Help! I am torn between ID and CO (Boise, Mountain Home: student loans, house)

[Taznmb1]

Lets look at boise:

The Weather. Well in the summer in Boise you can expect some heat and some mild days. We get a good mix of the 2 but in Aug you will get weather from 95-110. Now keep in mind this is a very dry heat. There is little Humidity. We set the record for the state a couple years ago for the most 100+ days in a row at 14. But usually not that many. The other side of the spectrum. Winter it gets Cold but not a lot of snow in the valley. It is Dec right now and we have had high's from 35-42 and low's of 28-12. It has snowed 3 days this winter and it was gone in a day or two. The rest of the time we are in the 60-70 degree range.

Next lets talk about Schools. The schools have teachers that care about there student. With the lowest paid teachers in the western US. They are not doing it for the money. Being a Son-in-law of an High schoool teacher gives me a different perspective. If your looking for Private schooling we have some of the best in the country. Bishop Kelly is a Private Catholic sHigh school for down the road that offers Some of the best academics and Sports that you will find in the counrty. With a Graduation Rate in the 90% and over 90% of there student going on to gradute from College shows why they are so good.

Next lets talk houseing. The House market has been on the rise but you can look at a Nice home in the 190-300 price range with square footage rangeing from 1500 to 2500.The prices have started to level out. The area is in a growth pattern and will continue for a while.

Next lets look at Entertainment. We have one of the most diverse areas that I have ever seen. We are alot like San Fran in this respect. We have a great Artistic community that has lots of things year around for this. We have plays, Concerts, Art in the park, museums and many other things. Then there is the Sports if this is a concern. We have Semipro teams for hockey, Baseball, And basketball. There is also the College. There are the things for the kids like the water park, Boondocks fun center, Skate parks, many traditinal parks, and some parks in the mountains. One nice thing about boise is there is just about anything you want to do within a 2 hour drive from Boise. If the outdoors are your thing there is camping, Fishing , Hunting, ETC. We have many hobbiest with many different hobbies. I could could keep going.

Next Drive time. Depending on wich way you are driveing depends on the drive time. If you live in Boise and not one of the outer suberbs then driveing is rather good. There is some congestion but not anything like Pheniox. If you are driving tword the Nampa caldwell area there is generally no delay because most of the people are driving from the Nampa-Caldwell area to Boise. With this there is a 20-30 Min delay in the morning and evening conversly.Driving in town the delay is much less down to a 5-15 min delay.I Live in the middle Kinda in the Kuna Meridian Boise Region and I can get anywhere in 15-25 min.

Next Hostpitals. We have 2 major hostpitals in Boise there is St. Lukes and St. Alphonsus. there are bith ver good hostpitals and have extentions in Meridian and Nampa. The care is some of the best I have had being that I have had 9 surgeries in my life and have been to Hostpitals in Portland Oregon , Salt Lake City Utah, and Eugene Oregon. By Far Boise is the best in the Northwest.
A small bit on Crime. Crime is relitivly small in this area. We are a mid to large size community with a small town mentallity. So the Crime is kept to a min.

Last taxes For a 1500 square foot home valued at about 210,000 you can expect about 1200 a year in Property tax and there is a 6% sales tax. That is the main portion of our taxes. The state tax on your pay check is rather insignificant.

[AJY]

If I had to do it all over again I would choose Colorado. I moved to Northern Idaho from Northern CA about 7 months ago and cannot wait to leave!
I have visited Boise to make sure that wouldn't be better and it wasn't.
Norhern Idaho has no amenities and the gray skies really get old.

[WD7N]

For what it's worth I daho is nice but there's so many other places to live and work that surpass Idaho. I went to college for my first two years in Idaho and I couldn't wait to get out of there. That was many years ago. The summers are short and the winters are long. My wife is from Idaho and her father (family) raised spuds and other things. My wife and I both prefer other states than Idaho. Go to Colorado. It's a nice place to live. Just have good work lined up. Later...M

[Bettsnow]

I have never heard of LDS. What is LDS mean???

[sillygal]

LDS......stands for Latter Day Saints, in your browser type in LDS, and u will get loads of info on it.

[happy-k]

I grew up in Colorado Springs... it's a great family town with low crime. In college I moved to Boulder, which is full of diversity and fun things to do. I love Colorado... It's beautiful and everyone is super friendly. You have the big cities next to the total beauty of nature. I currently live in Idaho because of a job opportunity my husband got right out of college. Now that I live here, it's OK but it's practically impossible for me to find a job that pays well, and I have a BA. If we get the opportunity to move back to Colorado, we will likely take it, as Idaho is kinda boring if you are used to lots of things to do. Positives of living in Idaho, though, are that it's safe, it's cheap to live here (though, you get paid on the low end too), and it's definatly small-town. If you're used to going to major football games and going out to bars with your friends, I would suggest moving to Colorado. If you're past that stage in life and are just looking for a place to settle down and maybe retire soon, well, then I'd consider Idaho.

Hope that helps!

[nlevisme]

In the last 10 years, we have lived in Northern California, Southwest Colorado, Northern Idaho and now have a home near Yosemite and a home in Northern Idaho.

Of the three states, I prefer Southwest Colorado. But ONLY Southwest Colorado. As previously mentioned, the rest of the state of Colorado is getting weird!

We are retired, so we have visited every inch of Colorado, California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona. In the other US states, we have toured, but not explored every inch.

From the standpoint of year round weather, you can't beat California. From the standpoint of mountains, Colorado takes the prize. Cost of living?, I would pick Idaho.

For me, I can barely stomach California. But, for now, because we have family here, we keep a home here. On the other hand, when I talk to my Idaho neigbor and relatives in Hayden Lake, ID. and they tell me what the weather is like right now, I'm very happy to be in California and its 60 degree winter days!

We are currently considering selling our Northern Idaho property and looking at property in Southern Idaho or Southwest Colorado. The only draw back seems right now to go back to Colorado, are property prices. Colorado prices, on a whole, seem to be higher than Idaho. But then again, you will see a lot more sun in Southwest Colorado, over the winter, than anywhere in Idaho!

[Lintee]

We now live in Bend, Oregon... husband looking for a new job... we were thinking about Boise; possibly consider Reno. We don't really know that much about Boise except for driving thru a few times. I like the weather here in Bend (high desert) but wish it was a little warmer in the winter. Housing is getting pretty high. We are in our 50's and looking for a nice climate and more reasonable housing.

[suzee]

Originally Posted by Lintee

We now live in Bend, Oregon... husband looking for a new job... we were thinking about Boise; possibly consider Reno. We don't really know that much about Boise except for driving thru a few times. I like the weather here in Bend (high desert) but wish it was a little warmer in the winter. Housing is getting pretty high. We are in our 50's and looking for a nice climate and more reasonable housing.

Reno's generally warmer in the winter than Boise. Sometimes snows a little more, but not much.

sue

[mejaka]

(Side note: When searching for information about the LDS as found in Idaho, you want to watch the spelling:
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Seems nitpicky, but there are many small sects that use this name, and the [i]Latter Day[i] spelling variant will get you the wrong ones.

You can also look at www.lds.org and www.mormon.org --the first is the official church website, the second is one aimed at those who might not know much and be confused by some of the insider-language etc on the first.)