Relocate to Portland?

[goonfan]

So my girl is hating her job she took down in the Inland Empire (near L.A.) and will probably be moving back in a few months. We both are a little tired of Kitsap and love Portland, we've felt it's been an option to re-locate for a long time. I'm from the Bay area originally but upon my last visit to Cali, I realized I'm more a PNW person than I am a Californian. What can I sat I love the PNW, yeah the weather sucks but I like the people a hell of a lot more and of course there is the beer ;)... I don't see myself leaving the PNW. I've researched online about Portland but it's not quite the same as just asking folks who live in the area.

 

So whats the nitty gritty? What kind of manufacturing is there down there? I've been working in manufacturing for 10yr in a management position for 9, it's what I do and what I like.

 

How about rental houses? I own a home now but will probably rent at first. What's a 2,000sf 3br w/ garage go for? In the outskirts most likely.

 

Any areas to avoid?bad areas and such.

 

Traffic. Is it always hella shitty?

 

Weather. We just now started getting sun in hte last 2 weeks. We had rains for a several weeks prior before being teased with some nice days in April/May.

 

Farmers markets. Are the seasons longer?

 

I usually buy whole hogs or lambs. Can anybody tell me what pork, beef, or lamb goes for off the farm down there?

 

 

I understand I can look this stuff up but like Isaid earlier it's better just to ask people who live in the area.

 

I'm all ears!

[MicroMachinery]

Move to Vancouver, WA; do all your shopping in Portland. It's a tax haven.

[Tristin]

I realized I'm more a PNW person than I am a Californian.

 

Blasphemy... youre treading on thin ice.

[goonfan]

 

 

Blasphemy... youre treading on thin ice.

 

What can I say....Yeah I'm a dick but I don't wanna be surrounded by people like me. Lol

[Guest 510kamikazifreak]

What can I say....Yeah I'm a dick but I don't wanna be surrounded by people like me. Lol..it would be called a..circle....

[goonfan]

Move to Vancouver, WA; do all your shopping in Portland. It's a tax haven.

 

Thought about that, with Oregon being more liberal than Washington. Then I come back to the whole job thing and think Portland has more opportunity.... Of course this is all based on my limited experience.

[Draker]

Good money to be had if you can work your way in to a Semiconductor manufacturing job. I did that for 5 years before the plant closed. Lots of semiconductor manufacturing places in Portland/Beaverton and surrounding areas.

 

With the high unemployment finding work can be a bitch, I would find work the move if it's a good opportunity.. if you find the right job, they will move you.

[goonfan]

I'm not that familiar with he semi-conductor industry. About all I know is what I've gleaned from the products I sell to them.

 

I do have a good resume but no college education, I'm working on it though. I've completely re-designed several production lines, built our ERP data base from the ground up, wrote all of our SOP's, managed huge projects that span over several years, introduced new products to market from cradle to grave, a few things that I've been implemented in the industry world wide, and then there is all the day to day stuff. I've done all this from starting out as a temp brought in to help move office furniture, that can go either way, if decision maker is a pencil pusher it doesn't mean much but on the other hand if they had to start at the bottom it can carry more weight.

 

I work for a relatively small subsidiary of a larger company and it has granted me several opportunities to branch out into other areas.

 

That got lengthy, lol.

[goonfan]

Hmmm, whats the UN-employment rate in the area? In the Inland Empire, it's 2nd worse in the nation, not that I want to join my girl down there in that hell hole, lol.

[goonfan]

Googled it. It's close to Washington. Oregon has been historically a few tenth's higher than Washington overall.

 

One site has Portland metro area just 0.1% higher than Kitsap. that's not seasonal and it didn't mention government jobs, that can really skew the numbers. There are a lot of Goverment jobs out here, I live several blocks away from a Naval base.

[HRH]

Fuckin' hippies! :D I'd say Oregon is nicer than LA for sure! Or is that a different LA you're speaking of?

[Hardwyre]

Washington is not horribly less liberal than Oregon. It's more so that the west sides of the states are more liberal than the east sides. If you can find a job in SW Washington and live in or around Vancouver, do it. You can always visit Portland for the night life, etc. Another option is to not live directly in Portland itself. Willsonville, Canby, Saint Helens, etc, etc all are going to have cheaper property (most likely) and still have jobs in your field if you look around.

 

There is actually a fair amount of industry in SW Washington, it's just a matter of looking. Portland may have more service businesses, but industry, fabrication, etc are pretty well represented north of the Columbia River.

 

Live and work in Washington, order most of your items online, enjoy not having a bunch of preening nitwit "ERMGERD SULSOLIZM RULSZ!!" upper middle class college hipster babies looking cross at you for driving a car that existed before the green movement did.

[goonfan]

I was thinking something 10-20 from Portland would be ideal.

 

I was telling a Prius owner once that he thinks he's doing good for the environment but, has he ever stopped to think how much energy it takes to build a car? What do you do when the battery is dead, not very land fill friendly.