So far I’ve promoted built properties with acreage. It occurred to me (after two people suggested it; I am sometimes that guy) that there are a bunch of opportunities right now for anyone who wants to secure a good place to build a house where we decided to move. I don’t mean to suggest it would be paradise living in the same neighborhood as I; some might say, “Actuellement, au contraire, mon frere!” What I mean is that Leslie and I spent many months last year agonizing about and visiting all kinds of places in the intermountain west where we thought we might want to move and why and decided to settle here, in Council, Idaho, with proximity to chukar being high (actuellement, highest) on our List of Needs. So I’m throwing this out there for folks who might be in a similar position, of a similar mind, or whatever, but also might want not to base their entire rationale for living in a place on chasing after a winged invasive species four months a year.
So here’s the gist: Council is, in my opinion, a good place to think about living/moving to/building a vacation home in for the following reasons:
- Council (2021 population: 908) is a legit small town, with more than two places to get a good dinner with a beer (currently there are at least three); a decent grocery store; a hardware store; an impressive NAPA Auto Parts store (I’ve been in many that are unimpressive); a great Point-S Tire store; two gas stations; a carwash that works; a bank; the best veterinarian I’ve ever encountered, who’s also the mayor; a fantastic health clinic (which includes optometry, dental, a pharmacy, and a helipad for LifeFlight); Council is the County Seat, so the DMV and Sheriff offices are here (i.e., very convenient for vehicle registrations, VIN checks, licensing, fingerprinting, etc.); the Adams County Fair and Rodeo (last weekend in July); the Council Rod & Gun Club; an airport (no jets or commercial flights); a decent public K-12 school district; not one but two excellent title companies for all of your real estate transaction needs; numerous high quality, fair, ethical contractors of all kinds (general, electrical, plumbing, landscaping, etc.; I’ve had the opportunity to utilize some impressive, skilled folks in all these areas, all in less than a year); and many more various and sundry businesses. All those good things are part of what I mean by “legit,” but it’s also because I like the size of the town: unlike some smaller, or less well-appointed small towns, you don’t have to give up too much living here but you get so much more space and tranquility than living in a big city. It passes the “no traffic light” test, in other words: it’s spacious inside, but to get really outside is easy and relatively quick.
- The 84-mile long Weiser River Trail runs through Council on its way from Weiser up to New Meadows. The vehicle-less gravel trail, formerly of the P&IN Railroad, passes right by the town of Council, and is remote in places, following the gorgeous Weiser River most of the way, and offers great bike riding, running, dog walking, fishing, and skiing/snowshoeing. We use this almost daily, with our dogs, about 8 months a year (the bird-hunting off-season).
- Big game hunting opportunities on public land are off the charts here, with access and opportunities for all styles of hunts, from solo, wilderness-oriented DIY backpack hunts, to horse-packing, and everything in between.
- Close enough for lots of upland bird hunting day trips: Hells Canyon, Riggins, West Mountain foothills, eastern Oregon (the massive expanse of nearly uninterrupted BLM land deranged hunters giddily refer to as “The Owyhees”) are all within a couple hours, most much closer. With more than a month left in the season, I’ve already hunted 40 times, rarely in the same place more than once.
- The stunning and un-crowded Council Greens Golf Course is within view of downtown Council (more on that below)
- Only 30 minutes to the excellent 18-hole MeadowCreek Golf Resort.
- About 45 minutes to Brundage Mountain Resort (which, in addition to some of the best snow in Idaho, has amazing downhill MTB riding in the summer, and is where I got married to Leslie 20+ years ago!).
- Less than an hour to McCall (good restaurants, brewpubs, shopping, fantastic golf courses including Jug Mountain Ranch and Whitetail Country Club, Payette Lake, world class Nordic skiing, some of the best single-track mountain bike trails in the west at Bear Basin and Jug Mountain).
- Less than an hour to McCall St. Luke’s Medical Center, a full-service hospital offering 24-hour emergency department, orthopedics, surgical care, maternal and childbirth services, sleep medicine, hospice care, as well as outpatient care.
- 80 minutes from Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, with Robert Trent Jones II’s stunning Osprey Meadows Golf Course.
- About an hour from Riggins, Idaho, which is home to numerous jet boat and rafting companies which offer trips on the incredible Salmon River. It’s also home base for lots of salmon and steelhead fishing opportunities, not to mention shed hunting, and myriad red legged devils, AKA chukar.
- Ontario, OR (no sales tax in Oregon!) is about an hour away, and includes a Home Depot, a Winco (the best grocery shopping in the west), a Harbor Freight, and a Wal Mart (ahem), not to mention many good places to eat, including Bert’s Growler Garage, one of the best taphouses I’ve ever seen, with an excellent location-smoked tri-tip salad.
- It’s only two hours from BOI (Boise Airport) and its expanding metroplex.
So that’s a bit about Council itself. What I’m highlighting here is my neighborhood, a fairly new HOA that purchased Council Greens Golf Course two years ago. This development has 91 home sites, with — to date — only nine completed homes. Eight of those are owner-occupied currently, with one actively listed, unoccupied home. All of the unbuilt lots are owned, but eight are currently for sale, plus three in-process homes being built by owners. There’s also one home that’s just been completed, and actively listed, one property away from the HOA (the upside for this home is that isn’t subject to the annual HOA fee of $780; the downside is that it doesn’t get preferential pricing for golf; I will publish a separate post about this one soon; it’s a really nice house). The building lots are all at least 1/3-acre, and range in listing price from $49k-$70k. All lots are equipped with water, sewer, power, and high-speed fiber-optic Internet hookups, so no individual or communal wells, septic installs, or power runs. Compared to building lots of the same size in Ada County or nearby McCall, price per acre is 10 times lower here.
If you golf, chances are you would honestly love Council Greens. It’s a 9-hole course that’s been here for a while and, for most of its existence, fairly loosely run. When the HOA purchased it in 2021, it tried to keep much of the local flavor of the course, which has a long community history here, but also improve its condition. One particular resident, who’s on the HOA board, took charge of the course and has worked his butt off for two years improving the condition and management of the course, recognizing that golf courses — in general — add substantial value to the properties surrounding it, something in the range of a 30% added value over similar non-golf course property. A greenskeeper was hired, and the course is in the process of hiring a superintendent and a few more staff. As I said, it’s not a fancy course, but it’s challenging (the holes are pretty short, comparatively, but the fairways are narrow and undulating, there’s a lot of water (four ponds and, in the spring, creeks), and most of the greens are tiny and elevated. One of the best things about the course itself is its setting: many of the holes play heading toward Council Mountain, the 8,120 foot snow-capped (most of the year) tallest peak in the area. One of the best things about Council Greens Golf Course is that almost nobody plays it! I purchased an HOA-member annual membership for $106 (including tax), and I can play any time from my house, pulling my cart through the backyard, and sometimes, especially in the morning finish 9 holes without even seeing another golfer. I’m a volunteer for the course, and on the board as well, and — believe me — we’re hoping to get more people on the course so we can generate more revenue so we can continue the upward trend of course management and maintenance, but I have to say it’s pretty rare to be able to play a decent course without ever having to wait for other golfers in front of you.
Finally, I can recommend two quality builders in the area, one who built my house and three others in this HOA, and another who recently finished the house just outside our HOA, which I wish had been available when we bought our house because I would prefer it over ours for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with construction quality.
So that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Here are a few other photos of the golf course and its lots and houses; almost all of the lots have an excellent view of the mountains, sunsets, sunrises, golf course, ponds, etc. It’s a great place to live in so many ways. If you want to come up and have a look, just let me know. I’d love to show you around!
Chukar Hills Realty 