Looking to buy land in Idaho... you selling or know someone?

Hey folks, My wife and I have decided we are going to make the move and we already took some big steps! We have just sold our house and managed to pay off all our credit cards (yea!) and have just a little left over and we are looking for LAND.

We have decided on Northern Idaho or Central Idaho.
We are looking for acreage with plenty of timber and an absolute must is there be a year 'round stream or river on the property.
The more remote the better. We are going completely of grid and looking to utilize as much self sustaining technology and techniques as possible.

If you or someone you know is thinking of selling a piece of land like that I would really love to hear about it.

I don't really have any hard leads for you on this, but personally I really liked Idaho County (North-Central Idaho) when we were looking to move out of CA. That's were my family and I ended up. Plenty of remote country, good water, no building permits, and experienced off grid contractors around. BTW we found a home completely off the grid, with two year round creeks, one seasonal, and some springs. We spent a good bit of time here looking for this property before we found the perfect turn key set up, but there are good pieces of land around if you wanted to start from scratch. Piece of advice on the search though: contact a realtor because of the small community not everyone is advertising what they have available, but the realtors have contacts within the area where they might be able to find something through word of mouth. I'll ask around and see if anyone knows of someplace, but that is going to be your best bet to move forward quickly.

We had a chance to travel all over the pacific north west earlier this year and came to the same conclusion as you. We really enjoyed Idaho county and it made a lot of sense. We have spoken to a lot of Realtors in the two areas I mentioned and most when I would give them our wishlist (although we prefer to start from raw land, since it is more along the lines of what we can afford) most would force a deflated smile as if I had just announced that I was seeking the Holy Grail. I wonder how many people just like us they have already spoke to. So I do have a Realtor that is "keeping an eye out" but I haven't gotten a reply or an email from them in quite some time... Since we don't live in Idaho it is difficult to talk to or meet good realtors without cold calling, so I am trying to reach out and generate any kind of word of mouth I can through any means I can. I sincerely appreciate you keeping an ear open. All suggestions are welcomed. We are committed to this goal so anything that could help us get there we're eager to hear it.

How about this one Ced?

http://www.landwatch.com/Idaho-County-Idaho-Land-for-sale/pid/302673796

Greetings Ced,
You might try contacting the Pagliaros near Kamiah, ID: Permaculture Global: Kamiah Permaculture Institute
They've been in the area since 2008 and may have significant insights for your land quest. Contact info is included in the link above.

having spent a few afternoon winter hours clicking around on permies forums, this thread has caused me to de-lurk, as I may have some information to add.

I've lived in the Kamiah / Kooskia area, most recently last year, and I believe that "permaculture institute" is no longer viable - I tried to get in touch with them, no reply, and was told by some locals that one of the founders had passed? their online presence was up last year, but appears to be down now (unless I'm wrong and it's been re-named or?).

as to the area, it definitely has its quirks, and is drawing in many different types of people - but overall, there is a substantial "older" population living on SS or similar smaller incomes - which is fine, of course, I'm merely noting that not a lot of business or services are in the area, mainly because there isn't the "income" amongst the locals that would support these things. check out the "main streets" of Kamiah or Kooskia, and you'll find most businesses have gone under in the past five years or so, the bars are the last to go. the mid-summer tourist season is their main draw, Hwy 12 "scenic route" that attracts lots of biker groups, etc.

of course, you're talking of land "off grid" and not in town services! I'm just sharing some impressions of the area over time. there are some truly friendly, helpful people the sort one would expect in "small town" settings - there are also some, shall we say, strongly held beliefs the further out of town one gets. the area drew in a few "apocalyptic" types around Y2K, congregations that bought up tracts of land named "Almost Heaven" (search: Bo Gritz) etc. - many of these "sub-divisions" have undeveloped small acreage for sale now, I would only advise doing some homework, as "real estate agents" in the area vary WIDELY when dealing with buyers from "out of state" - particularly the ubiquitous "California" buyers flipping high priced real estate to buy Idaho acreage. those folks are not very popular, and are often sold, shall we say, less than ideal areas - mainly because most don't stick around after a few years. . . there are MANY "dream homes on acreage" or "prepper type" set-ups on the market that have been up for sale for YEARS now. . .

the "city-data" web-forums have some interesting threads on gravel pits opening up across the street from people's "dream retirement spot", etc. I've seen them "abandoned" for a few years, then re-opened for a month or so, 24-7 unreal noise and dust, trucks, etc. oh, and apparently "personal cannons" are legal too - those jaw-dropping *booms* echoing through the narrow river valleys, ahh yes, memories.

best wishes in your search - don't narrow your "real estate agent" choices, they do come in all stripes. a good question to ask when interviewing is "what are the most recent water rights agendas?" - because there was a LOT of noise about the Nez Perce tribal elders securing their status in the future (who can blame them!).

