Why move to North Dakota? (Fargo, Bismarck: low crime, house, schools)

[pirate_lafitte]

What about Fargo? Largest city in ND.

[lannef72]

Originally Posted by davednorris

You know, I grew up in San Diego, CA. When I was in the military I was coming due for a re-assignment. My wife and I joked that they would probably send us to some awful place like North Dakota. Well, Guess what - we got an assignment to North Dakota. We dreaded going there. But after we got there and got settled in it was great. We were there almost two years and loved it. When the radar site I was at closed down, we got sent to South Carolina. We tried all we could to get back North. It took two years and I had to cross train into a different career field, but we finally got another assignment up North. This time to Rapid City, SD. It was great there too. During my military career we got to live in many different places. We liked North Dakota the best. It is a great place to raise a family. It really comes down to what kind of place you are looking for. Not everyone will be a good fit for ND, just as not everyone would be a good fit for San Francisco, or New York City. But for us, ND is great and we are returning for the third time (and hopefully the last). My list of reasons to move TO ND may be your list of reasons to move AWAY from ND. I don't care for traffic and congestion, some people might look at a place like that as "boring" and "nothing going on there".

Dave N.
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wow... that sounds just like us. as we waited for the stateside list to come out, I joked with my friends that "watch, we'll end up in Minot", well, we'll be there this June... I've been reading everything I can find about & am now excited & can't wait to get there. my husband, too, had to crosstrain. (out of the radar field)

[robert dendinger]

Originally Posted by davednorris

You know, I grew up in San Diego, CA. When I was in the military I was coming due for a re-assignment. My wife and I joked that they would probably send us to some awful place like North Dakota. Well, Guess what - we got an assignment to North Dakota. We dreaded going there. But after we got there and got settled in it was great. We were there almost two years and loved it. When the radar site I was at closed down, we got sent to South Carolina. We tried all we could to get back North. It took two years and I had to cross train into a different career field, but we finally got another assignment up North. This time to Rapid City, SD. It was great there too. During my military career we got to live in many different places. We liked North Dakota the best. It is a great place to raise a family. It really comes down to what kind of place you are looking for. Not everyone will be a good fit for ND, just as not everyone would be a good fit for San Francisco, or New York City. But for us, ND is great and we are returning for the third time (and hopefully the last). My list of reasons to move TO ND may be your list of reasons to move AWAY from ND. I don't care for traffic and congestion, some people might look at a place like that as "boring" and "nothing going on there".

Dave N.
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Hi dave I grew up in calif the criminals rule that state ,and good luck getting a job I have no trouble staying employed up here .the wages are way higher than what I made in calif ,also the people are like family .I have a house in ND, that would cost 300.000 in calif .This is where i will die I like it that much . hope to hear from you Robert.

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by robert dendinger

Hi dave I grew up in calif the criminals rule that state ,and good luck getting a job I have no trouble staying employed up here .the wages are way higher than what I made in calif ,also the people are like family .I have a house in ND, that would cost 300.000 in calif .This is where i will die I like it that much . hope to hear from you Robert.

OMG where did you have a home in CA for $300,000? I would kill to find a decent home here for that. The homes in my development start at 1.2! Even in the lesser desired cities homes start at $400,000. I had a brand new 1,700 sq ft condo in Bismarck, 3bd 2 bath, HUGE deck overlooking the Missouri valley.... for $155,000! Even with my apartment in Bismarck, it was on a golf course, built in 2002, 2 bed w/d hookup, very nice for $660. Here I have a 1 bed 1 bath, w/d, built in 1997 for $1,400/month. The home prices are the biggest thing I miss about Bismarck. HOWEVER my pay went up $11,000/year for the same position here than in Bismarck. One would be incredibly lucky to be making more when moving to cities the size of Bismarck and Fargo when moving from much larger areas.

[StartingOverAgain]

Originally Posted by BreaOC

OMG where did you have a home in CA for $300,000? I would kill to find a decent home here for that. The homes in my development start at 1.2! Even in the lesser desired cities homes start at $400,000. I had a brand new 1,700 sq ft condo in Bismarck, 3bd 2 bath, HUGE deck overlooking the Missouri valley.... for $155,000! Even with my apartment in Bismarck, it was on a golf course, built in 2002, 2 bed w/d hookup, very nice for $660. Here I have a 1 bed 1 bath, w/d, built in 1997 for $1,400/month. The home prices are the biggest thing I miss about Bismarck. HOWEVER my pay went up $11,000/year for the same position here than in Bismarck. One would be incredibly lucky to be making more when moving to cities the size of Bismarck and Fargo when moving from much larger areas.

Money doesn't make you near as wealthy as having a great qualify of life. I worked for a Fortune 100 company for many years, and I'll take clean air, low crime, great schools, affordable housing....

