Visting north idaho end of march (St. Maries, Pinehurst: real estate, violent crime, houses)

[Terilynn62]

HI everyone, I live in Phoenix Arizona and am looking to move to Northern Idaho - I am done with the 120- degree summers for cold winters. So, I look at it as a trade for my summer to Idaho winters. I love the mountains and the snow! I currently work remote, so driving is not a major issue for me. Plus, I am a homebody. I am visiting at the end of March and the areas I am going to be looking at are St. Maries, Pinehurst, Wallace. I went thru the Idaho Forum and did not see anything recently in regard to crime. Unfortunately, Phoenix crime and homelessness has risen, and I am looking for a safer city to live in. I am a conservative, law abiding, 2nd amendment person. I am looking for a friendly city to move where neighbors wave to each other and you can borrow a cup of sugar. I am looking, small town. Also, I am told that St. Marie has one road in and out and appears to be thru the mountains - any issues with the roadway to I-90? Thank you for your responses.
Teri

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Terilynn62

HI everyone, I live in Phoenix Arizona and am looking to move to Northern Idaho - I am done with the 120- degree summers for cold winters. So, I look at it as a trade for my summer to Idaho winters. I love the mountains and the snow! I currently work remote, so driving is not a major issue for me. Plus, I am a homebody. I am visiting at the end of March and the areas I am going to be looking at are St. Maries, Pinehurst, Wallace. I went thru the Idaho Forum and did not see anything recently in regard to crime. Unfortunately, Phoenix crime and homelessness has risen, and I am looking for a safer city to live in. I am a conservative, law abiding, 2nd amendment person. I am looking for a friendly city to move where neighbors wave to each other and you can borrow a cup of sugar. I am looking, small town. Also, I am told that St. Marie has one road in and out and appears to be thru the mountains - any issues with the roadway to I-90? Thank you for your responses.
Teri

Good luck in your search and welcome. Arizona gets too hot. You can use the search function to search for a topic of interest. Otherwise just put it out there to get the most current info.

[NW Crow]

Wallace and St. Maries are average on violent crime. St. Maries reportedly quite low on property crime; Wallace, average. Some crime is possible anywhere, random; but who you are, who you interact with, what you do and don't do matters.

Getting to I-90 could be challeging some days / nights. It comes down to having right vehicle, right tires (could be chains or studs), right preparation / experience / judgment. You can develop it with attention / effort. Staying in til later is often a good strategy.

[Shaner]

Originally Posted by Terilynn62

HI everyone, I live in Phoenix Arizona and am looking to move to Northern Idaho - I am done with the 120- degree summers for cold winters. So, I look at it as a trade for my summer to Idaho winters. I love the mountains and the snow! I currently work remote, so driving is not a major issue for me. Plus, I am a homebody. I am visiting at the end of March and the areas I am going to be looking at are St. Maries, Pinehurst, Wallace. I went thru the Idaho Forum and did not see anything recently in regard to crime. Unfortunately, Phoenix crime and homelessness has risen, and I am looking for a safer city to live in. I am a conservative, law abiding, 2nd amendment person. I am looking for a friendly city to move where neighbors wave to each other and you can borrow a cup of sugar. I am looking, small town. Also, I am told that St. Marie has one road in and out and appears to be thru the mountains - any issues with the roadway to I-90? Thank you for your responses.
Teri

Sounds like Pinehurst is right up your alley. Wallace and St. Maries are great, but if you want some creature comforts as well as small town, Pinehurst is the best choice.

I drove the pass everyday for 3 years when I worked down there, and never had a problem with a AWD vehicle. All comes down too knowing how to drive in the snow!

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Shaner

Sounds like Pinehurst is right up your alley. Wallace and St. Maries are great, but if you want some creature comforts as well as small town, Pinehurst is the best choice.

I drove the pass everyday for 3 years when I worked down there, and never had a problem with a AWD vehicle. All comes down too knowing how to drive in the snow!

Back in the day many decades ago when they didn't have AWD vehicles mostly RWD they must have known how to drive in snow.

[509]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

Back in the day many decades ago when they didn't have AWD vehicles mostly RWD they must have known how to drive in snow.

