Family Friendly Neighborhoods?

Beaverton/Aloha area - and I recommend the Errol Hassel school district, but there are other good schools around here too.

My advice first of all would be to make sure your husband does his commuter drive (during the correct hours) a few times from the top neighborhoods on your list. This will be the only way to truly evaluate the commute for him.

Second, we live in North Portland by the University of Portland. There isn't as much of finished street like you would find in Sellwood or Alberta but it is finally starting to pickup a bit. Our grade school just converted to a K-8 so it won't be going anywhere for a longtime. You tend to get larger lot sizes over here then you would in some of the hipper NE and SE neighborhoods. I'd recommend south of Lombard versus North since things are more stable and established. North of Lombard you still find more of the old school North Portland (that some may not remember as favorably). St. John's is also starting to develop with many very nice townhouse projects finishing up.
Since you can exit (Kirby Ave off bridge) before having to get on the I-5 N from Beaverton, the NE/N Irvington area may be good as well (if you like older houses).

Murrayhill in Beaverton is a great neighborhood. The houses are gorgeous, the yards are a nice size, and the community has a pool, playground and clubhouse. It was built during the mid 80's and 90's, so the landscaping is mature. The schools are supposed to be some of the best, although the Portland area does have some excellent private schools as well.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your move.

I'm surprised at how many people are suggesting outlying areas like West Linn and Happy Valley. If you're looking for an easy commute for your husband, please stay on the West side. Trust me...an across town commute at rush hour will not make him a Portland fan.

We just moved to the Cedar Hills area and absolutely love it! I'm not sure where your husband will be working, but we're about 5-10 minutes from Nike and Intel. It's very family friendly with great freeway access. Bethany is another good area...more new houses. We're actually selling a great house out there (ML####-###-####) in a great neighborhood with tons of kids.

Good luck...you'll love PDX!

A., the one thing about Portland is that there are many areas of town that are fabulous, family friendly neighborhoods to choose from. We have lived in Portland for 12 years, and now have a small family of kiddo's, so I've figured out where many of the child based areas are. We moved a year ago, looking for similar things and settled in West Beaverton on Cooper Mtn. But we also wanted land, and found 1/2 an acre affordably. As many of the other gals have mentioned, it does depend on your lifestyle though.

Westlake (LO) is a very nice, more upper class neighborhood. Some of the families I know who live there have complained about the lack of disciiplined older children, who have more $ than adult supervision in their lives. The schools are good, but I have also heard of more drug issues because of the affluency there.
West Linn is a very nice area, beautiful homes, some of the best schools in the metro area and a pretty good diverse population. Housing prices are slightly higher, but if you can afford it, I'm sure you'd love it. They also have many programs, schools, daycares etc for smaller kiddos.
Beaverton area is good too. Especially NW Bethany area for a little older homes, and Murrayhill, Cooper Mtn for slightly newer homes. The schools, for the most part are good and there are a lot of activity leagues, programs and child related activities close by to both neighborhoods.
If you like a smaller community, Sherwood is further southwest of Beaverton, but offers good schools and a very tight community of younger families. To me it seems too much like Desperate Housewifes (everyone in your business), but you may like that atmosphere.
Tigard has some nice areas, such as the newer Barrows area and Bull Mountain, though most houses there involve lots of stairs :0) Schools are good and again lots of activities.
Tualatin has some great neighborhoods and schools, such as near Ibach Park, Cook Park and offers lots of early childhood activities.
When you get here, and get settled, I highly recommend looking into the Park & Rec program in your area, as athey offer TONS of classes & activities for little ones. I hope that has helped a little, and you & your family find a wonderful place to call home in the Portland area!!

One area not mentioned by the others in NW Portland. It is gorgeous up there and the schools are great. There are also a couple of very good private schools close by. It really depends on what kind of area you want - do you want to be in Portland? Do you like suburbs? Beaverton is definitely a suburb. Lake O and West Linn have a more upscale suburban feel. I personally like being in Portland. There is a website called school digger that rates local schools. It was helpful for me though in the end, I decided to send my kids to private school which gave me more flexibility in finding a neighborhood.

