Best place to live in Portland Oregon
 

My husband and I are going to Portland in Sept to look for a house and enjoy some senery. Where would we look for safe,fun,good restaurants in the suburbs and within 15-20 min to downtown?

Where will you or your husband be working? How about new versus older homes? Are schools important? Any special criteria? Price range?

I highly recommend Lake Oswego, a small suburb 10 miles south of downtown Portland (a 15 minute drive). Extremely beautiful city surrounding the lake and bordered by the Willamette River. Lots of trees! One of, if not THE safest towns in the Portland Metro area. The schools are also top notch. Upscale and sophisticated community will meet most of your needs in itself, but an easy commute to Portland for more restaurants, big-city activities. Housing costs reflect this desirability, but there's quite a range, from the most expensive, right on the lake, to further away, more affordable, yet still very lovely homes. Check out the city's website www.ci.oswego.or.us/ for more info and some pictures. Our family loved living in Lake Oswego!

If I was moving to Portland, I'd live in the neighborhood of Laurelhurst. Beautiful houses and even prettier streets, and close to great shopping and dining.

The thing about Portland is that there are many great neighborhoods. Its also a very compact city - You don't have to have a car here.

We loved the Raleigh Hills area, west of Portland, particularly the area around Raleigh Park. It's 8 minutes from downtown, near great grocery stores, shopping, and some good restaurants including a brew pub or two. Lots of people walk, ride bikes, and the area is beautiful. Houses vary in price. The neighborhood has a central library, park, school. People are very friendly and a mixture of ages.

Where you live in Portland depends on several factors. For one, how much house can you afford? Houses have gone up a lot in the last few years here. Lake Oswego is probably Portland's most exclusive suburb - if you can afford the house you want there, you might like it. Raleigh Hills is probably much cheaper...but I'm not a suburban guy anyway. I like the close-in Portland neighborhoods and live in one that is within walking distance of downtown. Laurelhurst is a bit further from downtown than where I live but it is a very nice neighborhood as the other poster pointed out. I would also consider Sellwood - closer to downtown than Lake Oswego but pretty quiet and very nice.

Andrew

Thank you for all your feedback. We are self employed so being close to our work is not important. How much do the houses in Lake Oswego range from? I also saw Laurelhurst and Raleigh Hills mentioned. What do the prices range from there?
Again thanks for any help

Lots of real estate web sites - search for yourself to see what houses are going for. Search Google for Portland OR real estate.

Andrew

We just moved back here a few months ago, so remember the house hunting all too well, lol! Two good sights to get a feel for house prices are www.realtor.com and www.rmls.com.

Pinkie,
I did a little quick research for you and got this info on Lake Oswego home prices. It's true, prices have gone up A LOT recently, but it seems that's true of all the good places to live these days.

Ok, of 200 current listings in Lake Oswego: (Brace yourself) :-)

40 listed for $150,000 - $300,000. (Small and/or on busy streets.)
30 listed for $300 - $400 K
40 " " $400-$600 K
35 " " $600-1 M
45 " " $1 M +
Average home on the lake: $1.5 M and up.

That's quite a range. To give you some idea of what you can get for that, our home was somewhere in the middle range pricewise, in a pretty, quiet neighborhood 2 blocks from the lake. 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath on a private 1/3 acre lot with more than a dozen mature Douglas fir trees (over 100 ft. tall).

Since we had kids and were looking for safety and schools first, I researched the neighborhoods for a year before we bought our home, reading the police log every day in the Oregonian to see where the crime was happening. From that info, and other real estate stats, we found the West side of Portland to have much less crime than the East side.

Also check out the beautiful homes in West Linn, Lake Oswego's neighbor to the south, some with views of the Willamette River. Also Tualatin has some very nice ones, on or near the Tualatin River. The prices should be lower than Lake Oswego and I hear the schools are good there too, if that matters. Look online to find actual listings with pictures--we've had good experience with The Hasson Co. realtors in Lake Oswego (I'm not affiliated with them.) They know this area well and can give you lots more info, which will help you prepare for your trip. Enjoy your search in this beautiful area!

There are a number of interesting (architecturally) in-town areas that you might look at - the Hawthorn district east of the river - nice old bungalows on tree-lined streets, numerous cafes, shops, etc. on Hawthorn; NW Portland - very trendy area, prices going way up (resale prices too, so you won't lose money if and when you move on); the Pearl district adjacent to downtown - rapidly upgrading area - lofts etc.

One thing you should note is that 15-20 min. from downtown won't get you to any suburban cities, just residential parts of Portland, and the closer-in ones at that. Traffic in Portland is not yet up to California (or Seattle) standards, much less eastern cities, but it's not negligible and while public transportation isn't bad, it isn't all that hot in all areas.

