goodbye california, hello oregon!

[TromboneAl]

We lived on Cedar Ave and Grizzly Peak in Berkeley, Buena Vista Ave in Oakland, Greenbank Ave in Piedmont, and Tunnel Road in Oakland. Maybe we were neighbors!

Only on Cedar did we avoid having to drive much (we didn't have a car!). We enjoyed it for many years, but I guess I'm not a city person, 'cause I'm glad to be out of there.

 

[NotReady4Purple]

Duplicate post - removed.

 

[NotReady4Purple]

Weather in Oregon depends on which side of the Cascades you are on. East of the Cascades is sunny and CA-like, west of the Cascades is a temperate rain forest.

We lived in Corvallis and the rains stopped on July 5th (always seemed to rain on the holiday) and started again in mid-to-late October. Summer's were gorgeous.

Oregon-unique things we encoutered included: Mold on the roofs, Rain-suits (like snow suits), no sales tax, no self-serve gas, high property taxes and trouble funding schools.

Oregon's coast is gorgeous and wild compared to CA.

 

[CuppaJoe]

....
When I lived in Berkeley I almost never got in my car unless I wanted to go to Mt. Tam or Stinson Beach or something.

....

Even those places are accessible by public transit, especially in summer and even better if you bring a bike along. Chances are if you go to those places, you are a hiker anyway and can even skip the bike.

For instance, hook your bike to the front of a Golden Gate Transit bus, at Marin City transfer to a Muir Woods shuttle (summer weekends only), bike rides inside the shuttle (as it would inside BART). Round trip from East Bay Terminal is less than $10. You could also get a free shuttle up to Mt. Tam for performances at the Mountain Theater; I don't think you need to show the driver a ticket. I remember a year round bus stop at Mt. Tam, or a traditional hiker may want to hike out from Mill Valley.

I thought I would take a lot of cabs and rent cars after I sold my car (in 1980), but very rarely do so--my transportation expenses are extreme LBYM which, to my mind, makes the outrageous rents more acceptable.

Now, if I can just stop drooling over Jaguars. The true meaning of Calif. is the image of driving down the coast with the top down, no? And the car should be red.

 

[ejman]

Generally, as you move north in Oregon west of the Cascades there is more and more rain. The Rogue River valley for example gets only about 1/2 of the annual rainfall of the Portland Area. As you move north on the I-5 corridor, Ashland and Medford get the least rain, Grants Pass and Roseburg a bit more, Eugene quite a bit more and so on. In SW Oregon the nice weather generally starts mid April and goes to late October.

 

[haha]

Now, if I can just stop drooling over Jaguars. The true meaning of Calif. is the image of driving down the coast with the top down, no? And the car should be red.

Didn't Dustin Hoffman drive an Alfa Romeo Spider in the Graduate? I hear that with the new Fiat/Chrysler hookup Alfas will be coming back to the US. And there is no red like the Italian red.

Ha

 

[CuppaJoe]

Didn't Dustin Hoffman drive an Alfa Romeo Spider in the Graduate? I hear that with the new Fiat/Chrysler hookup Alfas will be coming back to the US. And there is no red like the Italian red.

Ha

and famous for driving the wrong way on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge.

 

[Urchina]

Oregon's coast is gorgeous and wild compared to CA.

Agreed with most of your post, but on this one I'll differ a little; I'd say Northern California's coast compares with Oregon's in terms of ruggedness, wildness, and beauty. Actually, I'd start the comparison at Big Sur and north. Splitting hairs, really, but not all of CA has urbanized beach areas.

 

[knucklehead 61]

Oregon-unique things we encountered included: Mold on the roof, no sales tax, no self-serve gas, high property taxes.

