Does our desired western mtn town exist? (how much, house)

[mike0421]

Someone who categorizes an entire state as being politically one way or the other (and there are many in this forum and all walks of life that do) are 1) intellectually short-sided and 2)emotionally lacking. It's really shocking some think this way but not surprising. Ultimately, you want to live in the home for the best price possible, and have a safe area to be able to buy goods and services.

I had mentioned to the OP Ruidoso, New Mexico a few posts ago. Ruidoso is in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

"Lincoln County is overwhelmingly Republican, voting Democratic in just 3 elections since New Mexico's founding (1912, 1932, 1936). It was one of only three counties in the state to support Barry Goldwater of neighboring Arizona in 1964, which is also the last time a Democrat managed even 40 percent of the county's vote."

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by JDproAV

New Mexico doesn’t lean conservative for those suggesting it. Neither does Flagstaff. Nor the northeastern states some are suggesting. WY, UT, ID, and MT are really the poster’s only options.

There's always the premise of putting on the big boy pants in order to coexist, with many more options open to them.

[DJKirkland]

I'd recommend Sandpoint Idaho. It's a really beautiful area. Leans red, plenty of snow but also great summers. The best part about Sandpoint is that it sits on Idaho's largest lake (Pend Oreille) and at the base of Schweitzer ski resort so there is plenty to do in all seasons. You'd be about an hour drive to Spokane Int'l Airport. It's a great area. Real estate has become more expensive to be sure, but you may still be able to find a few acres close to town.

[Thealpinist]

Originally Posted by DJKirkland

I'd recommend Sandpoint Idaho. It's a really beautiful area. Leans red, plenty of snow but also great summers. The best part about Sandpoint is that it sits on Idaho's largest lake (Pend Oreille) and at the base of Schweitzer ski resort so there is plenty to do in all seasons. You'd be about an hour drive to Spokane Int'l Airport. It's a great area. Real estate has become more expensive to be sure, but you may still be able to find a few acres close to town.

You won’t find any 1-2 acre properties with a 2000-2500 square foot home near SandPoint for the price the OP is asking. Highly recommend looking for a smaller property with less acreage. Or a smaller home.

[Snowbear00]

Originally Posted by AnythingOutdoors

1-2 acres with mountain views within 1 hr of a larger city in the $600k range is going to be tough to find. With remote work and pandemic migration what you're looking for is a lot more expensive.

Your top candidate of Alpine WY has potential. Would also look at Swan Valley, Driggs, Victor Idaho. This may be too remote for you, but the towns around Salmon Idaho may work. IMO, your main challenge is all these areas will be finding employment that pays enough.

BTW - Flagstaff AZ is not hot. It's on the Colorado Plateau, almost 7000' in elevation, which means it stays relatively cool in summer and cold and snowy in winter. If you have to run into Phoenix (3 hrs away) then, yeah, it's hotter than heck during summer down in the low desert.

Probably doesn’t make a huge difference but it doesn’t necessarily need to be 2 acres I was just trying to reiterate my desire to not be right on top of neighbors,though at least a small yard is desired. I had been following Driggs/victor area along with Rexburg/Idaho falls, I was unaware of the salmon area so I will make a note. I didn’t realize there was such a plateau position flagstaff was on. I figured it was kinda alone in the higher elevation in the area. Thanks appreciate the response

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

I agree 600k isn’t enough for anywhere desirable, but given a 10y time horizon you’ve got enough time to improve your budget substantially.

Thanks, trying to make the right moves now to make things easier down the road

Originally Posted by 1200RT

you can likely find what you're looking for on either side of the wasatch. note that north UT gets pretty churchy. But outskirts of SLC came to mind as i read your post. Budget will be tight.

Thanks,I had been looking around N Utah.I did briefly have Heber city on the list before I researched and discovered that’s well out of our means. I know SLC cam torch in the summer does the torch keep going N from there?

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

Flagstaff is gonna be closer to a million for what you’re asking for

Yes I had definitely noticed that I needed to make over 100k to sustain my living here at 85… no thanks!

Originally Posted by NW Crow

"Preferably a smaller town/city, say 15000 or less" does not match some of your listed possibles, unless you would consider satellites of them. Yes we would consider satellites. That was the wording I was want to use of but couldn’t think of it

Bitteroot Valley is a pretty good target and has different niches. Stevensville MT is small. Hamilton is modest sized by itself but add up all the nearby towns and countryside and the local area pushes 25k and the county is 45k. Too big or ok?
Those numbers would work, as I assume were not going to be on top of one another. I was finding though in a lot of MT that the COL was higher so that’s a bummer.

I wouldn't recommend the big / popular places in Northern Idaho or NW MT at current prices but some figure it out, perhaps further out, and figure it is worth it.

