Living in Northern Idaho

[Randle]

I know of several work force, boots on the ground jobs that have been turned down because the potential employee looked at housing and decided they couldnt afford to buy here.
And these werent entry level jobs.

 

[Gobbler36]

Sure come on the west has been ruined already. no going back now
WY is the last refuge

 

[WeiserBucks]

I just did a quick search on a popular N. Idaho town, median home price was $517,000 and the median per person income was $30,700. The folks making $30k aren't buying $500k homes, it's outside money coming in and making home ownership unrealistic for many locals and that's where some of the resentment comes from. It's happening all over the place and new transplants are wondering why the friendly small towns aren't welcoming them with open arms.

 

[rtkbowhunter]

I just did a quick search on a popular N. Idaho town, median home price was $517,000 and the median per person income was $30,700. The folks making $30k aren't buying $500k homes, it's outside money coming in and making home ownership unrealistic for many locals and that's where some of the resentment comes from. It's happening all over the place and new transplants are wondering why the friendly small towns aren't welcoming them with open arms.

Coupled with this..."Sooooo many California plates and CA transplants. Very organic, earthy, wealthy and hippy."

Equals the Kalifornia Cancer that has metastasized across the West. Thing about cancer is, cancer doesn't know it's cancer, even when it's killing the host.

 

[Randle]

Thats the problem , they cannot buy homes so big money investors building lots of apartments and charging $1800 to $2200.
I have an 18 yr old grandson that may never be able to buya house here.

I just did a quick search on a popular N. Idaho town, median home price was $517,000 and the median per person income was $30,700. The folks making $30k aren't buying $500k homes, it's outside money coming in and making home ownership unrealistic for many locals and that's where some of the resentment comes from. It's happening all over the place and new transplants are wondering why the friendly small towns aren't welcoming them with open arms.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I snapped at a Kalifornia lady in the peak of Covid in the Subway in Bonners Ferry. More pickles....a few more olives.....can you cut it into 3 portions? Can you wrap each individually? Literally had a wool beret slightly askew and advised me she spent years in the performing arts......

I engaged her. She openly admitted to being from Kalifornia and was on a property scouting mission to relocate. In front of all 3 degen kids....who will NEVER make enough money to stay in their Home Town....I asked her to kindly point her wagon somewhere else....I heard South Dakota is nice!

Getting way off topic for the OP.

What about staying home and living in Flagstaff? Was one of the neater places I had been in Arizona.

 

[BuckSmasher]

I work in software and my job is fully remote - that's why I'm fixing to get up and move to N Idaho. If I don't do it while I have the flexibility now, I probably never will.



That's great to hear. I've been up there before and loved it, but didn't spend enough time (especially in town) to get a feel for the social landscape. A good place to raise a family is important as well as I'm getting to that stage in my life now.

OP there I would take many of the comments in this thread with A LOT of salt.

 

[sneaky]

If you like California girls there's plenty on the social landscape in N Idaho.

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[Paulcobb]

Trying to say this without sounding like a jerk, but as someone who lives and works locally for the last 6yrs since we moved here from MN, please don’t move here and be another remote worker. We have a huge issue with how many people are coming here and using the infrastructure and driving up housing prices but not contributing to the local workforce. I could go on and on about this but it is a huge issue. Everyone wants the good stuff the area has to offer but keep their nice remote job. It has jacked up the area big time. The house we bought in 2017 and sold in 2020 was resold by those buyers in 2022 for double what we bought it for in 2017. Remote workers of course.

this x1000

 

[johnsd16]

Agree with everything that is being said, and the counterpoints, but I am intimately involved in what many consider a basic need (healthcare) in this community and deal with recruitment and retention of everything from entry level positions all the way to the highest paid positions in our institution. We are also involved with the schools and a levy that accounts for 25% of the school district funding didn't pass (influx of retired people on a "fixed income" - read untaxed pension from govt jobs in CA) and now all sports are possibly being cut from CDA and Lake City high schools, as well as letting go all school police. It is hitting and multiple levels in a major way. As someone who has an 8th grader we strongly considered leaving this summer. You can say that home prices go up, but they went up nowhere else in the country like they did in Kootenai county during covid. That is why the NYT ran an article about it. Our home literally doubled from 2017 to 2022. Any house that is being bought by a remote worker is not for a local worker and drives the prices higher. Yes, investors have been a significant problem as well. Being honest, this area is fragile and has been damaged a lot in just the 5-6 years I have been here.

