Coeur D’Alene is hottest new emerging market in US (Clark Fork: apartment complexes, houses)

[dcisive]

I know it's terrible to say, but frankly having dealt with them being around in my past, I feel apartments are issues on a stick. Too many losers tend to live in them and it not only brings property values down but introduces more crime into an area. Most apartments are never run very rigidly to maintain their cleanliness and order and lack of noise from them. Personally I'd prefer acreage between me and anyone else, but what I currently have is very nice compared to the previous living experience. When I lived in the Salt Lake area it was full of 4-6 brats per household, that were by no means being watched after. Too much noise from them as well as traffic.

Now being in a 55+ street the 10 folks down our street is very nicely tolerable. They are all great folks and we're very much like minded regarding keeping things nice on the properties and peace and quiet. No kids, no barking dogs, no ATV buzzing around. Just like I like it. If NID goes much crazier it will end up like Boise is becoming. I wish them the best.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by oldafretired

There's no end to this. The approval for these huge developments need to be on the ballot for the residents to decide rather than a handful of bureaucrats.

Not sure what part of CA you came from. I’ve been pushing a Ventura County style SOAR initiative for here on the Rathdrum Prairie, but it is gaining zero traction. One Letter to the Editor about SOAR resulted in me being voted onto a local City Council. There are no easy answers. Nobody told me that I would need the wisdom of Solomon to do this job.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by dcisive

I know it's terrible to say, but frankly having dealt with them being around in my past, I feel apartments are issues on a stick. Too many losers tend to live in them and it not only brings property values down but introduces more crime into an area. Most apartments are never run very rigidly to maintain their cleanliness and order and lack of noise from them. Personally I'd prefer acreage between me and anyone else, but what I currently have is very nice compared to the previous living experience. When I lived in the Salt Lake area it was full of 4-6 brats per household, that were by no means being watched after. Too much noise from them as well as traffic.

Now being in a 55+ street the 10 folks down our street is very nicely tolerable. They are all great folks and we're very much like minded regarding keeping things nice on the properties and peace and quiet. No kids, no barking dogs, no ATV buzzing around. Just like I like it. If NID goes much crazier it will end up like Boise is becoming. I wish them the best.

I understand, but I think apartments are going to become as common as single homes in our cities in the future.

They make too much sense to a home builder/developer nowadays when purchasing a 20-acre tract costs them so much money. Going vertical allows twice the number of people to inhabit that land as single-family homes affords, and these days, lots of folks would rather buy an apartment, where they don't have any lawn or other costs, than to own a single home.

Ownership does eliminate a lot of the problems that are found in rental apartments, even though the apartment is more often called a condominium or a town house. They are also easier to find like-minded folks of similar age to live among, and these days of extreme housing shortage, the owners aren't going to let tenants slide on cleanliness or noise.
At the same time, owners are now maintaining their properties more, as that maximizes their value.

Like you, I prefer living on a quiet street of single homes, even though I like having some young kids in my neighborhood. I think both of us are becoming relics in our preferences though. Younger people seem to like living in an apartment among friends who are of similar age and have similar interests.

I think a lot of aging folks will eventually choose to live in them too as they downsize. Life for an old single person can become pretty lonely when all the kids are grown and gone and there's no one left in the old family home any more.
It's no longer fun for them to go mow the lawn or shovel the snow, and when climbing stairs all day becomes hard to do.

I can see where living in a nice, modern apartment that has all-new construction and technology in it could be very pleasant.
Not for me- I'm too much a tool-user, dog lover, and noise maker, but for lots of others.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by dcisive

I know it's terrible to say, but frankly having dealt with them being around in my past, I feel apartments are issues on a stick...

I have mixed feelings about apartments. Most of us, (and I certainly did), start our adult life in an apartment. We just left the nest to go out and be on our own. An apartment is where we landed, at least for a few years. I hated it, but realize that without it, I’d either have to go back to mommy and daddy or be homeless, (which was unheard of back in the day).

A city needs apartments, for those just starting out in life. And, for those who do not have high paying jobs and no longer want to live in their parents house. It is unfortunate that you do get “low life’s” that reside in apartments. That is up to the apartment manager to keep under control. Perhaps a system of fines levied on the apartment owner might help moderate poor behavior and a lack of aesthetic maintenance.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by volosong

I have mixed feelings about apartments. Most of us, (and I certainly did), start our adult life in an apartment. We just left the nest to go out and be on our own. An apartment is where we landed, at least for a few years. I hated it, but realize that without it, I’d either have to go back to mommy and daddy or be homeless, (which was unheard of back in the day).

