Top 4 Maps for Portland Real Estate Buyers

While shopping online for Portland real estate, it is easy to become inundated with information. The sheer quantity of data available to home buyers can simply be overwhelming, and it can help tremendously to have a visual guide to aid your search. Maps can help clarify and organize information as you explore neighborhoods, research amenities important to you (whether they are restaurants, schools, safety, parks, etc.), and narrow your search for your dream home. Fortunately a wealth of interactive maps are available online. The real challenge is knowing which are the most useful. Here, I’ve highlighted the four most robust Portland maps with the most helpful interactive tools and information for savvy home buyers. We’ve also included some bonus maps for more targeted home search concerns.

Map 1: Portland Homes For Sale

Portlandhomesforsale.com is the most intuitive and data-rich map of Portland available, allowing you to compare home prices, line up in-person or virtual tours, and create a sharable list of your favorite homes on the market, along with a host of other useful features.

A Portland Real Estate Map in a Class By Itself

• Each property type is assigned a specific icon color (Single-Family, Commercial, Multi-Family, Condo, or Land).
• Icons appear larger or smaller according to the home’s square footage (the larger the icon size, the larger the property’s square footage).
• Icons appear lighter or darker to visually represent prices (the darker the icon, the more expensive the property).

Here are some of the maps you can create on Portlandhomesforsale.com with its powerful search tools:

• A map of homes in your price range that have virtual tours available
• A map of up-to-the-minute new listings just hitting the Portland real estate market
• A map of all “Open House” showings near you
• A map of all single-story (e.g., ranch-style) homes
• A map of all “fixers” that consider various keywords associated with homes in need of repair for buyers who are looking to take on a house remodel project
• Any map of homes sorted by a nearly endless variety of search criteria

The best thing about this map search tool is that it’s incredibly easy and intuitive. Type in your search area (this can be the name of a school, neighborhood, city, county, or zip code), and a list of results will appear alongside a map of the properties. You can continue to refine your search by zooming in on the map or filtering using the buttons on the left under the search bar. You can also add multiple keywords to your search to refine your results further. For example, you could search for homes in Portland that are within your price range and have a pool. Your search is only limited to the keywords you enter. Remember, as with any internet search, if no results are shown, your search terms may be too specific.

What also makes Portlandhomesforsale.com such a valuable resource is that the site is constantly updated through an IDX feed specific to Portland’s RMLS, ensuring access to all the information available for a home on the market. Once a home is put on the market for sale, Portlandhomesforsale.com will automatically include it in your next search. In addition to its powerful search engine, it allows for collaboration via shared lists of favorited homes.

Map 2: Official Portland Home and Property Data

At some point in the home-buying process, savvy buyers will want to use PortlandMaps.com, an official resource the City of Portland provides. The map lets you look up the permit history for any Portland property, find out what school district a home is in, learn about the surrounding area’s zoning regulations and crime statistics, and much more. Simply enter the address of the home you’re interested in, and all relevant information will appear on the side panel. It is a great resource for learning more about the home you are buying and/or the one you currently live in.

At portlandmaps.com/advanced, you can also access earthquake maps, floodplain maps, and landslide risk maps—all important risk factors to consider before you finalize your new home purchase. 

Map 3: Portland Neighborhood Guide

If you’re just beginning your home search and still trying to decide what area of Portland you might want to live in, the Portland Neighborhood Guide is a treasure trove of neighborhood-specific information. For starters, it is helpful to look at a map of Portland that gives an overview of its neighborhoods and their boundaries to orient yourself on what each area offers. You can also click on the map for a page describing every Portland neighborhood (all 95+ of them!) in detail. The Portland neighborhood pages have in-depth maps, videos, articles, reports, and even podcast episodes featuring each neighborhood in the City of Portland. It’s an incredibly convenient way to explore the area of Portland where you might want to buy a home. It is also a great resource for discovering more of the unique features of the neighborhood you currently live in. You may find that you have been missing out on a hidden gem right near you!

Map 4: Portland Attractions from Local Experts

Portland has an amazing number of attractions, from food carts to arcade games, and it can get overwhelming fast! When you want to take a break from browsing homes to search for entertainment, head to Near Me Now: The Official Guide to Portland. Using your location or selecting from a list of local attractions, you can get location-based recommendations for things to do nearby, whether you want to relax in a park, try a new hobby, or support locally owned businesses. You just may discover a “locals’ secret” place! The map is also mobile-friendly for viewing on your device.

Bonus: City of Portland Bike Routes Map

Courtesy of Portland Bureau of Transportation

Portland is the fifth-best big city for cycling. If you’re a big fan of biking and want to know the routes available near your home, this map is quite helpful. Not only does it show you biking routes in the area, but it also shows you where you can ride other modes of transportation, like electric scooters. 

This map is incredibly easy to use. On top of showing different paths for bikes and electric scooters, it also calls out intersections that may be troublesome for bikers. You can easily search routes by address, so planning your biking commute or next workout has never been easier. 

While looking at bike routes might not be the top of your priority list when choosing a new home in Portland, knowing how close you are to different locations and the general bike safety of your new neighborhood can all increase (or decrease) the value of your new home in your eyes. Knowing you can easily bike from your house to your place of work (weather willing) may be a major selling point for you. However, finding out you live near the most difficult intersection in the tri-city area may make you a little nervous. 

Bonus: Traffic Safety Map by Vision Zero

Courtesy of Vision Zero

Knowing how far your commute is from your new home is one thing, knowing the crash rate along that route is another. This traffic safety map by Vision Zero not only shows you car accident locations along various roads in Portland, but it also shows you safety measures put in place to mitigate more accidents. This allows you to see which roads in Portland are (generally) safer than others, and how your morning commute shapes up compared to accident data from as far back as 2017.

Obviously, driving comes with its own risks, but the goal of Vision Zero is to reduce these risks to as close to zero as possible. By tracking areas with more accidents than others, as well as implementing new traffic signals and lane widths based on these accidents, they hope to make Portland a safer place to live and drive in. 

While their primary map deals with accidents, they also note major changes made to various roads, as well as locations where they’ve reduced speed limits for safety. If you’re interested in checking out the traffic safety changes made near your new home, this map can be a great reference. 

Work with a Top 1% Portland Buyers Agent

There are an endless amount of websites for home buyers, making it easy to get bogged down in information quickly. Be sure to maximize your search by using the best tools available. Once you’re ready to enlist an expert to help you with your search, reach out to our top 1% buyers team. No matter what part of Oregon or Washington you might be searching in, we have in-depth knowledge of the Metro area and will ensure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to find your forever home. Give us a call at 503-773-0000. We would love to talk with you today.