Think hard before you "escape." (Idaho Falls, Coeur d'Alene: relocation, housing)

[TheUtopian]

Please, look before you leap. Sometimes there is a pitchfork in that pile of hay you think will cushion your landing. I would have to make $51,000 a year now to equal what I made in California in 1977. I am making bunches and bunches less. Please, please think hard and come prepared before you make a life altering decision. Greed is not pretty and it is getting ugly up here. Don't be part of the group paying a heavy price for a failed dream.

I don't want unhappy neighbors struggling to survive. It doesn't always happen to the other guy. Sometimes it happens to you.

This whole post is the finest post I've read on this site so far. I'd say 99.9 percent of what you have written is true. And as a native Californian...yes for the money they have....some Californian's are unbelievably stupid.

I moved from California in 1993 to Oregon. I was 34....and things were CHEAP. I got very lucky and bought a very good business on the Southern /central small town Oregon.

But while business was good....everything was closed on Sunday or by 8:00 pm during the week. There's no culture anywhere, unless you like loggers and saw dust. The restaurants revel in frozen chicken-fried steak and hamburgers. You'll be driving serous distances to get to mall like they have in California.

Yes... you've summed it up well. If I had it to do all over again.... I'd move to Oregon or Idaho.... but I'd stay within 30 miles of a major metro area like Portland or Boise.


- Out


PS - Did I mention.....the small town oregon i am talking about has no movie theater or night life -- None!!

[pimit2]

This has been an interesting thread. Look, folks, it's all a matter of what you want on the upside and what you can live with on the downside. No town I have found - anywhere - is perfect for everyone.

I moved from Las Vegas to Idaho more than 3 years ago. I had lived in Las Vegas for 35 years, and the town was quickly changing. The valley in and around Las Vegas - and including Las Vegas - had grown from 70,000 to 1.5 million in the years I lived there. To me, it had become unbearable. Traffic conditions had become unreal, and the infrastructure was not catching up. Crime was out of control. The cost of living was escalating rapidly. The town's friendliness - you know the neighbor to neighbor relationship - had all but disappeared. I fell out of love with a city I had loved a lot earlier. A change was due.

I had traveled a great deal in those years to cities all over the country, so I had seen towns that I liked and disliked. For me, it was an easy call. The Idaho panhandle was for me, and I chose Sandpoint.

I'm a webmaster, building websites for others and having a couple of sites of my own. One of my sites is about Idaho, because I love it here. But, my point is that I work at home, so employment wasn't on my "wish list". My children are grown (I'm 69), so schools were not on my "wish list". I have an income, so concerns about taxes and other routine living costs. were not critical issues.

I wanted peace and quiet, so I chose to purchase land with a manufactured home about 10 miles from Sandpoint. I have horses, dogs and cats so the 10 rural acres I have is perfect....FOR ME!

Are there downsides? Yeah, one or two, but I can live with them. Like every other place on earth, it ain't perfect. Take your time, look around, and find the town best suited for you. It won't be perfect, but it might have a lot of things you desire.

I hope that helps.

Bob (pimit2)

[Bhaalspawn]

Are you still happy that you purchased a manufactured home? Do you feel it's built better or worse than a stick-built?

[pimit2]

I'm happy with it. I have always lived in stick homes, but this one was already on the property I purchased. I have full mountain views, a timbered border all around, and a small river on the north end of the place.

I have 1550 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, big kitchen, small dining area, living room, untility room for washing machine and dryer etc., and a "family room" that I use as my "office". I built a small front porch and a rear deck facing west, that goes the length of the home. And, I built a new pump house and bought a new pump for the well.

I painted it in and out, re-roofed it, carpeted and tiled it, and bought new furnishings throughout.

The place is all-electric. I bought a pellet stove (the best available) to cut back on electric heating costs, and it works well. It replaced a wood stove that came with the house. I love wood stoves and fireplaces but I'm getting too old for splitting and wrestling wood.

