Where to Live?

[P06781]

I always pictured it grey and smelling of paper plants;) Is hood really that close?

The paper plants are accross the river at Camas Washington so no smell in Pdx. We usaully get 60-70 days straight in the summer with no rain and warm low humiditiy days .

Mt Hood Meadows is a 1hr 15min drive from downtown on a midweek day.

Timberline and Ski Bowl are only 1 hour .

Cyrstal Mountain and Mt Bachelor are both about 4 hrs away .

Jim

[Guest ArmanTanzarian]

I always pictured it grey and smelling of paper plants;) Is hood really that close?

The paper plants are accross the river at Camas Washington so no smell in Pdx. We usaully get 60-70 days straight in the summer with no rain and warm low humiditiy days .

Mt Hood Meadows is a 1hr 15min drive from downtown on a midweek day.

Timberline and Ski Bowl are only 1 hour .

Cyrstal Mountain and Mt Bachelor are both about 4 hrs away .

Jim

WOW!!! 60-70 Days of Sun!! That would be sweet. I was looking at Realtor.com and there seem to be some pretty nice older homes there as well. My parents have friends from high school there, might have to make a trip.

Thanks Jim

-b-

[RDY_2_Carve]

60-70 days of sun? Ha! I bet it rained once all summer here! Moderate temps with 0 humidity. You truely get four full seasons here.

I can only assume most of you are not clicking the "southwest region" on the website (only included AZ and NM) because I'd figure more people would get Albuquerque listed in their top 10. Granted our ski season is nowhere near as long as Colorado...

If you are into anything outdoors you might consider New Mexico. Specifically in Albuquerque you can get a year long tram pass for $200 that takes you to the top of Sandia Peak. Amazing mountain bike trails and such. Hang-gliding, rock climbing, you name it. The view are incredible too...

Check it out here

[Ginsu]

I agree for the most part that New Mexico is an awsome place. I lived there for half a year in the winter and loved being able to go to Santa Fe an hour away and then up to a place called Ski Rio which had 5000 acres of amazing mountain to crash around on. I think ABQ has gotten ten times busier now and much more expensive too.

[Neil Gendzwill]

If you are into anything outdoors you might consider New Mexico. Specifically in Albuquerque

Yeah but then I'd have to learn to spell Albuquerque, and that's almost as bad as where I am now!

Seriously if I moved anywhere it would be Kelowna, Penticton or Vernon but family, friends and job are all here so it's the flatlands for me.

[D-Sub]

I think Ive been to Kelowna. that whole area on the TCH is awesome. I liked Revelstoke, too...but Im sure its too small to support most "greedy americans"

:)

[patmoore]

Wow! CNN just published a list of cities with the most overpriced homes and Bend, OR came in at 56% overvalued. It's nowhere close to Naples, FL which is 84% overpriced!!!. Portland, OR is 35% while Portland, ME is 29% and Spokane, WA was listed as 15% too pricey. Denver comes in at 10%, while Billings (the only listing in MT) is at 5%. Provo, UT is only 2% overvalued and Albuquerque is right on the mark. That hot bed of alpine activity, College Station, TX, is at the extreme undervalued mark with a -23% mark.

On the other hand, they ranked New Orleans as 12% overvalued. Go figure....

[Raisputin]

#1 Fort Collins, CO

Provo-Orem, UT

Denver, CO

Minneapolis-St. Paul

Salt Lake City, UT

Anchorage, AK

Loveland, CO

Philidelphia, PA

Kent, WA

Tacoma, WA (LOL, not likely)

Divide, CO

Wilmington, DE

Colorado Springs, CO

Seattle, WA (Seachickens having a tremendous year...worthy of being called Seahawks this year :) )

Grand Junction, CO

St. Louis, MO

Ogden, UT

El Paso, TX (What ski areas are near there eh?)

Heber, UT

Whidbey Island/Oak Harbor/Coupeville, WA

Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers!!)

Kansas City, MO

Cleveland, OH (...Cleveland wins the penant...)

Cincinnati, OH (WKRP In Cincinnati)

[D-Sub]

Wow! CNN just published a list of cities with the most overpriced homes and Bend, OR came in at 56% overvalued. It's nowhere close to Naples, FL which is 84% overpriced!!!. Portland, OR is 35% while Portland, ME is 29% and Spokane, WA was listed as 15% too pricey. Denver comes in at 10%, while Billings (the only listing in MT) is at 5%. Provo, UT is only 2% overvalued and Albuquerque is right on the mark. That hot bed of alpine activity, College Station, TX, is at the extreme undervalued mark with a -23% mark.