 

[Spoonbill]

Your tires will be flattened at a trail head or your vehicle WILL be fukt with if you have out of state plates.

I see you have never had 5B plates on your truck. Get keyed when you leave the county for being a “californian tree hugger” and keyed in town if you have anything remotely conservative on your truck. Those vanity plates are worth the extra money.

To the OP, while everything in this thread is mostly true as long as you don’t move and try and change the area you live in to be like the place you left then you will find most people friendly.

 

[mtnbiker208]

Agree with everything that is being said, and the counterpoints, but I am intimately involved in what many consider a basic need (healthcare) in this community and deal with recruitment and retention of everything from entry level positions all the way to the highest paid positions in our institution. We are also involved with the schools and a levy that accounts for 25% of the school district funding didn't pass (influx of retired people on a "fixed income" - read untaxed pension from govt jobs in CA) and now all sports are possibly being cut from CDA and Lake City high schools, as well as letting go all school police. It is hitting and multiple levels in a major way. As someone who has an 8th grader we strongly considered leaving this summer. You can say that home prices go up, but they went up nowhere else in the country like they did in Kootenai county during covid. That is why the NYT ran an article about it. Our home literally doubled from 2017 to 2022. Any house that is being bought by a remote worker is not for a local worker and drives the prices higher. Yes, investors have been a significant problem as well. Being honest, this area is fragile and has been damaged a lot in just the 5-6 years I have been here.

fyi
this is not the first time the levy has failed and is not the first time the school district has threatened removing school sports. The levy probably failed, due to the school district wanting to make the levy permanent, not temporary, as it has been in the past. I also remeber in the 80's, CDA was rated as one of the top 10 retirement towns in the USA. Alot of the issues that are here, have been here for quite a while.

The social aspect is interesting. It is turning into a very hardcore right wing environment, where free thought is not wanted. You got to love when a transplant tells a lifer to move back to california when the lifers thoughts are not hard core right wing. This is coming from someone who went to grade school, junior high and high school here. I am a Coeur d alene high school class of 1987 graduate. Probably why i can't type for shit.

The politics of this place has gone looney tunes. Library board meetings have to have a police presences now.
I will not say don't move here, because i have made a lot of money on people moving here. Just realize folks are not near as friendly as they use to be. Which is a shame. People use to wave at each other when driving down the road, now it is only part of the time. Wages have not and will not keep up with the housing market, but i have been hearing that all my life. One thing that i have learned is this. you don't move to idaho for social services, we don't offer them and they are constantly voted out. This is a state that typically had a low tax rate and the state has a balanced budget ammendment. We can not defict spend. This keeps taxes low and services even lower. Most state jobs went to 4 days a week, so the state could make ends meet in the great recession, and the state never went back. I live east of CDA and used to have a school bus go by my place. That has not happened since 2009. Idaho is a great place to live, and if you are willing to get er done, you can do quite well. If you expect things to come to you, you won't do well here.

Sandpoint has always been an intersting mix of loggers and hippies.
I do know, when i am done in my professional life, I will be moving away from CDA. There is just to many people here now.

 

[johnsd16]

olitics of this place has gone looney tunes. Library board meetings have to have a police presences now.
I will not say don't move here, because i have made a lot of money on people moving here. Just realize folks are not near as friendly as they use to be. Which is a shame. People use to wave at each other when driving down the road, now it is only part of the time. Wages have not and will not keep up with the housing market, but i have been hearing that all my life. One thing that i have learned is this. you don't move to idaho for social services, we don't offer them and they are constantly voted out. This is a state that typically had a low tax rate and the state has a balanced budget ammendment. We can not defict spend. This keeps taxes low and services even lower. Most state jobs went to 4 days a week, so the state could make ends meet in the great recession, and the state never went back. I live east of CDA and used to have a school bus go by my place. That has not happened since 2009. Idaho is a great place to live, and if you are willing to get er done, you can do quite well. If you expect things to come to you, you won't do well here.