Yeah, it took a little fix-it work, but I'm happy as a tick, now.

Bob (pimit2)

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Originally Posted by pimit2

I'm happy with it. I have always lived in stick homes, but this one was already on the property I purchased. I have full mountain views, a timbered border all around, and a small river on the north end of the place.

I have 1550 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, big kitchen, small dining area, living room, untility room for washing machine and dryer etc., and a "family room" that I use as my "office". I built a small front porch and a rear deck facing west, that goes the length of the home. And, I built a new pump house and bought a new pump for the well.

I painted it in and out, re-roofed it, carpeted and tiled it, and bought new furnishings throughout.

The place is all-electric. I bought a pellet stove (the best available) to cut back on electric heating costs, and it works well. It replaced a wood stove that came with the house. I love wood stoves and fireplaces but I'm getting too old for splitting and wrestling wood.

Yeah, it took a little fix-it work, but I'm happy as a tick, now.

Bob (pimit2)

I actually heard quality control is better on a mfg home as well. My house here in So Cal is stick built from the 70's and has a lot of crooked walls

[JK'S HOUSE OF ARTS]

Thank you for this great piece. But you know the same thing is happening here in Penna with the NJ'ers and NY'ers are moving in here and chaning it to be just like the state they left.

I do agree with you it would be hard, for it was hard when my boys and myself moved to Maine. Same circumstances but on other side of USA.

But with everything you said I am still determined to move to ID.

[artichoke63]

Originally Posted by middleoftheroad

If you have NO blood relative to a Subject of the Queen, or a company branch, you, under NO circumstances, will be allowed citizenship, or permanent status in New Zealand, Austrailia, Scotland, Ireland, etc! Period! I've researched it!

Not true. If you are under 45 and have the right occupation (something like engineering or nursing or mining) or enough money, you can get into Australia. It's easier to get into New Zealand, however. Australia uses a point system to determine who can immigrate into the country. i lived in Perth. Australia was great. Really nice people. I loved it.

Artie

[Torrie]

Ok, there are a few valid points here but it's not as gloom and doom as the warning voice makes it sounds. It's what you make of it too. Any time you move, it's going to be an adjustment. You will meet people, you will make friends. Though I think the intent of this message was meant with the best intentions, it seems like an over exaggeration. I don't know where warning voice lives but it must be out in the sticks. There are plenty of places open past 6pm here in Boise.

[slgalindo]

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[SicilianPolka]

I live near Sandpoint, Id and moved up from Cali. While I understand all the good and bad of Ca and Id we chose Id. We are close to retirement and found the outdoor activities we can enjoy numerous... aside from the smoke corridor from Rathdrum blowing up this way it's still doable. I hear that will be nixed soon-yeah! Just one negative of Cali living didn't campare to a hand of of negs in Id. I still travel to Cali for work and I am disgusted with the litter of the land, rude kids and cost of living. I did notice this last month after the snow cleared that hiway 95 to Coeur d'alene is pretty littered, more than I have ever seen...

Like some others on this post we didn't sell a zillion dollar home to move here. We penny pinched and were fortunate to have bought before the prices sky rocketed. We do feel the crunch coming with the increase in taxes and electric bills but we do what we can to conserve and are prepared for just about any situation. We are renovating a small guest home and plan to build another on the property to accomodate us in our "senior" life, hoping old bones and aching muscles won't prevail. I do not resent any of the $$ Cali's who brag or build their 3K plus foot homes. We do hear of them complaining about heating costs and taxes...even though in Ca they would be paying 3x's the price.

What I have noticed is the lack of contractors wanting to do small jobs with all the major constructon going on. That is why we resorted to be "do it yourselfers". I remember building permits were about $25.00 when we came and then it was bumped up to something like $85.00-no complaints here.

Just learn to love your choices and live by the old saying " life is what you make it" ! Ciao !