Southwest Portland

Southwest Portland encompasses Portland’s vibrant downtown and stretches west beyond Washington Park, Forest Park and south along the Willamette River.  It makes for a lively downtown bordered by lush parks and green spaces.  Portland is famous for its walkable short blocks, platted in the 19th century to intentionally encourage small stores and frequent cross streets that help to limit the size and height of new construction, and creating much more friendly (and less dark) urban area. 

Portland’s downtown is surrounded by hills that hold stately homes in affluent neighborhoods. Along the banks of the Willamette River, the downtown is experiencing a steady renewal as new condominiums and businesses are beginning to sprout up, creating new opportunities for residents to experience urban life with breathtaking views.

Beyond downtown’s urban business core to the south and west are Portland’s most established, and some of its most beautiful tree-lined neighborhoods.  Together known as the West Hills, each neighborhood has distinctive features.  Houses tend to be older and the architecture more diverse.  Portland Heights, for example, includes homes with widely varied architectural styles from Victorian cottages, stately mansions to contemporary dwellings, and are noted for their lovely gardens and spectacular views.  Further west, on the ”coastal” side of the West Hills is Multnomah Village, named by Money magazine as one of Portland’s best neighborhoods, with a mixture of older homes along with  newer ones.  Because this community was not annexed into Portland until 1954, some of the most desirable houses are on unpaved roads.  Other West Hills neighborhoods include Corbett-Terwilliger, Lair Hill, Hillsdale, Hayhurst and Goose Hollow, with homes ranging from turn-of-the-century grand homes to mid-century modern ranches.   

Northwest Portland

Look for chic to meet timeless in Northwest Portland, with its creative energy, industrially hip Pearl District and beautiful Victorian district, Nob Hill.  Northwest Portland is also the home of Portland’s Old Town just north of Burnside Street and Portland’s other two distinctive districts, Chinatown and the Skidmore District.
Along Northwest 21st and 23rd Avenues are independent fashion designers’ boutiques, high-end antique and collectible shops, and eclectic shops and restaurants in renovated Victorian houses.  The street life along both avenues is active both day and evening, and great for window-shopping and people-watching.

High-end construction and careful reconditioned homes mix easily with, new condominiums, old-style apartments, mature trees, lush parks and gardens to provide a little bit of old-world feel in Portland.  The Pearl District, once undeveloped post-industrial empty lots, is now one of the hottest and most lively locations in the close-in city.  Major renovations and the clever refurbishes of historical buildingsand warehouses have created opportunities for trendy loft living, charming row houses, and a mix of styles of condos.  The Old Town-Chinatown neighborhoods reflect a diverse residential population with an equally diverse range of housing, from single-resident hotels to upper-end apartments and lofts.

North/Northeast Portland

Northeast Portland and its neighbor, North Portland are home to the an eclectic blend of industrial uses, a growing business community, fun arts and culture and homes that reflect a growing resurgence for this part of the city.  Handsome, well-constructed older houses line tree-shaded streets in some of Portland’s most family friendly neighborhoods such as Laurelhurst, Irvington, and Alameda.  Fun and charming shopping districts bring out the crowds, especially on weekends.  Check out neighborhood and business districts like Lloyd Center and Northeast Broadway for a boom in small businesses that cater to their neighbors, and just to the east, the delightful Hollywood District, with its blend of affordable housing and retail businesses. The Alberta District is also one of the newest hotspots in the city for a wide-ranging choice of restaurants, from barbecue to fine dining, and small boutiques that let artisans have a way to show their skills. The district is also famous for its Fourth Thursday arts walk.

