Considering moving to Sandpoint - Questions (Boise, Hope: real estate, house, employment)

[cmk3]

Our little family moved from the DC area to Boise over two years ago. Now that we've been here, we feel like the Sandpoint area might be good for our long term goals. I've got a number of questions.

Employment
Of course the first step will be finding employment - Hubs is currently an OR nurse but will complete his education to become a Family Care Nurse Practitioner in December.

Anyone know how often openings come up in that field?
How do salaries in the medical field in Sandpoint compare to those in Boise?

I currently do remote work for some real estate people in Maryland, but really only to help with extra funds while Hubs is in school. What is the internet access/speed like up there? (In case I did continue working.)

Weather
Obviously we know it is colder with much more snow up there and we like that it is cooler there in the summer too. Does that area ever get affected by wildfires? Do they get the summer smoke like Boise does? What about in the winter - does Sandpoint get inversions like Boise?

How about water? We know it isn't as dry as Boise, but is it pretty easy to grow things there without complex irrigation stuff? I know the growing season will be shorter and we may have to do green house stuff. Our entire goal is to end up in a more self reliant situation and we know water is key for that.

Families
We've only gotten to visit during summer months at this point so I'm thinking most of the people we've seen in town are visitors so I don't want to make assumptions based off of that. We've got two young kids (4yo and almost 2yo) and will most likely have more. Are there a good number of kids up there? Any idea how many people home school - and if there is a community for it there? We're thinking we'll go that route but I'm a big fan of getting kids together on a regular basis and wondering how many are around for that.

Community
We moved out here with no family, one kid and another on the way and meeting people through our church playgroup and a babies and tots group through meetup was a God send for me. Do people in the Sandpoint area like to participate in groups like that? My husband enjoys hunting and reloading and stuff like that - will he be able to connect with people to do that with?


Thanks - and please include any other info you think would be good to consider!

[Cnynrat]

CMK,

Sorry, I can't help with many of your questions, but here's a few answers anyway:

As far as Internet access goes, it depends on exactly where you live. Right in the town of Sandpoint the usual options are available (cable, DSL I think as well), and the speeds will be comparable to anywhere else. Once you get outside the city your options will depend on where you are. There are a couple microwave services that are pretty good if you can see one of their towers from your home. Worst case you may have to go with satellite. The general review about satellite is that the speeds aren't bad, but the latency is slow. If you search this forum you will find a couple threads that discuss Internet access in north Idaho.

Wildfires can occur in north Idaho, but they are not as common as some other areas. For example, Montana is quite a bit drier, and I think they get more wildfires there compared to Idaho. I've not studied it in detail, but I think they probably have more wildfires in south Idaho compared to north Idaho. I know the Sandpoint area has been smoky for the past week or two, but that's from fires further west in Washington.

North Idaho gets about 28-30" of rain per year, but only 3-4 inches of that typically falls in July/Aug/Sep, so you will probably need to irrigate your garden. As you know, the short season probably requires starting plants inside.

I can't help you with your questions about kids and homeschooling. I can tell you that our tenants have a couple kids in the Sagle school and they are very happy with the school there.

Hope that helps.

Dave

[cmk3]

Thanks for the reply Dave! We are usually inundated with wild fires down here near Boise (a thunder storm the other night started 11 more) so we are hoping for an area with a lot less of that kind of action. The smoke can get pretty nasty in the valley here, but I guess it sounds like you guys get affected by the surrounding states too. We also only get about 11 inches of rain a year, so we're looking for somewhere not as dry as well.

Some good info - thanks!