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Old 09-30-2007, 12:18 PM
 
Location: Here and There
96 posts, read 174,769 times
Reputation: 349

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Here's the basics, my s/o and I are looking to move when he gets back to the States (next year). We are looking for a REMOTE area to live, preferably in Idaho.
I have lived in Montana (in a cabin 41 miles from the nearest town, no electric/indoor plumbing), he has lived in similar situations. So neither of us is a novice to wilderness living.
We want to build our own homestead and be self-sufficient. Both of us are in good health. Both of us have experience in farming, livestock, etc.
Now...it has boiled down to "WHERE?"
After much discussion and debate (punctuated by such comments as "West Va? Are you frickin' NUTS?!?" and "New Mexico...ya gotta be kidding me, right?") We finally settled on two...maybe three states.
Number One: Idaho
Number Two: Wyoming
Number Three...sorta (tied): eastern Washington or Oregon...way east. Snuggled up to Idaho, lol...

Now...what I need to know from all ya'll Idahoans (Idahoians?) is a few things:

1) Best places to live for us anti-social types...remote is a GOOD thing!
2) Cheapest area to buy land in Idaho...10 to 200 acres.
3) When you buy property in Idaho, is there much of an issue with water rights? Do you have to purchase *water shares*, etc?
4) My s/o was born in Cali, but wised up and got the hell outta there at the age of 16 months...ya'll aint gonna hold that against him, are ya?
5) Best Realtors to deal with? Or should we go for dealing with owners of properties directly?

I can't think of any others, but I am sure I will later..

My s/o is currently stationed (US Army) out of the country, but will be back next August. He has a bit more to go after that to make his retirement, but we will probably want to buy property as soon as we can and improve it in fits and starts until we are there full-time.

Oh...and he doesn't like a lot a sand. He is reeeeaaaaaallllly tired of sand.He says he has seen enough of it to last him a lifetime or two.
So places that are sand free preferred, lol!
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Old 09-30-2007, 04:13 PM
 
Location: Sandpoint, Id
64 posts, read 264,823 times
Reputation: 31
Gwynyvyr,
Hope your s/o stays safe over there... My thoughts are that you could find what you're looking for either up here in Northern Idaho, or in the Newport (north of Newport) Washingon. I would be a bit more concerned with your individual property rights in Washingon vs Idaho... their fish and forest laws.... Western Wash government seems to like to meddle quite a bit with environmental issues... a quick look around on the internet showed 20 acres could be found in the 80-100k arena.. the more remote, the cheaper. The nice thing around Sandpoint is that you can get into some pretty remote feeling country ten to fifteen minutes away from town... I would look anywhere around Sandpoint, maybe north of Priest River up to Priest Lake with the lake being more remote... North of Sandpoint to Bonners Ferry, or east to Hope and Clark Fork. Fairchild AFB is about 75 miles south if you need base access... my experience has been that Walmart is almost as cheap as the commisary and a heck of a lot closer! I would get a realtor, i've heard a few bad stories regarding unscrupulous land owners unloading some questionable land on others... i.e. wells that don't produce enough water to allow for building... Water rights have not been resolved yet up here, but look to be an issue in the future... something to be considered up here is that the winters are long and the growing season is shorter than many other regions if you are looking to be self sufficient, something that should be considered... being from Montana, i'm sure you already know that..
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Old 10-01-2007, 10:42 PM
 
Location: out in the sticks
278 posts, read 1,134,203 times
Reputation: 99
Hope your s/o stays safe over there also! I also thank him and you for what he is doing for us all even the ones that do not agree with it.
Your move I would only look north. To bad how he feels about sand as Nevada is wide open and in most areas very very far between towns l to were you shop about once or twice ever other month. Heck any were north of Mcdermit it is best to shop in Boise some 300 miles away LOL
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Old 10-02-2007, 12:41 AM
 
Location: Juneau, AK
2,628 posts, read 6,849,636 times
Reputation: 660
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanddawgg View Post
I would get a realtor, i've heard a few bad stories regarding unscrupulous land owners unloading some questionable land on others... i.e. wells that don't produce enough water to allow for building... Water rights have not been resolved yet up here, but look to be an issue in the future... something to be considered up here is that the winters are long and the growing season is shorter than many other regions...
Very true. I know a lady who was told she would need a twenty foot well and ended up going some 1,000 ft before she hit any sort of water. Needless to say she was very upset.
Some other things to consider about northern Idaho:
-There is a lot of snow and it starts early- we've already got snow covered mountains. Get above 2,000 ft (as most remote people are) and you're looking at snow coverage from late october to early april, give or take a month or so on either end depending on the year.
-Get out of town and power is spotty. Most rural homes are serviced by Northern Lights Power Co-operative and between you and me, they aren't worth $%@. Even if the house you buy is on the grid, get a generator, at least. Solar couldn't hurt, right?
-There is a lot of remoteness but Idahoans have interesting views of ownership. Some will protect their land with a gun, others will make meth on their neighbor's 100 acre forest and not think that's odd at all. Drug usage is a problem up here, but once you get remote it's really only pot, and pot is pretty harmless as illegal drugs go.
Kind of a funny story- I'm staying with family out in a rather remote part of Sandpoint. Everyone else was out late one night and I noticed that there was a car just sitting at the end of the driveway. So I watched it and pretty soon another came along, gave the guy a package, and left. Needless to say I thought that was pretty weird, and told my family that there must be a drug ring about. Everyone laughed at me, but about a month later I learned that some neighbors had called the police after they noticed a suspicious amount of cars going up and down that dirt road at night, and the police had busted a meth lab out in the forest. We all had a good laugh about how right I was and forgot about it, but now they seem to be back. I've taken to writing down the license plate numbers of cars hanging around that seem to be suspicious... I'm like an undercover cop, only cooler because I'm me.
Hope this helps, and best wishes to your hubbinator,

Xa'at
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Old 10-02-2007, 10:59 PM
 
Location: Here and There
96 posts, read 174,769 times
Reputation: 349
Thanks for all the advice...next question:
Is there a decent realtor that sells remote property in northern Idaho that we can half-way trust?
We plan on being off-grid, thats no prob, we have both lived off-grid before. I have lived where I got to town about every 3 or 4 months...heh..
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Old 10-03-2007, 07:02 PM
 
Location: out in the sticks
278 posts, read 1,134,203 times
Reputation: 99
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gwynyvyr View Post
Thanks for all the advice...next question:
Is there a decent realtor that sells remote property in northern Idaho that we can half-way trust?
We plan on being off-grid, thats no prob, we have both lived off-grid before. I have lived where I got to town about every 3 or 4 months...heh..
Heck I live in Calif right now and it is almost off grid here as no one not even the sheriffs can seam to find the house. No address and it dose not show on any gps or maps LOL but can not help ya out on the real state agent thing sorry
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Old 10-04-2007, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Salmon, Idaho
349 posts, read 1,034,934 times
Reputation: 198
Talking Salmon, Idaho

Hi Gwyn,
You want a remote area try Salmon. We are as remote as you can get. We are approx 3 hrs from Missoula,Mt and 3 hrs north of Idaho Falls. The property values are still not too high, the employment is a little tough but if that is not a concern you would love Salmon. It is an awesome little town with great people. Hope this helps a little, they have a website if you want to learn more salmonidaho.com it was helpful to me when I moved here. Good luck and welcome.

Beth
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