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Old 06-05-2013, 03:44 PM
 
Location: Ocala, FL
67 posts, read 237,648 times
Reputation: 41

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I am a 64 year old single man and have been retired 10 years. I am originally from SoCal. I sold my home there in '06 and took the equity to pay for my Daughter's College Education, and moved to Florida 6 years ago. I want to move back out west for a variety of reasons, and I would like some advice as to what areas to look at when I visit in July.

I am active and enjoy the outdoors, hiking, motorcycle riding and most sports. I would prefer a small single family home, or villa in a safe area, or gated community. My budget is +/- $ 175K. 55+ is OK but is not a requirement. New construction is preferred but late model resale is OK.
I would like to be near a quality athletic club.
I like quiet, so living next to an airport is not attractive.
A good local library system is important.
I would like to be able to get into Downtown Boise in 20/30 minutes, either by car or public transportation.
I appreciate your time in responding and assisting me in this search. I want this to be my last move and find a satisfying place to enjoy the last 1/3 of my life. Thank You
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Old 06-05-2013, 04:50 PM
 
719 posts, read 1,562,591 times
Reputation: 619
Outdoor activities are available in spades, although Boise has a true four season climate so you'll need to account for some cool weather in the winter - consider it a good opportunity to develop an interest in winter recreation.

I don't think you'll have any trouble finding what you'd want within 20-30 minutes of downtown Boise, and I'd recomend considering all three of the main Ada County cities (Boise, Meridian and Eagle - you'll find more new construction options in Eagle and especially Meridian). You can get more for your money in Canyon County (Nampa, Caldwell) but those areas aren't as nice or safe and since you can get what you describe for your budget in Ada County that's where I'd recomend concentrating your search.

Public transportation is pretty poor in the Treasure Valley so I would plan on having a car to get around.

The library system here is actually quite good. It seemed shabby to me at first coming from Oregon, but although most of the libraries are quite small they have good service and free book sharing/transport. Meaning you can hold a book at any library in the area and it will be delivered to your preferred library within a few days for you to pick up. They also have books you can read on your e-reader/tablet if that's something you do.

Overall if you are okay with cool winters I think this is a fantastic area to live. The winters really aren't bad but I just mention if since you're in Florida and were in Southern Cal prior to that.

A good easy place to start is to get on Zillow and enter some filters on size, price, etc and then just mouse around the area to get an idea on what you'd be looking at for your budget. Punch in addresses on Google maps for a good overhead shots and use streetview as well. If you do live in west Boise or Meridian your access into downtown Boise will generally be south of I-84 (which obviously would eliminate Eagle, but I encourage you to check there as well).

East Boise is a really nice area with excellent access into downtown but your budget may be a little harder to accomodate there. Most new construction in that part of town is probably well above what you've indicated you want to spend.
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Old 06-05-2013, 04:57 PM
 
Location: Ocala, FL
67 posts, read 237,648 times
Reputation: 41
Thank you for the valuable information.
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Old 06-07-2013, 01:42 AM
 
11 posts, read 12,020 times
Reputation: 10
I think you will enjoy Boise greatly. A lot of Idahoans end up retiring to Boise to be near the superior medical treatment available there, compared to other areas in southern Idaho.
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Old 06-09-2013, 11:35 PM
 
Location: Nampa
232 posts, read 564,369 times
Reputation: 238
Default Senior Looking....

Quote:
Originally Posted by sprintrps View Post
I am a 64 year old single man and have been retired 10 years. I am originally from SoCal. I sold my home there in '06 and took the equity to pay for my Daughter's College Education, and moved to Florida 6 years ago. I want to move back out west for a variety of reasons, and I would like some advice as to what areas to look at when I visit in July.

I am active and enjoy the outdoors, hiking, motorcycle riding and most sports. I would prefer a small single family home, or villa in a safe area, or gated community. My budget is +/- $ 175K. 55+ is OK but is not a requirement. New construction is preferred but late model resale is OK.
I would like to be near a quality athletic club.
I like quiet, so living next to an airport is not attractive.
A good local library system is important.
I would like to be able to get into Downtown Boise in 20/30 minutes, either by car or public transportation.
I appreciate your time in responding and assisting me in this search. I want this to be my last move and find a satisfying place to enjoy the last 1/3 of my life. Thank You
I retired to the Boise area two years ago and have absolutely no regrets. The weather can be described as "a handful of weeks it is very hot, another handful of weeks it is very cold, and the rest is just fine for me!" There is so much outdoor stuff to do that it's really difficult to cover them all. About the only thing you can't do here is surf! If you're into the stick & ball sports, Boise State University can provide lots of entertainment along those lines.

