Idaho BS Thread

Grew up in Moyie Springs and Naples. Was just in Sandpoint today - some of it still feels the same and other parts have very much changed…

 

Hi y'all, my wife and I are currently living in Kalifornia. I was born here 50 years ago when it was a very different place to live. We've explored many places in the US, but so far Idaho is still at the top of our list. I know real estate has gotten ridiculous in Idaho but with our new little girl finally home it feels like we've got to make a move asap. I hope to drive up to Idaho soon and explore some areas we might be able to afford.

Any advice for a patriot that wants a better life for his family?

 

Texas


Just kidding. Depends on what you do for a living and what type of area you want to be in. City? Country? Suburbs?

 

I grew up in rural northern Idaho.
30 years ago, Cali plates were loathed. Transplants weren’t taken to very kindly, really anyone that wasn’t born there for at least several generations wasn’t.

I imagine it’s not quite that bad anymore, but don’t know for sure - I’ve lived in WA for 25 years now. Weather is going to be a big change from socal - nothing can truly prepare you for that. A lot of transplants didn’t last through the first hard winter when I was growing up.

Unless you’re in Boise region, pretty much everything else is rural by most other people’s definition. Even Boise is a stretch to call “urban” - I’d say it’s more suburban and expanding rapidly.

 

Everyone moving in up here to north Idaho doesn’t always have the friendliest welcome keep that in mind. Only 24% of Idaho families can afford a house now. It’s not what it used to be way more crime in the past 3 years I hardly recognize it. Really sad such a beautiful place is being changed into something it shouldn’t. Wish you luck tho but It’s slowly declining I don’t seeing it being a any better place to live in the next 5-10 years

 

Not city for sure. Probably half way between the burbs and country.

The rapid expansion is definitely a concern.

Thank you for the honest feedback. I hear about how many fellow Californians have moved to ID, TX, CO, etc and it makes me cringe. If they are moving to these once great states to ruin it I will just stay away. On the other hand I'd love for our family to be the exception and move to a great state and help it either become great again or stay great.

 

Just live your life and make the best move for you and your family. Why does it matter if other Californians have flocked to states like ID? There's a reason why they're moving here, for better or for worse. You don't have any social obligation to somehow keep things the way they were and it's a bit grandiose to think that you and your family could be the exception and make Idaho "great again or stay great"...whatever that means. Idaho is still going to be a great place to live 10-20 years from now. Life is too short and time with family too valuable to have to worry about where other people are moving or thinking of you.

 

100% agree with you @sn_85, including the part where I am being a bit grandiose. I get that way sometimes.

 

I'm in Sandpoint.
Tundra805 I realize your post is almost a year old, you on the Central Coast? As others have said, locals can be a little standoffish and a little upset about the rush of money driving up the housing cost. I understand their pain, my kids could not afford to live in the town they grew up in. Folks for the most part are very friendly just don't tell em you paid cash for your house after making a ton of money from your Ca home. Sandpoint has a ton of retired Cops and Firemen, regardless how you feel about, they aint tweeking and stealing your stuff. PM me if ya want more info on God's Country!

 

Heading back “home” (Sandpoint falls into that general area) in a few weeks for a short visit. Looking froward to a day up on the mountain again

 

I built a 20'x20' cabin renting it out on vrbo, hit me up if ya need a place to stay. https://www.vrbo.com/2893102?adultsCount=2&arrival=2023-01-23&departure=2023-01-24&unitId=3465142 Mods, if this ain't cool, let me know, I'll delete it.

 

No worries
I’ll stay at my parent’s place just inside MT on Hwy 200…that’s the reason we’re heading over in the first place

 

Funny story from when we moved here to St. Maries almost 17 years ago...

We were brand new Idahoans, and our rural valley was holding an annual meeting which we attended; someone asked us how the trip was from California. I laughed as I had no clue where he got that idea, probably just gossip.
I shared that we had a pretty uneventful 2800 mile trip from Interior Alaska--our long time home. Once I told him that he and the rest of them STFU for good.

