ABOUT PORTLAND

Portland, Oregon - a visitor's overview and a relocater's guide.

FUN FACTS ABOUT PORTLAND

Portland is located in the northwestern corner of the state of Oregon where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers connect. Nestled in the Willamette Valley between the Cascade mountain rage to the east and the Coast Range to the west, Portland is protected from many natural elements because of its geography. Portland is on the boarder of the state line between Oregon and Washington and is about 65 miles from the Pacific Oceans.

Portland proper includes a population of 562,690 as of August 2007 and 2.1 million in the entire metropolitan area making it the 25th largest population in the US. The elevation is 173 feet above sea level. The Portland metro area is surrounded by hills and small mountains where homes perched on the hillside get great city, mountains and river views. Temperatures average 33.5 degrees in January and 79.5 degrees in July with an average annual precipitation of less that 37 inches with no humidity (which is less than Seattle). Portland has 37,000 acres of city parks including the 5,000 acres in Forest Park. The Oregonian is the daily paper, The Portland Tribune is semiweekly and the Willamette Weekly is a weekly news publication.

The Real Estate market in Portland has not seen the drastic ups and downs that the rest of the nation has seen in the past few years. Portland's Real Estate market has been and continues to be healthy with a strong presence of new development in the urban and suburban areas. The average home selling price in 2006 according to the Portland area MLS service was $300,000 and prices span a wide range from under $200,000 to over $2,000,000.