Our concerns are these: while we feel confident that we can continue to enjoy the lifestyle we have within our income confines, many can’t. If we were seeking a home on our income, we could not afford to buy here. Our grown children can visit, but they can’t afford to buy a home in their hometown unless they are quite wealthy (which they aren’t). Our service industries cannot survive without workers, but the wages don’t give them any buying or renting power. We want to attract companies to bring more jobs here, but when they move their current employees here (rather than hire locally) they face a similar situation (little housing inventory/high prices).
Lastly, when the time comes for us to downsize, there is little inventory of lower-end small homes available. Our retirement is in the value of our home, but if it costs our entire sale of home to purchase the smaller home, we can’t retire, just have to keep working till we die – or move in with our kids.
–Kandi, Rathdrum ID