Relocating to Twin Falls

Hi,

We%26#39;re thinking of relocating to the Twin Falls area from out of state. Does anyone have any info on housing, which are good areas, weather, schools, ect. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Relocating to Twin Falls

I have an earful for you! We%26#39;ve lived here 12 years, love it here, though it may take some getting used to if you%26#39;re accustomed to ';the big city.'; :-)

The best school districts are Sawtooth Elementary and Morningside Elementary. Your realtor will know where these are located. Sawtooth is northeast. I think Morningside might be considered central or south-central. The other school districts -- Oregon Trail, Perrine, Lincoln, Harrison, Bickel -- are not as strong. I volunteer with English as a Second Language students at Lincoln. It is a place to send your heart and your time, but maybe not your children. Avoid houses on streets with presidents%26#39; names i.e. Lincoln, Monroe, Pierce. Beautiful homes on some of them, but the school districts are not strong. The Catholic Church St. Edwards has a school and there are several other small private schools. Acorn Learning Center is great for pre-school and kindergarten -- my kids went there. The older classes which go through 6th grade may be comparable to Sawtooth and Morningside.

All the elementary schools funnel into two junior high schools. O%26#39;Leary is stronger than Robert Stuart. There is only one high school in the area. Last year%26#39;s senior class had about 440 kids in it. It%26#39;s extremely overcrowded and consequently does very well in sports across the state. :-)

The parks and recreation programs have strong soccer, basketball, and football programs and we have a Cal Ripken League in the spring. I applaud this town for its after school sports activities.

Subdivisions are growing rapidly all the time. I couldn%26#39;t point you to one over any of the others. It%26#39;s unbelievable how much this town has grown even in the short time that I have lived here.

I believe housing costs are lower than the national average, but fuel and food costs are higher. I can%26#39;t honestly say it%26#39;s a bargain to live here.

The weather is really exceptional. Once you get beyond the arid air and I mean REALLY arid, then the rest is easy. Coming from the East Coast, my nose bled constantly and my skin cracked my first few years here. Sometimes the wind picks up with gusts up to 25, maybe 30 miles per hour. But surprising still to me, we seldom get snow storms. We almost never get rain. We have our hot days in the summer, but they%26#39;re like sauna days rather than unbearable.

The main artery in Twin Falls, Blue Lakes Blvd., is jammed especially in the last few years. This town is a hub -- agrarian communities do business here so the traffic on Blue Lakes is bumper to bumper, particularly on the weekends. But it is still almost too easy to get to four or five good groceries stores, Gold%26#39;s Gym, Barnes and Noble.

Good luck with your decision!

Relocating to Twin Falls

I just read your other posts about possibly moving to the Boise area. I love Boise, but I would like to add a couple more cents here. :-)

Boise is experiencing a housing crunch/population explosion now which taxes everything from schools to highway infrastructures, all government services. I read that in one particular development, they had to limit investors from snatching homes up. It was hurting people who needed places to live at this very moment.

Boise has many strong points. It has entertainment at your fingertips, no doubt about it. There is a secondary pro basketball team and a secondary pro hockey team. Boise State University brings in top concerts and shows and it has its own strong athletic programs. Most higher-end import cars have to be serviced in Boise -- your BMW or Mercedes or Volvo won%26#39;t have a mechanic here in Twin. The Simplot people and the Albertson%26#39;s grocery store people have invested well in Boise%26#39;s parks, museums, cultural events. And there is a concentration of good restaurants that you won%26#39;t find in any other part of the state, maybe with the exception of Blaine County/ Sun Valley.

But with the interstate speed limit at 75 mph, I can get to Boise in a bit less than two hours each direction. I can catch a puddle hopper to Salt Lake City from Twin and from there, I can go anywhere in the US. The internet precludes the need to be near larger retailers for shopping, although Macy%26#39;s, Target, Costco, and JC Penney all have stores here.

Again, good luck with your decision!

Thank you for the info. We orginally we%26#39;re looking at the Boise area, but decided it was too big and defeats our purpose for wanting to move. What about the outlying areas around Twin Falls like Kimberly, Filer, ect.? Ideally, we would like to have a newer home on around an acre. We are flying in this weekend to check out areas, houses, schools ect. I had heard good things about the schools you mention, thank you. Are the schools in Kimberly good? How is traffic/ roads, ect.? I figured we could shop using the internet if there wasn%26#39;t stores there for what we need. I do that now. It sounds like the weather is mild. Have you had any snow since you have lived there? or ice? You%26#39;re info is great!

I%26#39;m out of town, hope I can do this!

I%26#39;ve heard Filer has good schools, don%26#39;t know much about Kimberly. Kimberly has smaller homes, a smaller tax base. Could be quaint, could be underfunded. You should also be aware of where dairies are located or may be located in the future. There is a massive dairy in Filer. Hafliger is the owner. The stench and flies from it spread far and wide. Mega-dairies that were shut down in California are coming into central Idaho. I know the county commissioners have tried to regulate this with Confined Animal Feeding (?)Ordinances (CAFOs). You may research this with your realtor.

