I'm a life long Washington resident. My job is moving to Sandpoint area by 2020.
My wife and I are starting to look at housing options. One idea we're both pretty excited about is the thought of living up at the ski area. There aren't many places where housing is (relatively) affordable and you can walk to a chairlift. That sort of thing doesn't exist in Washington.
Obviously there are some downsides in terms of mountain/winter driving and such. We are used to that currently, we live up a canyon near Leavenworth that takes 30 minutes to get to town and gets heavy snowfall and poor plowing.
My main question is what is living up there like? Are there many full time residents? Are the neighbors nice or fussy? What's the average age? Are there many 30 - 40 something outdoorsy types?
Also it appears there are at least 1 if not multiple HOA. What are the HOA politics like? There seemed to be an awful lot of rules, some of which I totally understood but others seemed a little confusing to me (ie you need written permission from the HOA to have a 1 ton truck? No power tools? No parking of "off road racing vehicles"?) Are rules like that general guidelines or are they strictly enforced? Obviously it seems it was written to keep the area nice and feel like a recreation/outdoor community with high property values but are they to the point that living up there feels stifled? Not saying I'm looking to move up there and haul in a 7 broken down cars and start a woodshop... but I do drive an f350. Obviously there are plenty of places in Idaho where someone can have the pile of project vehicles and such. I'm not looking to circumvent or subvert rules at all. But some HOAs can make living somewhere very unpleasant.
Second question: There seems to be quite a few buildable lots up there. What's the permit process like in that area? My county in Washington can be a real PITA to build, I assume Sandpoint area is better?
It also looks like the HOA has an architectural committee, what's that like? Again, not looking to plunk down a singlewide but am curious what the process, standards etc look like.
If anyone wants to send a pm rather than a public post please do so. I'm just trying to find more information as there isn't very much available on the web.
Thanks in advance.
My wife and I are starting to look at housing options. One idea we're both pretty excited about is the thought of living up at the ski area. There aren't many places where housing is (relatively) affordable and you can walk to a chairlift. That sort of thing doesn't exist in Washington.
Obviously there are some downsides in terms of mountain/winter driving and such. We are used to that currently, we live up a canyon near Leavenworth that takes 30 minutes to get to town and gets heavy snowfall and poor plowing.
My main question is what is living up there like? Are there many full time residents? Are the neighbors nice or fussy? What's the average age? Are there many 30 - 40 something outdoorsy types?
Also it appears there are at least 1 if not multiple HOA. What are the HOA politics like? There seemed to be an awful lot of rules, some of which I totally understood but others seemed a little confusing to me (ie you need written permission from the HOA to have a 1 ton truck? No power tools? No parking of "off road racing vehicles"?) Are rules like that general guidelines or are they strictly enforced? Obviously it seems it was written to keep the area nice and feel like a recreation/outdoor community with high property values but are they to the point that living up there feels stifled? Not saying I'm looking to move up there and haul in a 7 broken down cars and start a woodshop... but I do drive an f350. Obviously there are plenty of places in Idaho where someone can have the pile of project vehicles and such. I'm not looking to circumvent or subvert rules at all. But some HOAs can make living somewhere very unpleasant.
Second question: There seems to be quite a few buildable lots up there. What's the permit process like in that area? My county in Washington can be a real PITA to build, I assume Sandpoint area is better?
It also looks like the HOA has an architectural committee, what's that like? Again, not looking to plunk down a singlewide but am curious what the process, standards etc look like.
If anyone wants to send a pm rather than a public post please do so. I'm just trying to find more information as there isn't very much available on the web.
Thanks in advance.
