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thanks for thinking of me and the images! I will now do my research. Did you live there or intend to?
Its on my list, as is Boise. Boise tops my list because of how awesome the parks are, and how close it is to Washington state and Oregon. I personally want the more severe colder weather (which is short lived) because I want to ski in the winter as well as float the river in the summer. I also appreciate the fall colors of Boise.
What is attractive about the parks there? Just curious as we do ride our bikes and hopefully be able to buy a house near the greenbelt with a maximum $250,000 budget for a house (and a garage).
What is attractive about the parks there? Just curious as we do ride our bikes and hopefully be able to buy a house near the greenbelt with a maximum $250,000 budget for a house (and a garage).
The Greenbelt is a series of beautiful parks along the river. I think with 250K you can get close to the Greenbelt.
We have lived in both towns. We moved to Meridian from Bend. Boise has milder winters than Bend. Being a larger city you will find the medical service excellent in Boise and choices of restaurants better. We found Bend to be much more expensive in COL, especially houses and taxes. Too many CA moved there and OR was turning into another liberal CF. Sort of isolated too.
You can find a nice house in the $250 to $300 K range, but outside of the urban Boise area. We are an active retired couple and love the Boise area. For gyms, we found the YMCA to be a good choice for us. Lots of parks for us to use and take the two furry kids for a daily romp. Also very gun-friendly here.
Summer can be warm, so get a place with A/C. Fruit and produce abound in the summer-fall.
Lots more to tell, but if you have questions. Fire away.
Thanks for the reply especially from a retired person's perspective. The air conditioning recommendation is good and will keep that in mind. To be honest I am on the fence regarding neighborhoods.
* We are active 57 year old's (hike, fly fish, bicycle ride, gym, etc, etc)
*We do want a good gym (I hear the YMCA as you mentioned a good value).
*I want a new house just because I do not want older home related issues and better insulation and energy efficient.
* 3 car garage is ideal or at least a 2 car with room on the side of the garage for my drift boat.
* Just the two of us and occasional family visits so a 3 bedroom is plenty so around 1800 sq.ft.
** I have mixed emotions as far as living in a cookie cutter new neighborhood with children (especially teenagers!..(< . Raised 3 children, been there, done that. So a quiet neighborhood is ideal with older neighbors so we can network.
Thanks for your advice and yes, based on our research, Bend is too expensive for us in many aspects compared to Boise. I found this of interest and wanted to share but as you can see Oregon is not a good place to retire for seniors (my sister who lives in Portland just informed me it was rated the #1 worst place now)
Lots of newer houses in and outside of Boise City Limits. We live in Meridian and have found neighborhoods with a mix of ages and families and also 55 and older only. We are older than you, but have lived in both types of neighborhoods in the short time we have been here. We like the mixed one better than the older only one. But ours is a quite area even with kids in some of the families.In our area, you can find new houses with 3 car garages, single or double level (we chose single level) and even can get a 3 car garage with one for a large RV or boat. I would say our subdivisions are not cookie cutter, but they do have HOAs.
BTW, have you discovered the $90K +/- homeowners exemption for the prop taxes in ID? Besides the homes being less expensive (relative to OR) the prop taxes are a lot lower. But we do have a sales tax on everything. Guess we can't have it all.
Boise area is really a safe area. People are generally friendly but not nosy or pushy.
Your link top the state-by-state guides was an interesting read.
I've spend nearly all my life in the Bend or Boise areas (live in Boise now).
They're different and similar. The weather is mostly comparable. Boise gets hotter in the summer and slightly colder on average in the winter (due to inversions, which are less frequent in Bend (though they do occur there)). The biggest difference weather-wise is it tends to warm up a little sooner in the spring and stay a little warmer longer into the fall in Boise, which is great if you're a gardener.
Bend is smaller in terms of population but there's still plenty to do there. The outdoors are extremely accessible in both places, but you don't have to go quite as far to get away from people in Bend because there are just fewer people around. There are more city distractions in Boise, but more traffic and hassle as well. Which has the better balance is a matter of opinion.
The airport in Boise is a lot better with cheaper flights and much better connections, but Redmond has a decent airport which does offer direct flights to Seattle.
Housing is probably a little cheaper in the Boise area.
You can't pump your own gas in Oregon, which has always annoyed me.
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. Raised 3 children, been there, done that. So a quiet neighborhood is ideal with older neighbors so we can network.