I saw this place on Craigslist, might be worth looking into.

http://lewiston.craigslist.org/reo/4861610032.html

I live south of Idaho County in Adams, and it is my understanding that Idaho county has no building codes....a benefit of living among anti gov types.
Adams is pretty mellow too at this time, I love my area, warm enough for tomatoes and peaches, mountain views, but too hot in summer to attract summer home types.
Pretty decent land prices but like all places hard to find small acreages for sale.
I really like Oregon, but their zoning makes it really hard to find a small acreage.

Ced, did you find your Land haven? I have 8 beautiful wooded acres with a well. It is located in North Idaho near Hope/Sandpoint
If your interested please reply as I can provide pics etc.

Hello!

A quick update: Yes we are still looking for property. We recognize that at the time of this post, it is mid February and not a lot of land is on the market. This is expected, but know that we are definitely interested if you are thinking of selling or know someone who is. We are renting a 600 sq ft unit of a duplex and I'm happy to say that the downsize was a welcome relief. I was nervous at first moving into such a small space compared to our house, but it turns out we really like it. This is probably good since we will likely be building something equally small on the property we will eventually buy.

To recap we are looking for heavily timbered acreage with a year round stream/creek. More remote the better! We will be employing as many inexpensive, self-sustaining techniques as possible. Everything from earthbag structures, to aquaponics, to rocket mass heaters, to vermacomposting to raising our own meet and veggies.

I have a pretty good system set up with realtor.com as well as landwatch.com that I am notified of new listings in the north and central areas of Idaho. But if you are considering putting your land on the market or know someone who is, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks everyone for your support and suggestions. I look forward to getting out of the city as soon as possible.

Found another place on CL:

http://lewiston.craigslist.org/reo/4912616862.html

This one has some potential as well. Water, secluded, not a bad price:
http://dev.getawayland.com/properties/green-creek-near-harpster-idaho/949-ac-3-springs-creek-2-building-sites

Hopefully it's ok if I hijack this thread a bit. What are thoughts on Nezperce county? I would say I'm generally looking for the same things as the OP, although the remoteness is less important to me.

I see a job vacancy in that area, and am considering applying for it...

My observation here in a similarly rural part of Utah is that everything is always for sale even if not on the market. Get a DeLorme atlas, mark out the creeks and start driving. Once you find the parcels you are interested in, then go to the realtor. Somebody might be willing to subdivide a larger piece if asked. Land might be owned by people who live hundreds of miles away and they are just paying taxes on it but it's too much hassle to find an Idaho realtor to deal with it. Or the family now lives in Boise and is waiting for Grandma to die before they try to sell. All three of those stories played out either on my land or adjacent land.

What I'm saying is boots on the ground, not the Internet, is the way to go.

I concur with Ann. Finding parcels that interest you then contacting the owners can work out sometimes. I bought two parcels of ag land that way. Properties were not on the market and owners lived far away. The one parcel was just a piece of real estate in someone's financial portfolio. They consulted their CPA and found it was advantageous to sell it to me at a price we both agreed upon. The second parcel was next door and owned by an elderly couple who were happy to see the land going into farming. They agreed to match the asking price to the first parcel I just had bought. So I got a nice properties for under the current market asking prices.

Nez Peace county has a little more regulation compared to Idaho county but as far as the area goes it is pretty nice.

I own 8.2 acres of pristine land in Sagle Idaho, not far from Sandpoint. It is in the Kula Estates Subdivision and is Lot 3. It's up for sale for $159,000 and already has a artesian well on the property. Kula Estates has a HOA of about $750 a year but my land is exempt because I don't have access to the main road that goes through the subdivision. If interested in this land contact Southern International Realty in Sandpoint, Idaho at 1-800-282-6880. There are pictures of the land on the realtor's website.