Southern Oregon...any advice?
 

I'm thinking of moving to the Medford area. I know we have people here who live in the forests of Oregon, can anybody tell me how you like it, how easy it is to deal with stuff like gardening, small livestock, rain/snow (do you get snowed in often?), availability of farm supplies (I understand that the small towns in western Oregon tend to be more liberal than elsewhere, can you tell me anything about that?), and anything else I should know? I will initially live in Medford or Grants Pass but am thinking about land near Wolf Creek, 20 miles north of Grants Pass. The land looks cheap-$30k for 10 acres. Any tax laws (especially) I should be aware of? I don't know much about Oregon's tax structure, and have never even been there except when I drove with my parents up US 95 ages ago.

How about being off grid? Easy? Hard? Making electricity-easy or hard?

OR has some very high taxes, and lots of regulations. Our son lived in the Medford area--it is very expensive. Many of his friends left because of the price of housing and land. These were professionals with good jobs. I would be very cautious of any cheap land in the Medford-Grants Pass area. There is a reason it is cheap. This is a very liberal area of the country.

It is beautiful but I would carefully study the tax laws before I moved. If you can live with high taxes then check the building codes and restrictions, both state and county. Many pieces of land can not be built on because of these restrictions. This is pretty much statewide-our DD lives in NE OR and much of the land there has restrictions too.

Very high property taxes! They kinda stiff you in the income tax part as well. HOT where you are looking at. Somewhat humid, probably not for most people, but where I grew up it was DRY! Ticks. Very liberal. Very hard to get septic approval in that state. Think expensive. Everything is regulated. Most of what Molly said.

That area has mostly poor, rocky soil up in the hills. Better down in the bottoms. Lots of people. Lots of pot. It is a beautiful part of the state and, in a way, the people are pretty laid back. You don't have to go that far to get off the beaten path where the lifestyle is more "herbal" as my DH puts it. :) Most of the people you'll meet will be pretty easygoing, it's the 'state' that is uptight. I don't know much about the off grid stuff, except there's lots of it around there.

I miss the terrain in that area, and sometimes the easygoing part, but not much else.

High taxes are pretty much a deal breaker for me. It seems that Medford is rather overbuilt. Lots of anger at "Californians" on the local discussion boards. I prefer a more conservative area, too. Thanks for everybody's help.

Oh, you have no idea!! Which is rather ironic seeing as how most of them, especially in that area, are from California.

You might want to look at NE WA or central ID--North ID is nice too, but more expensive. WA is a liberal state, but the east side of the mountains is not nor is ID. The mountains are beautiful here, the climate is not too extreme, depending on elevation, and there are not as many Californians. Jobs are a problem as the timber industry is hurting, and some other companies have moved out of the area--at least out of WA as it is not very business friendly. ID is much more business friendly.

Well, I think you must compare what it cost in other states as far as what is "expensive" and what is not. I live north of the Medford area(Cottage Grove)and my dh and I moved to Oregon in '92 it was so much cheaper than Las Vegas, Nevada and California! Auto registration, taxes, the cost of living...all of these things are far cheaper where I live now than they were in Nevada or CA. I have NO idea however if being in a different county counts or makes a difference though? Speaking of taxes, people come to Oregon from Washington, California and Idaho as there is no taxes on purchased goods. I have famiies that visit me in the summer and take advantage of this to buy high end appliances and school cloths as well as automobiles. so, you have to consider all the angles. We took all that into consideration and found that it was so cheap to buy goods here and to register out autos(three of them)it more than made up for the property taxes etc.

As far as being in a "Liberal" area? Since when would a good Conservative miss the chance to educate Liberals and help out with the vote? What, are you a weenie? Are Liberals like Vampires or something scary? :hysterical: Sorry, I am laughing at this myself! LOL I find plenty of good rifle toting conservatives around here, just need to keep your eyes open and get hooked up politically if that is your thing. No problem.

I can be comfortable in retirement here with my income now that my dh has passed on. I could NEVER do this in Nevada or California! I'm on a premium piece of property, very small though( plenty for me to mow!), only about 2 1/2 acres. On a river (the headwaters of the Willamette River) surrounded by forest with a very nice pond and lots of trees and a pretty meadow and the deer and wild turkeys come through all the time. A beautiful drive the 16 miles into town through forest and past the very nice lake. A FLAT piece of land!