We've all since become friends, although many of them wouldn't last a Winter in northern AK.

 

Hey, so where are we supposed to go wheeling around the Boise area? I've looked around online near Cascade, Stanley, Idaho CIty, etc, but most of it seems like hiking. I'm originally from WY and we didn't have a hard time finding spots, not to mention there's nobody around lol... talk about bliss.

 

Checking in from CDA.

 

I’m out in PF.

 

Native Idahoan here from Moscow!

Born and raised in Moscow on the site of the original homestead horse outfit from the 1800's. I moved away to join the military at 19 and lived all over the US and the world. Married for 20 years and raised a couple of great kids. I was living in Arizona when I got divorced 10 years ago and moved back to Moscow and lived with my brother until I got back on my feet. I found a great deal on a farmhouse 15 miles away and just over the border in WA. Back then, WA was still pretty sane, and home prices were just a bit cheaper in the smaller towns. I paid $115k for a 3-bedroom fixer-upper on a double lot.

Over the past ten years, the Great Migration/Invasion of Californians has caused home prices to skyrocket, crime to increase, and quality of life to plummet. My folks now pay $900 a month in property taxes on the remnants of the 4-generation ranch. Only 2 acres and a horse and a mule remain. Moscow has gone far left and now imposes a "rain tax" on property owners who have too much concrete or gravel on their property. My brother is a Detective and says crime is skyrocketing. The median family income is $55k while the average home cost is $455k. Do the math. Most people can't afford to buy a home, now. And those are 2022 numbers. It's gotten exponentially worse the past two years.

WA has gotten extremely liberal since I bought my home, and I desperately want to move back to Idaho, a mere 2 miles away. But, my house has only barely doubled in value to $240k, while a comparable home in Idaho goes for $350k or more. I chose poorly.

I talked to a contractor a few months ago and he said he is booked out for over a year due to Californians coming in and paying cash for homes, then wanting to upgrade them. I just looked at a place that is 34 miles from my work, in a very rural area, in which prices were dirt cheap because it was so remote and nobody wanted to commute in the winter that far out. House was on 13 acres, 1800sq ft. with 3-bedrooms and 2 baths. It was built in 1985 and never updated. Carpeted bathrooms. Lots of paneling. It needs about $80k worth of upgrades. Ten years ago, such a place would go for maybe $180k due to the acreage and timber.

Now? $600k. In an area where most jobs pay under $15 an hour. Why? Because some Californian will buy it with cash after selling their 3-bedroom, 2-bath ranch-style home in Mission Viejo for $1.7 million and think a fixer upper in the country with 13 acres and no red tape is a steal at $600k.

No matter how conservative or how much of a "patriot" an outsider thinks they are, when they come here flush with cash and pay insane prices for homes, they are ruining the quality of life for folks who have lived here for generations.

Plus, no matter how conservative you think you are, folks can sniff your Californian ass out a mile away, lol. First clue will be the vehicle. Nearly always a new or newer SUV or pickup. It will either be the luxury or extreme off-road model. If it is modified, it will be with low profile rims/tires that are useless off-road.

The second clue will be how you dress. Californians usually dress in mostly black or grey, and they wear clothing that is appropriate for someone 20-30 years younger. When you are at the local sporting goods store and a couple in their late 40's or early 50's walk in wearing mostly black, with the female in yoga pants and the male with a North Face puffy vest, and they both have their noses in the air with a look of disapproval of the common folk around them, then you have encountered Californians.

The third clue has already been mentioned; their attitude.

Californians naturally think they are superior to everyone around them. They are very similar to the Spaniards which first encountered the Aztecs; they assume that they are smarter and better than the natives and therefore deserve to be worshipped and respected as obvious superiors.

