New job (Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks: real estate, for sale, apartment complex)

[wdrice]

I am going to be moving to Grand Forks, ND in March of next year for a my job and I was wondering if you could tell me more about. Good places to live, Crime, places to rent, traffic, and anything helpful. I a single and no girlfriend and just like to know what Grand Forks is like. Thank you for all your help.

[DaninEGF]

Hi

I have been in the Grand Forks area for 8 years now and work in GF and live in East Grand Forks MN. I would be glad to help answer any questions. I own a home, so not up on the latest apartment prices, etc but otherwise no the community fairly well. But was wondering a couple of things about you...where are you moving from (large city, small city, warm climate, cold climate, etc). This will help as weather does dominate the discussion a lot up here and some folks come here who simply cant stand the cold for more than one winter and leave. But if you are used to the climate, then no big deal. Same goes for where you moved from, Grand Forks pop is just over 50,000 and has the usual chain restaurants, stores, etc, but it is fair distance to anything larger for big city things. One big thing Grand Forks has going for it is the Univ of North Dakota and its facilities which do offer many sporting events to attend (hockey and football being the big ones) and also the occasional concert which some cities this size would not have otherwise.

First off, Grand Forks is in the Red River valley which is flat. So you will not find hilly scenic views around here...but the kids do have a nice sledding hill now with the completion of the ****/levee system. Summers are short but usually nice and mild with sunny days...spring and falls can be iffy some years nice and other years wet and cloudy. Winters are usually cold, sometimes very cold, other times not bad. All depends on what you call cold though. I like the cold, so zero to me is not bad,while others will say it is stay inside weather. But people here do love their winter sports in hockey, cross country skiing and snowmobiling. While we dont get a lot of snow, what we do get stays on the ground usually between Thanksgiving and late March. The wind does blow.

Depending on where you come from, crime here is pretty much non-existant. Of course you have your nut cases everywhere and no town is immune from that. But by and large most problems are more domestic related than true random stuff. And the majority of things are kids young adults with nothing better to do sometimes than to break car windshields or knock down mailboxes, etc. I have never worried about crime at all. No gangs in ND, certainly no organized ones in cities....maybe too cold.

Housing costs are not cheap in the larger ND cities, with Grand Forks near the top with Fargo and Bismarck. Not sure on rent, but there has been lots of new apartment complexes built lately making for a glut on the market and thus a good choice. Most are on the west end of town just off the Interstate. Some are more student oriented than others.

I personally love it here and recommend it. If you want a larger city, more urban liberal feel then this is not it.

Anything specific let me know.
Dan

[wdrice]

DaninEGF thank you, I am moving from Atlanta, GA. I am from Canada orginally though and I want to move to a small town and being away from crime. What is near Grand Forks and not expensive. What is houe prices like? anything thank you.

[DaninEGF]

You can find out more about grand forks by looking at the convention and visiting bureau's web site, just do a search.

Also for real estate the two main companies that list properties for sale in the area is greenberg realty and crary real estate. Again googling those two names will get you those sites easily.

As for apartments, most are managed by property companies, with goldmark and alerus financial properties doing the most, but you can also do a search for apartments as well. It will not get them all, but gives you an idea. I wouldnt rent a place before you visit though.

But for homes in the city of Grand Forks, prices have gone up past 3 years, nothing like the rise out west and east of course, but still have gone up. Seems like to the number of listings have risen too, like nationally, and houses are taking longer to sell. An average 3 bd/2a house 2000 sq ft split level 1985 built would run 185,000 +/- a little. Of course you can find cheaper and older homes than this as well as more expensive homes, but when I think about an average home in GF I think of split levels around 2000 sq ft. I live in a new home in EGF built in 2003 3500 sq ft ranch with finished basement for 210,000. Real estate taxes in town can be quite high though.

Being from Canada, Winnipeg is just a hop and a skip over the border (2 1/2 by car incl. stop at border station) and we get a lot of canadian shoppers as the dollar as risen to levels more favorable for shoppers from the south. Our weather is pretty similar to winnipeg, maybe take 2-3 weeks off of winter, but not all that different, same red river to contend with.

Surrounding towns are small but nice. Rentals could be hard to find, esp just looking on the web. Best to do some searching like mentioned above and call them to see what is there. But Larimore is a decent town about 25 minutes or so from GF, but kind of iffy sometimes in the winter for travelling due to blowing snow, etc. Thompson is a nice small town too as is Northwood. Thompson is closest to south side Grand Forks, where alll the new growth has been. 32nd Ave S is the big growth area for businesses last 10 years and is the main commercial street east-west along with Columbia and Washington St for north-south.

I would take a look at your work location and see what is near. No big commute here and traffic, well there is some during our 20 minute drive time 740-800 am and 500-520 pm...but certainly nothing compared to larger cities.

People are friendly, being mostly Norwegian in heritage though, they tend to be a bit reserved to outsiders at first. Very hard work ethic up here for the most part and the schools are always rated very highly.

Dan