Oregon's coast is gorgeous and wild compared to CA.

i agree with most of these points:
the moss grows on roofs, but can be controlled somewhat
no sales tax reduces the cost of living by 8.25%!!!
full serve gas pumped mostly by friendly English speaking people

but i beg to differ on the high prop tax. our home in san jose costs over $13,000 / year, our house on 11.5 acres in Oregon is only $1,420 / year!

we do really love the oregon cost as well. i always stop at the vista point above manzanita beach & take in the view. absolutely breathtaking.

 

[Retire Soon]

We moved to Bend three years ago after living in San Diego for 35 years. The average annual precipitation is 10 inches, which happens to be the same as San Diego.

Our property taxes are $2,600. We were paying $3,200 in San Diego when we moved.

We don't miss the high California sales tax. As others have mentioned, there is no state sales tax in Oregon (I hear that if Arnold has his way, sales tax will soon be 10% in the Golden State).

We have blue skies, clean air and the purist drinking water in the U.S. Traffic is light and there are no freeways near Bend. Lines are short in restaurants, movie theaters, stores and gas stations. As an added bonus, you'll never experience the foul smell of gasoline on your hands from pumping your own gas.

People are friendly, with a high-percentage of people who have escaped the the ever-increasing crime , air-pollution, and traffic congestion that is characteristic throughout most of California.

Don't come up here looking for w*rk, though. Wages are low and unemployment is currently 10.3%. However, it's a wonderful place for ER's!

 

[Rambler]

What about a house in Cedar City and a condo or something small in St George to get away from the 3-4 months of cold in Cedar? They are very close (~ 50 miles ?) but have very different climates and I think they are both still pretty cheap compared to CA.

That seems to make some sense. I have never spent any time in Cedar City, so next time we go that direction I'll stop for a day or so.

R

 

[skyline]

Anyone that made the move to/from CA to OR have any info to share about what they found on ease/availability/cost of healthcare coverage in one state relative to the other?

 

[Zoocat]

I would love to move to Sonoma and have been doing some research. I could buy a ranch style house there for around $275K now. But the property taxes are high, about $5500/year for that example house. Also, now I read that sales taxes are approaching 10%. They can only go up, I think, now that the state government is going bankrupt.

I too lived in Berkeley for a few years, on Sacramento st, and Bancroft Way. Things have really changed there since the 70s but I still yearn for my home state, have family living there, and would love to spend the rest of my life there if I thought I could make it work financially.

About the health insurance question: I have World Health Insurance which is the Great West network here in CO and could transfer to the same network in n. calif.

 

[TromboneAl]

Oregon's coast is gorgeous and wild compared to CA.

California:

 

[Brat]

The northern CA and entire OR coast is rugged and chilly. There is a banana belt near Gold Beach.

My concern about living on the Oregon coast is critical care. My cousin found a perfect lot near Seal Rock, built a home. Then he had elective cardiac surgery recently and died from post-op complications (poor blood thinner management). He should have gone to St. V's in Portland.

Home prices in Oregon x-Portland are softening fast. Be sure to line up an anal retentive home inspector as builders often short-cut the building envelope. There are some beautiful older craftsman style homes to be found in the Willamette Valley.

 

[ejman]

California:

Beautiful fantastic views! What's with the bike in front of all the nice pictures though?

 

[harley]

Whooo...there's really no need to quote all the pictures again. A lot of scrolling required for just one little comment.

 

[Westernskies]

Oregon is a great choice- if you stay away from The Peoples Republic of Portland... I'd look further south, down toward Medford or Klamath Falls. Inland, Bend is nice, but the billionaires are starting to force the millionaires out..

 

[Urchina]

Oregon is a great choice- if you stay away from The Peoples Republic of Portland... I'd look further south, down toward Medford or Klamath Falls. Inland, Bend is nice, but the billionaires are starting to force the millionaires out..

Portland has a lot to offer folks in ER -- if you're looking for an vibrant urban center. It has great entertainment, parks, transit, art, medical care, education and food. I think the transit segment of an ER move is one that's often overlooked, but it's really important as it's often the thing that keeps people from aging in place in their homes. It's pretty easy to live in Portland without a car or a bike, especially if you live on or near one of the bus lines.

