Odd place...
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1/15/2017
My husband and I are in our late 50s and grew up in Seattle. I also used to live in Tulsa and quite enjoyed it. We have been in the Portland area (PDX as it's known) for 17 years and this city is not for the politically faint of heart. The extreme liberal slant can cause the extreme right to come out as well. Not a lot of in between at least that you can talk about openly. It is one of the least "churched" areas in the country but there are church communities that are nice, but nothing like Tulsa. People are standoffish, smiley but not warm and unless you are totally into whatever they are into, strong bonds have been hard to come by. We have been fortunate to live in Lake Oswego and find a neighborhood that is very unusual, very nice people on our street that we've gotten to know. Lake Oswego is also very full of money and often full of itself, so we consider ourselves very lucky to have found nice ordinary folks. Saying that, the housing prices are around $500,000 for a very modest small home with very small yards right next to your neighbor. This isn't just in Lake Oswego, but in Portland as well. Portland has very high taxes, beware and the city always wants more. The groceries are very expensive, the roads are poor and they are trying to make bicycles the preferred mode of transportation. The schools all vary like any city, Lake Oswego schools are very good. The West side of Portland, Beaverton is crawling with people and the houses are cookie-cutter, but expensive. The traffic everywhere is horrible with few back routes. This winter has been another nightmare for the area as the city does not clean streets, but leaves people stranded at the top of hills til the snow melts. Oh, and the city streets are full of homeless people in tents. I hate to be so negative, but this place is not my cup of tea and we are considering relocating after retirement. Overall, this area is beautiful to look at when out travelling around and paradise if you ski, hike, drive a subaru and like travel to the beach on a regular basis. Otherwise, it's constantly raining except for the occasional summer sun. That's beginning to really get to me. Good luck, I hope you make the right decision.
Patty | Lake Oswego, OR