Hi A.! I am a mother of 2 (4 yr old and 14 month old). I grew up in near by Salem but have spent most of my adult life in other places. We moved back to Portland almost 4 years ago and my husband and I have recently gone through the same decisions you will be making. I would really advise you to choose a neighborhood that has an easy commute for your husband (and you if you are working). We've lived in many big cities and although you may think a 45 minute commute isn't that big of a deal now, you will after you've lived in Portland for 6 months! I also happen to be a realtor so of course your price range is going to help you narrow things down. Depending on your price range, there are great neighborhoods in Tigard, Tualatin, Beaverton, Lake Oswego (West Lake as you mentioned is a great one!), West Portland and NW Washington County. I just worked with some folks from MN who had a similar situation to you (Dad was working in Tigard, they had 4 kids) and they really loved NW Washington county but they were very into new construction. It also depends on if you are suburb people or prefer more of a close in city vibe. I specialize in working with out of state buyers. If you want more advice but don't feel like broadcasting all your details to the world you can contact me at ____@____.com or check out my website at www.pdxstreetscene.com. Portland truly is a great city - esp. for families. We have absolutely loved it here (our families are in the NW so that really helps!). Another great mom's website in town is Urban Mamas: http://www.urbanmamas.typepad.com/
There's a ton of great city information there as well. Good luck A. and let me know if you have any other questions!

It really depends on what kind of folks you feel more like. Lake Oswego is beautiful, upper middle to upper class and not very diverse. There are areas in Portland proper that have good schools, more diversity, hipper neighbors such as the Alberta Arts district (NE) and Sunnyside area in SE Portland (Sunnyside Environmental K-8 school) as well as Ladd's Addition in SE Portland or Clinton street area with Abernathy school. A visit with a good realtor (try Hope Beraka ###-###-#### who knows the inner Eastside really well and has a young child)

Good luck and Welcome!
S.

Hello A.,

We moved to Portland area from near San Diego a year ago so I know your situation! I would suggest most anywhere in Lake Oswego or West Linn. Westlake is nice and we did look there but it is a heavily Mormom neighborhood and the more we learned, we found out that if you are not Mormom, it can be tough as you are not as included as those that are. Just something to think about.
Overall, West Linn (immediately bordering LO) is just as nice and has better prices on homes - we got much more for our money here than in LO. Both are very family friendly and the schools are top notch. Also, different parts of both towns (WL and LO) provide differing levels of freeway access, which will be important to your husband.
From LO, you'd want to look at Mountain Park (although not as family oriented I would say), Westlake, or Rivergrove for good I-5 access. From West Linn, Willamette, Barrington Heights, Cascade Summit all provide good access (especially Willamette).
Marylhurst is very nice but not good freeway access (for the 5 which you'll need to go to Beaverton).
If you need a realtor, let me know. We loved ours - she worked VERY hard for us and was extremely responsive, even from a distance. Her knowledge of the areas and willingness to do whatever it takes was fabulous - plus she was a very nice person - and fair, too.
If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to let me know at any time!

Thanks and best of luck!
M. L.

What's your definition of "reasonable commute"? :) If you're looking to transfer to another big city, Portland is great. It has a multitude of neighborhoods to choose from - the Pearl, NW, Irving Street, Sellwood, Moreland, Eastmoreland, Goose Hollow etc. If you're wanting a smaller town in more of a suburb setting, then I'd recommend taking a look at Sherwood, Newberg or Wilsonville. I'm not sure when you are planning on moving but the state is going to (or is in the process of) building a train that will run from Wilsonville to Beaverton, which would make for an excellent commute.

I can't think of a super easy commute from Lake Oswego. You'd have to take 217, which can be a nightmare during rush hour. At least living in the city (i.e. Portland) you'd be travling against traffic to and from Beaverton during the week.

Good luck and welcome!

We live in the Bethany area in Stoller Farms. There are about 4 to 5 houses for sale right now on our street and we just love our neighborhood. We are within walking distance to parks, grocery stores, gym, etc. I really like the school district that we are in - based on my experiences when I subbed throught the Beaverton school district. I'm not sure where in Beaverton your husband's work it, but it could be as little as a 10 min. commute. If you have furthur questions, just ask me! Good luck in the move!

Hi A.,

I am a Realtor in Portland and have a 3 1/2 year old daughter. What kind of neighborhoods do you like? Do you like urban or suburban? Like to walk or drive?

I specialize in more urban neighborhoods. There are many great neighborhoods for families. My favorite is Sellwood. There are many families with small children - walking distance to just about everything...library, community center, park (with pool in summer time), restaurants, and a local "organic" supermarket. It is a very "community" neighborhood.

If you need a realtor and would like to talk; I'd love to chat with you. My number is ###-###-#### and website is www.johnlscott.com/susanyoung.

Best of luck... Portland is an AWESOME place to live!

S. Young

Beaverton Has wonderful neighborhoods, parks and schools. I would suggest the Sexton Mountain or Cooper Mountain Elementary Schools. However, I would look for an elementary school that feeds into Beaverton HS or Southridge HS rather than Aloha HS. We have some wonderful specialized schools for Arts and Sciences in our district. As well as private schools. I have 2 teenage girls who have gone through the school system, and I now have a 4 month old.
It would truly depend if you will be renting or buying. The pricing on homes can be extremely different.

