Mountain Home, Idaho. (Boise, Nampa, Caldwell: renters, how much, houses)

[PaperPusher]

I was looking to move to Mountain Home, Idaho for job purposes. Any information on weather, people, cost of living would be appreciated. I heard it was a small town and you had to go to Boise if you wanted to do anything interesting/shopping. Thanks in advance

[LVGAZ]

Hi
we just returned from a week in the Boise area - and went to look at Mountain Home - really nice town - had the basic amenties - people were friendly - go to Sperlings Best Places to get the information you need.
we are going to Boise - great area - great people, family oriented, progressive yet conservative
we LOVED it there - green trees, - camping, fishing, cost for everything were a lot lower than Phx for us - but the quality of life is incredible.

[fabforever]

Mountain Home is a Military town, without the air force base, I don't believe the town would exist. We lived there in 1999 when my husband was still in the air force and it is a very quiet place with very few amenities. They have a Wal-Mart and all of the main chain restaurants any town has (KFC, Burger King, MCD’s and etc), however there is no mall or any other large shopping facility nearby, for that you have to drive to Boise. If you are going to work at the AFB you should be ok, they have decent shopping (BX), bowling alley, a nice gym and the usual air force base facilities. However Mountain Home itself has little to offer and I found that we were driving to Boise almost every weekend for entertainment, shop and just to get out. There is also some friction between the natives and the Military service man, as usual some military guys always cause trouble in the city and therefore many locals despise the AFB despite needing it for survival. It is a love/hate relationship. As far as the weather and etc, MtHome looks like a desert and it gets pretty hot there – up to 110F one summer. But if you like very quiet places, a good piece of land (for farm animals) and a peaceful town, MTH is for you. We moved out of there as soon as possible, it was away too small for me! However if you have kids, the schools in the area are not so bad, especially the elementary schools. I taught there and found them to be quite good for the size of the town. One last thing, there are commuter rides every morning from Boise/Nampa to Mountain Home. So you can still live in Boise and commute in the vans. You sleep all the way there and it is a pretty nice deal if you want to be in the city but have to work in MtHome, it is the best of both worlds. Check the ACHD commuter vans; it is cheaper to commute with them then to drive to MtHome everyday. My husband used to get the van at 5am to make it there on time and the van would drop him off in Boise around 4:30pm. Also, it is easy to find a rental in Mountain Home but they tend to be expensive as many people purchase houses to rent them out to service man, I read once that Mountain Home had one of the largest numbers of renters in the Northwest (considering the town’s size). So although you can rent a house pretty easily there, they charge a little more than expected since they know how much the military guys make a month! There are many new developemnts going in the Mthome, new housing popping out everywhere, so the town is changing rapidly. However compared to Boise, it is still a very small community. :0) Good Luck

[PaperPusher]

Thanks LVGAZ & fabforever for the info. I will be going to Mountain Home at the end of the month to get a feel for the town. I will also look at living in Boise and commuting to Mountain Home.

[Jim Paulson, CRS, GRI]

Mountain Home is finally being discovered as a bedroom community for Boise. People can live in Mountain Home cheaper than Boise and commute thanks to the Interstate to Boise in 45 minutes or so. There is much less traffic than coming in from the West from Nampa or Caldwell.

Mountain Home is more of a high desert setting with plenty of wind and fewer trees.

Hope this helps!

[sahmusaf]

So would you say it was tough on your husband commuting? 5 am is so early Also, my husband would work in the Maintenance Squadron, so I worry about his work schedule conflicting with the van schedule. What part of Boise did you live in to commute? We're looking for a good place in the southeast (to cut time off the commute) with a great elementary school. My little one will start kindergarten while we're there.

[usafracer]

You should be fine catching the van. If there is 5 people the will add a van for that time schedule.