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I currently a resident in Colorado, but I am an avid outdoors person and have visited Idaho many times. Enough times to know Idaho is where I would like to enventually move.
My real question lies around where to look for real-estate near Boise? Here isnColorado I am a bit spoiled in that I live on 2 acres pretty close to Denver, but have direct access to a fairly large park with trails so that I can walk my dog or ride my horse directly from my home. In general the Denver area has many "open spaces" (undeveloped county, city, and regional type parks) so that it is not terribly hard to find property with a little bit of land within walking distance to one of these open spaces with trails.
I have been doing my research on the surrounding areas of Boise and I'm not finding a whole lot of similar "open spaces". I know the Ridge to Rivers has a whole lot of land and trails (which is great), but based on what I have seen I don't believe I would be able to afford a propertly big enough for horses with direct access to that area. Those trails really seemed geared to downtown boise, where as I'm not finding significant amounts of land and hiking trails in the surrounding suburbs. I'm hoping it is there, but I am just missing it.
I know Idaho City may be one option, but I was wondering if there may be some areas on the outskirts of town (like south of Kuna) that may have a fair number of homes close to or adjacent to BLM or other public lands? (BLM or National Forest would be the best since I run bird-dogs). Curious about the drive time and public land access in Horseshoe Bend specifically?
The Idaho city commute may be okay, but I travel a lot on weekends and I fear I would have to add 45minutes on to almost anywhere I drive just due to location of Freeways.
In general my budget would probably be in the $400-500K (max) and I would like to stay within 45minutes of Boise if at all possible.
Also, my wife and I are much more the "old farming community" type with no HOA than the fancy new "Horse community" folks but some horse communities are fine too. Having land big enough and zoned for a couple of horses is very important. I know there is a ton of public land within an hour of the Boise area for the weekends etc, but on most week days trailering the horse for only 5 miles is a big pain as opposed to being able to ride from your house, so areas that would offer options like that is what I'm really hoping to find. I am probably spoiled, but I have to try.
Sorry for the ramble, I look forward to any advice you can give.
John,
Let me see if I can help you. Have you looked at Star or Middleton. Both are within 30 to 45 minutes from Boise and might give you the open space you are looking for. Horseshoe Bend is also an option and you will find the land to be cheaper most likely. It's about 45 min from Boise. Not as many trees there so in the summer it can be quite hot. I would think if I had to pick between Horseshoe Bend and Idaho City, I would look at Idaho City. Idaho City is quite small but I think the wilderness access would be more interesting as there is forest land with lots of trees. Idaho City does get a bit more snow than Boise, but it is awful pretty. I'm sure the drive into Boise isn't great when there is a lot of snow..... are you retired or do you still need to work? Let me look around some more and see what I can find. Are you set up in MLS right now?
I'm not retired, but wish I was.
It would still be a while before I could move so not looking for a specific property yet, would need to find a job first. I just want to start doing my homework now on areas that may have what I'm looking for. I come to Idaho several times a year to hunt/fish and what I would like to do is get some areas picked out so that on my next trip I can visit them as opposed to aimlessly driving around.
In general, I don't mind BLM type areas that aren't wooded, however I really do hate the heat so higher may be better in that regard. Denver is a little hotter than I like in the summer and I believe Boise is even slightly hotter yet.
Between snow and heat, I believe I would take the snow.
I have not checked out Star or Middleton, but will. Thanks a bunch.
I think Idaho City is going to be what you're looking for. Now that I'm thinking about it try Garden Valley too, it may be a little farther than what you want though. Let me look around some more for you and see what I can come up with. I'll get in touch with in the next day or so.
Last edited by Torrie; 06-19-2007 at 08:29 PM..
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