We just got back from Couer D'Alene after signing the papers and getting the keys to our new house this weekend. We've been working on buying up there for almost 4 years...we will be moving up there soon and be semi retired once our property in Los Angeles sells and I can quit working full...(full time anyway)
However it's become apparent that Couer D'Alene's changed quite a bit since we first started going up there. Too many of the wrong kind of people are leaving California (and elsewhere) and heading up there...We're already starting to think about another place to retire to. Maybe Montana...
We are considering Couer D'Alene, Idaho as well. Or possibly somewhere in Washington. Not sure about the winters there though. We've lived out our lives in San Diego and are not used to harsh winters at all. Still, I want somewhere green and semi-rural. I really like Idaho.
We were up there last June looking around. We liked it but I know what you mean.. I picked up a local newspaper and read stories about the local meth problems.
How depressing. That's just the sort of thing I want to get away from when I retire....
10 more years.... /sigh
It's like that physics experiment in high school where you send a wave down a wire and it bounces off the end and comes back. The wave of civilization started on the east coast and moved west until it hit California and now it is bouncing back east. Eventually it will hit Boston and won't that be an eye-opener for the Mugwumps.
I own a house in Wallace Idaho, just East of Coeur dAlene on I-90. The houses are really nice old turn of the century & newer houses, and they go for REALLY INEXPENSIVE!!! I have mine on the market for $50,000 and there are MANY OTHERS for that same price (3 bdrm+). They get snow there, but it is usually pretty mild. You should check out Wallace Idaho or the Silver Valley - it is beautiful!