Hello All,

I know I would be a cali transplant but I come with none of the baggage that most move to your state with.  I am very conservative and so I my wife.  I hunt  with firearms and archery, I free dive for abalone here and also own a 20 foot NorthRiver Seahawk that I fish the rivers and ocean here with. We have zero kids so school's are not important to us. I am obviously in construction and my wife is a medical biller and has 18 years of that as well as 10 years of managing a Neurosurgeon  practice.

Ideally I would like to own between 10 and 40 acres of land. I do alot of gardening and would like to have room for a smallish orchard and raise some chickens and maybe meat pig. I would like about no more then 1 1/2 hours from an ocean launch. 8 hour drive to Sacramento as my wife's family is still located here. Depending on when we sell our house we are hoping to buy a house and land outright and our budget would probably be 450k or so.

We are coming up in the spring to look around and get a feel for the area, we went to Crater lake a few years back and spent 5 days exploring the areas around there and including the Umpqua Scenic byway and the waterfalls there.

The reason for the move are many. As a business owner Cali tax structure and general red tape is killing me. The constant assault  on my gun rights is getting old and after 20 plus years of dealing with them I'm just done and tired.

We are looking for areas in southern Oregon obviously and if any 1 has a good realtor we could contact in the spring that would be great.

Thanks,
CC

That's to bad, you'd fit in better in oregon if you were a flaming liberal.

Do some serious research. My family owns a business, we moved here from california, my dad says he pays way more taxes here than he ever did in cali. Then you have to look at the clients you'll have up here. People can't pay much for construction work up here. Most contractors drive a 30 year old ford truck and get like $12.50 / hour. Oregon's not the paridise that all the californians think it is.

Look through some of the other threads in this forum for more info.
I'm just saying, if you can move somewhere else, it'd be better.

I would echo the post above. Oregon is was not the paradise California's think it is...especially for business owners. I just had a friend move to Texas one because of the business stance of this state and two because of the politics. Once my girls are done with high school we are leaving this state ares well. It Is a beautiful state to live in but the liberals are ruining it.

There are areas in the Medford area that may interest you. The Applegate Valley is beautiful year round. It is a lot more lush than other areas. There is a lot of pot being grown there, and that has increased the value of properties like you describe in your post. You should also look out toward Eagle Point/ Shady Cove. It is about a 15 minute drive from Medford, but has a totally different feel. The building in the area is beginning to take off again, mainly due to Californians retiring to the area.

As to a realtor, I have referred many of my clients to Stacy Mead. She is a realtor, and also a firearms instructor with her husband. (541) 601-4146 is her number. She is in Medford.

I can't speak to the differences between Oregon and California taxes because I've never lived in Cali but I'll say that you don't know construction, at least what it's currently like in the Portland metro area.

If you are working for someone as an employee than you can expect to make 15-25 for the unlicensed trades, more for journeyman  licensed trades.

If you are working for yourself as a licensed contractor you should be making 40 an hour minimum. I have tried to get replaced taking too much time off and generally having a bad attitude but doing work to the quality level demanded of the job and doing it a lot faster than most. The guy I sub to can't find a replacement and I make 40-60 and hour depending on how badly the house was put together.

If you aren't doing well as a licensed contractor right now than you should be looking for another line of work.

Contractors who drive older/plain Jane trucks are the ones who are maximizing income and minimizing overhead.

I can attest that from Eugene north if you can swing a hammer you can find work.  Home builders in the area cannot find even marginally competent subs who aren't backed up like crazy.  And it's January.  In the Willamette Valley the Thanksgiving-March stretch is when things are supposed to slow down.  That is not the case currently.  

I will say, however, that many Californians still think that they can sell their home in California and move to Oregon where the world is their oyster, so to speak.  That is no longer the case.  The disparity between home prices is not what it was even ten years ago.  

If you're not a liberal whack-job and will promise to register to vote, be welcome.  If your plan is to move here and then bitch incessantly about everything in Oregon that was better in California, well, we already have a bumper crop of that.  

Yeah, that describes me. I just try to let others know what they are in for.
I actually met some people moving up from California saying "we can't wait to get out of california, we're tired of all the CONSERVATIVES!" HA! True story! California had a Republican governor (swarzenegger) while oregon had a democrat governor at the time. (now we have a bi-sexual democrat governor)
When I moved here I didn't have internet and really did zero research. My mother wanted to move here because she went to school here in the '60s.
The OP introduces him self by saying how conservative he is. He thinks Oregon is a coservative state, I assume. I thought that also when I moved here. Look at the facts. Oregon was home to Ken kesey. Oregon has a very rich history as being a mecca (sp) for hippies. My mother said she always wanted to go to the eugene farmers market, so one day we went there, as we drove up we saw a sea of dreadlocks and tie-dye, my mother was just silent, then says "keep going, don't stop". I don't judge. I'm just letting some body know what they are walking into.
Somebody mentioned how much contractors make in Portland. Portland is not southern oregon. Portland is a HUGE metro area. Nothing like that in southern oregon.
Oh yeah, here's a video about some people moving here from california. Keep oregon wierd