Moving to Grand Rapids (Duluth, Crystal: sales, real estate, health insurance)

[snowblind9]

Well my family is moving to Grand Rapids from Bismarck, ND. I've visited the area a couple times. I will managing a retail store and my wife's job goes with her. It seems that the homes are priced good. Property taxes seem much less than Bismarck. What is the income tax like? I've lived in ND my whole life what culture shock should I expect? Is there anything I should experience right away? Should I wait to buy a house? It seems as though the housing is dropping. I'm selling in Bismarck where prices are skyrocketing. Plus any opinions on schools, utilities, banks, realtors would be helpful. I'm not concerened about weather.

[golfgal]

I don't imagine that Grand Rapids Mn is much different then Bismarck culturally. It is more of a vacation type place in the state where you will find quite a few seasonal residents (summer) but that isn't a big deal. The schools are good. I can't help you with realtors, etc. Income taxes will be higher in MN then ND but if the property taxes are lower you might come out at a wash or close to that. The RE market in Minnesota is pretty slow for sellers and in an area like Grand Rapids you might be able to get a pretty good deal on a home right now.

[MidniteBreeze]

I've lived here for a little over 3 years, so hopefully I can help!

Real Estate: Definitely a buyer's market right now. Lakefront homes are obviously going to be more expensive, but compared to waterfront properties in most of the rest of the country, it's still a relative bargain. I don't think you necessarily need to wait to buy a home. If you wait a little while (spring) you might have more to pick from since that's when most people typically put their homes on the market here (things tend to slow down in the dead of winter.) But then again you might have a little more negotiating power in the winter if someone is anxious to sell. There are lots of realtors to choose from as this is a popular vacation home area. One place you might want to start is lakehomes dot com. Click on the Grand Rapids link and you'll get MLS listings with links to local offices. (Though the site is called lakehomes, they do list non-lakefront as well.)

Taxes: MN income taxes will be higher for sure...I think our sales tax is higher too. Property taxes aren't bad, especially if you're like us (non-waterfront outside city limits...we only pay about $400/year!) Higher taxes on waterfront properties.

Schools: I work at an "outlying" school district and can tell you there's a lot of cooperation between area school districts (i.e., they have an online learning collaborative where local teachers teach classes that may not be offered to some of the smaller schools...things like that.) Grand Rapids is a good district, but like many small town schools they're dealing with budget cuts and those sorts of things. Teacher quality/stability is very good overall...lots of competition for teaching jobs and teachers tend to stay for their entire careers once they're hired.

Culture: As mentioned above, I don't think you'll find it very different here culturally than in ND. People are polite, down-to-earth; perhaps a little on the reserved side, but not unfriendly. Ethnically it's still pretty "white" overall but you'll see some Native Americans (there's a reservation about 20 miles to the west) and a smattering of other ethnic groups. (We recently got an authentic Mexican restaurant in town...I was thrilled!)

Given our location in the heart of the north woods and lakes country, it's not surprising that we have a lot of "sportsmen" types, lots of people are into hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, etc. Pretty much EVERYONE owns a boat and many others have at least one snowmobile and/or ATV in the family. People tend to be socailly conservative but we have lots of "die hard" democrats due in large part to the strong union/mining history of the area.

Employers/services: The biggest employers in the area are the hospital (brand new building), the paper mill and the education sector (school district and community college.) For a town of about 8,000, there's actually a decent selection of places to shop/eat. We have a Target, Home Depot, Kmart and they're building a new super Wal-Mart to replace the old store. We have your usual array of fast food joints plus an Applebees, Ground Round (Applebee's-like place) and of course a number of locally- owned spots. I heard rumors of a Best Buy but I'm not sure about that. Duluth is about 75 miles down Hwy 2 for occasional "big" shopping trips.

For banks there's Wells Fargo, US Bank and some other local/regional ones. Lake Country Power is the electric company (even though Minnesota Power has a plant just west of town). I don't have city water/sewer so can't comment about that. There are a couple choices for high speed internet, including Qwest and Paul Bunyan telephone (they do cable, phone and Internet.)

My personal .02: Though I moved here from a larger city and sometimes miss having more choices for shopping/dining/entertainment, I really have to say I'm pretty darn happy here. It's safe, laid back and so much less stressful than the "rat race." It's really a great place to raise kids. If you enjoy the outdoors (especially if you can find a way to "embrace" the winters) you'll think you've died and gone to heaven. We've lived here for over 3 years and have only fished a fraction of the lakes within an hour's drive of our home!

Well, welcome to our neck of the woods! If I can be of any further help, don't hesitate to holler

[MidniteBreeze]

Oh, another thing regarding the business climate:

The local chamber is VERY active and doing some good things. The guy who heads the chamber is very passionate and has put together some ambitious projects. I sat on a committee created to bridge the business/education/social services sectors where we brainstormed ideas and came up with an action plan to better prepare our workforce (both existing and future) for the local job market (both existing and projected). We also talked about ways to retain recent graduates in the area, etc.

