We moved here from Hillsboro a couple years ago (and before that, NoPo) and we like it very well. Our house is off of 99 up in the country and we find the area to be just gorgeous. Shopping is decent (the Newberg Fred Meyer is our second home) and services are convenient. Schools are GREAT. Restaurants, however, absolutely suck; there is some really great high-end dining in Newberg but unless you are super-into Shari's and Red Robin, your options are very, very limited.

I dunno about it being some of the worst driving in the area. You have a couple different options to get into Portland. If you work in Northeast, like my husband did, it can run upwards of 45 minutes to an hour, but it used to take me 35 minutes from Good Sam when I worked there.

We live on a farm, and this property is the reason we moved from Hillsboro. I actually really loved living there and we would have stayed if it wasn't for the opportunity to buy the house that we are in. Hillsboro is a very cute community with a nice downtown and isn't half as bad as most people make it out to be. I loved our house there and if I was looking for bigger/cheaper housing I'd definitely look there again. We had an enormous 4 bedroom house on a quarter of an acre for $1,400/mo that was within walking distance to MAX, the fairgrounds, downtown Hillsboro, etc. I think rental housing here in Sherwood is more expensive. There are some straight-up mansions in the hills above downtown Sherwood on Parrett Mtn. and even the condos/apartments behind Target and stuff are rather high end.

If you want something rural with good services/shopping, I recommend it. It is far from Portland, though.