Portland, Oregon...

I know there is a number of members here that live in and around Portland Oregon. In the last couple weeks, I have had the desire to move out there. Either around there or near Seattle, Washington, though would probably prefer Portland. Always loved the Pacific Northwest area of the country, visual-wise.

What I am trying to get at is, would anyone be willing to give information about the area? How's the job market and such information that would be useful to someone moving out there. Unfortunately, I seem to be very undersirable to employ in my area, and have been out of a job for about 4 years now. It hasn't been lack of trying to get one, either. And I honestly probably won't see anything come of this fantasy about moving out there, but it never hurts to indulge in it.

So, any information about moving out to that area would be greatly appreciated. I could maybe try to convince my parents to move out there and bring me along with them, even just for a little bit, and then they could move elsewhere if they seriously didn't like it out there. Unfortunately, they seem to have this notion that people out in Oregon and Washington area are rather crazy in the head. Of course, from my understanding, all 3 states on the Pacific coast are rather liberal, and my parents are pretty republican/conservative, which is probably what they are basing that opinion on. But yeah, any info would be helpful.

I can help you out. Touch base with me over the next week. Ill point ya in the right direction.

Portland is not as weird as I expected. It feels very early sillicon valley Lots of tech here.

RE: Packing-up and moving to Oregon: I know many people who packed up, moved out west (WA, OR, or CA and lately it is stretching to CO and ID as well), and couldn't make it work. So try to line something up before you hop in the car and drive cross-country. At a minimum you should find a couch to crash on near your target location. People move to Oregon because it is beautiful. Yes, it is heart-breakingly, mind-shatteringly beautiful. Portland is also progressive (socially/politically) and has a hip, cultural vibe to it (down-state, not so much). Sounds great? No? Guess what that does to the available supply of young, talented workers in the area? Guess what THAT does to wages and unemployment? http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm That said, take Fog up on his offer. Oregon is a great place, but you either need a healthy dose of luck, an insider's help, or a trust-fund to make it all pull together. And for the love of gravy, practice saying 'Oregon' a few times before you go out there. Seriously, I wouldn't make this up. http://www.wikihow.com/Pronounce-Oregon ~Bes Native Oregonian

Well, good news is I apparently pronounce Oregon correctly, according to that site you linked, Bes. At this point, I was just looking for info about the area. There are a number of obstacles that would prevent me from moving any time in the near future. I bought this house, and unfortunately I wouldn't be able to sell this house and get what is owed. According to the bill, I still owe $66k or so, and yet the pay-off is listed as $69k. And this house was appraised for about $56k because of the abandoned house next door that the owners continue to pay the taxes on, but won't sell the house to someone to make it look decent. So, I would either have to sell to my parents (which leads into obstacle #2), or just stop paying on this house and let the bank foreclose (which would keep me from purchasing another house for 5+ years). 2nd obstacle is, as mentioned, my parents. They owe about $900 to the state in taxes, which is preventing them from being able to buy a house (they looked into it). So, I wouldn't be able to sell this house to my parents for 9+ months (that's if they are even able to send $100 a month, which isn't always the case). That would also keep them from being able to purchase a house if we did move out to Oregon. That's if I could convince them to move out there in the first place, as mentioned in the OP. You may be saying "Then why not rent?" Good question. I thought about that, but finding somewhere that would allow me to have my 3-4 dogs (not sure about leaving one of them to my parents as she's fairly old, and she doesn't quite get along with one of the others) who are all large breeds, and 2 of them are on the "dangerous dogs list" (husky, and my chow/gsd, who is on there twice, but she's the one that I would probably leave with my parents). And getting rid of them, or abandoning them to my parents, is absolutely out of the question. It would be like asking you to abandon your kid(s) because the place you are moving to doesn't allow them. And of course, there's my 4 years of no employment to deal with as well. So, I don't see this happening as soon as I would like to happen. And if I didn't have my dogs, I would have left long ago by means of walking.

As you know, I am in the process of moving to Portland, OR. In addition to the information above, I will add that the rental market is very "hot" and good rentals don't stay on the market long. I second all that Bes said above.