your advice please (Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Burley: for sale, rent, HOA)

[Maxxsgirl]

Greetings! This is my first time, so bear with me. I am trying to get information on the Kimberly--Pleasant Valley area. I see there is a new golf course community springing up.
My husband and I are new retiree's; and he is partially disabled. We currently live in the county not the city. Horsey area type.
Unfortunately we need to leave the golden state; it is not a choice, it is because of the rising costs to live here. We were not professionals when we worked so our income was well below the average for the area.
We lived in WA for a couple of years and find we enjoy the slower pace of things and the snow was "doable".
What do you recommend?
We first looked at E. Idaho, but heard the wind is unbearable. So, next came the Twin Falls area. I sure could use some imput.

[my3arabs]

Twin Falls County is a great place and is very horsey. Our winters aren't as snowy as Idaho Falls and Poky but we do get cold here. Our wind isn't as bad as there but we do get some real bad windy days throughout the yr.

Kimberly is a nice quiet area to be and not too far from Twin for shopping in the larger stores. I live in Buhl which is 20 miles West of Twin and this is a major retirement community. On my block alone out of the thirteen houses only 4 of us are not retired. My husband goes to the local restaurant just to talk to older guys about how it was back when, he loves that stuff and wishes to bring it all back.

You will find that most everyone is pretty friendly here in the Twin area. They are also real helpful with whatever is needed. You will run into a few ppl that will put their nose in the air to you cuz you are from Cali, but oh well smile at them and say "HI" and they will usually leave you alone.

I have been in Twin County for two yrs now and the worst wind that we have had was out in the Castleford area. Plus we were on a hill so we got the worst of it. Our temps right now are in the mid 40s during the day and drop to the low 20s to low teens. We had a very very cold spell for about three weeks at the begining of the month but not hardly any snow here.

It is very affordable here and many things to do. Buhl has a great golf course on Clear Lake Rd down by the Snake River on Clear Springs rd (I think). I have heard that it is great and what I see it is beautiful especially with the river running next to it. There is tons of fishing here with wheelchair access and a wonderful park that is called Niagra Springs. We have 1000 Springs RD which is just that, tons of springs coming out of the canyon walls all the way down to Haggerman. We also have Shoshone Falls just West of Twin on HWY 30.

You will like it here. Good luck with your search.

[Maxxsgirl]

My3arabs ? Sounds like you are into horses. For over 30 years we have raised fouls, and just sold our last two Paints. I would assume that there are horse property available in the Twin Falls area. What would feed run in this area? WE do live in Cal. but we have lived in many states because of my job.

[my3arabs]

Howdy, AQHA & APHA & ApHC are big here in twin. There are a few Arab ranches as well but they aren't very big here yet.

Feed is so cheap compared to Cali. We paid $90 for a ton of dairy quality alfalfa. That is with a 28% protene content so we didn't have to fee as much. You can get hay anywhere from $85 on up. The alfalfa grass mix is selling for about $100 per ton right now. The grain is cheaper and so are the vets.

I am sure that there is a lot of property for sale here. Out along HWY 93 that goes into NV there should be tons of property there and in Kimberly and further towards Burley. PM me and I will give you some more info.

[Maxxsgirl]

Thank you for the info. I have heard that the summers around the Twin Falls area get hot. What do you call hot?
Where I am at now it starts getting warmed up the mid to end of April (80's) and by the end of May it can be in the 90's with high humidity. Last summer was the pits! We had 1 day and it was 116. Unusual, but very nasty.
All of July and August was 100's and up.
It begins to taper off the end of September, but won't get into the 70's until the third week of Oct.
We hate the heat, it seems to be hotter and longer every season.
Oh, we are originally from the East coast--not "Californians". Sorry about the confusion.

[my3arabs]

July was the hottest month last yr. I don't know how hot it was but it was bad enough that it made a bunch of horses through out the valley colic. My older amre was one of them. Our poor vet was running all over the place trying to take care of all of them.

We lived out in Castleford during that time and it seemed real hot to me, but we were on a hill that was always hotter than in the lil valley. I think that the hottest it got was around 100 and it only lasted for a day or so. We never have hot weather that sticks around for ever. Maybe a week or two but that is it and it always cools off at night. It does help to have an ac, mainly to keep the dairy smells out, but that is out in Castleford. Twin doesn't smell like Jerome, Buhl and Castleford.

