retirement recommendations (Coeur d'Alene, Lewiston, Moscow: property taxes, housing, rent)

[rosanielle]

What are good retirement places in Idaho? Tax-friendly. Good restaurants and bike paths. Forest is a must. Water a bonus (lake or river). Mild winters. Rain in spring, no bugs in summer, temperatures above 20 in winter, and long, mild autumns! Looking to relocate in 4 or 5 years, so we have time to check some places out, based upon personal recommendations!

[vintage]

I've never been to place like that in Idaho. If I remember the formula it's (Forestxwater+rain)mild winters=bugs.
after all, we are the hot spot for west nile.

[RodFarlee]

If you seek forests and lakes, along with a mild climate, it's North Idaho for you, Rosanille!
Coeur d'Alene, nearby Post Falls, and Sandpoint should top your list.
If these are too busy for your taste, Bonners Ferry or perhaps the little town of Harrison are quieter. (Harrison may have limited restaurants, but you've just got to see it's bike path, the 72-mile Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes!)
McCall may be worth a visit, but has a shorter autumn and more snow in winter, so might not fit your criteria.

p.s. to Vintage: Southwest Idaho does have mosquitos and West Nile. The formula is (irrigation ponds + ditches) x horses. North Idaho has the #1 preventative: beautiful lakes and rivers full of TROUT which eat them all up!
Therefore, few mosquitos and no West Nile up here.

[janb]

Originally Posted by RodFarlee

...Coeur d'Alene, nearby Post Falls, and Sandpoint should top your list.
If these are too busy for your taste, Bonners Ferry or perhaps the little town of Harrison ... up here.

RodFarlee, does this mean you are 'up there'? I need suggestions

I'm having to exodus WA due to prop tax exceeding $10k next yr. I'm currently in the west gorge, but grew up in Colorado, planned to move to Post Falls, but got a better job in Vanc WA (28 yrs ago...) so finally... looking at Moscow to Sandpoint area, but... need reasonable housing cost, would like to be close to an 'indoor' pool for lap swimming, within an hr of an airport. Forest is desired (and Banana belt, of course...) shadow of the storm front preferred. I liked Kendrick, but too arid for the wife, probably too far from services also.

Is there a (paved...) way from Clark Fork to Coeur d'Alene, w/o going thru Sandpoint? I really don't like transversing that joint, it takes forever. I'm 'traffic averse', no stoplights please...

Sandpoint has the draw of potential employment, tho it will just be 'as required' I've done engineering work and am a toolmaker / machinist / moldmaker, so should be work in Post Falls area, but it is a bit 'changed' (too many stoplights...) Also a farmer / truckdriver, and have my own dozer / excavator so could do that to get by, I only need enough $$ for 'special' treats, (international travel) and to keep out of the wife's hair.

suggestions, ... out, but near,
cheap but accessible

How's that for tough?

What are Prop taxes on a $200k home?

[RodFarlee]

JanB, you've posed some stumpers!

Easier things first: Clark Fork to CdA without going through Sandpoint? Nope... unless you have a boat or a plane! Sandpoint has talked about building a bypass, but I don't expect it'll happen in our lifetimes.

Indoor lap pool without stoplights? I sure can't think of any...

You might like Rathdrum, which is north of Post Falls. It's on the prairie, but has views of forested hills all around, should offer plenty of seasonal ag/mechanical work, and is within easy reach of the wider employment opportunities the Post Falls area offers. Spirit Lake is about 12 miles further north, and is a very pretty, less expensive, spot with forest. I won't mention Heyden, as it's got a bumper crop of new stoplights! That general area would be worth investigating, although land prices have sure gone up. This area would be within an hour of the Spokane airport.

Priest River and St. Maries are also very pretty, forested, quiet and less expensive towns. And the entire area from Harrison to Rose Lake along Hwy. 3 is dotted with lakes, farms and forest, and there are lots of pretty places on the back roads throughout this valley. All these are just over an hour to the Spokane airport, have lower land and housing prices, but likely offer fewer employment opportunities.

It's easier to think of spots in WA that might be candidates, but you've probably got those scoped out better than I do!

Property taxes in Idaho have higher rates than WA, but with the increasing homeowner exemption and generally lower land prices, should be a bit less, and the legislature is likely to lower them again this session. As a ballpark, a $200k home minus $75k homeowner exemption, $125k taxable times 1.4% average tax rate for rural Kootenai county is $1750/yr. That's just a ballpark. The homeowner exemption will rise to $89k next year.

