Rumorama

A while back, I threw out some questions about the local celeb rumorama. In one case, I'd heard that Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were building a house on Baldy Mountain. The other claim was that Harrison Ford had purchased Memaloose Island.

I received just one response to my plea for all folks in the know to confirm or deny either---with proof, of course. One friend did write in and said she'd heard from a group of ladies at lunch that, indeed, Harrison had bought the island. The ladies acted as if it were common knowledge, and I was assured they would not have gotten the idea by reading my blog.

I also asked another person, whom I figured would have reason to know these things. She told me that Harrison had not purchased the island. Instead, Kevin Costner did. She hadn't heard the Baldy story, and apparently nobody else has either. At least, nobody that's gonna tell.

Yesterday, while at a meeting hosted by a prominent local realtor, I again threw out the question, figuring he'd know about the Memaloose deal. He flatly denied it and told me that the owners of the island had contacted him recently asking if he'd be interested in listing it---at $16 million. He said that wasn't worth his time because it would be pretty hard to sell the island, which may have all of two building sites, for that amount. He said $8 million, yes, but not $16 million.

I took the realtor at his word, especially when he answered another question later about the present state of the real estate market in this area.

"In the toilet," he told us, adding that third quarter reports are worse than dismal. He said lots of prices are going down and that lots of potential investors are staying away. That's bad news for sellers and realtors and, to my thinking, good news for buyers.

In conversation, last night I once again mentioned the Harrison Ford story and the Kevin Costner chaser. I learned that Kevin is part of a partnership that bought a trailer park at Trestle Creek, which is on the lake but a little ways from Memaloose Island.

All I've got to say is that I'm happy for the Indian burial ground on the Hope island. Possibly, the Kalispel ancestors can continue to rest easy, and their island may just escape "development." I'm also amazed at how far we've come on the celebrity sightings since Sky King touched down at the old rodeo grounds near the airport in Sandpoint. I may still have his autograph from that day when I was about ten, but the rodeo grounds would be hard to find these days since a huge pile of gravel and rock sits there, serving the needs of Interstate Concrete.

If anyone has any good tips on celebrities buying up North Idaho, send 'em my way. I'm always looking for a good story to confirm.

Special note: Since the topic today deals with buying and selling, I'd be interested in names and contact numbers/addresses of people who have sold out and left the Sandpoint area in the past couple of years----especially longtimers. I'm working on a project dealing with why people would want to leave Sandpoint, so any feedback would be appreciated. Send it to me through comments, email or telephone. Thanks.