House hacking in Portland, OR area?

Question

Hello!

My husband and I are wannabe investors from the Portland, OR area (currently I am living in Sherwood, OR, husband is in the USCG currently stationed in Honolulu but transferring this spring to Depoe Bay, OR).

Due to family circumstances we need our primary residence to be in or around a 20-30 minute radius of Portland.  We are hoping to find an affordable duplex that we can house hack.  I have been looking at the MLS and craigslist just to see what's out there and can see that it's going to be tough to find something, it's pretty slim pickings around here and so expensive!

Excited to get started on our real estate investing journey and connect with some of you savvy investors!

Beth Fisher · Answer

Thank you Jay! Will definitely check those areas out! We’re pretty open to anywhere as long as it’s a reasonable driving distance from Portland, in a safe area (esp with a kiddo) and pencils out for house hacking/ future rental property.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

you may want to consider Woodburn as well not as cool as Mac.. Newberg as well.

little town of Aurora is cute.  as well as Canby.

Beth Fisher · Answer

Hi Jeff! Definitely interested in McMinnville as it would also be a good halfway point between Depoe Bay (where my husband will be stationed) and Portland (need to be a reasonable driving distance to where my son’s dad lives in S.W. Portland). I’ve just kind of started looking just on Redfin and craigslist just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot out there as far as a good deal for house hacking purposes...but again we haven’t seriously started hunting or trying any other methods, just in the beginning process trying to figure out best area/make connections!

Jeff S. · Answer

Hi Beth,

So when you say 20-30 minute radius around Portland are you saying within 30 minutes in any direction from Sherwood? McMinnville is a pretty cool little town and pretty reasonable.

Are you talking about commuting to Portland?