Sadly, however, they are tragically mistaken. My cousin moved away from Idaho in the 80's and settled in the Bay Area in California. He went native and married a local, went full liberal, and raised a family as a public servant living off the government teat.

He decided the crime and homelessness was too much for his sensitive family and moved back to Idaho.

His young children were enrolled in the local small rural school district and soon, alarming red flags emerged. His young children, who drank chi tea and were allowed to only watch MSNBC, were tested and deemed nearly illiterate and completely lacking in educational standards.

The California children, educated by the most leftist and liberal school system in California, were simply... Ignorant. They were multiple grade levels behind their Idaho counterparts and just could not compete with average children. The principal met with the liberal parents and suggested that they hire tutors over the summer to help the children reach the state minimal requirements. Did they? Absolutely not! They instead sought out a liberal charter school in Moscow which embraced ignorance and idiocy and championed feelings and diversity over facts and education.

The children remain ignorant and indoctrinated in leftist teachings which will ensure that they are permanently offended by everything around them and that they never learn critical thinking skills or will ever question the cult of leftism.

Thus is the trademark of most Californians who move to Idaho. They are largely ignorant, snobbish, prideful, and ruin our way of life. Most folks refer to them as a literal cancer. They infect and spread and destroy everything they touch.

 

And we wonder why folks have a hard time getting along…

 

Because people tend to not like seeing their way of life and culture being destroyed by outsiders, or see their neighbors being victimized by crime, or have their children forced to move thousands of miles away just so they can afford a home.

 

I have/had family in Naples and Bonner's Ferry. My aunt and uncle were Harlan and Ethel Hylton. One of my first hunting experiences was on Ruby Ridge and my uncle knew Randy Weaver and thought he was a decent guy, if not a bit quiet and introverted.

 

Great piece you've typed here, MountainMan. I read it once and then again to my wife, and we both agreed on about everything. The one caveat is that you really lay into Californians, and granted, most are a scourge, there are decent people moving from there to here. My neighbor came here, bought a nice house in our very remote area of St. Maries/Tensed and he's got a solid family. He was a helicopter sprayer in California (with a fleet of choppers) and he kept one chopper when he moved here, he took me up in that beast last Summer.

The one thing you fail to mention is that it's IDAHOANS who have sold out to the interlopers you allude to. Who wouldn't take a house they paid $160k for and parlay another $500k in profit if they had the chance?
Granted we won't. We moved here in '06, took our $200k in savings and bought our 30 acres and built our new home all out of pocket. It was work and it was a struggle to make it all happen!
The end result is that we're likely sitting on a solid million now. That pales in comparison to those basic ranch homes in Mission Viejo worth 2 million, but hey, one has to abide in those sh*thole neighborhoods too. Crotch rockets screaming all night, dogs barking, domestic fighting, police sirens--planes, trains...insanity. NONE OF THAT SH*T EXISTS HERE. We wouldn't trade places for any amount of money.

Funny story, and I think I alluded to this in this thread before, but after we moved and built here we went to a local valley meeting and someone grumbled, 'when did you guys get here from California?' I chuckled and told him we moved here after a long drive and history in Interior Alaska. Most of the 'tough guys' here locally wouldn't last a Winter where we called home. I told them so in so many words and that candor garnished instant respect, not that I really cared.

 

I agree that there are some great folks from California. I dated a gal whose dad was from Tijuana and mom was from Orange county. Beautiful Latina gal. The parents, grandparents, siblings, and all the kids moved up here 15 years ago. All conservative Christians and blue-collar folks. I love them all and even though the gal and I didn't work out, I am still friends with the rest of the family.

Another guy I work with moved up here from the Bay area around ten years ago and is more redneck than I am. Great guy who built his fiancé an AR-15 for Christmas.

So, there are some great people moving here from California, but definitely not the majority.

 

I’ll agree there I work on the north slope in Alaska winter is brutal takes a special someone to live and survive up in AK.

 

This was an interesting thread to get caught up on and it really hit home for me in a lot of ways.