Hagerman is a pretty area, warmer than Twin Falls, but I don%26#39;t know anything about the schools. Stay clear of Jerome County -- many dairies and in my view, sub-quality government services.

I have to run! Good luck!

Hi Jannel43,

Just got back from Idaho. We really liked Twin Falls. It seems like a nice place to live. We liked NE Twin Falls and Kimberly. Now it%26#39;s a matter of looking for jobs, and selling our current home. If you have any news or anything of interest you can always email and let me know. I appreciate everything so far.....Lizbonne

Hi, Liz, I%26#39;m a native of Twin Falls and I have to echo some of the other comments in this thread... except the one about the President streets, I happen to live on one of them. :) The Kimberly area is nice if you want a little acreage. You%26#39;ll still get the delicate aroma of the sugar factory on certain winter days, like the rest of town does, but there aren%26#39;t any dairies over there to speak of.

What kind of jobs are you looking for?

You can keep your finger on the pulse of the town by checking the Times News online at www.magicvalley.com

I%26#39;d also be happy to answer any questions about the Twin Falls area.

Yours,

Sherri ';Idaho Pug';

Sorry, Idaho Pug! Beautiful homes on President streets and close to shopping. My volunteer work at Lincoln Elementary affects me. My little student finally showed up in socks yesterday.

I don%26#39;t know the local job market. Dell Computers might be a place to start? The service call center is located at Blue Lakes and Pole Line. My husband works for the county, not the most lucrative option and I don%26#39;t know anything about hiring there. The hospital is a big employer. My vet started at Lam Weston, frying potatoes, before he went to school.

Kimberly is beautiful and in the past, I%26#39;ve noticed the real estate is reasonably priced there. There are several huge subdivisions in the pipeline in Twin -- one across from the future Mormon temple on Pole Line Road and one at the North end of Hankins on the left side of the street. Great locations, but I think our home will be adversely affected by increased traffic and demand for services.

Good luck!

Hi Sherri aka Idahopug, and Janell,

My husband does HVAC work, it%26#39;s commercial refrigeration/heating air. I%26#39;m kinda open, I currently work for a school district, but I%26#39;ve worked for health insurance carriers, and a mortgage company. I do secretarial so it%26#39;s pretty flexable.

I heard that Sawtooth and Kimberly have good schools. Any thoughts on the two? one better than the other? I%26#39;m torn because Sawtooth is larger but probably has better funding, but Kimberly is probably smaller and maybe more one on one time, but maybe less funding?

When does winter officially start there? How long does it last? Everyone when we where there was really friendly. I%26#39;ve been reading the newspaper online, to try and keep up with current topics there. Anything else come up, or I should know just email again....It%26#39;s nice to hear it from people who currently live there. Lizbonne

Hi Liz,

You never know when winter is going to start. Some years we%26#39;ve had our first bad snowstorm the first week of October, and some it%26#39;s been January before it ever really got cold. One year the kids were trick-or-treating in shirt sleeves. If you%26#39;re a gardener, you can count on the first hard frost about the middle of September. We don%26#39;t get a whole lot of snow here on the flatland. Six inches at a time is remarkable. There are a couple of ski areas close, one in the South Hills (those hills you saw from Kimberly) and one closer to Burley -- there is more snow in the mountains. Its a fun trip to get a permit from the Forest Service and cut your own Christmas Tree in the South Hills. The worst of the cold weather is usually over by the end of March or so.

As for the schools, I%26#39;ll let Janell take that. I%26#39;ve been pleased with the education my kids have received over here on the multicultural side of town. Can only imagine how good it is on the east side. :)

Jobwise, there are a lot of jobs in the Twin Falls area. Wages won%26#39;t be what they are in California but housing is less. When we came here from Salt Lake we cashed out a house so we don%26#39;t have a mortgage payment.

And for fun, if you like that kind of thing, there is a casino town 40 miles south, just across the Nevada border!

Best wishes,

Pug

I can%26#39;t say for sure about Kimberly schools, but I suspect Sawtooth and Morningside schools are stronger. Bickel, Lincoln, Perrine all have quite a few non-English speaking students in a state with empty school district coffers. In my volunteering, I have three Eastern European and three Hispanic kindergarteners that are falling behind quickly. I attended a Sawtooth PTO meeting yesterday. They%26#39;re planning to relieve some overcrowding by building a new middle school at Pole Line and Washington and also there will be a vote on a $5.6 million bond for high school improvements. They%26#39;ll put 9th grade in high school and move 6th grade to middle school, thus relieving some overcrowding in the elementary schools. I hope the bonds pass in February!

I agree with my Pug friend. The weather can be unpredictable, though our Halloweens here so far have been consistently freezing cold and breezy. This is by far and away our best fall so far. Every day is gorgeous right now!

Off to Lincoln. Nice visiting with new friends!

hold the tough drive freshly founder