On the other hand, they ranked New Orleans as 12% overvalued. Go figure....

yup, Bend is a JOKE. Disgusting, gluttonous feeding frenzy.

when things crash, which they likely will (sorry mike but you know its true...glad you got in at a reasonable price!) I might consider buying there, except for the fact that the people in power will likely have destroyed the beauty, the roads will suck, and the schools will be so horribly crowded that home schooling will be the only viable choice. oh..wait...it already is :)

Bend is a neat place, being ruined

Im VERY suprised that nowhere in CA is on that list though, Pat! $600k for a modest 3br? crikey!

[Mike T]

yup, Bend is a JOKE. Disgusting, gluttonous feeding frenzy.

when things crash, which they likely will (sorry mike but you know its true...glad you got in at a reasonable price!) I might consider buying there, except for the fact that the people in power will likely have destroyed the beauty, the roads will suck, and the schools will be so horribly crowded that home schooling will be the only viable choice. oh..wait...it already is :)

Bend is a neat place, being ruined

Im VERY suprised that nowhere in CA is on that list though, Pat! $600k for a modest 3br? crikey!

I am definitely expecting a correction. As I've said many times I wouldn't/couldn't touch this place at current prices. I'm not expecting a crash so much as a smaller correction followed by leveling off for years to come.

But I strongly disagree with the rest of your appraisal of Bend. I think it's a great place to live. Live in the city, play in the mountains. What more can one ask? Sure, the city itself is getting built up faster than should be allowed, but it's not like the National Forests are being taken down.

[D-Sub]

oh believe me I wasnt saying it isnt a GREAT place to live. Sadly, I think that will be drastically affected by the current greed and lack of restraint.

I hope not for yours and others' sake; those who moved there to enjoy beauty and location. I guess using the word disgusting sounded like I meant "the place" is...no...far from it. its NICE. I loved many aspects of Bend!

I just dont like what's going on there...but maybe things will be ok once the locusts have moved on. I hope so!

[Guest tdinardo]

I'm not sure if there's already a string on this topic but I figured it won't hurt to ask again.

I'm doing personal research to try and find the best place to live. I'm looking for a place that's within 30mins to a good ski area, under $300k for a nice 3bd/2bth house, has a good infrastructure for goods and materials, and most importantly has good paying jobs, which for me would be in high tech and for my wife the mortgage industry.

So far I've been focusing on these major city areas, Burlington VT, SLC UT, maybe Montana areas, and possibly Bend OR. Any others or comments or links to research already done?

I think this could be a good place to see what people think of where they live now also. Which for me is the West side of Portland, and at least 1hr plus for the nearest Resort. Not to mention the great Portland traffic and Ice incrusted 26 in the Sandy/Zigzag area.

Figured I'd chime in on this as I just recently had to make some relo choices myself. If I had a choice I would have chosen SLC. I flew out there with the wife and looked at houses and did the drive to the ski areas. If you're an outdoors person, I think SLC is really hard to beat. Multiple world class ski areas within 20-60 minutes, Olympic training facilities, if you speed skate you've got the fastest ice on the planet 20 minutes away, a world class roadracing facility <60 minutes away, a couple motocross tracks <60 minutes away, killer mountain biking and rock climbing everywhere you look.

There are a bunch of tech companies in the area. What's available really depends on what you're looking to do. Don't rule out governement tech jobs in the area as that may be a good option from a pay and promotion perspective (there's an FBI facility and a military base nearby).

The LDS (Mormons) thing is an issue, but some of the locals gave me some good advice on how to deal with it. Choose your house in areas where there are non-LDS churches. If you can deal with the commute, choose to live out near Park City (not in Park City - too pricey).

Unfortunately, the job I chose to take didn't allow me to work from anywhere this go around, so I'm now in the Seattle area. My wife was pissed - she wanted SLC to happen. :(

On a related side note - SLC is one of the cleanest cities I've been to. Very little litter. Minimal vandalism. The public restrooms are the cleanest I have ever seen. Every single one of them was spotless (including the stadium that hosted the NIN show I went to while I was in town). Sounds bizarre to say this stuff, but it was something that really stuck in my head from the trip.

