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I'm a recently retired detective from an inner-city Los Angeles area police department and my wife works for a school district, also in the So. Cal area, who is soon to retire herself within a couple of years or so. We've been looking hard at the Boise, ID area as a place to buy our final home to last to the end of our days.
Naturally, living in So Cal, we are so tired of the traffic, close-together housing, the selfish/entitlement attitude, the crime rates and the hustle n bustle of Southern CA. We want to spread our wings, find a more slower pace with outdoor scenery/activities (mostly RV camping and outdoor spaces) and better weather which actually has true seasons and not just summer & fall types of seasons, hence Boise sounds like that kind of place!
What were looking for is an area that has decent space between homes from the neighbors (not 10 feet from our neighbors windows on both sides, 1/2 acre+ would work), pretty much light traffic area, but yet within a reasonable driving distance to shopping, entertainment and essential necessities. Basically we're looking for peace and quiet areas in and/or outside of the Boise area. I've heard areas in the north part of town are decent, as well as the Eagle & Meridian areas. Can anybody give us some idea where to start our search for our final home? We'll be heading out that way next summer on vacation and would definitely like some direction on scouting out our possible "retirement home." At this point, I think we'd be looking for homes in the mid-$200,000 range (if the current housing market continues to improve.)
For that size lot in the mid $200s, you'll probably be best off looking in some of the outer areas like Star or Kuna. You can find those properties in Meridian and Boise but they'll be few and far between and you'll probably end up with a little bit of a fixer with that budget. I guess if you don't mind traffic noise there are quite a few places on either side of I84 between Meridian Road and Boise that have some large lots with older homes - some of those might fit with what you'd like to spend.
The good news is that you're retired so you don't have to worry about dealing with a commute into Boise or something like that.
Coming from out of town, I'd definitely recommend spending some time getting to know the area so you can figure out where you like before buying.
Northern Idaho. It's a pipeline for ex-So Cal police officers.
Haha. Spot on advice, there. The Coeur d'Alene-Sandpoint corridor has an incredibly high per capita of retired SoCal cops (myself included). But here in the north, you have to like the cold and snow. Then again, the mid-$200's buys you a lot more house and you're a lot closer to hunting, fishing, recreation, campgrounds all around, etc.
And while Boise has "seasons"...northern Idaho has SEASONS. Cold snowy winter, gorgeous green wet springtime, travel guide photojournalist-worthy summer, and amazing fall colors and weather.
Thanks IdaD, HP & Sage. We're looking more of a turn-key type property, not necessarily a fixer. Are you saying that mid $200's wont get us much in the surrounding Boise area? We can always bump up to the $300's. I also said 1/2 acre+ would be nice, but actually we feel 1 acre or more would be better. Am I being naive about what kind of home and property we can get in that area for that price range?
We do like northern Idaho and definitely want weather, just not extreme weather. We definitely like the Coeur d'Alene-Sandpoint corridor, but think being that far north might be a little too extreme in the winters. Any opinions for the Lenore / Orofino / Kamiah areas along the Clearwater River?
Haha. Spot on advice, there. The Coeur d'Alene-Sandpoint corridor has an incredibly high per capita of retired SoCal cops (myself included). But here in the north, you have to like the cold and snow. Then again, the mid-$200's buys you a lot more house and you're a lot closer to hunting, fishing, recreation, campgrounds all around, etc.
And while Boise has "seasons"...northern Idaho has SEASONS. Cold snowy winter, gorgeous green wet springtime, travel guide photojournalist-worthy summer, and amazing fall colors and weather.
The weather discussion is an interesting one. I went and looked up averages and found the following figures (first number is CDA, second is Meridian).
Annual precipitation: 26" vs 10" - there's a lot of your difference in snow.
Avg low in Dec/Jan: 25 vs 22
Avg high in Dec/Jan: 36 vs 37
Record low: -34 vs -32
Avg high in July: 82.5 vs 89
Now bear in mind that CDA is on a lake, and if the "official" weather station is close to the lake that could impact your average low numbers in the winter by artificially bumping them up slightly.
Having lived both places, my own take is that the temps are pretty comparable in the winter, but in Boise you get a lot more cold, clear and dry days whereas you get a lot more cold, damp and snow/sleet days up north. You also get a lot more snow accumulation and more darkness (further north and Pacific time zone both contribute to the early onset of night). Summers are obviously hotter in Boise, and I'd wager that in most years your temperature swing is more dramatic down here simply because the winters are pretty comparable while the summers are hotter.
Both places are great, but different. In some ways the outdoors are more accessable up north, but at the same time Boise is adjacent to the mountainous heart of the state (central Idaho) as well as the most desoloate part of the state (Owyhee country).
Again, both great but quite different.
As it relates to the housing question, from my own experience it will be difficult to find an acre type property in a close-in area for mid $200s, especially now. But I was looking for a larger home (family of 4), so my experience may be skewed relative to your needs. The easiest thing is to get on Zillow and add in a filter for a minimum lot size of whatever you want (about 45k square feet is an acre) and see what's available.
Trulia.com, zillow and realtor.com all get their data from a third party aggregate site. If you go to an agent's site that has IDX or to the Intermountain MLS site, you'll get real, live accurate data directly from the MLS with fewer errors, old listings, pendings, etc.
For the best information of all, you might want to contact a local agent. Right now, for at least .5 acre in Ada County (Boise, Kuna, Meridian, Eagle, Star), there are about 42 homes for sale. If limited to homes built after 1990, there are 14 homes, most in Kuna.
I retired two years ago and moved to Nampa. I know a lot of people badmouth this town, but I've had exactly zero problems since we've been here. There are a few neighborhoods that look a bit rundown, and others that are small, 1940's and 50's houses but very well kept up. There are also some much newer neighborhoods that are quite nice. I chose to live further out because I wasn't working and didn't have to commute.
We are completely happy with our choice to live here and I wouldn't change it for anything. If you've got any specific questions, please feel free to ask....either on here or via direct messaging (see upper right corner of the screen).
Thanks all for your responses thus far. When we DO move outta CA we are looking for nicer weather (different and cooler than where we are at now), a more slower & less busy pace, a more conservative & less liberal attitude amongst the populous and state and a generally more friendlier and social attitude, i.e when you say hello, they return the greeting . While I really like the northern Idaho area (Coeur d'Alene and surrounding areas) and seeing the average yearly temps being somewhat similar to Boise (temps being a little warmer during the summer in Boise and snowfalls a little higher in the north), my wife has reservations about the snowfall levels and length of winter weather and temps in the north.
Comparatively, between Boise and northern Idaho, what kind of snow levels and lengths of winter temps are we talking about? Also, we will still have plenty of family in CA, so access to an airport is important. I know of a major airport in Boise, but what airport is close in Coeur d'Alene? Looking at a map, I'm assuming it would be in Spokane. Finally, based upon the tone of your responses, it sounds like we would get more bang for our buck in the north, as far as housing and lot sizes, than we would get around the Boise area? True or False.
Thanks in advance for what I hope to be some insightful responses.
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