As for the silly "mad at Californians attitude"...tell me please what difference this makes in a persons everyday life? I have NEVER, NOT ONCE had anyone say anything to me about "You know so and so is from CALIFORNIA! ) I think that's a ridiculous concern. These things do not mean a thing. I find people in this part of the state to be so friendly and helpful I can't wheel my shopping cart down the isle in the market(or anywhere else) without someone coming by to ask me if I need help. Here if its raining someone helps you out to your car holding an umbrella! Well, maybe they only help us ladies? LOL People drive like good neighbors and give you room when you need it and are happy to let you out of the driveway of a business or into the stream of traffic.... On or off the freeway! After driving in Vegas and California for over 30 years, what a shock this was! Traffic in the main is light here though. Even up in Eugene just north of me.

My neighbors are caring and concerned for my welfare, both Liberals and Conservatives or neither. They don't care about your politics or religion, they are all just good people. We may not see eye to eye sometimes but I know any of them would come like a shot(and have!)when I needed help. Like when I dh died. Are there people out in the woods even deeper than I am that grow pot? Surely there are, although I never saw any in all my long hikes with my dogs. I have enough brains to not a take a road with a gate or sign across it when I am exploring and hiking with my dogs. Puh-lease! There are also hunters who drink too much and mushroom gatherers whom I hear can be weird. But none of these have ever had an impact on my life. Why should they?

And there are bear, cougar, elk, coyotes and deer in the woods. So?

As for the so-called humidity? Let me set this straight for you all! I'm tired of hearing it from people who are ignorant. First of all, check out the humidity back East, in the Midwest AND in the Southern USA, THEN you know what true humidity is! We here in the northwest have enough humidity to be kind to our skin, our hair and our noses. I no longer have a constant sore bloody noses or allergies all of the time. No shots for allergies year round like I did in the desert, no medications for allergies any more either and no visits to the hospital cause I can't draw a breath! They all left when I moved to the Pacific Northwest out of the dryness and dust of Las Vegas and CA. So, its all relative, right?

Don't let anyone put you off of something you are interested in. Especially when it comes to your lifestyle. Do your homework like we did. We considered and RESEARCHED Climate(I hate hot weather and dh could not take snow), Cost of Living, availability of GOOD Health care, Natural Disaster problems(lowest in the nation here), Proximity to good health care and ease of getting to it, not only the state of the roads but how much the climate may impact a fast trip to the emergency room (my dh had emphysema), the state of the roads and highways overall (excellent in my county, can't speak for the ones south of me but all the way north of me up to Portland and into Washington the highways are excellent), how much traffic we would have to put up with to get to shopping etc(that knocked off Washington State right away!!!!), and of course the price of the property of the "type" we wanted(it had to be flat for my dh to get around and I insisted on year round water...river, creek, lake etc). I am surrounded by very abrupt and heavily forested hills which I love, and plenty of rivers and creeks to explore and swim in.

We also visited all the areas in Oregon and Washington that we thought we might like. Came up to the Northwest every year on vacation for eight years and looked at everything! Then we started crossing many of these areas off our list for one or more of the above reasons. We have family in Canyonville down by Roseburg and Medford so were interested in that area right away. BUT, for me it was way too dry and HOT(but some people do love heat). Lower rainfall than where I live and lower humidity too which means higher fire danger too which is not a problem where I am. I like GREEN and up where I live the predominant trees are conifers. Down in the Medford area there are many Oaks and scrub(but the deer and elk are bigger...LOL). I don't care for the dryness of that area at all but that is just me.

We are all different in what we want our surroundings to be. My family down in that area love it as they raise sheep and Arabian Horses and the growing season is longer, they can raise more veggies and get two cuttings of hay.

The Grants Pass/Medford area is also right at the gateway to the amazing Rogue River Wilderness and let me tell you, its awesome! You can't get up that river to really explore it except by boat. An amazing experience taking the mail boat up or going steelhead fishing in that river! A popular pastime in this area. As you go by in your watercraft the fishermen(and ladies) hold up their catches. YUM! Wildlife everywhere! Even seals and sea lions come up a goodly distance up the rivers. Too cool! The avian life is just startling all over the northwest. When we were doing our research one of my prime wishes was being close enough to the ocean to visit it when we wanted. Beautiful and wild! I love it. Deer, elk, cougar and bear all come down to the beaches here. Its a quite a thrilling experience if you are a wildlife lover to be walking on the the beach and have a bull elk loom out of the fog and surprise you! And visa versa! Not to mention seeing the other wildlife tracks in the sand. Bear, cougar etc. Food for thought when you see t hese tracks in the soft sand too and you know they are fresh because the waves have not erased them.

