CDA vs. Northern Az vs. Tri-Cities (Pocatello, Idaho Falls: lease, attorney, homes)

[Searching-01]

Hi All,
Was reading this thread :

Idaho Falls-Couer D' Alene- Eagle/Boise- My Trip May 2017- Observations, Experiences and Research

I noticed the OP was from the infamous "Orange County" of Ca. Which is where I'm at, at the moment. But I've lived all across the USA, except for PNW, it seems. Originally from Fla. PNW is the only region I've spent literally no time in.

Seems the OP in the thread above really likes ID. I find that intriguing.

Like me he also considered the SW... Arizona in particular... but chose ID.

Anyone else here had to make that decision and lived or visited both?

For me it's coming down to Prescott Az, or similar and CDA ID or similar. Still on the radar is Western Washington state also. Was wondering about Wine Country/Tri-Cities. (The no state income tax is attractive on the Wa side as well.) Also curious about other ID spots I haven't researched yet, such as Pocatello, Idaho Falls, etc.

Would be interested in the experiences and observations of others.

Hope to make a decision in the next few weeks and get down to the nitty gritty of selecting a place and going to see the areas, etc. Basically want to be out of here by the time my lease ends in first week of Sept.

As an aside, someone mentioned a dairy belt in ID somewhere? Where's that at?

[Cnynrat]

Northern AZ was on our retirement location list. We thought about the Prescott area as well as somewhere outside Flagstaff. We spent a lot of time in that part of AZ over the years when we lived in SoCal.

In the end there were several factors that lead us to choose north Idaho:

1. Concerns about water. I know there have been times during extended dry spells in the past when when Flagstaff imposed a moratorium on new connections to the water supply. You could build a house, but not connect it to city water. If you go west from Flagstaff towards Williams, I think you might find some people in rural locations who have water trucked into their place. There is an aquifer in the area, but I think it's pretty deep in places. That area is going to be affected by periodic droughts just as the southwest has for centuries. We wanted to minimize the chances we'd have to deal with that variable.

2. We wanted to live somewhere with lots of tall trees. We were looking for lots of green after living in SoCal for a long time. I know there are trees both in Prescott and in the Flagstaff area, but they are different than in north Idaho. Around Prescott it's mostly Ponderosa Pines, not surprisingly since they are a fairly drought tolerant species. Some of the same around Flagstaff, but also classic Pinon-Juniper forests in some of the lower elevations. The two locations are different in that respect, and we preferred the forests in north Idaho. As they say, YMMV.

3. We wanted to live somewhere with a real 4 season climate. Flagstaff may have fit that bill, but we didn't think Prescott had enough winter. Along that same thought, we are skiers, and thought we'd be happier living near Schweitzer vs. Snowbowl. In our opinion, Prescott is too far from Snowbowl.

Those were the 3 main reasons that pushed us away from northern AZ.

We also thought about a few places in MT (the Yaak, Kalispell area, Missoula area, and the Bozeman area).

Dave

[mistyriver]

Our first and failed “homesteading” attempt was outside of Flagstaff...8000 ft up.
Water is, as Cnynrat said...dicey. We hauled water in and it’s not fun. Also, we missed natural water like lakes. There are a couple but frequently very low or dried up. Coconino County has the largest Pomderosa Forest in the U.S. though and it’s beautiful.

The weather can be tough. Very windy and Flag is one of the top ten snowiest cities in the country. That got old. Beautiful in summer though.
Also, dealing with Coconino County while building was horrendous. This was back in the mid 90’s so hopefully things have changed but it was corrupt. We finally had to hire an attorney to deal with the building department.
We gave up and the following summer the Hochdoerffer Fire blasted thru and burned a lot of the Forest around our place but we sold it for twice what we’d paid and counted ourselves lucky.
I still love Flagstaff to visit, but Idaho was a much better place for us.