Moving to CDA in July - Just a few last questions. (Coeur d'Alene: apartment complexes, renters)
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First off, I want to thank everyone who has provided me with information and offered me insight into the things that were important to me in making my decision to move to CDA over the last couple years. Guys like Toyman and others who have relocated to CDA themselves have been instrumental in this process. This time last year was supposed to be the move, but due to some work and family issues that sprung up the move had to be delayed. Well I am set to move again, this time in July and have just a few more questions I am hoping those in the CDA area can help with as I put the finishing touches on my plans.
1) Probably the one thing that has me the most concerned, and that I need the most advice on, is renting and location. Now, I understand that when I say "bad neighborhood", it does not translate to what "bad neighborhood" means here where I live now. Bad neighborhood here means keep your windows and doors locked at all times, be suspicious of your neighbors, and keep a loaded gun near where you sleep at night.
From what I understand, these kinds of neighborhoods dont exist in CDA, but that you have your own version of "bad neighborhoods." So my question here is twofold. Could someone describe what would constitute a "bad neighborhood" in CDA (what makes it bad?) and which areas in CDA are those neighborhoods that I should avoid? I believe in other threads people had mentioned blocks of areas like "Don't live between 11th and 14th" or something to that extent. Because as I look at house to rent online, I do see some disparaging price differences that make me scratch my head and say - why is that house $300 more a month when they both have the same square footage, and same number of bedrooms.
For me, the worst thing that could possibly happen is that I travel 3000+ miles across the country and find myself living in a crappy neighborhood and locked into a lease for a year. So this is something I really want to avoid. What I am really looking for, honestly, is clean and quiet. I dont need to be in walking distance to schools, or shopping, or entertainment. I just want friendly neighbors, clean landscape to look at, and quiet to enjoy.
2) Does anyone know of any Property Management companies or renters that I should absolutely avoid at all costs? I have found a lot of PM companies and renters online, but reviews for every single one of them are absolutely horrible. If all I knew about CDA came from these reviews, I would think that everyone that lived there lives in broken down homes that never get fixed, and the whole place is filled with swindlers and liars who never deliver on promises.
Now I work in the internet marketing business, and I know that happy customers rarely ever go online to leave positive reviews, and that disproportionately by nature, most reviews will be skewed negative. But I gotta tell you, this experience has made me nervous. I want to give these guy the benefit of the doubt, and assume that most of their clients are happy or they would not be in business. But do any of you absolutely need to warn me about doing business with one of these groups? Are any of them widely known to be notorious for taking advantage of renters or relocators?
3) Rifle Ranges - Do you have them? I own guns and enjoy shooting, are there any facilities nearby where I can go and shoot? Do I need to be a member or are there public places?
4) Aside from guns, I also enjoy nerd-ish like hobbies. So I am wondering if there is a community in CDA of people who are into comic books, RPGs, video games etc. Or will I be a lonely nerd?
5) Ok so this one is a bit of a personal question and kind of embarrassing. My fiancee is .... a big girl.... (I am no skinny minny either) In this part of NYS where our diets consist of garbage plates (2 burgers, mac salad, home fries, and smothered in a hot meat sauce), frozen custard, fish fries, and NY style Pizza .... its quite normal for there to be a lot of "girthy" people about, and thus not unusual to see larger sized folks out and about.
Generally speaking, how does the overall CDA community view fat people. Are they stigmatized at all, do they stand out like a sore thumb? How about the medical community? We are in a mid sized city with a large medical industry, so there are plenty of doctors and health care providers around here that deal with patients that have health conditions related to weight. Do you think we will have trouble finding doctors who have experience with these kinds of things? Keep in mind I am not talking like INSANE-ly 500lbs or anything, just your typical heavy-set related health issues like diabetes, vascular issues, joint pain etc.
1) Most anywhere in town, I'd normally lock my doors and windows. Once you're in easy walking distance of knucklehads, it's just good policy. I'd specifically avoid "felony flats" (the neighborhood around Lowes), the east end of Sherman toward the freeway and up 15th toward the freeway. There ARE plenty of nice folks in that area, mind you, so I'm not painting them all with a broad brush. But those nice folks are in easy walking distance of way too many welfare cases and tweakers for my comfort level. North of I-90, you'll find several semi-dumpy little neighborhoods interspersed with little mobile home parks and apartment complexes. A recipe for auto burglary and property theft. So shop accordingly...
2) No help here, sorry.
3) We shoot on our acreage. In the CDA area I'm sure there are enough places you can go that you don't have to worry about joining any clubs.
4) Plenty of gamers here. I know quite a few 20'ish and 30'ish people who are pretty hard core gaming nerds. You'll meet people when you move here.
