Idaho Real Estate

Because RV parks are crowded, expensive and often unavailable in the summertime, because we love Idaho, and mostly because we are crazy RVers, we recently bid on a 4 acre property in Idaho sight unseen.  We didn't think the seller would be interested in our unusual bid, because it was a mix of cash and a New Mexico property in trade.  To our delighted surprise, the seller accepted our offer after a couple of counter offers, so we left South Dakota early to see the lot in person before we signed any contract.  Long story short, we walked away from the deal because we felt the property had too much work to complete, far too much maintenance to bring aboard our program, and too expensive of an operation for us going forward.

The shot below is taken from the entrance to the lot (southeast corner) looking out the 600ft access road to the east.  A nice view of Mt. Baldy from there.

The seller is an excavator by trade and it appears he speculated on this lot, by improving the access road to the lot, installing a new well and septic system on the property, building up a road and circle driveway on the lot, constructing a major pond/water feature and by building berms around the perimeter of the lot for privacy.  Below is a view standing at the end of the access road from the public road and looking into the lot.  The drive enters the lot behind the For Sale sign which is the southeast corner of this rectangular parcel.

The map below locates the lot with a small 4 acre yellow rectangle in Irwin, Idaho.  For the fishermen reading this, the South Fork of the Snake River is just a stones throw from the lot to the southwest.

The shot below is taken from the northeast corner of the lot.  The tall fir tree at frame left, which was recently brought in by the owner, is dying.  We have seen this before in fir trees.  The tree starts to die from the bottom and the center of the tree.  It's just a matter of time before someone is removing this tree.  You can see Gari, the owner and realtors standing in the distance around "The Pond".

This shot below shows Romeo the Ram parked at the beginning of the driveway circle near the center of the lot.   The treed area inside the circle is where the RV pad is currently set up.

The shot below is taken from the northern property line near the center of the lot, looking eastward.  You can see the waterfall river of rocks that empties into the pond at frame right.

Panning a bit right or south you can see the entire water feature below.  What we thought was going to be a smallish pond turned out to be an extensive, complex water feature.  It was primarily this installation that caused us to turn and run away from this property.  First, the pond was much larger than we had envisioned.  Second, it had a waterfall feature installed that required pumps, waterlines, valves, electricity, and even a gasoline powered water pump.  We thought right away that this pond would be a maintenance and operations nightmare, not to mention that there was still considerable work to be accomplished to make the water feature complete.  We think if this water feature had not been there, we would be under contract with this lot right now.

For additional info on this lot, the shot below is taken from near the center of the southern property line looking westward.  You can see the berms back there (which is the material that came out of the pond excavation) and just before the berms the septic drain field is installed.  The 1,000 gallon septic tank is under the tan shed at frame right.

Below is a shot of the RV pad area taken from the same position as the photo above.

More about the water feature... The shot below shows the 2" PVC lines that are used to carry the pond water up to the river of rocks where it flows down and back into the pond as a double waterfall. Those large lines all need to be concealed.... somehow.

Zooming out you can see the pond and where the lines goes into the pond to the electric sump pump.  We must admit that we do like the views from this lot.

The shot below is looking down the river of rocks, where the pumped pond water heads to the double waterfall.  The owner said that he spends about $160 per month in electricity pumping water to the pond from the well, and then up and over the waterfall with an electric sump pump.  This does not include the gasoline pump sending water to the irrigation system.  To us, all that is an operation nightmare.  In order for that pond to remain somewhat clear, the pumping must continue.  The water feature is a magnificent effort by the seller.  It looks very nice, but it is also certainly not for us.

This shot below is more material from the pond excavation no doubt.  These piles sit at the northern property line just in front of where any home or barn may be placed.  All that has to be moved, but not by us.

The picture below gives an idea how tight things are inside RV pad area.

There is also a 10x20 ft shed in the small RV area, and you can see the electric transformer frame right.

The electric power transformer is also located in that RV area, with the power stand at the right..

The electric power stand is a 200 Amp service which is more than adequate for the existing use.  Not the most attractive setup, but certainly adequate for any future improvements we may have wanted to add.  A plan to reconfigure the existing power stand into a more aesthetic installation would have been a requirement for our purposes.  In the end an adequate service, but significant rework and expense to put it into a final and more attractive configuration.

The well.  No accumulator tank.  No good way to winterize the system.  Lots of rework and upgrades need to be performed on this brand new well system.

The shot below is taken from the northwestern corner looking eastward.  The tall fir trees are the RV area.  The position of the photographer, is presumably the area that any new buildings would be added.  It is a fine view of Mt. Baldy from there.

And last but not least, the gasoline water pump.  You can't see the actual pump, but it is in the wooden enclosure.  The influent line enters the pond from just beyond the box.  This shot also gives a good look at the double waterfalls in action.

We still like an large number of things about this lot, but the pond was the major deal breaker for us. Even though the pond is quite a nice feature, we figured it was just too much work and expense to get things set up and finished not to mention maintain, so not the lot for us, but certainly a lot with great potential for someone else.  We walked away this time.  We are still looking, but probably not nearly as hard after this roller-coaster experience.