[bartron]

Ginsu, You might want to try Kelowna. Lots of riding oportunities and a city of 100 000 with plenty of good weather in the summer at leastand a mild winter It is also the city with the most homes for sale over 1 000 000 dollars wich would be a boon for the mortgage industry.

Did I mention that the beaches are full of nubile hot women in the summer?

How easy is it to get around without a car ? It looks like you could get around on bike all year around. What is the sprawl like ? Typical North American or more European-like ? I've only found pictures of the downtown from a pretty far distance, not close enough to tell.

I'm reviving this this thread because I just saw an ad for tech job there and I'm considering applying for it.

Thanks

'later...

[Allee]

If you're going to consider Kelowna you could do a lot worse. There are some great snow areas around there.

It's actually not that big a city and the lifestyle is fabulous if you like hot summers and not too cold winters. It gets scorching in the summer, you can expect 35-40 deg every day through mid June to mid Aug, but it's a dry heat and not the humidity you'd be used to. Bushfires are frequent through the Okanagan in summer.

Real estate, however, is stupid expensive. Do some digging and see what you find, but all the real estate out that way that isn't being bought by people in the resurgent BC economy, is being bought by the oil rich from Alberta. If you're renting then you could find something relatively close to work and commute - one of the big advantages of not owning a home. When I drove through it actually looked pretty spread out to me, maybe that was just because we were staying on the outskirts and had to drive a long way to get into the city centre. But you could certainly bike for a lot longer than you could in Montreal.

I have friends moved there from Calgary three years ago and just love it. (But Daddy's money bought their house).

[bartron]

If you're going to consider Kelowna you could do a lot worse. There are some great snow areas around there.

The snow is the main thing tweaking my interest in Kelowna.

Real estate, however, is stupid expensive.

Yeah, that was one of the first things I checked. It's insane. And the further out you go from downtown, the more expensive it gets. That's wierd for me, since it's the opposite from what we have in Montreal, where the rich old farts are moving into the city and paying $300k for a 855 sq.ft. condo in Old Montreal, and the 25-35 crowd is moving off the island to buy detached houses with lawns in the front, back and sides for $180k.

Yep, my current renting situation is definitely the best choice now.

When I drove through it actually looked pretty spread out to me, maybe that was just because we were staying on the outskirts and had to drive a long way to get into the city centre. But you could certainly bike for a lot longer than you could in Montreal.

I expect the downtown core to be tiny. It looks tiny on Google Earth.

(But Daddy's money bought their house).

Ugh, don't get me started on that.

Thanks a ton for the info.

'later...

[Fleaman]

Hey Barton. In Kelowna, you can ride your bike all winter, maybe a few snow days but it only last a week or 2. The valley weather is very temperate, (winter average is -1 C) The Ski areas are above 5000' compared to ~1000' in the valley.

Kelowna has a major pain in its side, the floating bridge that connects the east and west side. It is being replaced but will be a few years. Traffic in the summer is sometimes gridlocked because of the tourists but other than that it is a really nice town of 100 000 people.

Real estate is crazy, starter homes are hovering around 200 000 now. But renting is feasable. If you come out, there are tons of French Canadians around also. I am sure you will find some groups to go riding with.

[7stg]

I have been looking as well here is some raw data to look. I at basically I end up in the cascades <st1:place w:st="on">Rockies</st1:place> or distantly the Sierra Nevadas. <st1:city w:st="on">Seattle</st1:city> or <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Denver</st1:place></st1:city> are the top contenders.

Track snow conditions on a daily basis. has animations for the last couple seasons for things like Snow Depth, Average Snowpack Temp, Snow Precipitation, and more. opera is good for this due to its ability to zoom in on the map

http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/nsa/

Ecoregions

http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions.htm

More climate maps

http://www.climatesource.com/map_gallery.html

- http://www.climatesource.com/products.html

the us census site has tons of info and maps

http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html

lists the vertical feet at resorts in north America

http://verticalfeet.com/

Map point is a useful tool for creating drive time zones. Basically pick a point enter a time in minutes and it draws a perimeter showing you how far you can get.

http://www.findyourspot.com/ is awesome here is my list

Fort Collins, Colorado

<u1:p></u1:p>Denver, Colorado

Anchorage, Alaska

<u1:p></u1:p>Salt Lake City, Utah

Spokane, Washington

Loveland, Colorado

<u1:p></u1:p>Provo-Orem, Utah

<u1:p></u1:p>Idaho Falls, Idaho

Great Falls, Montana

<u1:p></u1:p>Boulder, Colorado

Tacoma, Washington

Kent, Washington

Colorado Springs, Colorado

<u1:p></u1:p>Seattle, Washington

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Boise, Idaho

Flagstaff, Arizona

Olympia, Washington <o:p></o:p>

[patmoore]

Pretty cool links, 7stg!