You might want to consult the nifty "property point" mls mapping service at www.windermere.com - a big NW realty firm (more Washington than Oregon, but okay.) - you can zoom in on a given neighborhood and see what prices and the real estate inventory looks like. Unless you're coming from a high-residential-cost area, be ready for sticker shock.

I used to drive the route from Lake Oswego to downtown Portland via Macadam Avenue in about 15 or 20 minutes--pretty much a straight shot. Unless things have changed significantly in the last few years, I think you should be able to do it within that time frame too.

The Multnomah/Garden Home area SW of Portland is within 20 minutes of downtown, yet, in some places, has almost a rural feel. And you can find homes in almost any price range.

The bonus is that Alba Osteria & Enoteca, one of my favorite restaurants in all of the Portland area, is nearby.

I agree largely with Gardyloo on certain places being farther out than you seem to want. Particularly Tualatin and W. Lynn are somewhat "out there," expecially with traffic.
There are many beautiful in-town neighborhoods. Along with neighborhoods mentioned in other posts, include Alameda in that, and Eastmoreland. But expensvie!!!
The Hawthorne District and Sellwood are less expensive and nice in-town districts, with lots of cool shops and restaurants (esp Hawthorne)
Beachbum's areas are close in on the westside, along with my Raleigh Park/Raleigh Hills area. Another neighborhood with smaller homes, a nice feel, is Royal Woodlands, also in the Raleigh Hills area.
Vermont Hills is also on the westside and very nice.
Portland Heights is very close in, in the city in a forest, on the westside. It is expensive, as is Council Crest, with larger homes.
As for crime, it's really not a problem in most areas of Portland. There are a few areas to watch out for, but most are fine.

There is another website that may help you narrow down areas. It is www.neighborhoodscout.com. It is a pay site, but when we were looking for a home/area it was well worth it. It will give you all the demographics of a neighborhood, and you can also select the demographics you want and it will find matches for you.

You have not given us all the little details so its hard for any of us locals to really pinpoint a perfect spot for you. But you have gotten lots of good advice so far:)

BTW, WineryCat...all those nice homes in Tualatin along the river..that used to be my grandparents property. I have such mixed feelings when I visit it:)

It's true, Pinky, we could give you better advice if we knew more of what you were looking for. Since you asked for a safe suburb of Portland, I assumed you wanted something with a separate feel from the city, more of a country feel, perhaps, not really an in-town neighborhood, but that's just my guess. That's what I like most about Lake Oswego, West Linn, Tualatin area. They are completely separate from Portland and have a "country" feel, yet are just a relatively short drive away.

Yes, W. Linn and Tualatin are a little bit further away, but not knowing the budget, I suggested them as an alternative to the higher prices of Lake Oswego, yet they're in the same area with a similar feel. Since you're not having to commute to Portland, perhaps the excellent "quality of life" there would be more important to you than the extra 5 or 10 minutes drive to Portland. I don't know. You might like to know that there's a large percentage of people like yourselves, who are self-employed and/or with home businesses in that area. They don't have to be that close to Portland, and can be wherever they want.

W. Linn & Tualatin have easy access to the 205 freeway and I-5, which go right into Portland. I didn't use them too often, so I'm not sure of the transit time, but it's not far.

mms: I can see how that would be a little bittersweet for you. I'm not sure if it's the same place I'm thinking of, (they were new about 5 years ago), but it was a relatively small area of homes, just a few streets, but with HUGE treed lots and the homes were exquisite!--by far the nicest I had ever seen in Tualatin. Maybe not far off Boone's Ferry? Can't remember the name. I hope the developers at least gave one to you to live in! :-)

I would like to live in the Southwest part of Portland. Raleigh Hills, Portland Heights and Dunthorpe.
I love the idea of being in a nice house with all those trees and yet I am only 15 or so minutes from downtown.
We considered an incredible looking loft apartment building in that area also..
Good luck ((F))

WineryCat--We live just adjacent to Tualatin...absolutely love the area! The area where the property was is just east of the hospital in Tualatin...all the way down to the river...course that is Nyberg Road now, lol! My grandparents home is still there, and the developers made the neighborhood fit with it...but everything else is gone. We looked for homes in that neighborhood, but there was not much on the market in Dec./Jan. Guess most sane people move at better times of the year, lol!

mms: Sounds really nice. I'd definitely consider that area if I were moving back...and I do miss it, especially this time of year. Looks like a trip is in order here. :-)

Scarlett: Oh, Dunthorpe (just north of Lake Oswego) is the neighborhood of my dreams. The homes absolutely reek of character and charm, but at today's prices...well, I can dream, can't I?

Scarlett, I thought you lived in the southeast, somewhere near Tara! So you're a Northwesterner, too. Cool!