We drove from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene this morning and entered Idaho for the first time in both our lives. Right away we both thought Idaho was prettier than Washington. We met our Idaho realtor Tony and his wife Alicia and headed out to look at five properties today. Tony asked how it went in Washington and I replied we saw 9 properties: 1 maybe, 6 no’s and 2 hell no’s. The day was looking promising for Tony.
House #1 – 16830 W Nelson Loop Road, Rathdrum, ID
The house wasn’t terrible, but the land is mostly hills and valleys. There is little flat land for growing and it is only 10 acres. We decided to move on pretty quickly.
House #2 – 8247 E Black Bear Road, Athol, ID
First off the town Athol sounds like you’re saying asshole with a bad lisp. This house was the opposite of the first house – flat land and a house with high end finishes. Unfortunately, the house has a terrible layout. A lot of wasted space in the entry way and not enough space at the back of the house to put a sofa to enjoy the lovely windows. Once again, we moved on pretty quickly.
House #3 – 3916 Peterson Road, Priest River, ID
On the way to this house, Tony drove us by the house that was our first pick in Idaho based on the Zillow listing. Tony nixed it because of the neighbors (ramshackle trailer homes…one flying a confederate flag) and because the house was too rundown inside (unlike the photos).
Walking into house #3 we were welcomed by soft music, fall scented candles and Thanksgiving decorations. This lady knows how to stage a house. The kitchen and family room have big windows looking out on the 30 acres of farmland. It is in a valley with farmland and mountains all around. The 2 bedrooms downstairs are smaller but nice and share a bathroom between. There is a spiral staircase up to a peaked roof nook. There is a large newer outbuilding on the property. This house and land have potential.
House #4 – 2760 Kootenai Road, Sandpoint, ID
While this house lacked the staging of the previous house and could have benefited from a scented candle to mask the smell of dogs, the layout of the house is good and it has a fully finished basement. This property is also flat, but it the back corner is treed. It also has a huge red barn. The proximity to the town of Sandpoint is also a plus for this house. We had lunch in Sandpoint and there seems to be a lot going on year round with festivals, farmers’ markets and concerts.
House #5 – 398 Starlight Road, Naples, ID
This house is the furthest north that we looked and it gets more snow than the other homes. The road up to the house still had a good covering of snow and was a bit slippery. As far as layout, this was my favorite house (I assume the owners will be taking their prized stuffed animals and heads with them). It has great views off the back deck of a valley below, but we were concerned about the road leading to the house and the distance from a town and airport.
All in all, a good day with a couple potentials. We have 3 more properties to look at tomorrow before we head back to California on Monday.
We had a great fresh seafood dinner at Anthony’s in Coeur d’Alene. We didn’t have a reservation, so we ended up sitting at the bar looking into the kitchen which was much more entertaining than sitting in a booth. I had salmon over lemon risotto with edamame and Shawn had crab fettuccini Alfredo. The waiter suggested the house Chardonnay to accompany our dishes and it was a good choice. Too full to even look at the dessert menu.
Tony and Alicia were a lot of fun to spend the day with and they were great Idaho tour guides. They assured us that Idahoans don’t hate everyone from California and that Idaho isn’t full on skin heads (just the one guy with the confederate flag).
House #1 – 16830 W Nelson Loop Road, Rathdrum, ID
The house wasn’t terrible, but the land is mostly hills and valleys. There is little flat land for growing and it is only 10 acres. We decided to move on pretty quickly.
House #2 – 8247 E Black Bear Road, Athol, ID
First off the town Athol sounds like you’re saying asshole with a bad lisp. This house was the opposite of the first house – flat land and a house with high end finishes. Unfortunately, the house has a terrible layout. A lot of wasted space in the entry way and not enough space at the back of the house to put a sofa to enjoy the lovely windows. Once again, we moved on pretty quickly.
House #3 – 3916 Peterson Road, Priest River, ID
On the way to this house, Tony drove us by the house that was our first pick in Idaho based on the Zillow listing. Tony nixed it because of the neighbors (ramshackle trailer homes…one flying a confederate flag) and because the house was too rundown inside (unlike the photos).
Walking into house #3 we were welcomed by soft music, fall scented candles and Thanksgiving decorations. This lady knows how to stage a house. The kitchen and family room have big windows looking out on the 30 acres of farmland. It is in a valley with farmland and mountains all around. The 2 bedrooms downstairs are smaller but nice and share a bathroom between. There is a spiral staircase up to a peaked roof nook. There is a large newer outbuilding on the property. This house and land have potential.
House #4 – 2760 Kootenai Road, Sandpoint, ID
While this house lacked the staging of the previous house and could have benefited from a scented candle to mask the smell of dogs, the layout of the house is good and it has a fully finished basement. This property is also flat, but it the back corner is treed. It also has a huge red barn. The proximity to the town of Sandpoint is also a plus for this house. We had lunch in Sandpoint and there seems to be a lot going on year round with festivals, farmers’ markets and concerts.
House #5 – 398 Starlight Road, Naples, ID
This house is the furthest north that we looked and it gets more snow than the other homes. The road up to the house still had a good covering of snow and was a bit slippery. As far as layout, this was my favorite house (I assume the owners will be taking their prized stuffed animals and heads with them). It has great views off the back deck of a valley below, but we were concerned about the road leading to the house and the distance from a town and airport.
All in all, a good day with a couple potentials. We have 3 more properties to look at tomorrow before we head back to California on Monday.
We had a great fresh seafood dinner at Anthony’s in Coeur d’Alene. We didn’t have a reservation, so we ended up sitting at the bar looking into the kitchen which was much more entertaining than sitting in a booth. I had salmon over lemon risotto with edamame and Shawn had crab fettuccini Alfredo. The waiter suggested the house Chardonnay to accompany our dishes and it was a good choice. Too full to even look at the dessert menu.
Tony and Alicia were a lot of fun to spend the day with and they were great Idaho tour guides. They assured us that Idahoans don’t hate everyone from California and that Idaho isn’t full on skin heads (just the one guy with the confederate flag).
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