Is it just California people ... how about AZ or CO? (Boise: rental car, real estate)

[AlleyTD]

OK, so is it California people only that some Boise / Meridian / Eagle natives may judge negatively or is it ANY transplant?

We're coming from Arizona ...

What about coming from Colorado, or Washington?

Everyone we've met has always been charming and nice>

However I've always been in a rental car with ID plates

[Ruby]

AlleyTD, this post isn't just aimed at you - it's for all of the others who are worried about whether or not they will be accepted in Idaho, too.

Who cares?

I don't mean that in a mean way either. Are you honest, hard working, employed, financially stable, have polite kids, clean? Of course you'll be accepted.

Come up here or to whatever state you want to and live your life. There are all kinds of nice folks here and lots of them have left everything they have ever known to start over in Idaho. If it doesn't work out there are lots of U-Hauls in Idaho as well.

[Torrie]

ditto Ruby

[micrguy]

I kept my AZ plates on my car until the tags expired and I never had any issues. As soon as my tags had expired I got pulled over by the Garden City Police and was issued a ticket even though the tags were only a few days past due. Any other place will seem to give you a month's grace period or give you a warning.

AZ plates are pretty much a none issue as far as I was concerned, it's always easier to blame Californians for everything.

[Sage of Sagle]

The stigma seems to center around California, but really the issue is most urban dwellers. I've heard complaints about people from Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake, and Phoenix too. But MOST complaints were about Californians.

I think it's that MOST people here we've met CAME from California and wanted to get away from it and BECOME Idahoans, and thus they/we resent when people come from California who want to make this area just like California. And they try...seriously (see my other post about Idaho vs. California).

Here in Sandpoint, we were quite literally told by a couple well-meaning neighbors to take off our CA plates the first day we got here. Seriously.

[eyetech]

Hey Sage, I always enjoy your posts. They're informative, encouraging, and to the point! While I can appreciate the good intentions of the advice you received when you moved to Sandpoint (remove the CA license plate post haste!) it sure supports AlleyTD's apprehension (and mine) about potentially moving into a close knit community.
Your sign-off is, "It takes a village to raise an idiot." I'm not calling anyone an idiot, but a twist on your sign-off might be, "It takes one sour puss to make a whole village look bad." I'm glad this forum allows for all sorts of expression...and information. Thanks!

[Sage of Sagle]

I think that advice was good, and here's why....

If people meet me and ask if I grew up in the area or moved here from somewhere else, I have the ability to tell them that I'm from a SMALL RURAL TOWN (which happens to be in California) so they form an opinion of me as a new neighbor based on their interaction with me, NOT based on some preconceived negative idea based on seeing my auto plates.

So when we moved here, I did re-register my car the first week, but then again, it took about 3 weeks to get my wife's car over there to get re-titled and such. So in THIS area, it's not a bad idea, but not a mission-critical must-do IMHO.

[AlleyTD]

When I moved to Arizona, from -gasp- Los Angeles.
It was the same here. Arizona folks didn't like all the CA peeps coming here to "californicate" the place.

sigh ...

It's actually kind of funny in someways. I have fond memories of California and if I could afford a place along the central coast somewhere - you know, a little shack for 1.2 mil - I'd probably live there. NOT!

I'm ready for Idaho and I'll change my plates within the first week I land

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[Torrie]

Hey AlleyTD, go to the Meridian DMV it's faster than the Boise one! Here's the address: 1769 N. Lakes Ave, Ste. 100

[CafeDelSol]

Here in east Idaho I notice the locals get irritated more with Utahans than Californians. They buy up lots of property here. They're also closer and tend to "invade" Idaho during every major holiday (and most summer weekends). Most also drive like lunatics wherever they go which doesn't help their image.

Many western states are having growing pains. When I visited New Mexico a few years ago, the locals liked to talk about all the rich Texans moving to the area, driving up real estate and acting like jerks.

With the US population over 300 million and growing fast these problems are only going to get worse. All these wide open spaces and freedoms won't exist in another 30 years. Only the filthy rich will be able to live where they want. The rest of us will be living in massive apartment complexes or the slums.