Sandpoint has always been an intersting mix of loggers and hippies.
I do know, when i am done in my professional life, I will be moving away fro

Agree on the levy, perpetuity was the killer. I graduated from a HS that had failed bond issue after failed bond issue I know these things suck. The district should always do better with the money they have. I don't agree with reckless spending but this levy failure was likely multifactorial (perpetuity, flare of anti-govt and anti-spend culture, inflation, property tax increases, etc) simply pointing out that the "I'm going to move there for all the great stuff and work remote" is really a negative thing here now. I moved here to bring something to the people of the region, integrate into the community, support the infrastructure, pay my way. etc. I am absolutely a transplant and have gotten to know a lot of locals. Agree that some of the transplants are right wing flexers, or just goofy and not in a liberal way.

It is just hard to see people openly saying how great it is an wanting to be here but just for the cream. I can't tell you how often i get to hear recent transplants bitch about this or that (ED wait times, can't see this or that doctor, no services for this, whatever) and I think to myself did you look into any of this before you came here. If it sucks so bad why are you here? And yes, on a daily basis I get to ask multiple people where they had their last XXX done so I do know where they came from and when.

In summary to the OP, the social scene here is complex and all over the map. You will find like minded people if you look for them. Some will be put off by your open desire to roll in, milk the area and work remote, and I would be in that category for the stated reasons.

 

[Big_wals]

Just left that area...kinda.....I've been around the region maybe 14 years. Spent the last few years N of Sandpoint and would frequent there and thru there often.

It's become VERY Hipster. Very different feel and crowd in 7B v 9B. Sooooo many California plates and CA transplants. Very organic, earthy, wealthy and hippy. Tattoos and Flat Brims and pierced everything. Lots of coffee, micro beers, etc.

Schweitzer is still the same or bigger. Mountain biking still popular. Most everything is dog friendly.

I don't know....it's just what I would call Hipster. Most of the locals and natives are rather out of place. The local feed/general store will have a Range Rover and people in Patagucci everything and hands that have never touched a yard implement ungloved....parked next to a clapped out Yota with a box full of hounds.

I'd say it's about as true of a 4 Season paradise as it gets. Plenty of water, snow, trails and freedom. Idaho very friendly for ORVs and Mountain Bikes.

Just isn't and wasn't for me. I'm much more Yota and hound box than Range Rover.

Lol. This sums up Sandpoint perfectly

 

[BuckSmasher]

OP there are more jerks on this thread than i have met in person since i have lived up here.

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[johnsd16]

OP there are more jerks on this thread than i have met in person since i have lived up here.

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He asked for an “honest” opinion. I am honestly telling him what I think. The problem is real. I am being honest that if I met him out and about and he was as honest as he was in the initial post I would honestly be cordial but would not go out of my way to help or befriend him. We are overrun with remote workers.

 

[SWOHTR]

Lived in N Idaho for 3 years. I loved it! I came from California. Was well aware of the “problems” you’re concerned about. Became an ID resident as soon as possible.

As you’ve observed here, the narrow minded xenophobia is rampant up there.

I’ll also add that I moved there due to PCS orders from the Navy. Moscow was my new duty station. Just a friendly reminder to all the xenophobes out there that you can’t judge a person by the plates on their vehicle. But first, you need to leave your beloved home area to learn that…

 

[sneaky]

I see you have never had 5B plates on your truck. Get keyed when you leave the county for being a “californian tree hugger” and keyed in town if you have anything remotely conservative on your truck. Those vanity plates are worth the extra money.

To the OP, while everything in this thread is mostly true as long as you don’t move and try and change the area you live in to be like the place you left then you will find most people friendly.

I live in Custer county and can attest to the disdain for 5B plates. Rank right up there with 1A plates in these parts lol

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[Jesse Jaymes]

Lived in N Idaho for 3 years. I loved it! I came from California. Was well aware of the “problems” you’re concerned about. Became an ID resident as soon as possible.

As you’ve observed here, the narrow minded xenophobia is rampant up there.

I’ll also add that I moved there due to PCS orders from the Navy. Moscow was my new duty station. Just a friendly reminder to all the xenophobes out there that you can’t judge a person by the plates on their vehicle. But first, you need to leave your beloved home area to learn that…

You can also use your life experiences to form your own personal conclusions and base line.

More than welcome to have your property re-assessed and split to put someone new in your backyard. I'll pass.

 

[Randle]

Who's splitting property?
You or the city/county?