Boise is not as busy as you'd think.

20 minutes drive can take you to a big ass lake, up to Bogus for winter sports, many different shooting areas, off-roading, mountain biking, etc.

Not much going on in Poc. Boise has all the good restaurants, bars, and breweries. Lots of fun activities all over. Lots of gun lovers.

I have been watching this thread . . . . . .I had planned on returning to Bend Or and retiring there. But I have been looking at the Boise area. Looks like all the same stuff to do (Fishing, ATV off roading, and RC Airplanes). House's in Boise are cheaper from what I have seen. Also Boise has restaurants, Bend loses it if you want something other the hamburger and some "local" craft beer.

Todays temps in Houston are expected to be in the high 90's and 90% humility and it's not even June yet.

If you're looking for a place to retire, look into McCall. It has all those things plus.

This whole house selling thing sure takes a lot longer than it used to

I've got my room rented for June and we should be closing in on the end here in Oregon. Latest date for our buyer to take possession is June 29 as per the offer. One major slow down on our part as buyers is the distance involved. It gets a bit spendy and it's logistically difficult to go and actually look at a place in person when it's an eight hour one way trip.

We're mostly packed up and in storage here. All we have left is a few pick up loads of boxes, a mattress, the TV's etc. and a couch to get rid of.

There's a couple places that have hit our radar recently though that have piqued our interest.

What can anyone tell me about the Parma area? I like the looks of a couple places out that way. Maps give me the same commute time to work as from Mountain Home and also gives me better access to Meridian, West Boise, etc.

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I hate that politics is driving me out of Oregon.

I had a phone interview in Liberty Lake WA today. If I get it I'll be looking in the CDA area. I'm surprised how much housing has jumped since I looked a few years ago.

ETA: If anybody has any good leads on mechanical engineering jobs near Boise I'd love to know about them. Boise would be a shorter drive home to see family.

Try posting your resume on indeed or Glass Door or similar. I got great results for CNC off of indeed. I'm starting on June 11 :)

Question regarding water shares in the mountain home area:

I looked at a place today that's got about 1.5 acres. Other than enough to run the house and yard/small garden off of it's well it currently doesn't have any other shares/rights but it does say "water shares available".

What does that mean in terms of money typically? There's a canal very close by but there's a couple of houses and 100 yards or better between. I assume that means canal access is unfeasible.

Great resource:  http://www.city-data.com/forum/idaho/

We're closing in on a couple places. One out sort of by Melba, 2 or 3 others out around Mountain Home. Sure, there's one or two possibilities in Boise itself, but I just really don't want to live in town.

The advantage to the Melba area is that there's more than one way in to where the work is. In fact it's a better shot at all the work.

The advantage to the Mountain Home are would mainly be price.

Is there anything else an Idaho newb needs to take into consideration?

I've been renting a room in Mountain Home for the last couple of weeks, the drive to Boise doesn't bother me, but it's not snowing and icy either.

Probably not much help, but Melba is a lot closer to Enrique's in Kuna.

I think that's the place I was trying to get to after a drive around the Melba area, but I settled on some other place that I saw first because I was el hungry.

PS

I'm not changing my state until we at least have an accepted offer.

If all goes well, by early next week the OR changes to ID

"Water shares" are what you get, if and when you decide to irrigate.  Canal access may be feasible if your irrigation district can use one of the neighbors' canals and extend it to you.  In a rural-ish area that's simply what you do...grow something you or animals can eat, or find a tenant farmer and make a deal.  First thing is to visit your local irrigation project and talk.  Good luck and welcome to Idaho.

Including 15 years in Texas, Enrique's is as good as it gets in Mexican food.  Good people.  Enrique is a self-made millionaire, the restaurant is the largest employer in Kuna, and he contributes a bunch to programs that help  the area.

Wanna see a neat trick?

Ta Da!

@sanausol

Our offer on a place just off highway 20 out of Mountain Home was officially accepted earlier this evening!

Huzzah!

So...watcha got going on over there naybuh?

Congrats neighbor!  I am pretty sure I know the place you put and offer on and if so you are only a couple miles from me.  I am here for the next few weeks before I head out for a deployment.  Let me know if you need anything before I head out!

Thanks, but now it's the big slow down for inspection/waiting/paperwork/waiting/follow ups/waiting and then there's some waiting.

The people who are selling it seemed like good people, met them and talked for a few minutes when I looked at the place. My wife hasn't seen it in person yet, but we're scheduled to get in to let her see it in person in about an hour and a half.

Looks to me like I'm going to need a goat or two to help keep the brush down.

