I’m sorry if this sounds like generic advice but it’s all I can offer.

That being said I believe you can make money in the Portland area, you just need to be extremely picky and you'll definitely want to plan on having supplemental income.

I have also seen appraisers use a calculation based on the unit's rents and the area's average gross rent multiplier as a supplement to the comps. 

Find a professional you can work with to supplement what you know, much like finding an attorney for a particular type of case within a certain jurisdiction.

I've told him two weeks ago to send along anything he thinks has potential, and other than his generic foreclosure list (that he mass sends), he hasn't sent a single property for my review.

I searched engine optimized generic pages like “land for sale in XXLOCATIONXX” and in the future I was going to swap that out with non-generic content.

So, they aren't supplementing the market as buyers.So, when the boom ends but you still need to plan for retirement I would buy cash flowing or long term appreciating assets any day!

My above paragraph is purely generic.

I was a police officer here for 18 years, doing investing on the side to supplement my future pension, but recently things have really started taking off and it overtook my full time job, both in time and pay, so I resigned and am now doing full time investing.My main strategies have been holding rentals, and more recently flips (with very extensive rehabs).

So I am in PA which is a judicial foreclosure state; this post is not specifically advice for the OP, but generic for anyone reading along to learn more.At a recent meeting of my DIG REIA subgroup, I  hosted an attorney whose practice is in sheriff sales; information here was part of his presentation on sheriff sales in PA.Avoid buying occupied properties; prefer vacant ones.If you are looking at a property that is occupied, look at the entries in the foreclosure lawsuit docket.