Lincoln County altogether has 18k but it is spread out 500 here, 1000 there, 2500 tops in town. Is that enough? Plenty of snow, plenty of very cold.
Sounds almost like heaven. I really regret not taking an afternoon when we were there and driving down there through the valley.

Would you consider outskirts of Helena or Boulder MT? Deer Lodge or Boulder MT Baker City OR? Evanston WY? St. Maries ID? Spearfish SD? Richfield UT? Ashton ID?

If it has my snow requirements, lower taxes, mtns, and lower humidity I’d consider anything as point in the game!

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

What may be ironic is that this may be more realistic in Eastern mountain towns/areas.

I am all ears at this point, so I’ll listen to suggestions. At one point i had I think it was BooneNC on the list. A lot of houses that fit my rustic vibe. But lacks much snow and snowmobiling. I also think there was someplace in the NE corner of TN. They both fail my average high to be below 60f for the yr

Originally Posted by 2011KTM530

All the really nice places have been discovered, thus, expensive. I know an acquaintance that lived near Caldwell ID. Had a good government job, lived on 11 acres with a small house. Got tired of the population explosion. Decided to sellout and moved to a small town between Bozeman and Billings. Got another job right away. But found out even with a chunk of money from the sale of his ID property, he couldn’t afford MT. So now he’s renting a travel trailer on a ranch hoping to find anything he can afford.

Eek, that’s no good

[Snowbear00]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

Have you considered northern Maine as opposed to out west?

I have not, but will entertain suggestions at this point. Thanks

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Not only that, but property taxes in counties in/next to the Adirondacks are actually lower in terms of percentage in relation to home price than other parts of the state or even rival the rates of those in other states. So, if the OP was open to say Lewis County, which is right next to the Adirondacks to the west, has relatively low property taxes, puts you within a reasonable drive to either the Watertown or Utica-Rome areas for more shopping, is in a big snowmobiling area; has a lot of and affordable land(which is probably partially why there is a pretty big Mennonite presence there) and the main community there(Lowville(village)) is a walkable community of about 3400 people(has at least a Super Wal*Mart and a Heinz/Kraft facility). So, that may be an example of something the OP could consider.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...,-74.763491,10

An example of a listing in the county about 45 minutes north of Utica/west of Old Forge(in the Adirondacks)/15 minutes south of Lowville and is right by the Snow Ridge ski area: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...5&from=map-pin

To illustrate the land aspect that I was referring to, this is in the SE corner of the county even closer to the Adirondacks(about 20-25 minutes from Old Forge) and is still about 45 minutes from Utica: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...1&from=map-pin

More: https://www.elocallink.tv/m/v/Redesi..._vid4_rev_iwd#
https://racog.org/ (includes parts of Jefferson County)

There are just under 27,000 people in the county.

I’m familiar with the those areas along with the tug hill. It just doesn’t do it for me . Appreciate the response!

Originally Posted by AnythingOutdoors

I agree with other posters here: the eastern mountains are a much better option for OP's preferences and price.

Mountainous areas in many western states are mostly public land. The small percentage of private lots in wilderness (i.e. what most people dream about) are either very expensive if they have good views and are within easy access, or they are so remote that one has to be okay with being isolated and willing to be sorta off grid.

This is why most housing in the Intermountain West is in the valleys. These can have nice mountain views, but they aren't often what people expect: few trees, mostly sage brush/grass land, and hot summer temperatures. These areas are also agriculturally valuable, which is another way of saying the land is expensive, so housing under $1M is mostly on small lots in town.

I’ll entertain eastern mtn areas that meet my snow,mtn,tax desire and at least lower humidity I’ll listen. We don’t need to be in the mtn per say just see them and that was kinda something that turn me off on Woodland park. We were more in the mtn than seeing them,other than Pikes Peak

Originally Posted by Phil P

Northern New Mexico fit's a good number of your reqs. FWIW I was looking at mountain towns in CO and ultimately decided Taos fit the bill better than anything in CO - which is astonishingly expensive, even compared to MT and ID and OR.

Pagosa Springs is a great spot if you love winter, but those roads out of it are hell if you have to leave any time during when a winter storm is possible.

I didn't want to be that isolated by tricky passes, so I went a little south and east and landed in Taos. It's about 1-2 hours for snowmobiling in the South San Juans, better than Woodland Parks options for sure. Skiing is up the road 30 minutes if you want to get into that, and passes are $500 for weekday passes. It's next to winter if you ever want it, but the area itself is flat and easy to drive on without tricky passes during storms. There's lots 1-2 acre lots and houses in your price range for that size. The views and sunsets are unreal out here.

Not nearly the hail and not as much wind here as the front range of CO. Similar climate to Woodland park. It's more liberal bent, but it's more the vegan off grid people than social justice warriors. Catholic roots throughout the whole area.

Here's a pic of my 1800 sqft $2100 a month rental house for reference, I've got an acre, but just prairie dogs instead of canines . Brand new very good construction house.

