The Road to Retirement
The very first step in the process was looking for someplace suitable to settle down. Someone from work told us about Ely, Nevada being a great place to look. Ely is about 400 miles North of here on US Hwy 93. We thought that we would check it out when driving through. I wanted to visit my cousin in Portland OR and swing back down on the Oregon coast - checking out any and all possibilities. Well, as luck would have it, we looked at Ely and Mc Gill and decided that it wasn't our 'cup of tea'. We also looked at Southern Idaho (via I84) as well. We hit the Oregon border at Ontario and thought 'which road to take?' Stay on the Interstate? I was interested in considering the Bend area as a possible place to retire. I knew that Western Oregon was probably too expensive to consider (little did I know how expensive Bend was). 
We figured that either Hwy 20 (via Burns) or Hwy 26 (via John Day) were the best ways to get to Bend.
I selected Hwy 26 as the route solely on the basis that it was the prettiest drive according to the map. The first 60 miles out of Ontario (the drive to Unity OR) was rather unremarkable. Nothing... Just lonely high desert. Shortly after Unity the road climbs into the pines and the drive becomes beautiful. From Austin Junction we dropped into the John Day Valley in the town of Prairie City. I took one look at the Strawberry Mtn range and told the wife, "Let's look here". We poked around the town for about 30 minutes to get an idea for the layout of the place. We stopped of at a gas station and asked the attendant where was the Real Estate office was. "John Day" was the reply. The drive to John Day ran parallel to the John Day river. The place was absolutely beautiful compared to the areas that we've been driving through the last three days.
We got to John Day, located a Realtor, and began to look at properties. Something that we learned is that Location is Everything. We looked at properties in several towns in Grant County and decided that only John Day or Canyon City were the best bets for retirement properties. It boils down to this - Close to shopping and the Hospital. Both items may seem small to some folks but makes a big difference when you have to consider driving an hour to go shopping or see the Doctor. Living in Lake Havasu City, we learned that any good shopping usually meant a trip to either Phoenix or Las Vegas. Here in Eastern Oregon, good shopping means a trip to Ontario, Bend, or Baker City. Shopping to please the wife means Portland or Boise. After looking for about a week we decided that this was the place for us. We ended up buying a house in Canyon City. From our home we can be at the best shopping in the county or the hospital in five minutes.
This picture shows our neighborhood on Humbolt Street. Our house is on a quiet street. The type of street where little kids still have Kool Aid stands. There is no grafitti. No gangs. The biggest complaint anyone had was that the Deer was eating their plants.
Our home borders a small creek in the back yard (and yes, we have water rights to the creek). Best of all - the home prices were still considered reasonable compared to what we have seen else where.
We bought the house two years ago for under $100K. Today, the price has nearly doubled in the area. The Real Estate market in the John Day area is still reasonable as compared to the Bend area. As you can see in the photo, there is a new housing tract going in 'up the hill' from us. I don't know the price of these lots but you could probably find out here. We used Franklin Century 21 in John Day. I'd recommend them to anyone who was considering moving into the area.
Looking at the current real estate conditions in Bend, it wasn't the place to buy into.
3 comments:
Amazing what a quick Google can do! We, too, are boomers in Bakersfield looking for a place to retire--16 months away. I blog my trips in the RV looking for places. Our next big swing is going to be Bakersfield to Wisconsin and then along the far northern route to Washington then back down to California. California has become unliveable and the state has greedy eyes on retired boomer incomes. I would like to keep in touch with you. I would especially like to know how much weather played a part in your decision. Why Oregon and not Washington? Thank you for posting and I hope you keep it up.
Hi Plo,
To answer your question, weather played a large role in our decision. Had it been my choice, I would have loved to retire up in N. Minnesota. My wife hates the climate there. We also ruled out the South as the humidity is terrible. California was also ruled out for reasons we both know.
Buying up in E. Oregon was both affordable and devoid of rampant development. Washington, for the most part was also considered, however we thought that pricing there would be higher (biased by the economy of Seattle).
Actually, we felt that it was a stroke of luck that we found a spot where the real estate market had not shot through the roof -and- the area had some aspects that the both of us found very nice.
True, it might have been a little early to purchase the retirement home ten years before retirement, but waiting it out would have resulted in the possibility of not being able to afford the house when the time came.
Thanks for visiting the blog. Dave
Hi Dave - thanks for stopping by. I've enjoyed reading the few posts you've written since starting your blog.
We're loving Baker City, after moving here a year ago from Bend. If you end up in the area while taking Mrs. G shopping, be sure to stop by our restaurant to have a slice of pizza and a cold brew.
Cheers!
Keeneye (PaizanosPizza.com)
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