Murray Hill in Beaverton is great, lots of families and great schools. We lived there for 6 years and just moved about 10 blocks because we liked it so much (we just needed more room)
Katie

Hi A.,
If freeway access to Beaverton is all you are concened with and want a wonderful community feel with lots of kids and lots of parent participation try the NE Portland area with Alameda, Laurelhurst, and Hollyrood Elementary Schools. I live near Hawthorne Blvd, in the Buckman neighborhood. Buckman is a magnet arts elementary school. and the area is very art connected and laid back. Go on line to pps.k12.or.us (Porttland Public Schools) and have a look...You can get to each elementary school by typing (for example) ____@____.com. Portland is a great Little/Big City with wonderful offerings for families. Welcome!
J. S

A., you will love Portland! The westlake area of Lake Oswego is very nice. Family orientated, park within walking distance (during the summer they have weekly music events and family activities). Easy access to freeways that would lead to Beaverton or Portland. Quiet, clean, but not very "culturally diverse". Wonderful schools, high schools are more college prep than your average Public school.
The only down fall is traffic congestion during peak hours, could take over an hour to get 5 miles.
Beaverton is growing also due to Nike and Intel's location. Very suburban though.
I would suggest getting a hold of the chamber of commerce in both Lake Oswego and Beaverton, they would be more than happy to help you out!
There is a wonderful web site called Portlandmaps.com you type in an address(in Portland)it will break down all the statistics for the area of interest, such as income, schools, drug activities, arrests, etc.

Welcome to Oregon I am sure you and your family will love it as much as the rest of us do!

Hi A., We live in Southwest Portland and couldn't be happier. We love the community, and the schools are some of the best in Portland. There are also some good ones nearby in Washington County, but I prefer to live in Portland. It's only 4 miles to downtown, but close to Beaverton and Tigard as well.

We moved to Bridlemile a few months ago and are sellng our other house in Hillsdale (RMLS ####-###-####). They are both great neighborhoods. You could walk to the Farmer's Market from our Hillsdale house which was a great family thing to do!
The Southwest Community Center is an affordable family place to be involved and meet other families. They have a gym, a pool, childcare and lots of kid oriented classes.

Good Luck and welcome to the Northwest!
M. W

happy valley is a nice area. my husband commutes to beaverton from here.

I would strongly recommend being closer to Beaverton than Lake Oswego. The commute from there might be a bear. There are many great neighborhoods in and around Beaverton. Some of my favorite are North end of Beaverton, Aloha, and of course my town of Hillsboro. There are some really great realators that could help you to find the perfect home. I know of several. One of the big questions would be do you want a newer home/neighborhood with big house little yard, or older home/neighborhood with reasonable size house nice size yard. Coming from the mid-west like you, we were amazed at what people consider a large yard to be. Beaverton has some really great schools with little budget problems, Aloha has some bad areas for upper grades schools, but great grade schools. If you are interested you can email me at ____@____.com for some great realators who know the area very well and has great personalities.

A.,
lots of good advise below, and as a former Chicago girl (grew up in NW Chicago and went to Lane Tech HS) I know you're going to love it here if you love the outdoors and a much lower key work environment (but don't read that as not a competitive environment). We couldn't be happier with our choice of Lake O after 10 years living in the community and in fact we have moved twice within LO and wouldn't dream of leaving until the kids are out of High School. The schools are top notch, there is a real small town feel with many free or low cost community activities, and everything is within a short distance, including the 15-20 min drive to downtown Portland.

I would disagree with the Mormon comment about Westlake (there seem to be a lot of Mormons in Oregon in general) and have found the many Morman families we've met through school to be very nice, but would caution that the Westlake area is highly restrictive due to their home owners association with external athetic things such as lawn maintainence and what type of plant containers you can have on your front porch. Houses are good size, but yards are small in comparison to some other areas of LO. There are sidewalks throughout the subdivision so that lends a different feel as many other LO areas don't have such ammenities. If you value a more homogenious sub-division feel then Westlake might be right for your family, but the town of LO has much to offer in lots of different areas / price ranges. Due to the schools being best in class, the property values are high so you will also need to consider that trade off as you get more "house" in other areas.

LO also is offering Pre-K within the elementary schools and has full day kindergarten for a nominal fee which some other districts are not providing. There are also lots of private daycare centers and preschools in the area with a wide variety of academic focus. A good resource magazine is Portland Parent and is free - any realtor should be able to pick you up a copy.

West Linn is also fantastic, as is Tigard and Tualatin, but all have a less of a central town. Beaverton is a traffic nightmare so one way or another your spouse will be subjected to that.

Good luck in your decisions and the big move!