Thanks for the heads up on Pagosa springs, can’t say that surprises me much. I will mark down Taos to research this weekend. Thanks

Originally Posted by mike0421

Ruidoso New Mexico sounds like a very strong candidate here.

Will mark it down,thanks

Originally Posted by NDak15

Kalispell is horrifically expensive and a mix of bat**** crazy conservatives and a few bat**** crazy liberals tossed in for good measure. Wyoming is bat**** crazy conservative and not at all friendly toward outsiders. The other states I haven't lived in. In those states if you're from back east you're automatically liberal unless you work very hard to prove otherwise.

Yea Kalispell looked like it’d a stretch

Originally Posted by rya700

Wyoming has it's drawbacks but is probably the only intermountain west state where they have a chance of getting what they want in a somewhat desirable location

Appreciate it

Originally Posted by JDproAV

New Mexico doesn’t lean conservative for those suggesting it. Neither does Flagstaff. Nor the northeastern states some are suggesting. WY, UT, ID, and MT are really the poster’s only options.

Noted, thanks

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Snowbear00

Probably doesn’t make a huge difference but it doesn’t necessarily need to be 2 acres I was just trying to reiterate my desire to not be right on top of neighbors,though at least a small yard is desired. I had been following Driggs/victor area along with Rexburg/Idaho falls, I was unaware of the salmon area so I will make a note. I didn’t realize there was such a plateau position flagstaff was on. I figured it was kinda alone in the higher elevation in the area. Thanks appreciate the response



Thanks, trying to make the right moves now to make things easier down the road


Thanks,I had been looking around N Utah.I did briefly have Heber city on the list before I researched and discovered that’s well out of our means. I know SLC cam torch in the summer does the torch keep going N from there?

Yes I had definitely noticed that I needed to make over 100k to sustain my living here at 85… no thanks!


If it has my snow requirements, lower taxes and man’s I’d consider anything as point in the game.


I am all ears at this point, so I’ll listen to suggestions. At one point i had I think it was BooneNC on the list. A lot of houses that fit my rustic vibe. But lacks much snow and snowmobiling. I also think there was someplace in the NE corner of TN. They both fail my average high to be below 60f for the yr


Eek, that’s no good

I mentioned an example earlier in the thread in a more "conservative", lower property taxed area of NY that has properties that fit your criteria for about $200-300,000 less than your budget in/near the Adirondacks.

[Snowbear00]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

I mentioned an example earlier in the thread in a more "conservative", lower property taxed area of NY that has properties that fit your criteria for about $200-300,000 less than your budget in/near the Adirondacks.

I saw that and responded. I’m familiar with those areas and its not exactly what we are looking for. Yes they can get snow but the adks for me are meh and it’s still NY.

[AnythingOutdoors]

Originally Posted by Snowbear00

Probably doesn’t make a huge difference but it doesn’t necessarily need to be 2 acres I was just trying to reiterate my desire to not be right on top of neighbors,though at least a small yard is desired. I had been following Driggs/victor area along with Rexburg/Idaho falls, I was unaware of the salmon area so I will make a note. I didn’t realize there was such a plateau position flagstaff was on. I figured it was kinda alone in the higher elevation in the area. Thanks appreciate the response

You'll have some realistic options out west if you can live with less acreage or compromise in other areas, because your original list of wants is a case of champagne tastes on a beer budget

For example, here's a nice house in Salmon. Smaller than you want, with just 0.5 acre, but great mountain views:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7...35616969_zpid/

But, big disclaimer, Salmon is really small and remote. The nearest bigger city is Idaho Falls, with a metro population of just 150k, and even so it's a 2.5 hr drive in good conditions. If you need urgent specialized medical care you're looking at a $30k medical flight to Boise or Salt Lake City. Make sure you have jobs lined up before moving, wouldn't expect to quickly find decent employment quickly (or at all) in an isolated population of around 3000.

If you can live with an even smaller house on a smaller lot, the Driggs area puts you within ~1hr from Idaho Falls, which means a lot more potential for employment. E.g something like: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7...04656058_zpid/

Oh, and as some others have mentioned, the Flagstaff area doesn't lean conservative. It's a liberal college town.

[Phil P]

I can't say for certain if the Taos area is the culture wise fit you'd want, you can research that out, but Northern New Mexico as a whole fits your requests pretty well concerning geography and housing. It's got the still snowy alpine environment next door to the open area that grants the wide open view. Trees and views compete - I grew up in Black Forest CO, loved living in the trees, but we didn't have a view of the front range unless we drove a little a couple miles up the road or towards town. I get what you mean about Woodland Park feeling in the foothills rather than at the base of the range. In that respect, being on the drier Southern Rockies than the wetter North Rockies / Cascades is better, less forest means the views expand on much more.