Considering Moving to Coeur d'alene, ID (Idaho Falls, Post Falls: transplants, buying a home, neighborhoods)

[JessC87]

Hello! My husband and I are a young couple considering moving to Coeur d'alene, ID to really settle down and start a family. Right now we are stuck in Los Angeles, but don't worry we are not CALIFORNIANS We both grew up near Yellowstone in Wyoming and have spent the past couple years in Denver, CO and are dying to get back to a place with 4 seasons, beautiful views, and friendly people.
I am hoping to get some local insight on Coeur d'alene. Is is a good place to raise a family? Is it a great community? We aren't concerned with weather and such...we grew up in a similar climate and are not afraid of snow or harsh conditions. We also would like to live in a more rural area of Coeur d'alene so area specifics would be great!

[DESERTRYDER]

I'm just guessing but Coeur d'alene has got to beat the hell out of L.A. ??
No Crackheads milling about , no Gangsta's , clean streets, how can you go wrong
Make sure you have a job lined up first and if you do start packing.
From what I hear the winter chill will make sure you have that family you wanted

[JessC87]

well anywhere will beat L.A. and we are aware of that, but for now we have to stay here because of jobs. We are ready for winter chill...the redundant sunshine out here is getting old...

[elousv]

Originally Posted by JessC87

well anywhere will beat L.A. and we are aware of that, but for now we have to stay here because of jobs. We are ready for winter chill...the redundant sunshine out here is getting old...

I hear ya, we have been driving into the sun both ways for 25 years and we are baked and well-done. We also chose the greater CDA area for our next move. From what we have seen it is a nice place to be. You can get rural within minutes. Sure it looks crowded from Spokane to CDA, but north, east and south gets you into the country fast. It is not like here where over that next hill are 4 million people!!!

[JessC87]

Yeah for sure. The different areas in Coeur d'alene such as Post Falls and Hayden...do they all pretty much blend into one another or do they seem like different communities/towns? I spent 21 years of my life in a town of 5,000 so I am looking forward to open and breathable spaces again!

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Originally Posted by JessC87

Yeah for sure. The different areas in Coeur d'alene such as Post Falls and Hayden...do they all pretty much blend into one another or do they seem like different communities/towns? I spent 21 years of my life in a town of 5,000 so I am looking forward to open and breathable spaces again!

Yes CdA, Post Falls, Hayden etc all seem like one large community to me.. I think you will love it anywhere in that area. Good luck!

[CDAartlady]

Originally Posted by Trace_Rinaldi

Yes CdA, Post Falls, Hayden etc all seem like one large community to me.. I think you will love it anywhere in that area. Good luck!

I agree I lived in CDA for the 1st 3 years ( followed my parents from Michigan) We ended up buying a home in Post Falls.
I love them both the only differences is I have met more locals & permanant residents and its more rural.

The people are very friendly.The only thing they asked concerning us being transplants is if we planned on staying.I guess our house was bought a few times in spring and sold after winter

[JessC87]

What are some of the best highlights of living in Coeur d'alene as compared to anywhere else?

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Originally Posted by JessC87

What are some of the best highlights of living in Coeur d'alene as compared to anywhere else?

CdA sits on a large lake and with the University and all the young people in the area it has a "Beach City" feel to it in the spring and summer to me.. It is a resort town though and can get pretty crowded on the weekends and holidays like 4th of July especially.. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what your after.
I think if your looking for more of a rural lifestyle you might look at parts of Post falls, Rathdrum etc. and even south of CdA where its considerably less expensive for land and also less crowded.. Just my .02 and hope this helps.

[Sage of Sagle]

I think it's important to mention that CDA is sort of like two cities. One is the lake area around Sherman and downtown, resort, expensive homes, NIC campus, beach, etc. The other CDA goes from the less affluent neighborhoods up across I-90 and merges into the bedroom community/suburb of Hayden. So anything north of I-90 FEELS like one town "call it "new CDA/Hayden", and anything south of I-90 feels more like "old CDA" to some degree. Then again, you have a third CDA which is the rather extensive collection of million dollar waterfront homes around the lake that call CDA home but have quite a drive to "town".

Remember that Lake CDA is mostly unseen from the city. So although I'm not faulting you (Trace) for saying "CdA sits on a large lake", to ME it doesn't feel like you're a lakefront town unless you're down around the resort/beach/NIC with some frequency. We have quite a few friends who live in various neighborhoods away from the lake who see the lake a couple times a year only. I'm just bringing this up since it's in stark contrast to Sandpoint and Sagle where we see the lake daily (and we often cross the long bridge 2-4x a day), and 90% of Sandpoint (city) area is within walking distance of the beach. Not that it makes CDA any less of a nice place, but it does NOT FEEL like a 5000 person "lake town" like Sandpoint does to me. But that's just my own personal view. Others have equally valid viewpoints and personal anecdotal experiences.

JessC87, are you looking to somewhat duplicate SMALL TOWN living like a quasi Jacson Hole experience, or are you thinking more of an "Idaho Falls" sort of thing? CDA/PF/Hayden probably has 75,000 residents combined, and is basically one large seamless area albeit some open farm fields still between CDA and PF up off Prairie and such. Even Rathdrum is starting to seem like an extension of Post Falls as I drive up 41 from I-90 to shortcut to Highway 95 north coming back from Spokane.