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We have long term plans (9 years away) to retire in the Boise Area. I know 9yrs is a long ways off. But I like to plan for things and I "might" be able to invest in some property or possibly get a rental in the next couple years in preparation.
Boise seems like the perfect fit for us. The pluses I can see from here are:
1. Cost of living is less (not significantly but it appears to be 10-20% less)
2. Idaho is a Conservative RED state
3. Pro 2nd Amendment
4. 4 seasons but the winters are mild (currently where we live winters are very mild but summers are BRUTAL)
5. Plenty of shopping, restaurants, Medical facilities etc (Cabelas!!!)
6. Close to my family who live in Northeastern Oregon (approx 2.5hrs away)
7. Bike trails/paths
8. A River runs through it (not huge into fishing but I'd like to be)
9. Hunting fees/licenses are cheap for residents
Some of the negatives
1. Inversion (can't figure out if this is smog, smoke, fog or all of the above). We currently live in another Valley and it has some of the worst air in the nation. We were hoping to move somewhere with fresh air. How far out of Boise do u have to go to get away from the inversion? Or is it that you have to go UP into the higher elevation areas?
2. Cold Winters (My wife gets cold easily). Hopefully the fact we are retired and don't have to go to work every day will make it not as much an issue. We may also have the option to stay somewhere warmer during the coldest months.
As far as housing options, my hopes are for:
- Single family house 3bed/2ba 1500sf (though a little bigger would be nice) on a 1/2acre or larger. I would also like a 4-car shop in the back (metal building). This can be added later, but would probably be cheaper to find a house with already built. We aren't opposed to neighbors, but further away the better. I figure 20-25 minute drive to major shopping (Cabelas, Best Buy, Target, Kohls etc) would be fine for my wife with hopefully some closer grocery shopping. We would hope to stay somewhere around the $200K or less as far as cost of the house.
- Another want (not a need) would be a piece of hunting property in the mountains (Forrested, not deserty scrub oaks). Something within 5hrs drive (closer would be better) within Idaho borders. 5 Acres or larger. Would have to have direct or very close access to huntable Forest/BLM/Public land.
Anyway, that's my list, no idea if it will be able to be a reality.
Winters are not really that bad compared to most of the midwest. Basically have 6 weeks of fairly cold weather with maybe 2 weeks of that being really cold. The inversions never really bothered me when I lived there, but it does bother others.
Negatives if I had to pick would be high taxes for a red state. Paid about three times the amount of property and state income taxes than I did in Arizona.
State liquor stores, can't see why you can't sell the stuff in grocery stores. No reason why the state needs to have retail employees working for them.
Direct flights to other cities. Seemed like I always had to fly to SLC, Las Vegas or Denver to get anywhere.
Police with way too much time on their hands. Got pulled over more in the 6 years I lived in Boise than the rest of my driving years combined. One time it was for going 4 miles over the limit. Was getting in late from the airport and the cop was trolling for drunks, so used my speeding as an excuse to pull me over. Very minor stuff that other cities overlook like forgetting to use a turn signal will give them a reason to pull you over. However the upshot is that there is very little real crime in Boise. So it's 6 of one, half dozen of another.
The natives can be a little stand off-ish. Majority of my friends that I made in Boise were other transplants. The locals will be really friendly but will never pursue a friendship with you.
Overall a great place to live. Any city has some negatives to it and the negatives for Boise are few and far between.
Taxes, yeah they aren't the best but better than Kalifornistan.
State liquor stores huh?? Not a big deal I guess, I'm not a big drinker, beer maybe a couple times a month. I've been to other States with weird Alcohol laws (Utah has clubs, Louisiana has drive thru liquor stores but stores don't sell alcohol on Sundays).
Flights, Boise is a bigger airport than we currently have so not a big deal to us.
Police, yeah I guess we will have to watch our rolling stops. Haha. But the low crime is another HUGE plus for us.
As for the Natives, I'm cool with that. We are older and not looking for nightlife or lots of crowds/people.
