Best places to live in Portland area

My family and I will be moving to Portland early next year and would like some pros and cons about the Clackamas/Milwaukie area. Any ideas?

Best places to live in Portland area

Can you share a few more details as far as what you are looking for?

BTW, looking forward to IKEA coming in. Although it was always a good excuse to go to WA and visit old friends. Now they will come here for the tax-free shopping though;)

Best places to live in Portland area

You might also consider Vancouver, WA and areas east of there, just across the river from where your store will be. Washington has no state income tax, lower property taxes, and Oregon%26#39;s sales tax free shopping is just a few miles away.

We are looking for a low crime area with good value homes.

We are also be looking for homes in the West linn area!

I%26#39;ll probably start a war with my descriptions of these towns, but these are only my opinions. Here it goes...

I grew up in Milwaukie- ok area, but like anywhere, some spots in Milwauike are nice and others not so nice. Older area. Definetly the most %26#39;blue collar%26#39; of the areas you suggest.

Clackamas is on the up and up- new area, new subdivisions, no trees, etc- California-esqe.

West Linn nice area, older but well-maintained. Very nice suburb area, but I don%26#39;t have alot of 1st hand experince here, except driving through.

';We are looking for....good value homes.';

';We are also be looking for homes in the West linn area!';

Unfortunately, these two statements don%26#39;t make sense together. You can%26#39;t have your cake and eat it too.

West Linn is a nice area. How much square footage are you looking for and are you willing to move into a place that needs some remodeling? The homes needing help are the least expensive in the area.

http://joanneforman.com/localsearch.html

See if this helps. You can just put in the amount you want to pay, see what you get in the area you are interested in.

We moved here last year, we live in town, and rented for a year to figure out where we would want to buy. You might want to do something like that at first, unless you can be up here househunting often.

I don%26#39;t see a huge change in house prices yet but there are a few that have dropped their price and there seem to be a few more on the market, so maybe things will improve soon.

Good luck~

Thanks for all your comments and advice. We have actually thought about renting and watching the housing market for 6 months to a year.

When I say we are looking for value you have to understand that we are coming from the California housing market and value here means about $700-$800 thousand for a 1700 sf house. We would be happy to find a home anywhere between $300-$400 thousand from Vancouver to Clackamas. We liked Beaverton but it might be a bit too far from the airport area and we would like to avoid any heavy commute.

Thanks again. Keep posting advice and comments, it is very helpful when you are new to an area and have major decisions to make such as home buying.

Rob

You seem interested in the east side - airport?

It%26#39;s the windier / colder side in winter, due to winds from the Columbia River Gorge.

Not too bad though.

Did you know that Hillsboro has an airport? I%26#39;m not sure what kind of flights is offers. Portland is the main one.

You can get to the airport from Beaverton as fast as from West Linn, but Clackamas is a bit quicker.

We just moved from Beaverton. Clean area, but a bit packed. Actually, the entire area is a bit packed for us. We moved west of Medford, for a while.

We would consider Beaverton again. I like West Linn, Lake Oswego, Troutdale.

Troutdale is near the river and airport.

If you like the ocean for visits, consider Hillboro or North Plains.

Wilsonville is very nice, but it%26#39;s a bit isolated in farmland on the south side.

The home values will hold almost anywhere.

Personally, I don%26#39;t care for Milwaukie or the actual City of Portland.

I assume you want to be near planned IKEA store. please hurry and build it, long way to IKEA in seattle area.

MAX light rail will be close to that store so you may want to think about living near MAX line.

Think if I worked there would consider Vancouver side of river if I chose to drive to work..