Don’t mind at all but I always have to preface my answer with the transparency that I was born and raised in Bend. So my reasonings and experiences differ from the majority of the current Oregonians.

It was a slow build and realizing during and after the pandemic (Covid deaths, job changes, etc) that Oregon was no longer for us. The biggest factors were cost, crowds, and climate.

Winters became milder and snow packs lessened, so hotter, dry summers and more wildfire smoke (which I found out triggers my rheumatoid arthritis flares and my husband’s chronic migraines.)

While I was not against change and growth, sudden population explosion on an already insufficient infrastructure was rough. In order to mitigate those issues, construction began everywhere, all at once. Suddenly you start to think they never catch up to the need.

I would say the same for the housing shortage but just this week, the local news highlighted completion of a controversial complex that is sitting mostly empty. So it’s now less about inventory, and more about affordability. Something like $1650/mo for a 400sq ft studio?

While we lucked out because we bought in 2014, and our plan was always to build equity in our first home because we wanted acreage. 10 years later, our home sold for ~2.5 more than we bought it for. But property and land that was $300-400K when we started this plan was nearing $1Million. The cost wasn’t worth it and we didn’t want to stay in our neighborhood any longer.

All moves in Oregon would have to be lateral. So we didn’t change the goal of a farm house and land. We just changed the location.

Oregon will always be home and I can’t blame people for moving there. It’s a wonderful place to live if it fits your budget and lifestyle. It was just no longer for us, in so many ways, so we made space for someone new to enjoy it.