Been driving in the snow for 50 years now. I still do not feel comfortable driving in the snow.


The rule is NEVER go faster than you can stop safely. Most people don't follow that.



With my friend driving...I ended up in the Frying Pan River in winter.



Talked to a real cowboy in Wyoming about driving in the snow. He was real comfortable driving in the snow. I asked him about his rig and it was a brand new 4-wd truck. Asked what happened to his old rig, and he totaled it driving in the snow. As well, as his three previous trucks. That was in 1977.


Driving 4th of July Pass everyday in winter, is not IF your going to have an accident, BUT WHEN. They should have relocated that highway when they redid I-90 in CDA.


But I knew quite a few people that drove from Wallace and Pinehurst every day. Most of them ended up moving to CDA after a couple of years due to winter driving conditions.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I've only been to those areas on "the Sunday drive". They are small population so probably going to be fairly typical small towns. I've still got snow on the ground and I am close to Athol, but hoping it will all be gone in a couple of weeks. That doesn't guarantee that there won't be fresh snowfall. It is, after all, only March. It's not impossible to have snow all the way until June. I don't put my tomatoes outside until we are into nice June weather and even then, I am prepared to rush outside and give them shelter.



Anything along the highway is going to be a fairly easy drive to CDA. The highway is well maintained. If you get away from the highway, those cute little country roads are usually quite winding and scenic. Scenic doesn't make for a fast commute and this close to CDA, scenic doesn't necessarily get you low real estate prices.



But all of those little towns are in lovely scenic areas with close access to lots of really nice outdoor activities, fishing, camping, hiking. Everyone I've meet in those areas has been cordial, which doesn't actually mean much about living there since just about everyone I've spoken to has been in some sort of commercial interaction: greenhouse nurseries, gas stations, visitor's center, that sort of thing.



But come and look. If nothing else, it will be a nice vacation for you and those little towns might suit your purpose. But if you must work in CDA, keep an eye on what the commute would be like with lots of snow and ice. Back when we were shopping for a house, we rejected several really nice properties that would have been a real pain to get in and out when there was snow. Generally, those places seem to be purchased by Californians who have no snow experience and then the house is back on the market the next spring after they get their lesson in snow and roads washing out, so it isn't all that difficult to find a place that is difficult to access in the winter. Be careful about buying on a dirt road because the county is not going to plow those. Sometimes neighbors have a good road plowing agreement and sometimes they don't.

[ejisme]

I think you will love the area. We sure do. Once you make the move, probably in the summer months, and look at houses to buy... think about the length and makeup of the driveway in your potential future home. The city isn't going to come out and plow your driveway for you. You either have to buy the equipment to plow or blow it yourself, or hire someone to come in and do it for you. The longer, curvier, tree lined, etc. make a difference in how easy it will/will not be to maintain in the winter, plus in the summer you won't know if drifts are prone to form across your driveway, which take a bit more effort to clear. The right equipment, and your eventual experience/practice moving the snow will make it easy enough, but it is something to think about before you buy that summer time beautiful, very private home that's a 1/4 mile in on your lot.

Anyway, good luck and enjoy your visit this month!!

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Wallace is right on I-90 so naturally it's a little more trafficked and "discovered"-and one of my favorite towns. Pinehurst is as well, but it's a much smaller town and not well known outside of the local area. Both offer wonderful access to some of the nicest backcountry in N. Idaho. St. Maries is nice, larger than Pinehurst, but more remote-not badly so though. You have good roads in/out by way of highway 5 to the west and 3 N/S. If you want remote-consider Avery-45 miles up the St. Joe from St. Maries. St. Maries is also kind of the gateway to the backcountry of the St. Joe. It will feel more remote just due to the distance to a larger town (CDA or Spokane) or the interstate. As long as you know how to drive in snow and outfit your car with some decent tires, winter driving isn't a major problem. N. Idaho winters aren't especially hard compared to other areas, but they are long, and daylight hours in the winter are short. People in all three of those towns are really nice.

Concerning the comments about winter access-all true. But not a big deal-just plan on a tractor or plow truck as a part of your housing cost. A small tractor is incredibly useful on any rural property for far more than just snow removal.