5) There are plenty of bigger folks around here that they don't stand out. The area's heavy scottish/irish/canadian influence tends to mean a lot of stocky, strong, large-framed, and just bigger people period. And when people start off bigger, when they don't stay in shape they're just that much more rotund. So it's not a shock to see really big girls and really hefty guys around this area, even while we have our very lean and sporty people on the other end of the spectrum.
So it's not like it would be any big shock to the doctors here...no.
1) Post an address and I can take a picture of it so you can see if they are telling it like it is or embellishing. I have yet to find a place I would be downright afraid to walk through, but like Sage said there are places that you would probably rather not be.
2) Dunno.
3) I don't think you will have a problem.
4) Nerds galore. There is a club for just about anything. I was just reading in the paper there is a curling club. No not hair, like the Olympics.
5) I don't think you will be ridiculed like on an episode of Seinfeld if you are supersized.
I live in Sandpoint, so I don't know specific places to not rent, except I wouldn't rent anyplace in the downtown area past the resort. As far as heavy people you do not have people ridiculing you on the streets. People are kind enough to keep their thoughts to themselves most of the time. The hospital is Kootenai Memorial and it is a wonderful facility. I'd go to that hospital over any other in the area. There are many doctors, and many specialty doctors as well.
Romanswinter, I'm glad to hear that you're making the move. You're in for an adventure! Sage covered a lot of the bases with regard to neighborhoods in CDA. In spite of some warnings, I wouldn't be too concerned, pretty much everywhere in CDA is going to be lower crime than WNY. Are you moving out with all of your stuff, or is it coming later? If you can swing it, a week or two in a hotel might be worthwhile, rather than committing to a specific rental ahead of time. Give you a chance to look around. You'll see the poor kept areas soon enough. Again though, nothing like parts of NY. With some exceptions, even the poorer areas are reasonably well kept and decent. Like Elousv, I'd be happy to go check out a specific address for you. I seem to recall that you were considering towns even smaller than CDA. If so, CDA is a great place to start your exploring from.
No help on property management, sorry. HOpefully others that were in your situation can chime in. edit to add, I think I rented through these guys when I moved here: http://www.resortpropertiesidaho.com/ They were adequate, no real nightmare experience.
Gun ranges, that's more like it. There are two private ranges near CDA, Atlas Rifle and Pistol Club (or something similar) and Fernan. Both are pretty reasonable for rates. The range at Farragut State Park is supposed to open again this year (may be now). There is a public area in the NF that a lot of people shoot on Hayden Creek. Or head into the NF and look for a safe place, especially any old gravel ("borrow") pit. Few are real long range though. There is a range by Mica, WA that is good for 700 yards IIRC. For handguns, Center Target Sports is excellent, both a nice range and a great instruction program.
Can't help much on the gaming/comic book stuff. I bet there is plenty of opportunity.
Girth isn't a big challenge. We don't have quite the selection of great, if calorie intensive, foods that WNY has to offer. No really great local pizza places, no big Friday fish fry and worst of all, no good wings We were spoiled with the ethnic influence in WNY for food. But that's a small price to pay, and there are plenty of great places to eat. And plenty of us gravitationally challenged people around. The area isn't all judgemental about that stuff like some places. There are so many outdoor/physical opportunities that you might find yourself losing weight anyway. Hasn't really worked for me, but it might for you Actually, I did lose a fair amount of weight when I first moved here, but as I got older, I put it all back on and then some. Gotta think about doing something about that.
As they say in the big city...Git-r-Done! One thing I think you'll find is that people are really friendly and helpful for newcomers.
Once you get here, Elousv and I are going to have to work on getting you on an ATV!
Last edited by Toyman at Jewel Lake; 04-16-2013 at 10:39 PM..
1) I live in what I would consider a "bad neighborhood" here in Coeur d'Alene, and aside from a handful of overnight car break-ins in the area over the past several years, there hasn't been a major problem. My biggest complaint is some neighbors with a large back yard who use it for snowmobiling at all hours of the night during the winter and 4-wheeling at all hours of the night during the summer. They also keep trashy vehicles in their driveway for a few months at a time while they restore them to running condition.
I don't know anyone in Coeur d'Alene who doesn't keep their doors and windows locked, at least windows on the lower-level. It's just a matter of security in today's day and age. I do know people who don't bother locking their cars and have never had a problem. I on the other hand lock my car all the time, and still had it stolen once a few years ago from one of the new developments in town in broad daylight. (The police did find it within an hour though, only slightly worse for wear.) So although our crime rates are quite low, bad things can happen.
