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Hello Friends, I would be immensely appreciative if you can help me find my destination in your beautiful state. I'm an older single woman, self-supporting so no employment needed, looking for the place I can live out the rest of my life as a friendly, contributing member of a community that leans conservative. I will be RENTING, and need really inexpensive rent ($800 or below, & yes I'm hoping for a small house); I'm well aware of current realities that have made it harder than ever to find that, but will get as close to my ideal as possible. My optimum vision: a beautiful place--meaning trees, hills, and water. Prefer not to be in thick forest, just plenty of shade trees & greenery; don't want to live above 6-7,000 feet, love hills & small mountains vs flatlands. Not a big fan of wind. Don't mind a moderate amount of snow but no blizzards, love rain and non-lethal storms, heat as long as it's not 100+ for days & weeks, mid-eighties in summer is perfect. Again--I'm stating my ideals here. Anyone who cares to contribute suggestions will be so very appreciated. This will be the most important move of my life, in many ways, hoping to do so before winter.
Look at Lewiston, Emmett, Pocatello. Which, if any, are close to what you want? Figure out what size population you prefer. If they arent "right", use their negatives as information to find better on that elsewhere.
Other possibilities: Newport or Loon Lake WA. Baker City, John Day, Prineville OR. Lake Almanor CA. Spearfish SD. Maybe Pinetop-Lakeside or Camp Verde AZ. Cedaredge CO. Wolfforth TX (southwest of Lubbock). Alto NM (north of Ruidoso).
Thanks for your quick response NW Crow! I will be looking hard at the towns you mentioned; for now I'm sticking with Idaho. I do NOT want to live in a state with a hardcore leftist governor like Kate Brown in Oregon, I need a conservative-minded community; I've lived with the leftists in Calif. long enuf, & want to be able to talk & socialize with more like-minded people. One thing I forgot--I'd rather avoid towns with colleges, because they always seem to drive the cost of rentals way up; I realize that reduces possibilities by a fair amount, but that's ok. I don't need the 'culture' they provide any longer, prefer to be outdoors and enjoying nature, for free.
Thanks for your quick response NW Crow! I will be looking hard at the towns you mentioned; for now I'm sticking with Idaho. I do NOT want to live in a state with a hardcore leftist governor like Kate Brown in Oregon, I need a conservative-minded community; I've lived with the leftists in Calif. long enuf, & want to be able to talk & socialize with more like-minded people. One thing I forgot--I'd rather avoid towns with colleges, because they always seem to drive the cost of rentals way up; I realize that reduces possibilities by a fair amount, but that's ok. I don't need the 'culture' they provide any longer, prefer to be outdoors and enjoying nature, for free.
I don't think you would have any trouble finding the scenery you want.
Idaho might be too cold for you. There is going to be snow and some fierce storms.
The big problem is going to be finding a house for $800 a month, and if you find one now, will it remain that low in the near future? Real estate prices are going up fast.
Oregonwoodsmoke, thank you; I'm pretty interested in southeastern Idaho, but also in the vicinity of Boise. My hope is to find a smallish town (10-30,000) within an hour's drive or less from a larger town, 60,000 or so. I'd love to be near or in foothills, some wooded areas but not thick forest. Water nearby. Warm summers and moderate winters. Like I said earlier, preferably no colleges in the town because rent is always higher. If I don't shoot high, I will have little chance of finding what I want.
By those population criteria, you might consider Blackfoot, Rigby, Weiser, Rathdrum and Burley.
Blackfoot is 12k city, but 45k county. Rigby 4k city, 27k county. Weiser, 5k city, 10k county. Rathdrum, 8k city. Burley, 10k city, 24k county.
When the census comes out later this year, (or next), Rathdrum is expected to be right at 10k population. Lots of new construction ongoing. Can't say about cost of rent. Haven't a clue. Rathdrum is about 5/6 miles one direction to Post Falls and about five/six miles another direction to Hayden, across open prairie. The prairie is being urbanized pretty quickly.
And Blackfoot is about 35 minutes from Idaho Falls and 30 from Pocatello. Problem might be wind. That we have a lot of, way too often.
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Oregonwoodsmoke, thank you