Southeast Portland

Southeast Portland encompasses a wide range of parks, funky residential neighborhoods, eclectic shops, Reed College, and a riverfront industrial district.  The Hawthorne, Belmont, Division and Clinton neighborhoods combine families in single-family homes and young singles in apartment buildings, with long boulevards that hold shops, music and book stores, coffeehouses, microbrew pubs and restaurants geared to every palate.  Further south, Sellwood, a historic district annexed in 1893 features Antique Row, more than 50 antique stores tucked into the neighborhood of Victorian homes and turn of the century architecture. Southeast Portland features established neighborhoods that offer a strong sense of community, and a desirable location to many.  The modest Richmond, Belmont and Sunnyside neighborhoods and the desirable Mt. Tabor area give buyers a wide choice of home styles and price  The more upscale Eastmoreland neighborhood has southeast Portland’s most sophisticated and stately houses, with many older, magnificent homes on oversize lots.  The lush canopy of trees and distinctive street layout add to its appeal.  Sellwood is a perennial favorite neighborhood in Portland that offers a variety of housing styles from interesting row houses to pioneer homesteads and stately houses overlooking the Willamette River.  Buckman, South Tabor, Woodstock, Brooklyn and Montavilla feature more modest houses with smaller price tags, but all with growing appeal as light rail expands to this region, and families continue to move in and refurbish this area.

Beaverton

Abut half way between Mount Hood and the Oregon Coast, Beaverton is just a quick seven miles west of downtown Portland, right at US Highway 26 and 217.  With more than 80,ooo residents and as the largest city in Washington County, this Portland suburb of Portland is growing into its own metropolitan community.  Spread over 15 miles, Beaverton offers its residents convenient shopping at Beaverton Mall, Beaverton Town Square and Washington Square.  Handsome homes in tree-lined, clean neighborhoods often include bike paths, green spaces and trails in its more than 100 parks. Beaverton is relatively prosperous with a well-respected school district. Transportation is an area in need of improvement, with busy thoroughfares and congested traffic into and out of Portland via Highway 26 and 217. Look for homes in Beaverton to be primarily traditional or western ranch, with much of the housing stock from between 1950 and 1970 mixed with new construction.

Hillsboro

Hillsboro has grown from a sleepy farming community dating to 1876 into a maturing city of 80,000 residents. Just about 20 minutes west of Portland, Hillsboro is covers some 19 square miles in the beautiful Tualatin Valley. Today, as the seat of Washington County and in the middle of Oregon’s Silicon Forest, Hillsboro is instrumental to Oregon’s fastest growing economic development region.  Its important facilities that serve businesses like Intel have sprung up in Hillsboro, including the sophisticated corporate park: 319-acre Dawson Creek Park, with its contains seven lakes, fountains, promenades, and more than five miles of pedestrian and bicycle trails.

Tigard and Tualatin

Tigard and Tualatin are suburban communities within the Portland metropolitan area with major new commercial, industrial, high-tech, and residential development.  About 45,000 residents live in Tigard, and commute to Portland, or are employed in the region’s high-tech industry.  Nearly one-third of its residents are between 20 and 44 years old.  The suburban Tualatin has sprouted from 750 residents in 1970 to  25,000 in 2000, with most arriving between 1990 and 1999, when the city grew by more than 45 percent.  Its typical suburban residences are popular with families, with multiple bedrooms and popular floorplans to accommodate the fact that there are more children that 20 to 44 year-old adults here.  As with Tigard, many people find work close to home in business services, manufacturing and other modern forms of employment.  There also remains a great deal of agricultural work in the area.

Lake Oswego and West Linn

These two upscale residential cities are quiet and family-oriented with excellent schools and high-income residents. Lake Oswego, with about 40,000 has neighborhoods of handsome, older English cottage and Tudor –style houses in its core community. Now today, most people live in newly built contemporary homes, in developments surrounding the original downtown.  You can also still find  properties with horse pastures and chicken coops.  The neighborhood associations are busy and active.  While Lake Oswego remains a desirable community in which to live, with its recently built new downtown shops nestled next to its very own Oswego Lake, turnover is slow. That’s led to significant growth in upscale  West Linn just next to Lake Oswego.  In fact, West Linn has grown about 40 percent since 1970, and how has about 24,000 people.  Both towns are minutes from downtown Portland, but be prepared to be slowed by traffic at peak times.