A city needs apartments, for those just starting out in life. And, for those who do not have high paying jobs and no longer want to live in their parents house. It is unfortunate that you do get “low life’s” that reside in apartments. That is up to the apartment manager to keep under control. Perhaps a system of fines levied on the apartment owner might help moderate poor behavior and a lack of aesthetic maintenance.

The day of apartment owners doing their own management is ending. It's more profitable to hire a full-time property manager who takes care of maintenance and the property now.
The managers also take care of the apartment rentals, and they weed out the deadbeats.

It's not only the young folks who move into apartments nowadays. Around here, I know a lot of folks in middle-age and older who are downsizing and moving out of their too-large homes.

For the price of a small apartment, they can afford to sunbird and spend their winters down in the southwest. No more snow shoveling, no more lawn mowing, no more fixing the leaking roof.

A good friend just went in with his single son and purchased a large house. It was more than either could afford alone.
He's a widower, and the house is large enough that if his son marries and some children come along, there's still plenty of room for them all.
Upstairs, downstairs. Each has his own half, so my old pal is still living in the same space he's used to, and even though he gets along fine with his son, they can still lead separate lives as they choose.

I expect this to become more common in a family-oriented state like Idaho. Grandpa and grandma were once still in the middle of a family unit here for their entire lives, and I think they will be once more in this century.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by oldafretired

There's no end to this. The approval for these huge developments need to be on the ballot for the residents to decide rather than a handful of bureaucrats.


https://cdapress.com/news/2021/may/1...-californians/

100% agree. Regardless of any of all of our opinions in the end the voters should be the ones to approve this sort of thing.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by oldafretired

There's no end to this. The approval for these huge developments need to be on the ballot for the residents to decide rather than a handful of bureaucrats.


https://cdapress.com/news/2021/may/1...-californians/

Essentially, that what city zoning committees are. They're voters who are delegated to make the decisions on how, where, and in what ways a city is to grow.

The trouble always comes because any new development always brings unintended consequences with it.

New growth is new opportunity for somebody. In such a free market state as Idaho, private enterprise will always find a way to make money, and that often means screwing up the best-laid plans of the very best zoning committees.

[apple92680]

Originally Posted by banjomike

A good friend just went in with his single son and purchased a large house. It was more than either could afford alone.
He's a widower, and the house is large enough that if his son marries and some children come along, there's still plenty of room for them all.
Upstairs, downstairs. Each has his own half, so my old pal is still living in the same space he's used to, and even though he gets along fine with his son, they can still lead separate lives as they choose.

I expect this to become more common in a family-oriented state like Idaho. Grandpa and grandma were once still in the middle of a family unit here for their entire lives, and I think they will be once more in this century.

That's actually already happening for the last 15+ years in California -- communal family living. We Latinos have pioneered that art since, like, forever

When we do it, though, people call it "crowded", "ghetto" or "undesirable". When Anglos do it, it's heart-warming and like a segue into a Hallmark movie.

It's funny though that nobody considers California a "family-oriented" state, because we very much are! Probably more so than say Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming or Colorado.

I was just reading an article about Colorado Springs where groups of senior citizens on a fixed income were forced to share living spaces to avoid homelessness. One couple lost everything in savings and retirement due to the husband having medical bills from cancer treatment...Where the hell were their families?

[nm9stheham]

Originally Posted by Mister Torgue

100% agree. Regardless of any of all of our opinions in the end the voters should be the ones to approve this sort of thing.

But they do.. in the elected officials and the policies that go with them.

You probably don't want to go down the road of individual votes on developments; the next step is others voting on what you can do on your own property. Better to form some liveable rules and apply them equally to everyone.

Sorry to say this to oldafretired because you are a fine fellow. But stop and think about unintended consequences: What makes anyone think that they will automatically get their way if this is put to a broad vote? If it is proposed for your neighborhood and not in everyone else's, then everyone else will vote 'YES, YES... put it in that other guy's neighborhood'. You just lost and got it in your back yard.

Don't put a process in place when you don't have a clue how it will come out; political shenanigans will run rampant, not rational thinking or fairness.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by nm9stheham

But they do.. in the elected officials and the policies that go with them.

You probably don't want to go down the road of individual votes on developments; the next step is others voting on what you can do on your own property. Better to form some liveable rules and apply them equally to everyone.

Sorry to say this to oldafretired because you are a fine fellow. But stop and think about unintended consequences: What makes anyone think that they will automatically get their way if this is put to a broad vote? If it is proposed for your neighborhood and not in everyone else's, then everyone else will vote 'YES, YES... put it in that other guy's neighborhood'. You just lost and got it in your back yard.

Don't put a process in place when you don't have a clue how it will come out; political shenanigans will run rampant, not rational thinking or fairness.

Makes sense, especially the last bit. All in all it’s just frustrating to see this sort of thing as you can imagine.