Moving to MN- How??? (Duluth, St. Cloud: for sale, foreclosed, rental)

[snowpuppy]

My husband and I tried to relocate to MN last summer. We were looking all along the North Shore from Duluth to Two Harbors, and around Hibbing, and even around Ely. We used ManPower, the local newspapers and the MN job service website to try and locate jobs. We had resume's and applications out everywhere, but got no interest. While looking for work, we tried to find housing. This didn't work out either. We couldn't find housing because we have a 10 lb dachshund (who is housebroken, vaccinated, clean and well-behaved) and nobody wanted to rent to us with a pet, and because we had no jobs. We think we didn't get any job offers because we didn't have a local address. We floated around staying in motels when there were vacancies, and even slept in our truck in a pull-off by Lake Superior when there were no vacancies. Eventually, we ran out of money and had to return down south (a family member was dying) where we both are miserable.

We both really loved MN- the beauty of the outdoors, the lakes, the friendly people, the Lutefisk Toss we went to (LOL ) and would like to try again to get established back in MN. We used to live in AK, but distance and expense is an issue for us in going back there. We love snow and cold weather...and we lived in a bush AK village with minus 50 temps. There were no roads in or out- we had to fly in all our stuff. We had no vehicle there and got around by either walking, riding the four-wheeler, or the snowmachine. There were only 2 "grocery" stores. Living remote and in the snow/cold doesn't bother us at all- it's what we're looking for!

If we try this again, what do we need to do different? We have thought about getting an rv camper to pull behind our truck so we don't have the housing/pet issues/motel expense to deal with. I am a special education teacher, so will apply for my MN certification before we come. I will even take a teaching assistant job while waiting for certification if I need to. We don't want to live in a big city....the AK village we lived in had maybe 300 people. The northwoods is absolutely our kind of environment, but it appears to be very "touristy" and very popular with the locals as a vacation get-away. Can/do people buy remote property and a cabin in the northwoods for the purpose of living there year-round? Are property/cabins affordable for "ordinary" folks? We aren't rich. We know getting jobs in that area will be a stretch too. Any advice??? Thanks so much!

[roneb]

I can certainly relate to much of your story. I was in Duluth two years ago to pitch a business proposal for an indoor soccer center. I've applied for various jobs back there off and on for three years now. I absolutely love the North Shore and the city of Duluth. While I went to college in MN and consider the people back there to be very nice, genuine and sincere, I also think in can be difficult to break into a community in MN. As a result cracking the job market (which is currently not very good in Duluth or along the North Shore, BTW) may be even more of a case of who you know than usual. From what you're describing in terms of a community to settle in, you may also want to look further north and west - say Bemidji through to Int'l Falls. I also know that teaching certs in MN are harder to come by. Don't be surpised if they set out some stiff course requirements in order for you to get your certification. Don't know if I've been very helpful, but like I said, I can relate to your situation.

[marmac]

many people would love to live where the OP checked out (Noth Shore)

The reason many are not is lack of jobs.
(and I,m talking about Munnesta residents)

[aecp]

If you really want to move to Northern MN, check out the minnesota workforce center. There are always new jobs on thier website: Minnesota WorkForce Center System
This website lets you make your own resume and has jobs for all types of different skills and education.

As far as pets, I am sure that there are places that will allow pets that are more comfortable than your truck.

[snowpuppy]

Roneb: Thanks for the suggestions...we will look into the areas you mentioned. Do those areas get a lot of snow??? I gotta have my snow! How about dogsledding in those areas?

aecp: Thanks for the link, but my husband and I registered with this service when we were there but no luck. We will keep looking though! Thanks again! )

[golfgal]

Most districts post teaching openings on their district websites. You aren't going to find many schools that will pay to list on Monster.com and other type places. With a special ed certificate finding a job in very rural MN should be somewhat easy compared to other teaching disciplines. There are plenty of places where you will be able to find affordable housing/land in far northern MN. Most of the summer cabin types tend to stay more toward the more developed areas, Brainerd, Alexandria, Duluth, etc. Bemidji is pretty affordable, has a good sized school district yet 5 miles out of town you are surrounded by dense pine forests and it can seem like you are in the middle of nowhere.

As for snow, typically you will get a lot of snow but MN in general hasn't seen much snow for the past several years, except this year.

[Scott Secor]

I love the "North Coast" myself. In fact up until a few months ago, I had a North Shore representative for my mortgage company. The market, unfortuantely, had been brutal. He moved on to other endeavors.

Two Harbors has a good number of inexpensive foreclosed homes for sale in the $40K ro $100K range. I can even give you a contact, if you like.

[newcastle]

Teaching jobs in Northern Minnesota are not very plentiful right now. Most school districts are cutting back due to declining enrollments all across the northland. Duluth has a consolidation plan in progress that will eventually close one of its high schools.

The bright side should be that many districts have a surplus of teachers at retriment age and that should open up new teaching positons as they retire. However, Duluth ahs accpeted nearly 100 teacher retirments in the last 2-3 years and yet has hired virtually zero replacments.

I'm not sure what else you may be qualified to do, but Cirrus Design is hiring for assembly line production for their single engine airplanes. Also, UnitedHealthcare has a claims, customer service, billing, and other back office jobs. These jobs may be easier to get into from the outside.

Duluth is a "who you know" type of town and that makes it much more difficult to get established here. My wife and I know that all too well. Yet, if you are determined to move here, there are jobs available. If you are both in the educational field try the local colleges like UMD, CSS, LSC, or UWS.

Good luck!

[SoDak11]

Perhaps you should move to the outskirts of the Metro area for a little while (or maybe St. Cloud too). You'd have better luck getting jobs and there would be more rental options which would aid your dog situation. With a local address, and jobs, you'd have better luck with your plan to move farther up north. A half a year in a bigger city might be just what you need to help you reach your goals. And who knows, maybe you'd like the bigger city and would want to stay.

[JenLee]

Or you could look to the Baudette, Warroad, and Lake of the Woods area. It sounds as though you don't mind the snow and cold weather; try looking a bit farther north and west (out of the usual tourist areas).