r/roseburg • u/bigtownhero • 8d ago

Moving here?

I live in Medford and the prospect of home ownership is basically nonexistent. I have to get out of Medford as it just doesn't make any sense being here if all I can do is rent forever.

My question is, what's this town like? It obviously looks more affordable than Medford, but what is the economy like, what is the crime rate like? Is there a community feel, at least in the downtown area?

No criminal record, have a degree, decent to good resume.

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u/darealboot 8d ago

Find work before you move here. It's a fairly poor town with lots of retail commerce but not really much available past that unless you want to get into the medical field or the lumber industry. Buy in large the population is nice, mostly petty crimes. There's pockets that are better than others but for the most part there's not much space between you and your neighbors. It's a very red county with a growing blue voter population.

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u/bigtownhero 8d ago

So my wife can work from home, so technically, she could pay the mortgage without my help. I say that to say I could afford to take something in retail until I found something else.

Houses are around 400k-500k in medford, so if we can basically make the same in Roseburg, why not just move there?

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u/Capercaillie_roost 5d ago

Even retail is not good here. Most of the places are being shut down. Big Lot's is leaving, Shari's is gone, Albertson's is on the way out, and the mill just let go of 73 people. So there are about 300 people that just/are losing their jobs. Not great.

Roseburg sucks. Housing isn't great. Jobs aren't great. The people suck. I would rather rent in Medford than own in Roseburg.

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u/bigtownhero 5d ago

That doesn't sound promising. What are the cities' plans to help the community?

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u/Capercaillie_roost 5d ago

As far as I know, not really? During this year's local elections, a lot of candidates said they wanted to focus on growing downtown, but I'm not sure how that is possible? If people are not willing to spend money on local businesses, then what hope is there?

I'm honestly worried about what I'm going to do in the future. I'm in education right now and I don't like it. I have no idea what I would do instead since the job market here is bad. I find myself wishing I was born in Eugene or Medford.

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u/bigtownhero 5d ago

Roseburg looks like it suffers from urban sprawl like most cities. If your elected officials aren't talking about bringing in a major corporation that entails manufacturing jobs or an Amazon and building housing (apartments) downtown, then they aren't talking about anything.

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u/Capercaillie_roost 4d ago

That's what I thought when I was reading their little blurbs. It's irritating. They want to focus on tourism and what not, but there is no reason to come here.

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u/bigtownhero 4d ago

Maybe I should run, because it sounds like they don't have a plan.

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u/Capercaillie_roost 2d ago

I guess come visit and see how you feel about Roseburg? I'm lowkey bitter after having lived here for so long.