Also down in that area of Medford you are not very far at all from magnificent CRATER LAKE Nat'l Park. If you have not seen this area you should. There is no end of wonderful places to see in western Oregon. I have been at it now since '92 and haven't stopped being thrilled every time I go see someplace new. Like the the largest natural sea cave in the world and the home of thousands of Steller Sea Lions as well as beautiful Puffins. Sea Ducks are everywhere. Tell me where else in our country you can go to the beach and stand there on a place overlooking the ocean and, all year round, watch whales and orca? The ocean gets deep fast here on the Pacific Coast so these creatures come right up close. You can throw a rock and hit them. Well, some could, my aim is awful and of course we wouldn't do that anyway would we?

Of course fresh seafood is readily available too. I happen to love it so that's a good thing for me. Crabbing and lobstering are popular too as well as clamming.

Another place we gave a brief look at because of their "small town" friendly outlook was Bend, Oregon, East of the Cascade Mountains. Lots of people go over to Bend from my area for the excellent hunting as its more wide open and not heavily forested. Its too far from the ocean for me though and the winters are colder (not good for my dh)so we reluctantly crossed it off of our list. Very nice people there. The gorgeous JOHN DAY WILDERNESS is close to Bend and its worth seeing! Lots of gem stone hunters love that area.

So, just do your homework and you've made a good start by posting here, but don't take the word of anyone else. We sent for info packets from every single town in every state we were interested in through the chamber of commerce of each place too. Checked out websites on tax structure too etc. Check it out yourself.

Good luck, LQ

Another plus of being on the west side of the Cascades, besides all of the above, is that many areas have weather that is not friendly to rattlesnakes and that was a BIG plus for me as a California transplant back in the early 90's. I first lived in Myrtle Creek, OR-north of Medford, then Oakland, north of Roseburg and south of Quackers part of the Valley. Then Eugene, then Jefferson, then Dallas, the later are near Salem. Moderate weather, although lots of rain in the late fall through mid spring, but this equates to lots of wonderful green grass and fantastic pasture. Kind of sounds like something a Homesteader might be looking for if you ask me:-)

I used to live in Klamath Falls, out by the airport. It was nice there, the temp was not too hot during the summer. Medford is a nightmere for heat in the summer (upwards of 105). If I recall correctly, they do not get a whole lot of snow. The Klamath area got about 25-35 inches per winter on average - I remember looking it up when I decided to move outside of Buffalo, NY and compared the two.
I cant comment as to the taxes as I moved from the area shortly after age 19.
A good site to compare property is realtor.com. That was a fastastic site to get all info on propertys in an area.

Good luck.

I am a fifth generation Oregonian and I think Grants Pass is one of the prettiest places in Oregon.

The building codes in Oregon are fairly restrictive and the taxes are high.

The allergies are bad, if that's a trouble for you, though GP is much better than a couple hours north.

I have cousins that live in the Wolf Creek area and the only thing they don't like is being 2 1/2 hours from "home."

And what Little Quacker said about the Liberals. Show yourself conservative and it's all mostly good.:D

I have never lived in Oregon but did visit there for a week a few years back. Now the week I went for a visit was the week of July 4th. I am from GA. lol..I went to Medford to visit friends and wow..I LOVED it there.

The friends said "it's hot", I told friends, you don't know hot and humid, I left Ga. to get away from the heat. Their idea of hot was 88 degrees. I left heat indexes of 105 with daily temp readings of 98-100. Oregon was HEAVEN compared to GA. during that week. I dreaded going home.

So I've been back twice to the area. Once to Portland and again to Seattle last year. I love Seattle's laid back and friendly atmosphere as well.

If I could afford to move out to the Pacific NW, I would choose either of the two states to relocate too. Both had fine folks - very friendly and generous with their time and assistance (without Garmin, I get horribly lost)..lol.

Check things out for YOURSELF. And by the way, taxes are all relative. My little place in Ga. of 32 acres and house/barn combo would run over 6,000 a year in property taxes if I did not have it in a conservation program and Ga. took away the homestead exemption so all property taxes went up in my county. Also..to register a vehicle - 7% tax in my county. Average income is around 12. an hour but housing is very much more than that - decent 1500 house on 1/2 acre lot will cost between 130-150,000 unless you can get a foreclosure. Do the math and you will see that many folks can't afford to buy a house unless they work two jobs or both parties to the marriage work a job, sometimes a job and half each.