As for motorcycling, I had both street bikes and dirt bikes. There are about half a dozen clubs/organizations that cover street, off-road racing, vintage racing, motocross, desert racing, trail riding, etc, etc. Tell me what you're interested in for two wheels and I can give you more specific info. There are also several groups around here for various types of old cars, hot rods, customs, etc. Cool car shows with bunches of great machines happen often.

Lots of small, single-family homes all over the place. The market has everything from older fixer-uppers, to brand new luxury units. Sounds like you'd be in the market for a 2 or 3 bedroom house with a 3 or 4 car garage to hold all the toys!!

My wife and I settled in Nampa, and despite what you read in many posts on this forum, I have yet to see any crime, any indication of gang activity, or anything else. I do read about crime in the newspapers, but there's no more here than in Boise or the other nearby cities. The Nampa recreation center is superb, very well-equipped for just about everything you could possibly want for workouts. There's also a senior center attached, but that's for old people.... They are building huge library in downtown Nampa that covers an entire block. Construction is just beginning, so it's probably a year away from "going live", but should be ultra-modern when it's done. Public transport here is virtually non-existent, but I'm only about 20 minutes from the major medical centers on the Boise/Meridian line, plus Nampa has two new and fairly large medical centers just starting up. It's about another ten minutes to get to downtown Boise, but I generally don't need to go there very often.

If you want more info on a specific subject, post away! Lots of people on here like to help others.....
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Old 06-10-2013, 06:55 AM
 
Location: Ocala, FL
67 posts, read 237,648 times
Reputation: 41
Motomac...you have given me a bit to digest and I am appreciative of the time you took to respond to my post. As far as Motorcycle...I ride with a group from my neighborhood and each week we have a "destination" ride, although I do enjoy a scenic, solo adventure ride. As I get older, the distances of these rides is proportionally shorter!!

Doing as much research as possible from a distance, I have identified some communities that are of interest. As I am single, I would prefer to be in some type of community setting (55+ is OK, but not a requirement.) So far I have found Pacific Heights, Lake at Cherry Lane, Ashord Greens, seem to fit my needs. Any other ideas along these lines would be greatly appreciated. I plan to be out there in August for a week or so to get a "hands on" experience. If anyone can recommend a realtor who would be willing to show me around, with a goal of a sale later in the year. I would appreciate a PM with contact information.
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Old 06-10-2013, 08:43 PM
 
Location: Nampa
232 posts, read 564,369 times
Reputation: 238
Default Seniors in Idaho

Quote:
Originally Posted by sprintrps View Post
Motomac...you have given me a bit to digest and I am appreciative of the time you took to respond to my post. As far as Motorcycle...I ride with a group from my neighborhood and each week we have a "destination" ride, although I do enjoy a scenic, solo adventure ride. As I get older, the distances of these rides is proportionally shorter!!

Doing as much research as possible from a distance, I have identified some communities that are of interest. As I am single, I would prefer to be in some type of community setting (55+ is OK, but not a requirement.) So far I have found Pacific Heights, Lake at Cherry Lane, Ashord Greens, seem to fit my needs. Any other ideas along these lines would be greatly appreciated. I plan to be out there in August for a week or so to get a "hands on" experience. If anyone can recommend a realtor who would be willing to show me around, with a goal of a sale later in the year. I would appreciate a PM with contact information.
I used to do a lot of long-distance rides. I've done more than a few 1,000 mile days (all in Europe - higher speed limits) long before the Iron Butt association was giving out plaques for it. These days, though, it's definitely not the same. When we retired a moved back to the States, I had a lot of big ideas about getting a big touring bike and doing some nice long trips. Picked up a BMW R1200RT last year and for some reason, the thrill just isn't there anymore. Now if I can't get someplace within a couple of hours, I just don't go.... Getting old really sucks. Now I use the dirt bikes to keep entertained.

I never looked at the over-55 places.....just didn't like all the restrictions (many don't allow motorcycles of any type). I can ask around a bit and see what I can find.

Spending some time out here is really the best thing. We flew out here in 2009 and stayed for nearly a month. We stayed at a guest house, so it was like living in an apartment rather than a hotel, then rented a car and drove all around the area just looking at things, shopping, etc. We tried to make it as much like living here as we could. Everyone was so nice that we fully expected to see Alan Funt jump out from behind a tree! We found a real estate agent and just asked for some listings that we could go around and check out neighborhoods, but she volunteered to take us all over the place. We looked at dozens of houses and got a very good idea of what was available for how much. The RE agent was super....spent a ton of time with us even though she knew we weren't going to buy anything until after we retired. Great lady. I haven't talked to her for about six months or so, but will see if she's still selling homes around here. I'll let you know.

Also, in my first mail I made a statement about the weather, something like "a handful of weeks that are very, very hot....." Well, that described August. Just wanted you to know that it will be blazing hot and bone dry during that month. It doesn't bother me much (we came here after four years in Kuwait and Iraq), but most people aren't overly pleased. Just wanted you to know....
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