Yeah it will definitely be a lot of waiting but glad you finally found a place.  Hope your wife likes it and let her know that this is a very windy day for us, we always have some wind but 25+ mph like today is not common.  A goat is a good idea just watch them close as coyotes have a large presence near us although I try to get rid of as many as I possibly can

If you get a chance, the rodeo tonight is a good time, nothing big but it is worth the $10 to get in and is small town fun.

We might make the rodeo, but wife, daughter, and MIL are wanting to do some sightseeing today. Mrs. Soylent loved the place and didn't mind the (as the sellers termed it) "Mountain Home zephyr" that's been going all morning.

There's a little fence mending needed on some areas but I don't think it's going to be too much effort. Personally I don't like goats, but they make a decent organic lawn mower

I knew about the song dogs without having to look it up or ask. That is the kind of area them things was invented for.

I took a 10 day trip to visit both Boise and Couer d’Alene.  I was hoping that one region would stand out much more then the other but no such luck!  Both are outstanding and have pluses and minuses.

Eagle is the town I would move to if I choose Boise.  CDA or Post Falls if I move to Northern/North Idaho.

It’s a very tough decision.  Still thinking through it.

Back to the house search. Place outside mountain home is a no go.

...

House buying is stressful for sure.  They seem to be building alot out by me, in Kuna.  I have a real easy commute to southeast Boise almost no traffic at any time (until i am right by work the last mile), hopefully their new construction doesn't screw that up.

It will be worth it for sure once you get it all setup.  Idaho has been the best move I have ever made by far.

Sorry to hear that .  I'm sure you will find something soon.

I am so jealous, I am looking at property in ashton ID at the moment

Looks like we're buying in Parma. Inspection is scheduled for Monday morning and if it's clean we're going to be in the house in about 2 weeks.

At least you’ll be close to the range!

Very cool! Congrats!

Party at your place?

It's looking like we take it as ours on time...of course literally everything we own otger than some clothes, a sleeping bag and a blanket and one (1) pillow is in Oregon...might be a couple nights sleeping on the floor

Ummmm ... Is it always four times hotter than the sun in the summer here?

There's about a week every year that it sucks, my first year here it was 104ish for the entire week we were unloading the moving vans for myself and my Wife's family. At least in the evening, when the smoke isn't bad, you can open up the house as it always cools down at night. Not like other places I've lived where even at night it's 80 degrees. Honestly I'd rather have the 100+ days than the winter inversion, the inversions can be nasty.

Holy shit are house expensive there I looked on Zillow and trulia and could find any decent house under 200000. How do you guys afford to live there.(CDA area)

Y’all mind if another person jumps in on this thread.  Looking to relocate the family out of the hell hole that is the Bay Area. Everyday living here is a drain on my soul and I need to keep my options open for a place I can raise my family without the idiocy of liberals. Or at least the level that we see here. We recently visited Reno and while we both enjoyed it, it was just too brown. My wife has family in sandpoint and they recommended we look in the Boise area.

The quality of schools being our number one priority means we are likely living “in town” so to speak so where would be some recommended areas in the Boise metro area? Is it possible to be in a good school district and also not in a massive subdivision where there are rows upon rows of stucco monstrosities? We are outdoors people, hiking, camping, offroading, skiing. Obviously I am into guns as well as archery.  The wife should be able to find work at any hospital and I am in the hvac controls field.  Wants in a house in order of importance would be schools, neighborhhod, 1/3-1/2 acre lot, 2400sqft House max.

I know, I know, you are full. We have enough Californians. I hear it everywhere we look. I’m not looking to leave for another California, I’m leaving because of California.  The least I could do is offset some of the liberals moving to the area.

Not to piss in your cheerios but the Treasure Valley is high desert like Reno and from someone such as myself that came from Nor Cal it's pretty freaking brown, especially in the fall and winter when all the leaves fall out and everything dies. Boise does have a lot of trees to offset that in the spring and summer. It's starting to hit fall here, I'd come visit in November and see if you like it then. My wife has family from the bay that moved here and the snow and negative temps in the winter and the 107 degree days in the summer blow their mind.

Idaho isn't exactly known for it's quality of schools, more like known for it's lack of quality. AFAIK, the best school district in the State is in Boise, and a certain area at that, but we couldn't afford to live there and buy the size house we wanted and needed. There is also a huge influx of people moving here from out of State and the schools can't keep up. Last year my son had about 20 people in his class, this year it's 31, my wife wants to pull the kids out of school and start homeschooling them because of the overcrowding.

