My fiance and I are considering a move to Portland from Seattle, due to the incredible cost of housing up here

Question

I'm a bit nervous about the move, and would love some objective convincing. I hear wonderful things about PDX, and have greatly enjoyed my visits. Any further encouragement?

Answer 1

The previous answers echo what my initial thoughts were when I first read your question. I know housing in Seattle is getting quite expensive, but Portland also is the most expensive in Oregon, and while it might be a bit cheaper, I don't know that it is significantly so. If you haven't already, I would suggest visiting Realtor websites for comparisons.

Are you set on living in a large city? How about checking out Eugene, OR? Housing is cheaper, quality of life is higher, and it's a really cool small city! Employment could be a problem though depending on what you do, so you would need to research that. Just a suggestion.
http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene,_Oregon
http://www.planeteugene.com/
http://www.wunderground.com/US/OR/Eugene.html
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/09/10/home.php
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/

Another suggestion would be Bellingham, WA ... very similar to Eugene, about 75 minutes north of Seattle and just an hour from Vancouver, B.C. It's an swesome place to live, with lots of opportunities.
http://www.bellingham.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingham,_Washington
http://www.cob.org/index.htm
http://www.bellingham.org/content/content.asp?ContentId=143
http://www.wunderground.com/US/WA/Bellingham.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Bellingham-Washington.html

Answer 2

This is not what you want to hear......but housing is not exactly cheap down here anymore either. Lots of highrises (condos) going up downtown.....costing obscene amounts. People are driven out of downtown into the "burbs" because they can't afford the rents in the city any longer. Other than that, it's not a bad place to live, but I think Seattle has more going for it.
Good luck !

Answer 3

I live really really close to PDX airpot. But i dont think the houses here are anu cheaper then seattle