Really, there are no truly "bad" neighborhoods in Coeur d'Alene, not like in bigger cities. But if I could afford to avoid living in broad areas of town, these would be the ones:
A) The "square" defined by north from Sherman Avenue to Harrison Avenue, east of 12th St to Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive. There are some areas in this square I wouldn't consider "bad," but this is just broadly defining the area.
B) The "square" defined by north from Appleway Avenue to Bosanko Avenue, east of Ramsey to Highway 95.
C) Anywhere immediately adjoining Government Way north of Best Avenue and south of Kathleen.
D) The "square" defined by north of Mill Avenue to Ironwood Dr., east of Northwest Blvd to Lincoln Way (aka Highway 95).
I'm obviously painting with very broad strokes here, and the vast majority of people who live in these areas are decent people who would never consider being bad neighbors. But there are always the handful that ruin it for everyone else.
2) Sorry, I wouldn't know. I've never gone through a property management company, nor do I know anyone who has within the past 15 years.
3) There are several outdoor facilities around that offer rifle ranges. Since I personally don't shoot, I don't know them by name, but I know there is a range near Fernan Lake which allows rifles. There is also a range just off Atlas and just north of Kathleen, but I'm not 100% sure if they allow rifles there.
4) You are not alone! In fact, one of the many volunteer organizations I am involved with organizes Spokane's Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention, SpoCon. And if you arrive in July, you'll be just in time for this year's convention which happens in mid-August. You're likely to find the biggest concentration of "nerdy" types at events in Spokane, few groups meet locally in Coeur d'Alene. If you attend SpoCon, you'll definitely meet some folks from Idaho though.
5) It's not out of the ordinary for there to be larger individuals around Coeur d'Alene, and I've never noticed any major antipathy toward "girthy" people, unless they're the types who with no visible disability other than size take the closest parking space, and then hop on a store's scooter. Then there might be a comment or two about how walking might help the whole situation. Rude and insulting people happen, but we have a lower percentage of them than most places.
Coeur d'Alene has a large retirement population, and thus lots of doctors including specialists around serving the needs of that population. I don't think there will be a problem finding a good doctor. I only know of two people with medical problems that couldn't be diagnosed and dealt with by doctors in Coeur d'Alene. One found the specialist she needed in Spokane, and the other had to go to Seattle because of her VERY specialized/unusual condition.
In general, Coeur d'Alene is a pretty active town with lots of outdoor recreational activities from the lake to the Centennial Trail, and you'll notice many people running, walking and biking around town. But larger people don't "stand out" here. There are plenty of us who are heavy-set. We have a mix of everyone in town, all shapes and sizes. And as I find myself saying quite often, people here tend to be respectful of others. We're a very "live and let live" state; that's just as true in Coeur d'Alene as it is elsewhere in the state. As brokencrayola said, in general if someone has a negative comment about your weight, they'll probably keep it to themselves.
My husband and I are gamers too. Well use to be. Now mostly PC gamers. There is a big RPG store in the silverlake mall where they have D&D etc. Lots of tables set up etc. Always crowded, And lots of miniatures. lol
Neighborhoods farther away from the downtown area are safe. But thats if your traveling 3k miles and want to be sure. After living here you may find those areas not bad. But if you dont want to take your chances,,,,try finding areas just north of CDA or Post falls (the newer communities have a lot of rentals in them.
They have the Landings Hawks Nest lots of newer communities off Poleline Road
This town is a very active community. I gained a lot of weight after my son was born (plus I quit smoking) and family issues led me to depression. So I ate for comfort. But living in this town has made me want to get my life back. Everyone has been nice to me. I am not huge but not skinny either. I have seen some people laugh at me. Or treat me different. But I think that is anywhere you go. There will always be superficial people in the world who can't see pass the front door. But I will say this, this town is a great motivator. Everyone is always walking and riding bikes. I use to be that way. And now that I am in CDA I have been inspired to get my life back. I have noticed overweight, healthy weight, and underweight people here. I think you and your wife will be fine here.
Thank you so much to all of those who responded! I have some more comments I intend to make shortly, but for now I wanted to post this map and get your thoughts. From what everyone has described as "not the best" neighborhoods, it seems like the area marked on the map below is the places I want to avoid if I can. Can you guys confirm this? It seems like a large part of CDA hehe, like most of the heart of the place. So I am guessing that the further north of CDA and beyond is the best spots? Edit: or is Lincoln to 4th, south of 90 one of the better areas? That one didnt seem to get mentioned as one of the neighborhoods to avoid.
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Actually, I did lose a fair amount of weight when I first moved here, but as I got older, I put it all back on and then some. Gotta think about doing something about that.
