Looking to retire in Idaho (Idaho Falls, Sandpoint: for sale, zoned, housing)

[TNTCAK]

Looking for a small town in Idaho to retire ... any suggestions? I currently live in Albuquerque, NM, am a tele-comuter for HP and am planning my retirement which will be in the next 5-7 years. I am looking to retire in the west in/near a small town that is not more than a 2-3 hours drive from a city. I am scanning properties now and plan to purchase land in the next 12-18 months.

I would like a green home, as off the grid with modern conveniences as possible. Preferabley one with two master bedrooms with ensuite full baths, an office/library, great room (no formal living or dining rooms) and a two full sized, club cab pickup truck garage. I even have a builders plan for a ranch style strawbale, passive/active solar, wind turbine home with melt/rain water recycling. The home itself is no larger than 2000 sq ft and that includes the semi-attached guest suite but not the garage.

If the area is suitable and zoned accordingly I also have plans for a "green" laundry mat and campground cabins.

I don't mind if the land has existing old buildings as I would dismantle and re-use as much of the material as possible in the new construction.

[Oi812]

[SIZE=3]Have you thought about moving further to the left? Maybe California or Washington.[/SIZE]

[DESERTRYDER]

I think this guys pulling my leg ???

[shades_of_idaho]

OK I would like a house with two master suites. Would be nice for company. The rest. Well hummmmmmmmmmmm . I think they do straw bale houses in Colorado. Knew someone that had one there once.

My neighbor has a partially solar house for sale. They did not hook up to the grid until 3 years ago and they built the house about 10 years ago. 5 acres. high speed internet is available here. Shop attached to the house. They even have a worm business that sells with the house. No washateria. No strawbales except for the worms.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

Chris

[TNTCAK]

The western coastal states (CA, WA, OR) are too expensive. Lived in Beaverton, OR and San Diego, CA and it was just to much for housing, land and general groceries. Also, CA "rattled" a bit too much for my taste. i have researched alternative construction, passive/active solar and wind turbine energy sources since the 60's. Yes, I am a former Flower Child. However "green" homes are much cheaper to build now days and look conventional as well so I won't need my tie-dyed shirts and wholey jeans ;-}

[TNTCAK]

This guy is a gal and I have toured several alternative construction homes in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Texas and Nebraska. Off the grid is far easier than one would think. Living in Albuquerque I added solar power to an existing conventional home and since then my utility bills have been cut in half! If I moved out of the city proper I could install a wind turbine but the land just outside town is expensive.

[esselcue]

You are really ambitious and I applaude you! I plan to retire in No Idaho myself but will probably not be able to go the full "green home" route, and will have to settle for recycling and a more modest way of conserving. But your plans and ambitions are great and I hope they come to fruition for you.

I was not a Flower Child but rather was a surfer chick during the early sixties. Oh, so long ago..... I still have tie-dyed shirts and a madras bedspread though!

Good luck in your quest! If you do end up in Idaho I hope we run across each other some day!

[mistyriverranch]

We live in north Idaho in an off the grid solar, wind (and generator to charge batteries in winter) powered cabin. We have most modern conveniences except a dishwasher...no space. I would love to add a straw bale guest house but most likely it will be stick built.

[summondice]

You didn't mention wheter you intended to move to northern Idaho or Southeast, and your political and relgious leanings may persuade you to one section or the other - they're really like two different worlds. Norther Idaho o is much more liberal, though the boise area is catching up as well.

But then, I'm fairly liberal and love living in Idaho Falls...overall.

Salmon, Idaho seems to be garnering interest as a sort of out of the way tourist site...so you have the beauty without the awful prices, and that might be nice for the endeavors you've outlined.

I'd also recommend the Ashton area...beautiful and definitely out of the way. SE Idaho has a ton of space and little towns all along the way. I'm pretty sure that unless you plant yourself in a bizarre area in the middle of the state somewhere then you'll be easily within 2-3 hours of a "major" city, depending on how you're defining that...

Hope it helps!

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by summondice

Norther Idaho o is much more liberal, though the boise area is catching up as well.

And again, it's liberal by IDAHO standards. It's very libertarian, but well to the right of center except for a small pocket in Sandpoint and a larger group in CDA. Fiscally about as far right as you can get with small government and low intrustion/taxation, but socially more live-and-let-live than the republican platform generally calls for...