Idaho here we come! (Victor: moving, eat, trailer)

[Fisherman 100]

Hi gang, I have been reading different posts for quite some time. Trace, it sounds like you live in Riverside County. I currently live in Lake Arrowhead and plan to sell and make the move too. I spent a week in Sandpoint and like the area. We are mountain folk here, but don't get that much snow. I would love to see a moose, just saw a bunch of deer and turkey when we were there.

[Sage of Sagle]

We moved from Wrightwood to Sagle. Best move we ever made...

[Sandpointian]

Hi Sage and Fisherman.

Pardon my ignorance, but I have never been to either lake Arrowhead or Wrightwood. Online, they both seem like neat little communities. Mini-Tahoesque.

If I might ask, what prompted the moves? The allure of NID or that those communities changed in some fundamental way such that they were no longer the same?

S

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by elousv

Off of the 53 you go up N Hauser Lake Rd., then N Cliff House Rd., then W Woodlake Dr., then a private W Julia Dr.. That is the south-east end of the lake.
I grew up in Maine so I am very familiar with Moose.

Congratulations! Wonderful to hear that dreams are coming true. We're working on ours, too--we hope to have the slab put in at our property this summer. Looking into log cabin plans...

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by Sandpointian

Hi Sage and Fisherman.

Pardon my ignorance, but I have never been to either lake Arrowhead or Wrightwood. Online, they both seem like neat little communities. Mini-Tahoesque.

If I might ask, what prompted the moves? The allure of NID or that those communities changed in some fundamental way such that they were no longer the same?

S

Some major factors:

1) After leaving law enforcement, Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint was a natural destination to greatly distance myself from "former clientele". North Idaho is still widely known as a retirement/relocation destination for Los Angeles area cops.

2) My wife never liked SoCal, having much preferred grown up in colder climates/forest/water, etc

3) Owning a business, felt it was literally "5 steps forward, 4.5 steps back" in California and while expanding, it made huge business sense to relocate to a business friendly state, and Bonner County Economic Development recruited me to bring my business here.

So my decision to leave SoCal was the first step, and we compared several regions for business climate, housing, crime, climate, access to lake/river, construction costs, density/type of religious influences, proximity to a larger town (like CDA) but not having to live in a suburb, UPS routes and schedules for our shipping needs, access to youth sports and adult activities, proximity to a good ski resort, general "gun culture" favoring 2nd Amendment rights, proximity to airport (wanted to be no more than 2 hours from an airport that could land 737-size planes), proximity to west coast states (family), etc.

When I factored all these things in, and was viewing this with North Idaho already as a favorable contender, it was really a no brainer.

And to be clear...if you HAD to move to SoCal, I would absolutely recommend Wrightwood. Wonderful little town, good neighbors, small town feel, low crime, etc. Really great place to live, but not compared to Sandpoint.

It's sort of (to me) like when a person gets into a sporty car that does 0-60 in the 7 second range. It's really great and feels FAST. Then you put them into a Porsche 997 twin turbo and it's TWICE as fast and hits 204mph. It's not that the other car was bad, but this is so much MORE of what you wanted and hoped for. Small towns like Wrightwood seem awfully neat until you move somewhere like North Idaho.

[Sandpointian]

Hi Sage,

I have always appreciated your logic and balanced reasoning. If I have not said so before, I am proud to have you in our community.

California is losing great citizens like you at an increasing rate much to its demise. As for business climate, I was taking a look at tax policies across states from corporate to income to retirement, to property tax to tax on pension distributions. It is staggering how backwards California has become. Staggering.

At the same time, Idaho looks decent. One thing that does raise an eyebrow is that tax-wise, the state is not terribly committed to a more liberty oriented philosophy but has show up as a low tax state on account of our lower structure of income. Perhaps it is time for Idaho to look toward New Hampshire and enshrine its freedoms on a more institutional basis so that it can remain a beacon for freedom-loving Americans.

S

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by Sandpointian

California is losing great citizens like you at an increasing rate much to its demise. As for business climate, I was taking a look at tax policies across states from corporate to income to retirement, to property tax to tax on pension distributions. It is staggering how backwards California has become. Staggering.

Isn't that what they call "progressive"?

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Originally Posted by Fisherman 100

Hi gang, I have been reading different posts for quite some time. Trace, it sounds like you live in Riverside County. I currently live in Lake Arrowhead and plan to sell and make the move too. I spent a week in Sandpoint and like the area. We are mountain folk here, but don't get that much snow. I would love to see a moose, just saw a bunch of deer and turkey when we were there.

Hi Fisherman! Yeah Im in Riverside county... I've been to Arrowhead/Big Bear many times and boy has it changed... GOOD choice looking at N. Id, you will be very glad you made the move Im thinking
GOOD LUCK!!!

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by Sandpointian

At the same time, Idaho looks decent. One thing that does raise an eyebrow is that tax-wise, the state is not terribly committed to a more liberty oriented philosophy but has show up as a low tax state on account of our lower structure of income. Perhaps it is time for Idaho to look toward New Hampshire and enshrine its freedoms on a more institutional basis so that it can remain a beacon for freedom-loving Americans.

S

Thanks for those kind words. Sure makes my day.

And yes, I agree with you that Idaho will need to take steps to preserve its reputation for being business friendly. It certainly CANNOT let itself become influenced by those who feel that taxing businesses is the key to the state's financial needs.

[Fisherman 100]

Sage has it all I could say no more. The reason I am relocating is finances. I retired 5 years ago. The average dock on Lake Arrowhead costs $60,000. The average household income in Lake Arrowhead is about $100,000.00.

If you want a water view home you better have about $700,000. I don't even have a garage because the choice was save money and retire or go into debt and build a garage or buy a house with one.

We want to buy an existing house with garage in Idaho than fish the lake out. Ha Ha.