Greg says: "Well I am moving out of Portland. It's too expensive! .............It seems to me that you either have to either be rich or homeless to live in Portland."

Hi Greg, Have you really looked into what it takes to get into a home in Portland? You sound like me a couple of years ago. My personal income is below the median income for the city of Portland and I recently just purchased my first home (not a condo) in inner-city Portland. All it took was some reasonable financial planning and a prudent budget.

Here are some resources that you may be interested in.

#1) The state has a great program providing financial assistance and loans at below market interest rates for first time home buyers. It's pretty incredible actually. Here's the website. http://www.ohcs.oregon.gov/OHCS/SFF_OregonBondHome.shtml

#2) The Portland Housing Center provides GREAT assistance in providing classes and counseling for anything related to buying a home. I took their Homebuying 101 class and I can't recommend it enough! Here's the website: http://www.portlandhousingcenter.org

I thought buying a home was un-attainable in Portland too, but then I realized that really wasn't the case at all and that I was just making excuses for myself by not taking control of my financial situation and utilizing the resources available to Oregonians. Ultimately, the whole process was far easier than I had anticipated.