Compare cost of living in an area to income. That is a good way to start looking. If the living cost is extremely high compared to potential income (average job income) then it may be too expensive unless you have money saved or a high demand job (doctor, nurse or other professional).

I sure did like Oregon and plan to go back next year to visit again..it's a lovely place!

aw sidepasser, that's good to hear from you!!!!

there is no sales tax in Oregon. There is an Oregon income tax, but if you don't make much it's not that big a deal--frankly I think it's kind of a wash between either sales tax or income tax, and lots of WA's and CA's do come here to buy without ST.

Property tax, our tax is about 900$ a year for 10 acres and a modest(1500 sf including garage) house. We are on forest deferral, the cheapest tax rate there is(I suppose unless you go non-profit somehow, make your place a church retreat, heh.)

The liberals you find outside of POrtland/Eugene, out in the woods are old hippies--BIG BIG BIG difference than the city ones.

Never buy land here sight unseen, even with photos. If it's that cheap down there most likely it's up and down with trash trees.

I think it's a great state--most of it is actually BLM or state land, uninhabited. Varied climates, huge variety of ag along i-5. We recycle (snort).

But hey, if a lil liberal cools your jets, more for us :D If you are from California, we like "normal" people from CA, it's the ones who come in and whine about how Oregon is NOT CA and then try to change it into CA with laws--those are the ones that need to turn around and go back home to CA--if it's so great why'd they freakin LEAVE!!! Just never tell people you're from CA until you've proved yourself.

YEAH!! Don't Californicate ORegon!!!!

Food prices are cheaper here than in WA or CA. We have FRESH milk, not reconstituted.

great answer Lil QUacker!

I don't mind stoners and hippies, they're mellow. It's the Pelosi type arrogant snobs that they have in SF (the city Pelosi herself reps in Congress) and Portland that rub me the wrong way. Teens who go to college in Portland remark on how arrogant people are there. Southern Oregon University in Ashland seems to be more of a hippie college, like Humboldt State in Arcata, CA. I've also heard rumors of "free towns" in the wilderness areas up there, like Marble Mtn in CA, across the border. A local told me that 20 years ago the feds had to go up in there and root out all the freelanders because the govt was losing sovereignty over the area. I want an area where if you're up in the woods and doing your own thing people don't inquire too closely. Rents are pretty cheap in GP, little more expensive in Medford and Ashland of course is a college town so everything is way too expensive. I want to just homestead and do my own thing and not be bothered.

If you're familiar with BackWoodsHome magazine, the folks who own/run it are located in Gold Beach, Oregon. I remember they've written a few articles about life in their area of OR awhile back.
Perhaps you can run a search there for them? :)

http://www.backwoodshome.com/index.html

you will def be able to do that there. where there is lots of old hippies there is lots of cool off the grid stuff, way lots of resources!

BTW the Pelosi libs are terrified of the woods. they dont' stray far out of the city. You can find plenty of Deliverance here. The Siskiyous of Southern Oregon get remote and bushy real quick.

Just stay out of the "cities" and you will be fine. Southern Oregon has been really built up in the last 10-20 years. I grew up down there. There was a huge influx of hippies back in the day to Southern Oregon, well the last influx were all the folks from California that cashed out of their houses. The last time I drove down there I couldn't believe all the houses and mansions! I do have friends that still live down there out in the woods, really it is not a bad area, the weather is better (it is drier).

You might try Roseburg, they are more lenient on building permits and more rural in general. On the other side of the Cascades is an entire other climate and community, that being rural Eastern and Central Oregon, you might drive through there too, get a feel for it. I like it over there. We were going to move over there but then the economy took a nose dive and we couldn't. We still will probably move that way eventually. I can't believe how cheap places are over there! Cheap being relative though. Of course not in the distant past they had something like 20% unemployment (I think it's down to around 15%).

We do have high income taxes and property taxes (but no state sales tax). We don't rate very high on the great places to live because we are an expensive state to live in and we aren't very business friendly. In fact Idaho has started a campaign to business's to check them out as a good place to live and raise a family. They set up an entire website (I think they are trying to lure Washington too).

Like WT said, we are very "alternative" over here and have plenty of resources for things like off the grid. Right now I live in the Willamette Valley by the way. I grew up outside of Grants Pass and then moved up here about 25 years ago when I was in my teens.

