San Diegan seeking best place to live in Idaho (Boise: hair salon, rent)

[MySerendipity]

Thank you for that. I really don't mind mormons for the most part. As a main stream Christian i just disagree with their beliefs and ofcourse I am concerned about too much mormon influence. My husband is a great defender of our faith and very outspoken. I would hate for him to be discriminated against for employment because we aren't mormon. That is my main concern. I don't want a place too boring for our child as well, she is an only child and needs things to do and friends to play with. This may be a sensitive question to ask as well and I mean no ofense. I am a white manicurist and out her in California we compete with the Asian market. I have my own salon and have built a very solid clientel that want to converse in english and not have to worry about sanitation. Can anyone tell me if there is much of an Asian or shall I say a budget market in Boise for nails?

[MySerendipity]

Thank you for the areas that have the gentrification happening. That is something to think about. There is so much to consider here. I appriciate the help!

[Trace_Rinaldi]

IMHO the more I read the more Boise sounds like the best choice. BUT North Idaho seems like an ideal place to grow up just looking at it.

I believe the mormon issues would be more in the southern section of the state. Also I doubt you would have a problem finding plenty of nails that need to be done in downtown CDA.

Here are some pics from NID, purely for illustration..hehe

[MySerendipity]

Thank You Trace. Pictures are beautiful. We need to really work on this and pray about it. Im thinking Boise might be the safest way to start, job wise for my husband. I think I can probably do nails just about anywhere, but I would prefer to work part time and not all the time. I feel like I am missing out on some wonderful years with my daughter, I don't want to miss out on anymore. I think CDA would might be a great place to aspire to. We will forsure need to visit it. Im very grateful for your input, Thank You all so much!!!

[MySerendipity]

Trace, or anyone. What does it cost to heat a house in north Idaho. Lets say CDA? What does water cost? That might seem silly to you but our water down here is San Diego is ridiculous. We have a 1400 square foot house, gas and electric now(no air conditioning) runs us in summer around 100 bucks a month. Water and we don't have much grass, is around 90 bucks a month with a proposed 40% increas in the next year and a half. Winter if it is cooler than usual we can spend around 175 buck to a little over 200 on gas and electric. I would love to know the comparisons.
Thank You all again.

[SealboyId]

Having lived in Hawaii Calif (Walnutcreek) Seattle and Anchorage I retired to Weiser Idaho. My Dad had retired here, it was his home town from Honolulu. I thought I would never like a slow small town. Living here the last 5 years has been heaven. My grand kids and other related kids always spend a couple weeks here every year. they are from cities around the country. As a 25 year Special Forces Vet, this is the only place i have lived since 69 I do not keep a loaded wep close )

[Trace_Rinaldi]

I cant speak from experience but from everything I have heard, ALL utilities in Idaho wont be NEAR the burden as they are in So Cal. Buck knives moved its factory out of San Diego to North Idaho, and I remember one of the major driving factors was the cost of electricity. Also you can expect gas to cost 20 to 30 cents a gallon less than here. Across the board things seem cheaper in Id.

[Sage of Sagle]

NID is mostly hydro-electric, so it's fairly reasonable, where gas is VERY expensive. But electricity should run you less than SoCal rates.

Here in NID, most of us are on well/septic. When they drilled our well, they hit an artesian spring. So we had to make an overflow outlet, so on top of 12.5 gpm flow, we have about 1800 gallons per day that flows into our pond and perks back into the ground. Having moved here from Socal (Inland Empire; I grew up in South OC) it just FREAKED us out to have water just run...took us MONTHS to get used to the idea of how much water there is here, and that it's not a crime to use lots of water on our garden, etc.

So I can't speak for Boise, but here in the North, it's a whole 'nother world....

[MySerendipity]

Thank you. Good to know. I think the running water would Freak us out too! I visited a friend in Oregan in March and was shocked at how much fresh water just runs down the mountains into the ocean. What we could do with that water down here in San Diego.

[Torrie]

Originally Posted by MySerendipity

Thank you for that. I really don't mind mormons for the most part. As a main stream Christian i just disagree with their beliefs and ofcourse I am concerned about too much mormon influence. My husband is a great defender of our faith and very outspoken. I would hate for him to be discriminated against for employment because we aren't mormon. That is my main concern. I don't want a place too boring for our child as well, she is an only child and needs things to do and friends to play with. This may be a sensitive question to ask as well and I mean no ofense. I am a white manicurist and out her in California we compete with the Asian market. I have my own salon and have built a very solid clientel that want to converse in english and not have to worry about sanitation. Can anyone tell me if there is much of an Asian or shall I say a budget market in Boise for nails?

One of my clients mother loves to have her nails done here because she can find manicurist who aren't Asian. She's an elderly lady from CA and she just wants to feel pampered and have someone to gossip with. The Asian gals in her area don't talk much if at all and I think she misses the human contact of being able to visit while having her nails done.

Not sure that really answers your questions, but thought I'd pass the story on to you.