Direct flights to other cities. Seemed like I always had to fly to SLC, Las Vegas or Denver to get anywhere.
The connections out of Boise aren't too bad for the size of the city. When I go east I generally go through Minneapolis or Chicago, and those open up most of east coast to a 1-hop flight from Boise. And prices are comparable to what you can get out of larger airports in the region like Portland. If we had directs to Dallas or Atlanta I think that would really open things up, so hopefully one or both will be coming down the pike at some point.
I don't see a lot of negatives to the Boise area. In fact my family and I love it here and don't intend to leave. I agree with the notion that the inversions are overblown. Quite frankly a bad wildfire year bothers me more than the inversions. Luckily we have neither most of the time.
I think a house as described will be doable here. It helps that you aren't working/commuting, because that means the location can be a little more out of the way - you would have a hard time finding anything decent for that money close-in. You might look in areas like Kuna, Star/Middleton, or maybe Emmett.
I don't know much about what a piece of undeveloped forest property would cost. I don't know where you're coming from, but one thing to keep in mind about Idaho is we have public land coming out of our ears around here. So you don't really need to own any hunting property to have very good hunting access. I fill the freezer nearly every year with game from Idaho's public lands.
Glad to hear the Inversion isn't as bad as I have heard. Here in Bakersfield, we are continually in the top 3 for worst air in the NATION (and we top that list a lot woohoo!). It's so bad here that you can't see the mountains most of the year unless a storm comes through with a lot of wind. After a windy couple days, you literally look up and go "oh yeah, there are mountains right there".
I figured that a house with large lot etc in Boise or Meridian would be tough to get in my price range. What if any of the outlying towns should we avoid?? As in are some of them known to be high crime or "that's the town where all the tweakers live" kind of a thing? lol
As for the undeveloped land, it wouldn't only be for hunting. I have dreams of building a VERY SMALL cabin on the property. Some place to get away from everyone, shoot my guns and during hunting season have a base camp of sorts. Something bordering a logging road that can only really be accessed in the winter with 4x4 or worse lol. That borders thousands or hundreds of thousands of public acres on the back of the property.
Traffic wise are you talking mostly downtown Boise or going through Meridian or everywhere?? How long would it take to get to downtown Boise from say the far west side of Meridian during peak times??
I have no plans to work so some traffic doesn't really bother me. And honestly other than some shopping, I doubt I'll be hitting downtown Boise too often.
As for the Liberals, it's sad but I think that's happening everywhere. They just don't get it. Why do they insist on moving somewhere because they like just about everything about the place, then trying to change it to be just like where they migrated from??? Hopefully Idaho can keep control of them.
Druggie types.... Can you be more specific?? Are we talking tons of tweakers that will do whatever for a $10 fix?? Or old hippies just wanting to grow there plants and be left alone?? haha
Taxes, yeah they aren't the best but better than Kalifornistan.
Was it really necessary to bash California? You want info on Idahole.
And say bye to Prop 13. My sister moved from Boise. The wages are terrible and the economy has bottomed out since HP and Albertson's and the tech industry left town. Minimum wage jobs and depressed people left. Even if you don't have to work, you see them in every store. Plus they froze 3/4 of the year, the outlying areas are only plowed for snow irregularly, and the neighbors held their being from California against them. The ones that didn't were the drunks and druggies; they were real friendly.
Last edited by nightlysparrow; 04-03-2014 at 05:13 PM..
I love the Pine and Featherville area for close access to outdoors with great scenery, hunting and fishing. There's a mix of private and public land up there so you might check that area out.
Anything in Canyon County will be a little bit stigmatized around here. It isn't all bad but there are some more sketchy areas there. But there are some nice rural areas too.
As far as the politics go, there are liberals and conservatives everywhere, Boise included. Boise leans right but not massively so. People aren't generally too militant about it and get along fine. Drugs, well, they're everywhere too. But there's not a bigger problem here than in any other part of the country. In fact I'd say it's a smaller problem here than most of the country. It's Boise, not Albuquerque.
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