I am thinking about moving to Coeur d'Alene

[~elise~]

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate all the encouragement given about our move to NW Idaho. But..I understand, also, why some of you feel you should inform me of the negative aspects of moving to the area. Believe me, we had many friends and family who had many warnings about our move to Hawaii 11 years ago and we have never been sorry we went ahead with our plans to live here. It was a wonderful experience, as I am sure living in the CDA area will be, too.
I will check out the Hauser and Newman Lake areas, ejay. Thanks!
esselcue, I like a positive person! I also think we will do fine once we get to the area and get a chance to look around. If we do have to end up living in one of the larger cities, we can handle it. Even if I do say so, myself, we are pretty friendly and find it easy to get along with most people.
I have done some research online and all I want to tell all of you NW Idahoans is--
You live in an absolutely gorgeous section of the US!!!
Looking forward to moving,
~elise~

Mahalo Nui Loa....

[Sandpointian]

Property Taxes in CDA (in honor of assessments being mailed):

In Kootenai County, the homeowner's exemption is now >$100K. That means that for a house assessed at $250K, a 1.67% tax rate becomes effectively 1.00%. Not great (inlaws in Mass pay 0.6% or so), but not bad, esp for the Western US. $250K represents an upper middle class home in CDA. $2500/year.

What cracks me up is that all these housing comparisons on where housing is over/undervalued never take into account property taxes & other real world expenditures of homeownership or landlordship. In both areas, I am very pleased. The papers always remark on the "undervalued" real estate in Texas. But property tax there is north of 4% (me thinks) and the land is flat (therefore, massive sprawl and literally unlimited boundaries a la Sacramento and many parts of NV and AZ). "Undervalued" is code for lower expected ROI.

I tell you right now, buying foreclosed CDA real estate in decent areas can land you a very solid deal. I hope good folks can take advantage of the credit woes and housing meltdown to secure a nice retirement abode. I almost wish I did not invest when I did...almost...I am still happy as a clam even if my assessments did drop down an average of 7% (lower taxes anyway!). Were the cash flow from work a little better, we would be very interested in buying another property (although the tick up in the rates moderates the enthusiasm).

[codee]

i am looking to move up to the CDA area, but I am nervous about one thing....The Racism. I have heard things that scare the freak out of me. Is it really that bad? Are minorities REALLY treated cruelly? My son is half black and I do not want to move him to a place that is going to make life hard for him.

[Sage of Sagle]

What you've heard is either ignorant statements or facts from 20 years ago. Your son will have no problem here. Yes, if he's "dark black" he'll stand out more than if he's lighter, but lack of racial diversity doesn't mean racial intolerance. DOES the area have some racists? Yes. But after moving here a few years ago from SoCal I can tell you the racism problem was 10x worse in SoCal than it is here. Up here nobody cares unless someone starts acting like an inner city gangster (which of course isn't likely for an average kid), at which time the social ostracism comes into play because it's too far outside the norm. It's not about race...more about cultural homogeny.

[BrightLibra]

Truth, no matter where you go. If you "fit in" that does not mean you need to look the same but act the same is better received and respected. Like using the spelling checker, your words may be different but if you are spelling things right you are better accepted.

[BrightLibra]

Well...we are waiting!??! How did your move and adjustment go??