We all know their names: Northwest 23rd. The Pearl. Hawthorne. Alberta Arts District. And the Mississippi neighborhood.

They're Portland’s hottest and hippest -- and therefore increasingly expensive places to live in Portland.

But Bert Sperling of the Portland-based Sperling's BestPlaces, says there are neighborhoods that are on the cusp of being the next best places to live and work in Portland.

“Portland has been discovered by the country as a whole,” Sperling said. “And it's become no longer a place where people might say, ‘Portland, where’s that?’ But there are still some places that are affordable, at least by most of the standards in the country and by the West Coast.”

It may seem that Portland is built-out, priced-out and on its way to becoming as expensive as New York City or San Francisco.

But don't despair, Sperling says, do your research to find the next happening place.

“If you want to be a bit of an urban pioneer and do some home studying, look for these outlying places like Milwaukie, Gresham, Oregon City and Vancouver – lots of good things are happening in Vancouver these days,” Sperling said. “Woodstock is also a place that finally has sort of taken hold, taken fire and it’s on an upward spiral.”

Sperling said extensions of existing hot neighborhoods -- Woodstock and Hawthorne extending to the east, Northwest 23rd Avenue extending north -- may have cheaper rents or better housing options, as will outlying areas.

Sperling says housing prices in east Portland in the last 10 years have increased twice as fast as they have on the west side.

“There’s so much going on and as a result the prices are still affordable in a lot of places on the east side, but they’re growing very fast,” he said.

Sperling also said that finding that next best place to live in Portland could be as easy as just walking or driving around the city looking for places off the radar and not on anyone's map.

“There are communities of like-minded people, sort of hipster neighborhoods, in any town you go to these days,” Sperling said. “So look for people like yourself and see where they’re going.”

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