Colville, WA (Spokane, Clarkston, Kettle Falls: sale, motorhome, schools)

[dzmjp]

There is a sewing shop right there on the Main Street in town... it has everything you could need! Good luck with your move!! If you want land - more than 1/2 an acre.. you definitely want to check out houses and property out of town .. any where from 5 miles out to 40 miles... Good luck and welcome to Colville everyone!

[Small and solar]

What a blast we had on our short visit (4/20-21). I think we found land. Now comes the fun part. Do we buy it and say good bye to our city like and careers and start our next big adventure on the country? We are both under 40 so we need to look at current and future finance. weeeee

[Small and solar]

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

I just can't help myself.......Spokane is polluted! I think anyone who plans on buying property should research the history of the area, and the EPA before making a choice. You can't trust anyone to protect you. Be informed. If you plan on buying land and building on it, have the soil tested for arsenic and lead.

Another good read, concerning the smelter plant in Canada and the Columbia river:
Colville Tribes file lawsuit over sludge in Lake Roosevelt



The Spokesman-Review.com - EPA to clean up lead from homes near Colville

Two families near Colville, Wash., have been forced to move from rental homes that sit on land where lead levels are 12 times the federal standard.
Arsenic levels also were extremely high in soil samples collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.


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The area is beautiful, but you make a good point, spend the few dollars to have your corner of the world tested before you buy/build. Even thought the stories were from 2002 & 2004, that kind of gunk in the soil does not just leave on its own.

[StevensCTYRental]

Originally Posted by dzmjp

There is Benny's which is right on the main street - walking distance to restaurants and stores. There is also a new coffee shop going in behind Benny's and there is a indoor pool too! I've never stayed there, but I do know people who have and said that it is nice. There is also a Comfort Suites on the other side of town on 395 ... so if you want a main chain, you can always stay there.

If you have anymore questions, please DM me, I will be very glad to help you on your trip!

I'm in the process of moving into the greater Colville/Kettle area. Looking for a 2-3 bedroom rental home. Any idea on the best resources to help find somehting?

[Small and solar]

Rentals are tight, but I have worked with a Realtor who I would recommend. Private message me. Moving for work or retiring?

[breathe&relax]

Everything everyone has posted is very rosey but I have to be honest so you can think about what it really means to live rurally. I grew up in the Seattle area, so yes I am a city girl. We wanted out of the rat race, etc, etc. This area IS gorgeous, I love having deer walk thru my .5 acre yard in the city limits, I can walk to town....love all that but getting good service here is tough, from retail to lets say tree service. I have tried 2 different companies that have failed to show up to give me an estimate. The one that did show, had no estimate forms, I had to get a piece of paper and pen and write down my own info while he hemmed and hawed over how much he should charge.

Spokane is over an hour away...so with gas now it sucks to say the least. That is the closest Costco, Home Depot, Target, Mall, etc. I can't even find a freakin bag of gravel in this town to use for a project you have to get it by the ton. The restaurants are sadly lacking, it is very low income area so a huge majority of the schools are free/reduced lunch population. There really is nothing legal for teenagers to do.

There are also no zoning laws, so you can have a construction site, dog boarding, whatever go up right next to you and be stuck. I have a constant stream of trucks roaring up and down my road every day.

I know I sound like a hater but I would just really think about the lifestyle you can handle when you move this far out. If I could live on beauty alone, then it has that but I personally need more options. Good luck to you both....sincerely.

[Outback Annie]

Greetings all,

Hello,

We moved to the Colville area over 2 years ago. My husband and I traveled around the country in a motorhome including through Canada and up to Alaska looking for a new area to settle in. We left The Mojave Desert in California as my husband retired from working at NASA there.

We tripped over Colville by sheer chance when we were staying in Bayview Idaho. Colville was the nearest town which had our bank so we had to drive 120 miles to get to our bank one day. When we saw the place we fell in love with it right away.

There are rivers, lakes, creeks, streams, mountains, abundant wildlife, rolling green pastures, beautiful scenery and we pop over the border into Canada for additional sightseeing.

We live about 30 miles north of Colville on 2 acres with Deep Creek in our backyard. My husband catches trout and salmon from the creek right in our yard. I like to quilt and there are many quilters in this area. There is a great fabric store in Colville which are big in quilting. They are Bernina suppliers and have quilting classes and many quilters work there. There is also another quilting store about 15 minutes drive outside of Colville as well as another in Metaline Falls. There are also independent quilters who will do quilting for you if you want to just do the actual piecework.

There are 4 very distinct seasons here so you will see snow in winter, beautiful colors in the fall, lovely wildflowers in the spring and plenty of lakes, rivers & creeks to fish boat and splash around the water in. The summers can be hot but short so a portable air conditioner or 2 in windows suffice for the short heat times. Winters can get to -10 or lower so it's prudent to have at least 2 heat sources such as electric and firewood/propane/oil.

Real estate prices are reasonable and affordable. You need to drive around and just look for For Sale signs as agents don't carry all the listings. Best bet is to drive around and if you see a house for sale that interests you have the listing agent make an appointment to show you through.

I could tell you much more but this is getting long winded so will leave it this for now.


Good luck to all who are considering this area. It's lovely here.

[Small and solar]

Annie,
Informative post. Did you buy an existing home?

S&S

[Outback Annie]

S&S we bought an old fixer upper because we really loved the 2 acres it sits on. There is a beautiful creek that runs around 3 sides of the house. It flows all year around and freezes over in winter but the water still flows freely under the ice. We like the layout of the house and even though it's old it's built well and on a very solid on brick full daylight basement. We are bringing the house up to date room by room. We are renovating the whole place ourselves. Tradesmen are hide to find out here so we are learning to do all sorts of work oursleves. It's slow but the rewards are worth it when we can sit out on our deck and watch a moose stroll through our yard and catch trout and salmon from the creek in our yard, watch beaver, otters and mink splashing around in the water and we also feed the deer and I can't even begin to count the birdlife. It's isloated but we don't have kids who need to go to school so that isn't an issue and Colville is a 40 minute drive along a lovely traffic free road meandering through scenic valleys and mountains. All county maintained through the winter too.

We looked at land and maybe building but we tripped over this house and decided to go the fixer upper route instead.

Can post pics if you're interested in seeing the area. Also have aerial shots too if you are interested.

[wildflower82]

Originally Posted by Outback Annie

S&S we bought an old fixer upper because we really loved the 2 acres it sits on. There is a beautiful creek that runs around 3 sides of the house. It flows all year around and freezes over in winter but the water still flows freely under the ice. We like the layout of the house and even though it's old it's built well and on a very solid on brick full daylight basement. We are bringing the house up to date room by room. We are renovating the whole place ourselves. Tradesmen are hide to find out here so we are learning to do all sorts of work oursleves. It's slow but the rewards are worth it when we can sit out on our deck and watch a moose stroll through our yard and catch trout and salmon from the creek in our yard, watch beaver, otters and mink splashing around in the water and we also feed the deer and I can't even begin to count the birdlife. It's isloated but we don't have kids who need to go to school so that isn't an issue and Colville is a 40 minute drive along a lovely traffic free road meandering through scenic valleys and mountains. All county maintained through the winter too.

We looked at land and maybe building but we tripped over this house and decided to go the fixer upper route instead.

Can post pics if you're interested in seeing the area. Also have aerial shots too if you are interested.

I have been looking up in that area also. With hoe you described it I must get my husband on that bike and take a 6 hour ride. Would love to see pics. Thanks for the information.

How do the people seem in that area friendly to new comers? Do they feel comfortable in their town, is there community pride?