I'm getting the urge to put away the clubs and start carving!!!

[tex1230]

Pretty cool...I just wish I could move today. Here's my list:

Lewiston, ME

Steamboat Springs, CO

Durango, CO

Ketchikan, AK

Leavenworth, WA

Heber, UT

Divide, CO

Estes Park, CO

Camden, ME

Palmer,AK

Seward, AK

Petoskey, MI

Glenwood Springs, CO

Homer-Kenai Peninsula, AK

Whitefish, MT

Springville, UT

Saranac Lake, NY

Hancock-Houghton, MI

Helena, MT

Dandpoint, ID

Plymouth, NH

Salida, CO

Livingston, MT

Mount Vernon, WA

-Interesting to see so many Alaska towns in there...I'll see if I can convince Mrs. Tex...

[bartron]

7stg, nice links. I've already used findyourspot.com. Off the top of my head, my top towns were Boulder, SLC, Missoula MT and several places in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana and a couple of left-field ones like Hartford CT.

Of those, I've only visited Denver and Boulder. I really liked Boulder.

So far, I haven't bothered getting into too much detail, like the snow depth of an area. I've been relying more on the resorts' reviews and reputations instead. But I do want to make sure the new location isn't an freakin' sauna in the summer like Montreal is, unless my new job involves several hours per day in tropical water (e.g. Caribbean ocean). :lol:

'later...

[patmoore]

A year after I first visited www.findyourspot.com I filled out the questionnaire a second time. Durango came up number one both times. Ironically, my wife used to be a desk clerk at a motel in Durango. I've never been there. Unless the website has changed its policy, it will allow you to add a limited number of spots that didn't pop up on your list in case you want to do research on places you find of interest. I subscribed to the service so I could add a larger number of additional places. BTW, the house prices section of the website needs to be updated. Last September, the child bride and I took an exploratory trip to look at places to consider for retirement. We found the info on the website very helpful as we toured Bozeman, Missoula, Kalispell/Whitefish, and Sandpoint (Idaho - home of Schweitzer Mountain). All nice places. We went back in February to do some cross country skiing in Yellowstone and checked out Jackson, WY (I rode the tram in its last season!). We visited a realtor who said the cheapest house in town was listed at $530,000! In March I went to Steamboat for the NASTAR Nationals and liked the town but it's not easy to get to.

In the past we've skied/boarded Park City, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley, Kirkwood, Taos, Telluride, Breckenridge, Vail, and Keystone. Frankly, any of them would be preferable to eastern resorts. We need a place with lots of sunshine, lots of snow, a reasonable sleeping altitude, great scenery, a great mountain with a respectable racing program, and a top notch golf course. The place has to be affordable and within 75 miles of a major airport. The closest match I found was Sandpoint. Unfortunately, Hollywood is starting to discover the community and we probably should have bought land three years ago. At this point, I can't consider retirement until we can afford it. I need to find a job (got laid off April 28th).

[Neil Gendzwill]

But I do want to make sure the new location isn't an freakin' sauna in the summer like Montreal is, unless my new job involves several hours per day in tropical water (e.g. Caribbean ocean).

Naw, as Allee said Kelowna is dry and hot in the summer. I've been there for several vacations and it doesn't feel all that different from Saskatoon summers, which are very dry. Plus you've got a huge lake for cooling off in.

Big White is a great, great hill. If you get bored of that, Apex and Silverstar are easy drives. I'd move to Kelowna in a heartbeat if I didn't have so much invested in Saskatoon (family, friends, work).

[Jon Dahl]

Mount Vernon, WAQUOTE]

Well, you would have someone to go motorcycle riding with! And I could show you all the good carving runs, too.

[7stg]

http://www.skimountaineer.com/CascadeSki/CascadeSnow/SnowdepthComparison.pdf

http://www.skimountaineer.com

[Rob Stevens]

I'd say Canmore, AB, but you're late on the affordable housing...

Calgary is a good town... lots of shred and LOTS of jobs of all kinds (thank the oil boom for that).