Frigging California refugees have priced Boise out of the market

[MillCreek]

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/boise-is-now-the-least-affordable-housing-market-in-u-s-study-says/

People like.....Ben?  Note that the article does not actually mention the cause of the increased prices in Boise, so I am extrapolating.

[Ben]

I'M NOT IN BOISE - I'M IN IDAHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Yes, but add Portland and Seattle, especially this year with all the new covid telecommuters. Most of these people seem to be buying either in Boise and surrounding areas for the urban infrastructure, or in the resort areas like McCall. Or else kinda suburban, and moving to a town (now city) called Star, or next door to Middleton. I seem to run into a lot of people from Middleton, and they are really pissed about it. Middleton (like Star before it) was a real one mule cow town until very recently. I've had several, including former Californians, tell me that they are looking to move out because it has lost its rural appeal.

I'm not seeing any real growth where I live, but it's definitely getting to be LA traffic from Meridian to Boise. Coeur d' Alene, up in the panhandle is also getting a lot of non-resident growth. I don't think you can buy a house on the lake there anymore for under $1 million.

I've been reading that a bunch of CA developers are coming up and starting to build in the Treasure Valley (Boise area) now, which will not help at all. Rents in Boise are double what I was getting for rentals I had in CA. Actual long time residents are completely priced out of the market. People seem to be praying for a bunch of snowmageddons in a row to drive the warm weather people out.   

[Ben]

Coincidental to the OP, I read this story this morning:

https://www.krem.com/amp/article/money/business/idaho-couple-closing-long-lasting-rv-business-due-to-violation/293-53acf848-3b26-494d-a1ea-28348e818f5a

This is the kind of thing that is pissing rural residents here off to no end. Something I learned when I moved here is that in very rural areas, county permits are "optional". Hardly anyone in my area gets a permit for stuff with few exceptions. My first year, all the tradespeople were asking if I was going to bother with a permit, or if they should just do the work to code and get it done. Outside of one project that was replacing a power pole that required Idaho Power to get involved, all of my stuff has been permitless.

Part of it is that like in the above link, urban infrastructure came in and created all kinds of regulations. I'm on the very Western edge of my county, and probably 80% of the county is still very rural. Only the 20% or so approaching the Boise area has been overbuilt, and that's where all the new regulations and permit requirements are coming from. Two other rural  county borders are within five or so miles of me, and looking at their county websites, most of the stuff I have done here without getting a permit does not require a permit in those counties.

The couple in the above link got really screwed, because they have to follow city codes while technically being defined as county residents. They have no voting ability to represent themselves with the city. That's just wrong.

[BobR]

Coincidental to the OP, I read this story this morning:

https://www.krem.com/amp/article/money/business/idaho-couple-closing-long-lasting-rv-business-due-to-violation/293-53acf848-3b26-494d-a1ea-28348e818f5a

The couple in the above link got really screwed, because they have to follow city codes while technically being defined as county residents. They have no voting ability to represent themselves with the city. That's just wrong.

That is the kind of stuff that makes people build killdozers!!!

bob

[zahc]

I live in Boise. It's expensive and will stay that way, but these articles about most expensive in the country, or fastest price growth in the country, are making the mistake of thinking an anomaly will last which won't last. Sit back and wait for all the similar articles in a year when prices start dropping back to merely expensive from stupid, which is already happening.

During early summer there were no houses for sale. Like none. There were fewer houses for sale, in raw numbers, than had ever been recorded since they started keeping records in the 1800s, when Boise wasn't even the capital. No houses. So it's absurd to talk about housing prices when there's basically no houses available, then yeah one guy from California buys the one house for sale and the metrics all show tge prices are up 25% yoy. Since late summer there are a normal, I would even say generous amount of houses for sale. Probably one on every street of my neighborhood. I literally just walked by an open house in my morning walk. Prices will stick for a little while but unlike other high cost locations there is still space to build. Sucks for people caught in the bubble of course.

[RocketMan]

I'M NOT IN BOISE - I'M IN IDAHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

I'm not seeing any real growth where I live, but it's definitely getting to be LA traffic from Meridian to Boise.

I went to the fourth grade in Meridian.  It was just a little farming town with two or maybe three stoplights.  There was nothing but eight miles of farmland between Meridian and Boise back then.
My Dad was working for Chrysler at the time and had been transferred there from Portland.  He had aunts, uncles and cousins there, and most of them were farmers.  However, one of them owned a fast food joint just east of town that had great food and the best soft serve ice cream in the state.

[Ben]

I went to the fourth grade in Meridian.  It was just a little farming town with two or maybe three stoplights.  There was nothing but eight miles of farmland between Meridian and Boise back then.

The guy I had out fixing my roof last week was talking about that. In his 40s, lifelong Idaho resident (one of the people living on a few acres in Middleton who is looking at moving to get away from the new crowds). He grew up in Meridian and said when he was a kid, going to Boise was like a Sunday family drive thing - they planned it for spending the day. He said going in the other direction, towards Nampa, was almost like going on a trip somewhere. Now those three cities are practically tied together. Certainly when I get off the I84 and head in the direction of Meridian, I literally can never tell where Meridian ends and Boise starts.

[Jim147]

I live in Boise. It's expensive and will stay that way, but these articles about most expensive in the country, or fastest price growth in the country, are making the mistake of thinking an anomaly will last which won't last. Sit back and wait for all the similar articles in a year when prices start dropping back to merely expensive from stupid, which is already happening.

During early summer there were no houses for sale. Like none. There were fewer houses for sale, in raw numbers, than had ever been recorded since they started keeping records in the 1800s, when Boise wasn't even the capital. No houses. So it's absurd to talk about housing prices when there's basically no houses available, then yeah one guy from California buys the one house for sale and the metrics all show tge prices are up 25% yoy. Since late summer there are a normal, I would even say generous amount of houses for sale. Probably one on every street of my neighborhood. I literally just walked by an open house in my morning walk. Prices will stick for a little while but unlike other high cost locations there is still space to build. Sucks for people caught in the bubble of course.

The bubble is close to popping again.

[charby]

Out of staters are buying up farm ground here too. Outbidding everyone at the auctions, then demanding $350+ annual rent per acre.

[kgbsquirrel]

That is the kind of stuff that makes people build killdozers!!!

bob

More efficient if the busy-body-code-nazis and carpet baggers just disappeared.