Moving from Duluth to St. Cloud? (Rochester, Clear Lake: apartments, rentals, hotels)

[MasterGeek]

Hey everybody, first-time poster here! Before I ask my question, I figured I'd go into a bit of detail about myself and my fiancee, so you know a little about us. I'm 28, she's 20. I'm a huge geek (movies, boardgames, comics, videogames, computer stuff), she's more of a social butterfly. We're getting married in September and are thinking of moving down to St. Cloud. I lived there as a kid, and when we were camping at Clear Lake this weekend (every 4th of July the Goenner family gets together there), we went for a visit and she fell in love.

Our situation now:
We are currently living in a little 2-bedroom basement apartment for $550 a month, utilities included. I'm making 12.50 an hour at my job, 40 hours a week, and she is working part-time at a gas station about a mile from where we live (the job market has been terrible on her, and it's the best she can do up here right now). She wants to go to school to be a Vet assistant, but will be happy getting any schooling in, but most importantly wants a job that will give her more than 20 hours a week. I just want to make enough to help us get by. Ultimately, I want to open my own store.

We're getting married in September and want to start looking to purchase a house (although we would rent one if it came to that, we just want to get out of Duluth). Do you think St. Cloud might be a good fit for us?

[fromupthere]

Not sure if St. Cloud is a good fit for you with your situation, but you could also look into Rochester. Jobs down here pay better than they do in Duluth. I'm from Duluth originally myself. I know I've seen jobs where in Duluth the pay will be $9+ and down here the same job will be like $12+. Houses aren't marked up as much above market value here as they are in Duluth. Not to mention there is probably a relatively large "geek" population as IBM is here. Apartment rentals are generally cheaper down here too and not bad places either for some of them. House rentals might be comparable to Duluth. I have seen the rent-to-own option available in the classifieds too.

Good luck with your move!! Check out Rochester if St. Cloud doesn't look like it will work for your situation.

[lewis-clark]

fromupthere,
I am looking to move to the rochester area,is rochester a one -horse town economicaly,or has the mayo and ibm strength spilled into a strong service industry

[fromupthere]

There is an article in today's Post-Bulletin about Rochester having the most growth in the state for jobs. There are lots of jobs, not just Mayo and IBM. The city is growing at a high rate. I see jobs for just about everything. Rochester has the 2nd highest number of hotel rooms in the state. There is a lot of development happening everywhere in the city, so finding a job shouldn't be too big of a challenge. Restaurants, hotels, retail, etc.

From the article: Showing the most growth was the transportation, warehouse and utilities category with 4.8 percent of growth. State government was next top growth area with a 4.7 percent increase.

If you have any specific questions, just let me know and I'll answer as best I can.

[knke0402]

I just moved from St. Cloud to Duluth. Pretty similar.
Duluth is a lot more run down, not as nice of neighborhoods or homes.
Same in terms of commercial activity. -Both have generic malls, both have the usuall big box stores..ie target, wal mart, cub foods, best buy...
both have strip malls
the scenery is much much better in Duluth, but St cloud is nice by the Mississippi...
both have large number of colleges and college students..

[marmac]

first off-------good luck trying to find a 2 bedroom apartment for $550 per month anywhere near St Cloud.

If you are mking $12.50 per hour now I fail to see how you will make more in St Cloud unless you have schooling in a trade or a specific job skill ( you never mentioned that you did)

It would have been wise for you to have gotten advice from the people at the family gathering at Clear Lake.

Perhaps you did and they pretty much stated what I did.

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by marmac

first off-------good luck trying to find a 2 bedroom apartment for $550 per month anywhere near St Cloud.

If you are mking $12.50 per hour now I fail to see how you will make more in St Cloud unless you have schooling in a trade or a specific job skill ( you never mentioned that you did)

It would have been wise for you to have gotten advice from the people at the family gathering at Clear Lake.

Perhaps you did and they pretty much stated what I did.

UVTs in St. Cloud have 2 bedroom apartments for about $600. It is a college area, but I lived there 2 years and there were also a fair share of people who weren't college students.

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by knke0402

UVTs in St. Cloud have 2 bedroom apartments for about $600. It is a college area, but I lived there 2 years and there were also a fair share of people who weren't college students.

University Village is not so nice. I lived there when I was at SCSU and it was a dump back then.