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Our plan if we do move to the Boise area is to buy a house outright or put at least 75% down. We are looking at houses in the $200,000 - 250,000 range. If the house is paid for or nearly paid for, how much would we need to make to live comfortably for a family of 4? We've got two young boys. We are not big spenders, pretty conservative money wise. I drive an almost 10 year old car and my husbands car is almost as old as me! My husband and I make about $125,000 now in Long Beach, CA and we have no problems saving money every month. He's an engineer and I'm a teacher. Of course we wouldn't move unless one of us got a job offer first, but I wanted to hear from others because it looks like my husband will most likely find a job before me. I have a feeling it's going to take me some time to find a teaching or counseling job here.
It completely depends. With a family of 4, you can live comfortably here on $50,000 combined income, if you really wanted (and were financially disciplined). That number goes down if you have your house paid off.
It all depends on where you want to live and what you want your standard of live to be.
Let's say your husband gets a job here as an engineer, and let's say he makes between $48,000 and $60,000 per year (I'm guessing he has substantial experience). Let's also say you get a job teaching, and you make $36,000 per year. So if the two of you combined make between $84,000 and $96,000 per year... I don't see how that doesn't make you upper middle class here, and allows you to have a great standard of living.
Now, for a 4 bedroom house in the $200-$250k range... that won't get you in the North End, East End, or most parts close to the foothills, river, or downtown. Likely you're looking at some parts of SE Boise, most of the Bench, and your choices increase as you head south, west, or southwest. In my opinion, and this is strictly my opinion, your quality of living goes down as you head south and west. It's not a crime or neighborhood quality thing, but rather... when you get out of the downtown, North End, East End, and some sections of SE Boise, you're moving somewhere that lacks all of the character, charm, and qualities that makes living in Boise unique and distinctive. You're in suburban development that feels like anywhere else in the US and has no remarkable or noteworthy quality about it, other than you're living in the Treasure Valley and you're within driving distance of all that has to offer. But again, that's just me.
I went to Boise Idaho. I loved driving from there to Ontario Oregon just for fun. Boise is a quite small town in the middle of mountains. The Airport is kind of a well maintained jewel. Everything was great and affordable. May be that is why people are moving from LA to that place.
Boisefan88, my husband wants land and I want character =) I'd prefer Boise in some of the older neighborhoods. My husband wants to live in the boonies out near somewhere like Star. Although I saw a few properties online in SW Boise that have some land .30+ acres in an established neighborhood. We visited Boise about a month ago but we didn't look at houses. We plan on coming back in Dec to get a feel for the cold and look at some neighborhoods. We plan to rent in the area we decide to buy to make sure it's where we want to be.
We're a family of 5, trying to make it on $1500 a month. Just not quite enough, we're going about $500 in the hole every month. (Dipping into our savings here, haven't incurred more debt in 2 years now.) We do have $820 in rent per month, so that's really crunching our numbers. Hopefully once school starts again, we'll have a little more income to work with. Subbing has brought in anywhere from $123 to $700 per month. Mostly in the $200-300 range.
If my husband could make $30,000 or more per year, we'd probably feel like rich kings!
Boisefan88, my husband wants land and I want character =) I'd prefer Boise in some of the older neighborhoods. My husband wants to live in the boonies out near somewhere like Star. Although I saw a few properties online in SW Boise that have some land .30+ acres in an established neighborhood. We visited Boise about a month ago but we didn't look at houses. We plan on coming back in Dec to get a feel for the cold and look at some neighborhoods. We plan to rent in the area we decide to buy to make sure it's where we want to be.
Character and land aren't mutually exclusive, but combining them does have financial implications, particularly in some locations. How much land is your husband wanting? Even in someplace like Star you'd have a hard time getting an acre+ on that budget. I would recommend a rental so you can familiarize yourself with the area. There are quite a few older neighborhood pockets throughout Boise and Meridian that have larger properties - they just don't come up for sale that often so you have to be patient, and you have to move quickly when you see what you want.
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