry than Eugene and other areas west of the Cascades, and you may be able to find a place for a little less dough somewhere nearby, as long as you look away from the resort areas.

Ashland is another place you might want to look into.

[insanity]

15. Sisters and Ashland are great!

I vaction every summer to Sisters and it is beautiful, and it slowly becoming more and more progressive. However, if you want the most progressive town in the state (and the best) you should consider Ashland (my hometown), it is also beautiful and the people here are amazing.

[Kilroy003]

5. My friend in Portland just started selling homes.

He's invested in some land near the east side of Mt Hood.

Take a look at his website. He knows other Realtors in the area if you're looking for a little more experience.

http://www.matthewjcooper.com/

He's definitely a Dem.

[cosmik debris]

6. Thank you,

That is exactly thew kind of information I need. I will check him out.

[sandnsea]

7. My son in law

Is a Democrat-friendly contractor. We're in Florence, which is a little rainier, but the temperate climate makes up for it. Not too hot, not too cold. Have you ever been to Oregon?

[kaitykaity]

8. Well, welcome in advance to our wonderful state.

You want trees and dry???

Lotsa luck. Lol. West of the Cascades it's green and
wet. East of the Cascades it's red and dry. Most of
the eastern part of the state is high desert. Beautiful
and dry -- not very many trees.

Another bit of bad news is the less-populated areas of
the state are very, very Republican. If you want
lots of Democrats, you gotta come to the more populated
areas -- the upper triangle as it were.

You might try The Dalles (pronounced la dalles), Hood
River, on in the Columbia River Gorge. Sort of in the
middle between the conservative red and the liberal blue.


:hi:

[cosmik debris]

9. This is depressing

Property values in Or. are about three times what they are in TX. I live in a 3BR/2BA brick w/ fireplace, 2 car garage and large lot in quiet neighborhood. I paid 50K 15 yrs ago. It will sell for 85K now. A similar home in Portland or Eugene is 250K. I am not sure I can afford to move to Oregon! 85K won't get a run-down mobile home in most parts of the state. I am reconsidering.

[HuckleB]

10. Yeah, it's a great place to live.

So prices have skyrocketed the past 12 years or so. It's still about as cheap as it gets on the West Coast, however.

Keep looking for bargains, though, depending on where you want to live, and what type of home you would like to have.

Salud.

[sandnsea]

12. Check LaPine

I don't know how it is now, but I'd heard it wasn't as expensive a few years ago. It does snow in the winter. I can't think of anyplace else where you might have a chance of finding something reasonable. Sickening, isn't it? There are parts of N Carolina where you can get reasonable housing I think. It's got trees. My uncle retired to Deming NM, he likes it there. I don't know about trees, but he lived his adult life in No Cal so had probably seen enough trees. Here's another idea:

http://www.ospreypoint.net/Village.html

[LWolf]

14. I'm in LaPine this week.

My mom lives here. I'm visiting and house hunting in the Central Oregon area. LaPine is definitely less expensive than the Bend area; it's too far to commute to my probable new job in Redmond, though. I don't want to do an hour there and an hour back every day! LaPine is also very republican. Still, it's close enough to Bend that if I weren't going to be working further afield, I'd look here. There are some other areas lying on the outskirts of the Bend area which are more reasonable, as well. Madras, Prineville, Culver...depends on how far away from the "center" you can be.

[0rganism]

13. It's not as bad as you're thinking right now

Yes, you will pay more for housing here than in Texas or New Mexico or North Dakota. However, consider the money you will make from your home's sale. If you have $35k free-and-clear plus however much principle you've paid off on your mortgage in 15 years (should be about 2/3 on a 20 year, maybe 1/3 on a 30 year) you should have about $50k to put into a downpayment. You can buy into some decent places for $150k, not in the Portland or Eugene areas, but not too far away from them, either. If you're in a position to hold down a job and make monthly payments, there's no reason to give up right away.

Here's a hint. Instead of looking at Portland listings, look at, say, McMinnville or Newberg. Instead of looking in Eugene, look at Springfield. Homehunt in Kaizer instead of Salem, Meford instead of Ashland, etcetera. Get a fixer with a large lot, and either put in some do-it-yourself time or hire a handyman to make the most-needed improvements. You can probably score something worth remodeling for around $100k on the fringes of suburbia. Do it right, and you stand to make a lot more money in the next five years than you put down on the house in this one.

Don't rule out creative financing, either. You can make a low down-payment on a fixer, as low as 3-5%, put in some repairs, and if the home is in a reasonably safe neighborhood with recreation or shopping nearby, you'll see your investment grow to the point where you can refinance to lower the monthly payments in a year or two. You're at a disadvantage, coming in from Texas, but if you can look past the obvious, you'll buy into the place this year that big-spending ex-Californians will be buying from you in 2015. The cost of housing seems harsh at first, but it can be turned to your advantage in the long run.

[insanity]

16. one more thing

If you look in Ashland, consider Phoneix or Talent... yes they are drab; but they are super close to Ashland and generally pretty cheap.

[anitar1]

17. There is a nice mobile park in Talent, 5 miles from Ashland

A friend lives there and it is very pleasant. In fact there are a number of parks around that area. You might check R.E. listings in that area. Houses are very expensive anymore. Ashland more so than Talent and Phienix.

[Blue Topaz]

18. Corvallis is as blue as they come...

but not cheap either. A modest 3 bd, 1 bath 60s era ranch style home will start around $130,000. However, Albany is 10 miles away and much cheaper, though much redder too.

Corvallis has around 55,000 pop, is a liberal college town, and has great bicycling facilities, transit, a top notch library, and an extremely active and well-supported Dem party.