I could go on and on about the reasons I'm moving to North Dakota. I was born and raised in California, and you couldn't get me back there on a bet - not even for great money. Making $11K more a year isn't worth the stress in my opinion.

Each person has their own priorities...

[StartingOverAgain]

Originally Posted by BreaOC

OMG where did you have a home in CA for $300,000? I would kill to find a decent home here for that. The homes in my development start at 1.2! Even in the lesser desired cities homes start at $400,000. I had a brand new 1,700 sq ft condo in Bismarck, 3bd 2 bath, HUGE deck overlooking the Missouri valley.... for $155,000! Even with my apartment in Bismarck, it was on a golf course, built in 2002, 2 bed w/d hookup, very nice for $660. Here I have a 1 bed 1 bath, w/d, built in 1997 for $1,400/month. The home prices are the biggest thing I miss about Bismarck. HOWEVER my pay went up $11,000/year for the same position here than in Bismarck. One would be incredibly lucky to be making more when moving to cities the size of Bismarck and Fargo when moving from much larger areas.

I'm curious; did you work out the numbers? Your rent difference alone means that your $11K a year, is actually only $2,100 gross income. Add to that: higher state income taxes, higher sales taxes, higher utilities, higher crime, higher pollution, higher gasoline, and the myriad other costs (monetary and otherwise) to live in California these days.

Are you really coming out ahead?

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by StartingOverAgain

I'm curious; did you work out the numbers? Your rent difference alone means that your $11K a year, is actually only $2,100 gross income. Add to that: higher state income taxes, higher sales taxes, higher utilities, higher crime, higher pollution, higher gasoline, and the myriad other costs (monetary and otherwise) to live in California these days.

Are you really coming out ahead?

It wasn't about the raise, even though that was a nice bonus. I grew up in southern CA and have traveled over half the country and lived in three states and just couldn't get my heart out of LA. Plus all my family, except my mom, lives in CA. I love CA and while I would like to eventually have a home here, one in Minneapolis, and a home in Chicago my homebase will always be LA. I enjoy the explosive growth southern CA has and continues to experience. It amazes me. But like you said to each their own. The sales tax in OC is only 7.75%, 1.75% over Bismarck's (Consider Minot is 7%, Williston is 7.5%, and the tax in downtown Minneapolis is 10%!!!). Property tax (for the most part)is WAY less here. The crime in LA has corrected itself (thanks to some great police work) over the years and it is one of the safest major cities in the country and with stricter pollution laws the air is getting cleaner every year (though it is far from where is should be, at least it's not as bad as many Asian cities the same size Ex: Dubai ). But again, to each their own and as long as home makes you happy, that's whats important. Happiness was my priority. OK, now back to the original post, we don't want to get too far off topic.

[Future Trooper]

keep the responses coming! you information is being recorded and put to a good use!

[chani29f]

I have to add my .02. I am from Northern California (3 hrs north of San Francisco) and travelled through North Dakota on the way home during the Great Road Trip of 2007. My daughter, two friends and I travelled through NV, UT, CO, WY, SD, MN, ND, MT, ID, & OR. Very cool trip. About an hour outside of Bismark, we stopped at a little campground for a rest stop. We ended up talking with the owners there for almost two hours. They were from.... Southern California. They have five children and had gotten tired of the rat race of SoCal. I believe that he was a deputy that was often sent out to patrol Barstow and his wife was a manager for several truck stop chain stores. They chose the area in ND because they could live there affordably and be a family again. They also like ND because it is extremely tolerant of Christianity. (Say all you want for CA being a big tolerant state but you better agree on everything the "minority" says or you might as well leave. As an evangelical Christian, I found it comforting to know that there are pockets in the midwest where you can say you believe without being shot down or told you are offending others. I will not be living in CA my whole life. When my parents are gone, my daughter and I will be moving to either SD, ND or MN. I think that it will be better in the long run for us. I am a full charge bookkeeper with 10 yrs experience so I think it will be rather easy to find a job or start out on my own (everyone with a business needs someone to handle their books & taxes, right?). Anyway, I just wanted to through that out there. For all of you who want to live in the big city or in a place full of "diversity" (again, just as long as you agree with everyone else) than I would be happy to trade you spots. Give me a place where my daughter can go to school without having to pass through a metal detector or worry about being stabbed for not sharing her gum.

Oh, next year we are doing the Great American Road Trip part II: 2009 edition (I'm a geek. What can I say?) and we will be traveling through North Dakota again but will definitely allow for more time to see more of the sights. You all have beautiful country up there!

[davednorris]

Hi Chani29f,

Dave N. (Dave Norris) here. Hey, We should be settled in up in Dickinson ND then. We plan to move there from Mississippi in a couple months. I't would be neat if you looked us up. We'll probably be in the phone book. Hey, another great thing about ND - you don't really have to have your phone # unlisted. Not many prank phone calls there.

Dave N.
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