Gee I graduated twice from a "Hippie College" / a.k.a. Humboldt State University???? Now I understand why those college kiddies in Arcata just don't like my US Marine Corps bumper stickers on my vehicles, and why the stickers occasionally get scraped off.. I do live up the hill from Arcata and the dreadlocked, patchouli oil wearing, free living, sandle wearing school kids can be a pain in the rump at times - down on the Plaza.

Freelanders in the Marble Mountains?? Well the Federales would definately run therm out if they were found to be illegally on Federal Lands. Why do you think that B.L.M., the Forest Service, etc. have their own Law Enforcement Officers on each district.

It is 90 miles from here up the coast above Arcata to the border, and the 1st town over the line on the coast is Brookings, Oregon in Curry County. That would be where I locate to if I were to move to Oregon - it is also known as the 'banana belt' of Oregon.. Or maybe inland over to Cave Junction located in Jackson County.

Yes I do occasionally drive up to to Fred Meyers for making major purchases in Oregon. That and getting to watch someone else pump gas into my vehicle. It is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon.

Or as I like to call it "Ory-Gun"...

I looked at this particular parcel on Google Earth-it's in a steep ravine (year round creek, one day having a creek on your property will be worth more than gold, trust me), with steep hills on either side. Apparently the land includes part of the flat area on either side of the creek, along with some hilly area. My guess is that only a couple acres out of 10 are usable. That's enough, and the year round surface water source is a BIG attraction, since I wouldn't have to drill a well. I don't plan on BUILDING anything on it, you understand, I'm simply gonna put an old mobile home on it, get water from the creek, and compost the humanure. Not technically "legal", but it's in an area where people just don't go traipsing around most likely.

I have a creek and a spring. Spring gives running water. 1 acre, backs up to private timber land. I was able to build 300 sq ft without a permit, no permit meant no septic permit. Just 2 50 gal plastic barrels and 40' of 2" perf. Only toilet water, all the rest goes to a bioswale. I am due west of Salem. BIG timber country. You might check around Falls City if you like wet....James

you need to get a photo of this steep ravine in peak flow. sounds like a flood trap to me(sorry, just something to think about) you can tell how often it floods if you know what to look for.

I'd check the restrictions in OR and whatever county it is in about moving an old trailer. Some places limit the age of trailers that can be moved on a road. It may also be expensive to move a trailer onto wooded property. The truck pulling the trailer will have to be able to get in and turn around. In some places you have to have a cat come in to pull the trailer to where you want it, or to put in a drive so that the truck can get in. There are also restrictions on how close you can put housing to a river or stream.
If you plan to move in a trailer, the county will know it is there. Moving it will require permits.
I second checking how high the water gets during normal spring runoff, and how high it has gotten in the past. What seems to be a nice mountain stream in the summer can take everything in it's path out in the spring.

We are kind of serious about our permits in Oregon. Here in Lane County (not sure about Oregon wide?) you can't legally live on your land without a permanent residence with a permitted septic & electricity and final permit on the house (or mobile). Even if you own the land free and clear. They have a staff to take care of non-compliance. Just something to think about.

And that is one of the reasons many refer to Lane County as "The People's Republic of Lane" too:-) I love the area, hate the county rules and regs.

I think many counties in OR have have restrictive rules as well as the state. Our DD lives in Union county in NE OR and they have lots of restrictions, including how far you can put in housing from the road. This is a rural county as well. In WA they have a program called "eye in the sky", they take pics of all land in the state every 2 or so yrs to look for illegal building, logging, ponds ect.
If the property you are looking at does not have first water rights, you may not be able to use the water, and the first water right holder will be interested in anything that might interfer with his water rights. The stream will do you no good at all if you can't use it. Check OR water rights laws, as well as the property you are looking at. If it has water rights, it should be on the legal description, if water rights are not mentioned they do not apply, and you have no right to use the water.

I had an Aunt that had to leave land they owned down in Klamath (very rural) because they could only get approval for a very expensive septic and (of course) they wouldn't approve grey water/composting. Like another poster said, most of Oregon and Washington (so I've heard) are this way. Please don't think you'll come and just fly under the radar, they have pretty darn good radars here!!

And yes, we are the people's republic of Lane ;).......I hate it, we are about 10 minutes from the border into Linn, a much friendlier County! Our daughter actually drives to the Linn-Benton Community College and next year we are hopefully joining Benton's 4H. Lane County no longer has an Extension Office (which is how 4H gets funded).