They really put a lot of work and research into the project, consulted with other experts from around the country, etc. And the best part is we're actually seeing some results! For example, one of the things they came up with was a loan/reimbursement program for high school students to take a nursing assitant course at the community college. If a student successfully completes the course and works for 90 days, the class is essentially free.

So while our economy certainly isn't perfect, it's really good to know that there are people out there who care enough about their community to make it better!

[snowblind9]

Originally Posted by MidniteBreeze

Taxes: MN income taxes will be higher for sure...I think our sales tax is higher too. Property taxes aren't bad, especially if you're like us (non-waterfront outside city limits...we only pay about $400/year!) Higher taxes on waterfront properties.

OH my God, only $400. I built a house in bismarck 19 months ago for $130,000. My taxes are $2700 plus I have special assesments of $750 annually. I will be managing a new paint and decorating store being built right now beside the super walmart. My wife works for Aetna health insurance answering email correspondence. We need to have fast and reliable internet. I believe I saw that Mediacomm services the area. Is this the service under Paul Bunyan Media? Would you know if the catholic church there is very old fashioned or contemporary? Will I be mugged for wearing a Dallas Cowboy memorabilia around town.

[snowblind9]

Does Grand Rapids have a YMCA? Where can one get swimming lessons? Where can one work out?

[MidniteBreeze]

Sorry, I don't know about Mediacomm...we live too far out to get Paul Bunyan so we have Qwest for internet and satellite TV (too far out for cable.) I have heard good things about Paul Bunyan though...they're actually out of Bemidji but expanding outward.

My husband is Catholic but hasn't really been to church around here...I think there are at least 2 Catholic churches to choose from though, so hopefully at least one will fit your needs.

Yes, there is a nice YMCA and I do believe they have swimming lessons. I know they have yoga too. There's also a Curves and a 24 hour fitness (type) place. There's also a gymnastics academy and several other opportunites for kids for non-school based sports (i.e., figure skating).

Dallas Cowboys? Nah, you won't get muggued over that. Just stay away from the Green Bay Packers stuff and you'll be alright

[MidniteBreeze]

So can I ask you the name of your new store? (If you can't say, that's fine...just curious!)

Just a few other local "tidbits" you might want to check out when you get here:

Sammy's Pizza. It's a local-now-regional chain (I think they even have a couple restuarants in ND?) Not exactly "New York" style pizza, but very good.

Tioga Pit. If you like swimmiing, this place is a gem! Not really the best place for small childern and/or non-swimmers as it drops off quickly...but it's a beautiful old reclaimed mine pit (I know the words "beautiful" and "mine pit" usually don't go together, but trust me on this one!) that has since filled with the most CRYSTAL-clear "swimming pool" blue water. There are also quite a few more family-friendly beaches around the area, Tioga beach (on Pokegama lake) being one of the more popular ones.

Zorbaz: another local/regional chain restaurant located just over the Pokegama bridge south of town. Zorbaz are always located on a lake and do "Minnesota" style Mexican and pizza. The food is OK, but most people go for the fun atmosphere. They have a nice beach with volleyball and is very popular with pleasure boaters/jet skiiers who dock up in the warmer months to grab a bite to eat.

Reif Center. This is our local venue for concerts, plays, etc. Obviously being such a small town we can't attract a lot of "big name" acts, but they do have some nice events there.

Judy Garland Museum. Yes, this is her birthplace so we have the obligatory museum. It is worth checking out at least once though.

Forest History Center: if you have younger kids, they will most likely go on a school field trip there. It's basically an old logging camp "reinactment" type of place.

[The Icy River Vagabond]

I've been stuck in Grand Rapids for the last two months working and will probably be here for at least another month. Its nice being able to jog on these rural roads and rarely ever have a car pass me. The mesabi trail is an excellent paved biking path, although it is not yet complete, you can still ride a fairly long ways on it. I have found a few decent places to swim as well, including Zorbas beach! I haven' found tioga pit yet though, but if I have to come back next year, I will definatly look for it.

[MidniteBreeze]

Icy: If you know where Tioga beach is (off county road 63), you're almost at Tioga Pit. Go past the beach and take a right into the parking area for the boat launch. Keep going up the hill and you'll come to another parking lot. Park there and walk down to the pit.

Another nice swimming lake is Sugar, which is SW of town. The public access (boat launch) area is small so there's really not much of a "beach" to speak of, but the water is the most AMAZING aquamarine color in the summer and it has an almost weedless, sugar sand bottom. If you want to treat yourself, stay at the Rutger's resort on the lake. They have a golf course and a nice restuarant (plus more room to enjoy the lake.)