What can you tell me about Northern Idaho? Currently living at a really nice airpark property in Southern Ohio but my wife and I both like the idea of more hills, less people and decent skiing.

Ultimately I’d like to have enough land to have my own strip and a modest house and hangar. Are there any areas you’d recommend looking with that in mind? Is a grass strip useable more than 6 months out of the year with the snow and weather? Any weird laws? Ideally we’d like to stay within 1.5-2 hours or Spokane as I’d be based there for work and work a week on/off and my wife may be able to pick up some part time work there or in Cour d Alene to keep her certifications current.

If we sell our place here, we’d be looking around 750k initial investment for the right property and house then we can figure out a hangar down the road. Doable or need a bigger budget for that area?

In the initial research stage but we tend to get a wild idea and move on it so may happen in the next year or two.

Thanks for your thoughts!

That CDL area was one of the fast inflating during the covid years in terms of real estate. What youre looking for might be tough in that budget. Those hills also severely limit options in terms of places/land to put strips. You may have luck finding something in the NE part of Washington. Not sure if youre still working but ID has incoming taxes while WA doesnt. I believe WA property taxes are quite a bit more than ID however. Just some food for thought.

Thanks for the info. I’ve been looking at properties online and was wondering what the deal is in that area…seems prices are quite high but most asking prices have already been cut quite a bit so I guess things are not selling.

Not set on Cour d Alene but figured that was a good area to reference. I am still working so maybe Washington might be a better option. The property taxes in ID seemed very reasonable but I guess they make that up with the income tax.

chedrick wrote:What can you tell me about Northern Idaho?

A decent amount, I've lived in Spokane area since 94.

chedrick wrote:Currently living at a really nice airpark property in Southern Ohio but my wife and I both like the idea of more hills, less people and decent skiing.

More hills, check. Decent skiing, check. Less people, maybe 20 years ago. These days not so much. The Rathdrum Prairie used to be a prairie, now it's a sea of houses.

chedrick wrote:Ultimately I’d like to have enough land to have my own strip and a modest house and hangar. Are there any areas you’d recommend looking with that in mind? Is a grass strip useable more than 6 months out of the year with the snow and weather? Any weird laws?

Hmm, if you want to build your own for any sort of affordable, you're going to be out in the weeds. Problem is we do have a lot of hills here. You *might* be able to squeeze a strip on a long skinny 10 acre parcel, but you'd better be very lucky with neighbors. Personally, I'd be looking at property on or very close to Treeport, Hackney, or Pine Bluff in WA. Much cheaper and less hurdles to let someone else already have done the work.
Depends on the year and the strip. Ours drains pretty well, most years I fly off grass 10 months a year or so. Magee(3000 ft elev, in a mountain canyon) doesn't drain very well, so be careful before it's dry - I'd say 7-8 months a year or so it's good.
Weird Laws? Depends on what you mean. As noted, income tax in ID vs not in WA. This many people moving to an area in a relatively short amount of time brings weirdness, no way around it.

chedrick wrote:Ideally we’d like to stay within 1.5-2 hours or Spokane as I’d be based there for work and work a week on/off and my wife may be able to pick up some part time work there or in Cour d Alene to keep her certifications current.

Depending on time of day, 1.5 to Spokane doesn't put you very far east or north of Cd'A - I90 is jammed up pretty good for rush hour. Coming from the west not so bad.

chedrick wrote: If we sell our place here, we’d be looking around 750k initial investment for the right property and house then we can figure out a hangar down the road. Doable or need a bigger budget for that area?

Depends on needs/priorities. You can definitely find a house and buy a hangar in the area for that, but buying 40 acres with usable land for an airstrip, and developing said land while remaining within a commute of Spokane is going to be a jackpot situation at the moment.

chedrick wrote:In the initial research stage but we tend to get a wild idea and move on it so may happen in the next year or two.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Good luck. Happy to chat offline too if you hone in on an area.

When it comes to taxes and general government oversight, Idaho is better than Washington. We live in Washington and will probably soon follow most of our kids to Idaho, The Left Coast is a goner. You’re looking in the right place. If you prefer rural life, I’d look between cd’A and Sandpoint. Check out Treeport (ID22) which is near Spirit Lake, it’s a decent air park that you could probably get into for the numbers that you mention.

