Gresham,Sandy??

M

med75

Member
Can anyone tell me what these areas are like?? Looking to buy a house middle distance between Portland and Hood and keep finding some affordable houses in these areas. Are they completley suburban? Are there people in there 30's(young couples that live in these areas, do they feel like ski/snowboard communties(or do you have to move closer to Hood?)

I like the cultural aspects of Portland plus the option of being able to walk or use public transportation but I also like the idea of having a house w/ a backyard and being closer to Mt Hood. I like the idea of living in a ski/snowboard community but would probably have to work in Portland, so where is a good area to live?? Let me know if you have any opinions on this. Thanks!!!

PS-My husband & I are in our 30's so we are not looking for super party atpmoshphere but would like some connection to the world(restaurants,music) but at the same time looking for somewhere nice to raise a family.
 
investment wise, I would say sandy is a good place to buy a house, I foresee it blowing up in the coming years
 
sandy and gresham are a littttttle sketch... just a bunch of redneck conservatives, they are the epitome of small town/suburb america. You should just live in Bend or Portland!
 
Ooh, good to know definitely don't want to live near readnecks or conservatives!!! Thanks for the info. We are going to also check out Bend but I'm not sure if there will be as many work opportunities as in Portland.
 
just live in the southwest hills of portland if you can afford it... super nice neighborhoods, and less than an hour half to hood in the spring. I wouldnt want to have grown up anywhere else.
 
dude just come to bend. overall its just better, and the housing might be a little more but its way worth it. plus the housing is relatively cheap right now.
 
Yea its kinda rednecky right now, but as more people like her and her husband move there it'll get better
 
gresham is a hell pit, and sandy is rather disgusting as well.. if you wana live in a chill little community, choose hood river. its like 30 minutes to the mountain.. bout an hour from P town.. but you can do it faster.. hood river is the best.. but portland is really not that far from mt. hood.. ya know.. gresham is only like 10 miles closer.. its pointless to subject yourself to that..
 
word.. gresham is death zone.. my friend lives out there and there has been a swastika the size of his truck tagged out on the wall accross the street for him for months.. that is gresham. and if you live in portland you have no choice but to drive through there to get to hwy26..
 
We are going to check out both Portland(and the areas in between Hood & Portland)as well as Bend this summer to look at property and check out the the areas. We are moving from NYC so we are looking for something a little more liberal. Definetly looking to slow it down from NY and the skiing/snowboarding is what we are really looking for!!!
 
portland is a great city with some really nice neighborhoods. whether its on the east side or west side, a lot of new neighborhoods are popping up with easy commuting to the city and an hour and a half to hood is not bad at all. i would definately prefer to live in portland and drive the extra 45 minutes rather than living in sandy. its just not that big of a deal when you are considering a place where you are going to live and spend a majority of your time versus saving a little time on the way to the mountain once or twice in the winter or however often it is.
 
It's were all the really rich people in Oregon go to raise their kids. Its an intresting mix of 40 year old windsurfer/kiteboarder bums and rich portlanders with porsches.

Other than that, its actually a really nice place to live, especially if your older since the majority of population is older. Although I think housing is pretty expensive now.
 
the housing in hood river is expensive but if you can afford it it would be and awsome place to live
 
I seemed to notice that the real estate gets more expensive in the summer. Looking at property even in Portland it has gone up since we've been looking in the winter. Hood River prices seem more expensive than Portland but still in comparision to what we could buy here in nyc hood river is still pretty affordable. We could still buy a nice sized house for what we could get for a 1 bedroom apt. here. Now it just a matter of finding work so we can pay a mortgage.
 
Dude, the NYC to Bend move is highly recommended!!!!!

What do you do for a living, again? I can't remember, but I think you told me. My fiance is having an impossible time landing and keeping a job here, there aren't very many jobs for educated people. Just tons of minimum-wage shit jobs and lots of part-year guiding and forest service type jobs. If you do marketing, any type of management, engineering, or web design, you're probably good here. And Bend is growing fast.
 
I just realized that you are a personal trainer... considering the fact that Bend has the highest percentage of olympic athletes living here than anywhere else in the USA, I'm guessing you'll have no problem finding a job.

Good luck!
 
We're not as worried about me finding a job, it's finding a job for my husband. He's a film editor so living in a smaller city there isn't much editing work. That is why Portland might be a better option. We've looked on Bend Craigs list and in the last 6months I think we've maybe seen 1 editing job pop up.
 
That is a concern. We are ready for a lifestyle change but also at the same time we want to buy a house and have kids sometime soon which means we would both need a steady income.

Has you fiance found a job that is worth holding on to? What does he do? Even if there are shit jobs can you cover your living expenses?
 
wellll... 40K here is considered a "good salary". That's a total joke coming from a big city, but if both of you make that much you should be good. You can find decent houses here in the mid-200's, everyone here is obsessed with new so the older (read: cooler) houses go for cheaper. Also, our real estate bubble is in the process of bursting, so prices are coming down.

I'd say Bend is WAY better than portland for outdoor recreation and lifestyle. The access to multiple recreation opporunities is unmatched in my experience. I've skied, paddled canoes and kayaks, and gone mountain biking multiple times in the last week. Can't beat that!
 
ill have to agree with her. i have lived in portland in the past 4 years except summer for school. im back home in bend during the summer and just working with my dad. i like bend way better cause its closer to everything, mt biking, rocking climbing, kayaking, ect. there are alot of more places to go within an hr drive in bend compared to portland.

there are still some good stuff in portland also, but im not such a big city guy and the only reason im in portland is for college.
 
If you want to live closer to hood than portland, gresham or sandy is definitely the way to go. That is, if you want to live in a small city area, but still be close to hood. I'm living in Rhododendron (Brightwood) for the summer right now and the house I'm in is definitely really good for the price (pretty sure it's around $500 a month). If you get a bunch of people together, it's definitely the way to go. The house I'm in can house around 5 or 6 people very comfortably. It's sick.

The only thing is that I'm basically in the middle of nowhere, 15 minutes to govy and about 20 to gresham. You'd need a car if you planned on living here. Or you can hitchhike if necessary.
 
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