Born, proud Floridian that has now lived in 7 states. The third longest stent of my life was spent in Idaho. I absolutely cherish my time there and the friendships I made there that still exist. On and off, 2003-2009 was Idaho. I have been back a couple of times to see friends and family, but it truly does amaze me how much has changed. From the day I moved there, till now; there is a clear hatred of Californians, but not so miuch Oregon and Washington. I always found that intriguing, even though I understood some of it. The house we lived in in Middleton, that was purchased for 170K on just under an acre, sold for something around 300k and is now worth close to a mil.

I dont recognize most of Boise, Star, or Nampa. But growth is expected, mind you I am from Florida and holy crap down here....

One of the main reasons I loved living there was the outdoor life. Everyone pulls campers and plays outdoors. My friend started no vacancy and found a lot of success with it. We used to keep 22's and 17hmrs in the rear windows, drive 30m away from work and plink whistle pigs and jack rabbits. get dinner, come back and dispatch coyotes for profit. We used to take our trucks and camp on the roadside near Idaho City. Lets not even talk about Lucky peak.... Lastly, our sport bikes would be the highlight through the lowman loop.

Driving around in recent years, the natural beauty still exists and to say it is breath taking, well; that would be an understatement. That said, most of my friends have left due to the instability of places like HP and moved to states with lower property costs. A few still remain, and I look forward to my next visit there, shooting for fall of next year.

Once I got past the "out of towner" stage, I truly enjoyed my time there. I love that state, but even with all the access I have now, moving back into that area would be unrealistic.

PS: F - BSU.

 

i dress mainly in black (as does the lady), no matter the weather. also drive a truck with some “modifications” and …

however, for good, bad, or indifferent, im not californian …

 

Hypocritical moment here...

I inherited 10 acres when my dad died last year. Zoned commercial/residential and right off of Hwy 95 in Northern Idaho. Has a barn, pastures, and giant shop. My dad wanted me to build a home there. But, I plan on working from home and need fiber optic internet. Also, just too close to the highway and too far from town for me, so I have a commercial realtor chomping at the bit to list it.



She said she can get $600k for it. The house is unlivable and the commercial building had a fatal fire. I just want to find a smaller piece of land elsewhere in the county and start over.

A relative of the family that my dad bought the land from asked what I was planning and I said I was going to sell it. She frowned and said I better not sell it to a Californian and that it should stay in the family. I agreed, but I can't afford to sell it for a lower price on principle, then be unable to buy a piece of land from someone else that doesn't care if I'm a local, a Californian, or a Communist.

So it is a bit hypocritical for me to expect top dollar for it all the while complaining about Californians moving in and raising prices.

 

This thread turned comical. Get over the butthurt folks, same thing is happening everywhere. It sucks I can’t afford a new house here in Boise… but I can’t afford one anywhere I’d want to live. I moved from montana 9 years ago and it was the same housing market madness back then, lucky to have our house. Idaho is going backwards in time in a lot of ways (as are other parts of our country), but damn are people realizing this is no place to send kids to school- some of the worst in the country, my kids are already on the list for private school due to the public school systems here (for reference I went to public schools in Denver).

the California thing in the west always cracks me up…. Blaming the liberals… when the reality is 90% of the California transplants I have met are as nut job red as can be…. And a good handful of them are vegan right wing kooks

 

Not what I've seen. My cousin moved back here from the SF Bay area with his three kids. All grew up in the CA school system.

El Granada Elementary in California - U.S. News Education (usnews.com)

They moved to a rural area with a school district that had 300 students, total.

Troy School District - U.S. News Education (usnews.com)

The teachers reached out to the cousin and his wife and said that their California educated children were so far below the national standards, that they needed tutoring. Of course, being liberals, they refused to listen to reality and instead found a charter school in liberal Moscow that would focus on feelings and diversity rather than facts and education.

 

Is this around the Moscow area?

 

About 15 miles north.