The deal in ID is kinda like WA; WA has a 1%, and ID a 3%, cap on how much local prop tax revenues on the entire pool of existing properties may rise each year without voter approval. If you're in an area of the town or county with above average appreciation, your taxes go up more, and in an area of below average appreciation, they should drop. It just seems, like the kids in Lake Wobegon, we're all above average!

[HotIdahoProperties]

Lewiston,Idaho is a great retirement place. There is a wonderful bike/walking path that follows the Snake and Clearwater rivers. The path is patrolled regularly by the Lewiston police. Also, we have several golf courses, lots of shopping, and a pretty nice hospital. I don't know what you are used to paying for property taxes, so all I can tell you that the taxes in Lewiston are slightly higher than across the river in Clarkston,Washington. Clarkston and Lewiston are like one big city. We have mild winters, hot summers. The average home price is roughly $160,000. I hope this helps, if you need more information you can e-mail me directly.

[RodFarlee]

Lewiston/Clarkston are nice, livable, affordable towns... but both Rosanille and JanB say they are seeking forests, and might be in for a bit of a shock.

It is the "banana belt" of Idaho, being at the lowest elevation in the state. But I worked many summers there, and it can be brutally hot in afternoon (although it is dry, and reliably cools down nicely at night).

Lewiston sure appears to be languishing economically. Forty years ago, Lewiston was bigger than Coeur d'Alene! Since then, while CdA exploded, Lewiston slipped steadily downhill. Downtown Lewiston is outright depressing compared to what it once was, although the residential areas (Lewiston Orchards and Clarkston) appear largely unchanged.

[janb]

Originally Posted by RodFarlee

JanB, you've posed some stumpers!
...
The deal in ID is kinda like WA; WA has a 1%, and ID a 3%, cap on how much local prop tax revenues on the entire pool of existing properties may rise each year without voter approval. ..., like the kids in Lake Wobegon, we're all above average!

Thanks for the great help, I'll keep asking. (anything SW of CdA lake, or is all reservation?, I like Fairfield & Tekoa, WA )

FYI, WA 1% cap got axed by state supreme ct... My taxes raised over 60 % in 2 of last three yrs, and 85% this yr. I'm fighting it, but will not win much, as they always promise to 'get-me-later', and are faithful to their promise

Yeah 'Clarkston/Lewiston' is not my idea of forest, but as I mentioned I like Kendrick, and wheat farming. Would live in the Palouse if it was my choice, but the wife says I will be lonely there... (and broke...)

I think I need more Catsup... a natural mellowing agent...

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by janb

...anything SW of CdA lake, or is all reservation?, I like Fairfield & Tekoa, WA ... I mentioned I like Kendrick, and wheat farming. Would live in the Palouse if it was my choice, but the wife says I will be lonely there... (and broke...)

I guess I'm confused about whether you prefer forest or fields? Last time, you said "Forest is desired" and within 1 hour of the airport, but the places you mention liking are surrounded by rolling wheat fields with few trees.

SW of Lake CdA there are forested hills around Plummer. Yes, this is within the exterior boundaries of the CdA Indian Reservation, but most of the land within the reservation is private property, not tribal. (The tribal land is a small area around DeSmet, with their casino etc, and about 6000 acres of farmland.)

Continuing southwest, soon you're into the rolling Palouse hills, mostly wheat with only small, scattered stands of pine, like Fairfield and Tekoa, not what I'd call forest. Unless you go south into Latah Co., but that's more than an hour from Spokane airport. For example, you might like the Potlatch area, but it's really 2 hours to GEG. If the limited flights out of Lewiston meet your needs, or you're willing to drive more than an hour to an airport, then that opens up lots more places.

In which case, much of north Idaho might be possibilities? I haven't got a clear focus on what you want, so am hard pressed to offer specific suggestions.

Originally Posted by janb

FYI, WA 1% cap got axed by state supreme ct... My taxes raised over 60 % in 2 of last three yrs, and 85% this yr.

FYI, the Initiative 747 1% cap remains law. Superior Court overturned it on technicalities of wording, but Supreme Court stayed that pending appeal. The legislature promises to rewrite it in this session so it'll be constitutional. So all tax districts in WA state have obeyed the 1% limit for 4 years now, and plan for it to remain in force in the future.

If your taxes went up that much, then (a) your assessed value has been zooming up far more than the average across your taxing district, or (b) most of your neighbors voted for tax increases above the 1% limit, or (c) both. I'm sorry you have to sell, but at least it sounds like you can look forward to a big profit on that property. Good for ya, and best wishes.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by janb

I'm having to exodus WA due to prop tax exceeding $10k next yr.

Hope I'm not being too nosy but I'm in NJ, home of the highest prperty taxes in the US so I have to ask, what kind of property in WA has taxes >10K?

Big land or big house or?????