If it's pastoral beauty you're looking for, you can get it within 30 minutes of Portland (try Canby, McMinnville, Forest Grove) and still benefit from the medical facilities in the city.

It's true, though that in general the farther away from Portland you get, the more politically conservative the communities become, and as you move east over the Cascades this is even more so.

 

[Brat]

Portland Metro's light rail system is being extended south from Beaverton. I heartily agree about transit availability and not needing to drive as we get older.

Of the communities Urchina mentions McMinnville or Forest Grove would make my list if transit weren't a factor.

Frankly I love Portland's city center. Lived there most of my life and intend to return eventually. Like many, I have a concern about development boondoggles and it's impact on the City finances.

 

[Remediator]

Here's another SF Bay Area to Bend story -- you hear a lot of them in our neighborhood atop Awbrey Butte.

Moved up in 2005, and basically have found it to be an upgrade in every way except (1) the weather (winter gets a little long for me with snow from Dec -- Mar), and (2) no good chinese food. In every other way, life in Bend is better than it was in Alamo: better housing, better recreation, better traffic, better social circle, lower cost of living. Unfortunately, Bend has only a secondary economy, and is dependent on California to drive tourism and jobs. Not much of either right now -- no lift lines, but unemployment is up to 12.5%.

I get back to the Bay Area (Oakland) for part-time consulting work about six weeks a year, and generally cannot wait to leave every time.

 

[lightspeed]

I dream of retiring in OR- I go back and forth between Bend/Sisters, or Ashland, or the central coast.... that's how much I like Oregon. Portland would also be the only large city I could stand living in.

 

[clifp]

Here's another SF Bay Area to Bend story -- you hear a lot of them in our neighborhood atop Awbrey Butte.

Moved up in 2005, and basically have found it to be an upgrade in every way except (1) the weather (winter gets a little long for me with snow from Dec -- Mar), and (2) no good chinese food. In every other way, life in Bend is better than it was in Alamo: better housing, better recreation, better traffic, better social circle, lower cost of living. Unfortunately, Bend has only a secondary economy, and is dependent on California to drive tourism and jobs. Not much of either right now -- no lift lines, but unemployment is up to 12.5%.

My parents retired to Southern Oregon (Rogue River) more than 25 years. I swear for the first ten years I visited them, the only people I met in Oregon were California transplants. I recently spent several days in Eugene, which regularly gets mentioned in the best places to retire list. I must say if it wasn't for the cold winters I seriously consider it as a retirement location in Hawaii becomes to expensive for me.

 

[Brat]

Oregon native here (currently living near Seattle so I am still in the Oregon Territory)...

First let me say that housing prices are dropping there two, particularly where employment is weak or where prices bubbled.

While Bend does seem attractive it has a weak employment base. The reason why this could be important to a retiree is the liquidity of homes in "normal" times. If you think Portland politics is nuts-o Bend's is certifiable. Sunriver would be an option as that it is an attractive resort community. Sisters area is another historically strong vacation area.

Ashland has a college which provides stability to the economy there. It is liberal politically. Twenty miles north is Medford, the mirror image politically. Medford has a couple large retirement communities, and a veteran' hospital.

Roseburg is on the Rogue River. Historically this is a lumber dependent community so their employment base has imploded. In a nutshell home values, which have always been very reasonable, are even more so. I have an elderly cousin & spouse (whose kids want to move close to them) who have a lovely home on the river. Once her husband passes away she will be torn between friends who she has known since she was a bride (and who are getting frail too), and moving near one of her children.

TriMet is just finishing up a rail leg south from Beaverton so there will be more communities around Portland to consider.

 

[ejman]

Hum, either Roseburg moved or the Rogue River really meandered. Last time I looked, Grants Pass was on the Rogue River and Roseburg was on the Umpqua River but with the world so screwed up these days - who knows?