Lastly check out the wages here to see if you could live on them. An RN here makes about 59K a year, a prison guard working for IDOC makes $30K, cost of living is less thou but moving here was a huge lifestyle adjustment for us, but I wish we could of done it years ago :)

ETA popular places for Californians to move are Meridian and Eagle. It's pretty freaking stucco strip mall with pretentious Californians thou which is why I dislike those places. Boise has nice areas but as I mentioned before is a lot more expensive, but if you can swing it, it's nice. I wanted more county so I'm out in Canyon County. We bought at the edge of Nampa where all the farm fields start....now all those fields are for sale and being converted into housing developments, I'm about to be surrounded here in the next few years.

@joe_sun not pissing in my Cheerios at all.  I am looking for rea answers from people who live in the area.  I understand that the area in question is high desert and maybe my impression of it is wrong but from pictures it looks greener than Reno.  We know we are not getting lush green forest like the PNW.  For reference if we could make a place like Tahoe work we would.  We don’t mind the high Sierra landscape and prefer it to some extent.  The pretentious Californians you mention are exactly the people we are trying to escape. I absolutely loathe the people here.  Absolutely the worst, and they think insanely highly of themselves. It’s mind boggling.

Do you mind quantifying what is exspensive for a neighborhood?  Wherever we end up we are starting with a slightly different financial situation than many. While I would like to live in the more rural end of suburban I am willing to make the compromise to get into the better schools.

Where did you live I’m nor cal? What has been the best part of the lifestyle change.  The one thing I notice immediately when visiting a new place is how friendly everyone is. That and kids out playing in the street.

@blownfour born and raised in Sacramento back 70's and 80's before California was invaded from liberals from out of State and then before the 90's when the Bay Area decided to make Sacramento it's bedroom community. I used to be proud of my hometown, now it's an embarrassment. My parents moved to California and I'm first generation, my Mother's family fled Detroit in the 50's when it collapsed and my Father's side fled the Philippines in the 60's during the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship so it's only fitting that I bailed with the commies took over California.

My kids run up and down the streets playing with all the neighborhood kids just like I did back in the 80's. I am in my office with the windows open and I can hear them yelling in the street and it's pure bliss :)

Expensive is obviously relative, if you search great school for the best schools in the area the Boise north and east end are where they are. If you go to Zillow and search for 3 bedroom 2 bath homes in that area you're looking at 400-1+ million. Yeah they are over the place. Also Ada county has highest taxes. Property has gone crazy here in the last couple of years, my house has jumped over $50K in the last two years! People from the Bay Area are doing here what they did to Sacramento. Sell their house in the bay area for stupid money, come here and get into bidding wars for the limited housing that's available. My neighbor put their house up for sale yesterday, it's been a constant stream of cars down the road to look at it today, it's pretty nuts.

We just moved in a couple weeks ago to Parma. Small ag town, pretty quiet. We looked everywhere from Mountain Home (deal fell through) to Eagle, Melba (really liked that area but the pickings were slim), South Boise (bidding war), Emmett (almost pulled that trigger), Nampa, Kuna, etc.

If you're okay with the drive in the winter, there's some places up Highway 21 between Boise and Idaho City that are mountain/pine forest. I understand that the winter roads can really add time to your commute though.

Not an expert on the area at all, just what we've seen while looking for a house in the last couple months.

One thing that we noticed, due to the hot real estate market a nice neighborhood (might only be a block or two) can often be literally a back yard fence away from a methamphibian pond. We weren't the only ones to notice that either. It isn't like that everywhere, but it seems to be more frequent here. My advice is to drive around the block some even if it's just using Google Street view.

The wage thing is real, we both took a little pay cut coming out here, but our kids are grown so that makes it easier plus we don't have to care about the quality of the schools so much. The people here so far that we've met have been very cool. The only thing I can think of that I really would change is my commute, but I was prepared for a longish one from the start. I drive from Parma to SE Boise and it's not super cheap on gas (driving an 04 Ram 1500 will be like that) but thems the breaks if you prefer small towns to cities and you're in my trade.

So I mentioned that yesterday my neighbor listed his house for sale, it sold today. Not sure if he got over asking, I'll try to chat him up tomorrow if I see him.

ETA spoke to my soon to be former neighbor today. They received 3 offers within a few hours. They rejected the offer from Californians even thou it was better, they said they had a feeling they wanted it more as a rental property and they didn't want to put another rental on our street, they accepted an all cash offer for full asking price of $220K for their 1400sq ft home.

The market is nuts this year, and last year was almost as bad.  I am glad I moved when I did over 2 years ago.  The over crowding in the schools is noticeable though especially where I live in Kuna.

oops

You and me both brother! We looked at Kuna, I liked it but it was too far from my In Laws farm out in Wilder. I saw all the homes going up, that's a huge population influx for a small town.

I am not surprised.  We looked that way when we moved here, decided to head north of my office instead.  I know a number of coworkers who moved south of the interstate recently.