Shoshone

Shoshone is the Lincoln County seat, a railroad town with a historic stone-and-brick downtown and surrounding country that looks more like northern Nevada than the rest of the Magic Valley — lava flows, sagebrush, and big skies. It's about 25 minutes north of Jerome and serves as the gateway to Sun Valley for traffic heading up Highway 75. The housing market is thin and slow, but the underlying historic stock is genuinely interesting and underpriced.

This fits buyers who want affordable historic architecture without the Oakley wait, ranching and lava-country acreage buyers, and a small flow of buyers who specifically want to be on the Sun Valley commute corridor without paying Sun Valley prices. Pricing is among the lowest in the valley for comparable square footage in town.

Shoshone moves on word of mouth as much as MLS, especially for the ranchland parcels. If you're serious about the area, get on a watch list.