I live 20 minutes south of CDA, in a what was once semi remote area. Strip is 20 minutes further south. A friend of mine developed a 360 acre hay patch into 20 acre plots and sold them for 465K each.....in a week. If anything good comes up for sale, it's gone before anyone hears about it. Anything that can see the lake, a million plus. The farther south you go the better but now you're running into farmland and while there are unlimited runways, getting ahold of something large enough to build a strip on is next to impossible.

Spots are out there, but hard to come by. For what it's worth the Tekoa(73S) airport has pipe dreams of developing the south side of the airport into hanger pads. It sits on the Wa/Id boarder. Paved for winter and grass for summer. Best of both worlds!

mpm wrote:When it comes to taxes and general government oversight, Idaho is better than Washington

This is what I expected and we are definitely more in line with the mentality of folks on the Idaho side. I think the taxes from here to there would be a wash since our property taxes keep creeping up.

DreadPirateWill wrote:Personally, I'd be looking at property on or very close to Treeport, Hackney, or Pine Bluff in WA

Ill check in to those a bit more. I briefly looked at the Hacknay airpark but google brought up an old article about them restricting folks landing there and the fighting going on between the residents so I kinda wrote off the HOA idea. We are in one now and its ok but still has its drawbacks.

170DT wrote:a 360 acre hay patch into 20 acre plots and sold them for 465K each.

Wow that is pricy for undeveloped land! Guess the airpark idea is the best bet

Im flying part 135 week on/ week/off so the commute to Spokane would only be 4 times/month. We are in the early research stages and doing some serious soul searching so we'll see if anything comes of it. We put a lot of time into making this property suit us so its a tough decision to move on. We also have 2 daughters (6/10) and worry about the opportunities there later with the high cost of living and lower incomes. Hopefully taking an RV trip from Iowa to Alaska in May so maybe we'll detour a bit on the way and check it out in person.

Thanks again for all the insights!

mpm wrote:When it comes to taxes and general government oversight, Idaho is better than Washington. We live in Washington and will probably soon follow most of our kids to Idaho, The Left Coast is a goner. You’re looking in the right place.

^^^^ This. After looking/watching every day for several years we are finally under contract for our new home. Be careful where you look as that semi-rural property may get a subdivision next door, especially in places like T-Valley and CDA. There is a reason why a lot of folks are moving to the 'Ho.
We continue to be in awe of how many beautiful properties are on the market in Eastern Washington and there are reasons why mass migrations occur. Same story in Eastern Oregon. Don't get me started on Kommiefornia.

These posts make me glad I still love NY. Lakes, rivers, mountains and all the rec that goes along with it. Now if more people leave, including the politicians, it will be like heaven.

Jim

Tcraftf21 wrote:Now if more people leave, including the politicians, it will be like heaven.Jim

You just might get your wish based on what I saw on the news the other night about NY.

A reminder to not be the one who gets this thread locked. Good northern Idaho info...proceed.

That was NYC and we don’t consider that place part of the rest of the state.

Jim

chedrick wrote:Any weird laws?

Since you specifically asked about laws: I personally know several doctors who have left that area due to Idaho's laws around women's health. Flying-wise though, it's amazing. I just personally couldn't live there, unfortunately.

I’m not certain, but I think Idaho is full.

While I understand the appeal of moving to Idaho, it is increasingly less attractive if one of your goals is to get away from people, and the incredible run up in expense can’t be ignored. If you’re going to be based at GEG, 1.5-2 hours to the west from there gets you to a lot of wide open areas with some less expensive dirt. If you want to have your own dirt strip where there are no people, you could buy 320 acres of wheat land for what 20 acres in Idaho might cost and lease out 310 acres of it to a farmer.

Oregon180 wrote:

chedrick wrote:Any weird laws?

Since you specifically asked about laws: I personally know several doctors who have left that area due to Idaho's laws around women's health. Flying-wise though, it's amazing. I just personally couldn't live there, unfortunately.

While trying to stay on the correct side of TOS - there is a massive migration taking place around the country as folks move to places that are more inline with their beliefs. We are currently under contract for our forever home there and the great GA culture is just a bonus. Regarding run up in cost, yeah T-valley and CDA has gone up, but that is also where a lot of people are. We did not buy there.