Looking for Info - Possible Relocation from CA to ID

We are planning on moving out of CA, for various reasons. Our time frame is a bit wide, depending on if we wait for the boys to finish High School, etc.

Idaho is on our short list of places to consider. We have a trip planned soon to have a look around CDA and areas North of there.

I would like to hear from SS'ers that live, or have lived, in Idaho on how they like it there, areas we should look at, things we should consider, etc.

In general, we are looking for some land, partially or mostly wooded, but still need decent internet access, so places where we don't see other people for 6 months out of the year are probably too isolated!

This is an evolving thing, so our plans may change, but we want to be as informed as we can to make the right decision for us.

Thanks in advance.

A challenge here to keep this thread non-political.

Don't say it......

I know its kinda far but Ohio is pretty great!

I'd rather not go into the politics of the matter, thank you.

We have a short list of States to look at, and ID is the first on the list to be checked out.

SC is nice also........

East Tennessee is the place to be. We get a lot of people relocating to our area. We have no state income tax and low property taxes. Mountain, rivers and lakes.

My Wife and I moved to Idaho from Cali back in 1990, we stayed about 10 years and we'd still be there if construction work hadn't cratered. We lived down in the Southwest corner, about 25 miles West of Boise in the town of Nampa. We liked the town and the countryside, and the Deer and Elk hunting East of Lewiston yielded good game harvests. If you are retired or have a profession it's a great place, if not, it can be hard to make ends meet sometimes. If you have a Cali attitude, don't bring it up there. Idahoans don't care for a lot of change, especially in a small town. Be neighborly and respect "their" outdoors. We miss it (we still have a lot of Family up there) but being the country-folk we are, it became too populated for us. We saw the population in the Boise area nearly double in the ten years we were there. We have lots of fond memories with the family hunting, fishing, camping and ATVing.

cpf240 said:

Idaho is on our short list of places to consider.

This is an evolving thing, so our plans may change, but we want to be as informed as we can to make the right decision for us.

Click to expand...

Not sure what all is on the list but don't even consider the Peoples Republic of Maryland except to be placed on the “he** no list”. Good luck in your search.

Utah is gun friendly and very nice country with hunting, camping and many outdoor activities.

CDA area is nice, so is Sand Point, just north of there. Depends on what you are looking for. Lots of forest, hunting, shooting land available.

Just don't do like a friend of mine did when he relocated up there from your neck of the woods (Orange, just off the Circle). He went out and bought just about the first thing he saw that had 5 acres, and THEN found out it had an HOA, and that most of his neighbors were... not fond of guns. He'd been there a couple of years and they voted to ban all shooting in the HOA boundaries.

Do your homework!

I have a friend who is in The People's Republick, in Orange County. He has a cabin just over the Montana line not far from Sand Point. PM me and I can put you in touch with him.


Having lived there a few years, I have to agree with Gunzy about Utah. Nice place.


Wherever you wind up, I strongly recommend you plan to RENT for 6 months minimum, to learn the area. A year is better. You are a lot less likely to make a mistake that way. Plus, you will never find the good deals from a distance. You need to be on the ground and have made connections to find the good deals, and to recognize what is really a good deal for the area.


Realtor.com is a great place to start getting an idea of the prices in the area, but I sure don't recommend buying a house that way.

My advice is to start spending some time there to see if you really like it.

What do you do for a living or are you going to retire?

We are planning a trip up there soon to look at different areas, try to get at least a bit of a feel for where to look closer, assuming it feels "right". My wife can work remotely, as long as there is a good Internet connection. For me, I used to do tech support in the FIS industry, but don't expect to find much in that field, or tech in general up there. The plan is to find our homestead.

Where ever we move to, it will be to get away from the way things are where we are now, not to take those things with us and make the new place look like "home". We want to live where things are more in line with our beliefs, etc. I'd be perfectly happy to have the gate closed behind us once we cross the CA state line.

We have family in CA, AZ, NM and MO. AZ and NM are hotter than I would prefer, and I'm tired of living in a desert. I loved all the green, the trees, etc in places I've visited, such as St. Louis, Seattle, Valley Forge, Silver Spring. We have been to Salt Lake City, driving up from CA, and while we did like the area, it was still a bit drier than we are looking for. Living in SoCal, we've had enough of the drought issues that never seem to go away. I also want to know when the seasons change without looking at the calendar or Mall decorations.

For those who are curious, MO, TN, and NH are also on the list, but the list is evolving.

For the other location suggestions, we are open and willing to consider them. For this thread though, I'd like to focus on ID. So far, we seem to be drawn towards the CDA and North parts of ID.

This is just the start of the adventure, the plan, in general, is to let the boys finish High School here, which gives us up to a 3 year window. However, if we find the area that clicks and the right property, we may pull the trigger sooner. I know a week here or there is not nearly enough time to *know* the place is right, so this is the high-level look-see to narrow things down a bit.

Thank you for all your comments, please continue!

You might talk to Alex Gordon at Idaho Motor Pool in Boise. I bought my deuce from him last year- nice guy who's been selling MV's there for many years.
You can contact him through www.idahomotorpool.com.

I am thinking the same thing as you. Took a week off and drove down to Boise then all the way up to CDA area. I have to say CDA and north is where I will be located if i move. I love it up there. The Hayden lake area is really great and close to CDA (10 fifteen minute commute) yes still in the woods. If you look for land you have to watch the perk tests up there for water....if you cant get a good perk the land is useless. Take a trip and talk to some realtors while your there. If you are looking for property at a good price you wont be by any of the lakes. Houses are great prices! The Bonners Ferry area is really cool too! good luck and update with anything you find for those of us also considering the move! haha

CPF, I''m glad to see I'm not the only PRK resident on SS looking to relocate (and biggin too ) I've just started looking myself, and will be watching this thread with great anticipation. I hadn't considered Idaho yet, and have been looking at TX and TN mostly... For me the real thing will be finding work first... am already saving up for a bit of rental time. Wishing you the best in your relocation!

Ya the work thing for me too. Thats why I liked Hayden lake. Out of the city but close enough to hopefully find a decent job. There where some good openings while i was there. Everyone I talked to said CDA was growing like crazy....which will end up in Hayden lakes lap eventually but it is a good place to get set up and started... in my opinion. Beautiful area if you ask me. Also post falls cabelas had a ton of ammo

MMMMM... ammo.. what kind of work out that way, if I might ask?

From talking to people there were some decent construction jobs, building related jobs. things like that. Seems to be a decent amount of new developments. Also alot of rich people around the lakes buying up that property with nice views. I did not job hunt as much as i looked for an area to live. There was also hospital jobs and some banking jobs too. My gf was looking at the hospital because she has a BAS degree and thats needed for some "higher up" positions. Thats why we had to search around the CDA area. Their local papers had some good listings too. Should be able to check online.

Woodsplinter - I had seen the pictures of the Idaho Motor Pool truck that went down the hill, but hadn't thought about calling them, thank you for the suggestion.

Bigginstactical - The perk test is for the septic system, correct? I knew that is what we would probably have, but hadn't thought about the lands ability to drain, etc. Checking for good well water was already on the list, so got that covered. Now if we could just get water and mineral rights, that would be cool. Oh, and good thought on the local newspapers. I've been looking at a few online, but will pick up the print editions when we are there.

For those who are interested, I found another forum for info on different areas of the country:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/