Wife and I live in southern Wi right between Milwaukee and Chicago. We have 40 acres of a nice homestead. Problem is that we are between Milwaukee and Chicago areas and they are slowly joining.

I'm in my 40's and work in Quality Management (currently manufacturing)
wife is in 30's and works in IT (was a director of IT now not really sure)
I drive 1hr one way to work in Milwaukee and work 10+ hour days. Wife works from home and if she has to go in the office it's only 30 minutes.

We both work a lot. We have no kids and a pretty simple life.
We have animals on the homestead, a 30 year old sailboat on lake Michigan, drive modest cars, and only debt is our mortgage.

We are homebodies and go to the sailboat to "get away" since if we stay home we will do work around the property. I used to live in Cali and Oregon.
Love the mountains and freedom of the hills.

Wife talks about out west and I have NFA goodies and it looks like I can take them there.
Could we find work out there? Is it a great place to live? good places to research?
We are looking at Montana too but slim pickings for jobs, and we always loved Coeur D Alene but figured costly to live there.
I hear Spokane has manufacturing jobs and is not a horrible commute from Coeur D Alene. We want country life, but my wife loves her farm stand and wants to continue that or do farmers markets.
20ish acres needed to not be on top of neighbors?


Are we crazy? I have been ready to leave the midwest for some time now.

bring money, your competing against many conservatives leaving California, Oregon and Washington, most of them are bringing lots of money to the table for housing which is pushing housing prices way up.

We just talked with the owner of 38 acres. She put her home on the market....it’s not a better homes and garden type place-it’s at the end of a dirt road 30+ minutes from any kind of town you’ve never heard of. It’s got a shop, a barn and some fencing all of which is BADLY in need of repair. $499k.
Sold in less than one day. (Thankfully to a local) but that’s what you are looking at up here in the panhandle.

Fall or winter usually see a lot less competition for real estate,  though with less inventory (people list seasonally). That said, I don't know if the pace is going to slow down this winter unless the weather hits hard and fast. It's been a jaw-dropping spring and summer to say the least.

Our foliage is already turning, so we'll see.

My wife and I had planned on moving to North Idaho for years. We have visited numerous times and truly love it out there. We both agreed to wait until the kids graduated high school but now it's too late. No way can we compete with the California folks and crazy money. We have decided to purchase about 60 acres to add to our existing 35 acres in Kentucky for about the same price 15 acres would have costed us in North Idaho. No issues with water or growing seasons and we will start building next year. Sad we couldn't make the cut with Idaho but we are in a great place without the political pressure to move....

I wanted this lifestyle since I was young. We moved to north idaho just about 20 years ago. it took me 15 of those years to buy a property that I could sit by my fire on the creek butt naked, half drunk and shoot my guns without bothering anyone. The privacy is heaven on earth.  Now I am just about too old to seriously thoroughly enjoy it. Sometimes ya just gotta say fuck it and do it. get busy livin' or you know get busy fartin.
 Honestly, the question is asked more frequently than not, and all of the same answers get reposted, the cost "has" skyrocketed, the area was not prepared for this much congestion. but everyday that you delay is a day that you may regret.   I would post pics but,....

I lived in the PNW years ago. I drove out to CDA in 2000 and really enjoyed the area. I was set on moving there when I was offered a position in Ohio. Never made it back to Idaho. (Spokane seemed nice at the time, heard it's kind of a dump now.)

My advice......

Read all the other "Coming to Idaho" threads from the past 2 years.

That may give you some insight as to what you need to do, and where to look.





[edit]  Just realized this thread was from 8 months ago.

Guess he didn't make it !!

North Idaho is beautiful but land prices are outrageous in the area especially if you want a house in decent shape on the land. It's insane what things are going for out here right now.

Commuting to Spokane from the CDA area or north isn't bad, if you are already driving an hour to work its not going to be any different if not a bit better. Once we build our house husband and I will both be at about 1.5 hours commute time but being in the country is worth it to us.

Honestly, if you are willing to live in WA, land prices are a can be a lot cheaper just on the other side of the border, not as great of a state but just something to think about. Personally I wasn't willing to move back into WA but its an option and will keep you close to the mountains still.

Still stuck in our area. Property is high everywhere
Our properties have skyrocketed but we can’t find a place to move to. Idaho is the top location for everyone

Not sure what to do,
Work has been nuts with 12hr days and I’m losing my mind.


My area is getting so crowded

Half of Illinois is moving here with Chicago values.

You won't find reprieve here (North Idaho)  

We used to have sleepy streets, now there's traffic, tailgating, speeding, and rude drivers. If the Californians, Washingtonians, New Yorkers, etc. didn't bring their politics (yet to be seen), they definitely brought their driving. And cars. There are so many damn cars now.

obligatory "Idaho is full" comment..