We had snow last Easter and that was the end of it the rest of the time it was in the mid 80s to upper 90s. We start to cool off here in late September but doesn't get real real cold till December/January. We had low teens for about two weeks at the begining of Jan but that is back up to the 40s and sunny.

Check out Magic Valley online.

[Maxxsgirl]

So, your Springs get hot too. Oh well. You said that there is a "smell" in Buhl, Jerome and Castleford. Is that all dairy?
I google earth-ed the area and was amazed at the farm land around the different communities. When it is windy, do you get a lot of blowing dirt?
When we have our Santa Ana winds ,even the double paned windows can't keep out the fine silt! The winds get going around 30mph.
Speaking of dirt, The area has been referred to as high desert. Here; high desert is sand--------lots of just sand. No landscaping per say.
If it is so fertile for farming, you must have good soil. What do you think??
If I had to put it in a nutshell I think we are looking for an area that is semi-rural, 1/2 to 4 acre homesites. 15 minutes to a store for milk, etc.
neighborly but not nosy. ).
We have horses in out community of 3500 homes on 1/2-1 acre parcels. It has an HOA that keeps an eye on people that disregard the rules. That part is ok, I don't mind keeping a neat appearance to enhance the area. Everyone just about does the same thing.
We have monthly get togethers with neighbors around the area for snacks, cards and social contact. There are 20-24 in our group. It sure is fun! I would like to continue that when we get there. My husband always said that I never met a stranger.
I would also like to get a part time job to help out with the finances. Unlike what people think about people from CA bringing the bank with them when they move, we are definitely not in that catagory.
Thanks in advance for your help. M

[my3arabs]

Yeah most of the smell here in Buhl & Castleford is the dairy smells. The wind can kick up the dirt and the fine stuff does get into the houses. This being a huge farming area you will get a lil more dirt and have to dust a lil more often that in some other areas.

We do get some pretty wicked wind gust from time to time but they don't last very long and they usually come with the thunderstorms which are beautiful here.

There are some new home sites b etween Jerome and Twin Falls and you could shop in either area and there is a golf course right there too. Some of the property over looks the canyon but I am sure that it cost a fortune. There are always jobs in Twin so that shouldn't be a worry.

Yes we are high desert but nothing like the Cali hig desert. We aren't all sand or hardly any sand till you get to the dunes in St. Anthony which is about 3 hrs North East of here. We have the sage brush and wide open spaces but nothing like the Mojave, or even Bakersfield, Fresno like areas.

Here in the Twin area their best crops are alfalfa, corn and beets. It is very fertile here and you should see the lil farmer's markets that are all over the place. So you could have a great garden and even make some money back with what you grow.

Here you will find that not everone is "neat". There are many ppl with new homes that are pretty trashy. The house that we moved into here in Buhl was a mess! They ppl before us never ever took care of the yard and there was nasty things all over the side yard, it has been a pain to clean up after them. Many of the homes on the West side of twin are newer and the tracts are in beautiful condition, but that is living in town. There is still some open property out West of Twin but I haven't been that way in about three months.

Your best bet is to take a short trip up here and look around. The hotels are all located on Blue Lakes Blvd so you would be in the middle of the city and most ppl here are very helpful with directions. Or you could get a hold of a realtor before you came and they could take you around to the kid of places you are looking for.

[Maxxsgirl]

Well, I think you have covered the things that have been pressing on my mind. (for now!) ha ha.
When our place goes into escrow we will fly up and spend some time.
We are both pretty good with directions, (except for an address like 3240N 4320E.; thats just wierd!) What is wrong with 3240N Main St.??
Oh well, live and let live.
We will rent a car with GPS if we have to!
I hope you don't have any damage with the next bout of high winds.
We actually lost a roof one year on a house that was only 6 months old. However, the wind was rare--got up to 105 mph. and a lot of people had severe damage.
Take care and happy Sunday! M

[my3arabs]

haha, the address do take some time to get use to. It is pretty easy when you think about it most roads here are east, west, north & south kind of like a huge grid.

You'll like it here cuz it is pretty laid back, cept on Blue Lakes in the am and around 4:30pm. But you learn when to avoid it. Plus they just finished a major project on Poline Rd, which runs East West and was a huge mess for a few yrs. That is the main road for the trucks to us. I hope that they eventually extend it all the way out to HWY 93 & HWY 30 junction.