Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Blaine County Idaho as a place to live. What say you??

What you all think of this area as a place to live. I don't know a darn thing about it other than it is scenic and real estate is pricey. I guess Hailey is the county seat and there are alot of Hollywood types there.

Jordan

Basically an extension of California at this point.

Yep, lots of MegaMillionaire Marxists and several Billionaire Bolsheviks over in the Hailey, Sun Valley, Ketchum area. They and their "progressive" sycophants there control the politics in that county.

Pretty country there, however, as you said.

L.W.

So, what you're telling me is, it was once a great place and now it's gone to [bleep]. I figured as much being it is so close to Ketchum, but I had to ask.

Beautiful area, and full of people more equal than the others.....

I think it was the only county in Idaho that went for Gore, Kerry, and the light-weight.

all I know is that there is a gas station in
sun valley that says "no pickups
'

Blaine is Idaho's only blue county. Property values in Hailey have skyrocketed as a result of overpricing everything in Ketchum. County property taxes are outrageous. A lot of the old time residents have been forced to sell out because they couldn't afford the taxes.
It has the only airport in the area sitting in the middle of town so jet noise is pretty bad sometimes. A few years ago during a big media conference in Sun Valley I counted 75 business jets on the tarmac at the same time.
Gas prices are about .20 higher than towns 70 miles south (Shoshone & Twin Falls). Groceries are gourmet and expensive.
Hunters are accepted but keep your ATV hidden.

A number of times contractors have tried to build affordable housing in Hailey & Ketchum but they were blocked by zoning. Many of the low wage earners now live in Shoshone 50 miles away. Some years ago KMart tried to build a store there but was refused a permit. They don't want affordable competition for the small trendy stores.

If you have kids, Wood River HS is the only public high school in the area. They have more than their share of drugs & pregnancies. The rich people don't want their kids rubbing shoulders with the riffraff so they have the private Ketchum Community School. For a high price their kids have higher quality drugs & pregnancies.

Your neighbor and major property owner would be Bruce Willis. Then you have Sara Johnson. She was a teenage girl from Hailey who was shacking up with her illegal immigrant boyfriend. When her parents objected, she stole her father's hunting rifle and killed them both. She's doing life.

Oh, about those property values & taxes in Hailey....
A few years ago the FAA said the airport needed more buffer room on the south end of the runway. That would be a ranch. They had to buy 40 acres of pasture from the rancher. He said he'd sell at the market price...which appraised at $100K PER ACRE. He sold his 40 acres for 4 mill...and he still has his cattle on it.

Then the county decided to tax ranch land at what it would be worth if it was subdivided. At the same time, they passed a scenic ordinance preventing the ranches from subdividing. So, they had to pay high taxes on something they were prevented from doing. The ranchers sued & won. This is the general mindset of the government in Blaine County.

Let me just say that most of Idaho is a great place to live. Just not that part.

We visited the area about 5 years ago, we liked Stanley a lot more. It's a bit north of the Hailey/Sun Valley mess.

Yup. Stanley, Salmon, or Coure d'alene if you like mountain scenery, anywhere in the Valley of the Snake of you like it flatter. Fishing and hunting are good evahwhar.

Stanley is beautiful for sure, but essentially there's no town. It has a gas station, a motel, and some houses. There isn't much more there. The entire surrounding area is the Sawtooth Nat. Recreation Area which is tightly controlled as to what you can build. They've bought a bunch of 'scenic easements' to prevent further building on existing lots.
Here's a pic of the Sawtooth Mtns on a foggy day I took last year just outside of Stanley:

Also remember that wintertime traveling can be "interesting". That area of middle Idaho is mountainous and has no interstate highways, the main roads will all be two lane with a few small stretches of four lanes. They keep them plowed, mostly, but you can expect icy or packed snow conditions on a regular basis. Road closures from drifting snow or even avalanche closures are not uncommon, and in a place like Sun Valley (Ketchum, Hailey) there is only one road in and out, pretty much the same with Stanley.

The remoteness adds to transportation costs so basic necessities are priced accordingly.

Limited job opportunites as well. If you're retired, no problem, but if not, you'll probably want to bring your job with you. And even then, your customer base will probably be small.

Lots of places in the West like this - they are beautiful because they are remote, but you have to be ready to put up with the day to day reality of living in a somewhat remote place. If you are, no problem, lots of folks here (on 24hcf) do, but you can't have remote beauty and convenience all at the same time.

We have been more than pleased with our place in Sandpoint. Up in in he Cabinet's just 15 miles NE of town. Bear, deer, elk and moose (one time draw) abound. Good people, skiing if desired, loads of like minded folks that come down from the mountains (where we are), a nice little town with a hospital. There can be some serious snow in the winter but not near as cold as other places. A great lake and the Clark Fork River minutes away to fish, Montana 30 minutes away to fish and the Spokane airport 90 minutes out from my driveway.

You'd better like winter if moving to Stanley. 40 below sometimes and lots of snow. 1 hour to Glitter Gulch, 3 to Boise for your needs.