maybe? moving to Grand Forks (Hope: real estate market, rentals, how much)

[sbwmn]

Hi Dan,

thank you for your input. i saw it only today. i very much appreciate your help. i live close Washington, D.C. we do not get much snow at all. however, when it snows it is often tunrs icy.

yes, i will certainly rent an appartment that comes with a garage, and will be happy to invest in auto-starts and a plug in heater. i am a female adn drive a VW Beetle. ia m not sure whether it will survive GF or I may have to buy a different car. how good are the car dealers and car mechanics in GF?

thank you again for your help.

sandy

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by sbwmn

Hi Dan,

thank you for your input. i saw it only today. i very much appreciate your help. i live close Washington, D.C. we do not get much snow at all. however, when it snows it is often tunrs icy.

yes, i will certainly rent an appartment that comes with a garage, and will be happy to invest in auto-starts and a plug in heater. i am a female adn drive a VW Beetle. ia m not sure whether it will survive GF or I may have to buy a different car. how good are the car dealers and car mechanics in GF?

thank you again for your help.

sandy

an auto-starter and plug in arent necessities unless you will be parking your car outside for extended periods....say you will live your car outside for 2 days in very cold weather. Then it may have a hard time starting or require a jump but it has to be really cold for that (unless you are driving a very old car with old battery). I would definitely wait on those two things til you come up and see how it works for you. The VW Beetle should be ok in town...you really dont need to invest in another car. In some winters it can be hard to see around the snowbanks at street corners...and that was my decision to go from a regular car to a more hybrid car-SUV (I got a CR-V). But again would see how it works for you.

Only issue with VW is that the nearest Volkswagen dealer is in Minneapolis some 5 or more hours away so if you need specialized work only done by a VW dealership then it would be an inconvenience. We have a guy at work that has Volkswagen car (dont recall what brand)....and he has had to take it to Fargo (1 hour south) for some work at times when no one here can do it.

But we do have the regular dealerships in town....GM/ Ford/ Subaru/ Honda/ Nissan/Chrysler/Toyota....and a slew of body shops/mechanics in town so I think you will find decent mechanics in town....just like anyother area some better than others. But no guarantee that with a VW you might not have to go to the Twin Cities for something specific.

I hope it helps...if you need any assistance on areas of town, etc I can be assistance. I have never rented an apartment in town, but are aware of many complexes and locations. They have build a lot in town in the past 5 years or so, so selection is good but of course the newer ones with garages tend to be pretty expensive.

Today it made it up to 43 degrees....record warmth for this date...first time above 32F since Dec 10th. It will not last long as colder air will return tomorrow. But trust me you will look back at the folks in D.C. and seriously laugh at how they deal with winter once you spend some time here. Soo different....and I grew up in the south too.

[MikeyToo]

sbwmn:

I believe there is a VW dealership in Fargo, ND, if its still there. I think its called Valley Imports, or something like that.

daninegf:

Was curious, as we will be moving back to ND this spring(Lake Metigoshe). Do people from the Grand Forkes area drive to Minneapolis for their big shopping trips, or do they head up to Winnepeg, because its so much closer?

Thanks!

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by MikeyToo

sbwmn:

I believe there is a VW dealership in Fargo, ND, if its still there. I think its called Valley Imports, or something like that.

daninegf:

Was curious, as we will be moving back to ND this spring(Lake Metigoshe). Do people from the Grand Forkes area drive to Minneapolis for their big shopping trips, or do they head up to Winnepeg, because its so much closer?

Thanks!

Ah....you are so correct Mike thanks so much I checked their webpage and sure enough they sell VW

As for shopping...if we dont have it in Grand Forks we head to Fargo whose stores often have a bigger selection and there are just different stores to choose from. A lot head to Albertville Outlet Mall northwest of the cities. I dont think many go up to Winnipeg for clothes shopping...more for entertainment and just the different culture.


Good luck with your move. We were just up at Lake Metagoshie this past July 4th. My wife's brother and family live in Bottineau and camp up there and my wife who is from Minot has spent many a summer up there. I really enjoyed camping there and the beach and we had a great time taking the boat out and seeing all the fireworks on the 4th. It was my first time there....but my wife commented on how big the lake cabins are getting nowadays and so much more expensive. Beautiful area...

[sbwmn]

Originally Posted by DaninEGF

Ah....you are so correct Mike thanks so much I checked their webpage and sure enough they sell VW

As for shopping...if we dont have it in Grand Forks we head to Fargo whose stores often have a bigger selection and there are just different stores to choose from. A lot head to Albertville Outlet Mall northwest of the cities. I dont think many go up to Winnipeg for clothes shopping...more for entertainment and just the different culture.


Good luck with your move. We were just up at Lake Metagoshie this past July 4th. My wife's brother and family live in Bottineau and camp up there and my wife who is from Minot has spent many a summer up there. I really enjoyed camping there and the beach and we had a great time taking the boat out and seeing all the fireworks on the 4th. It was my first time there....but my wife commented on how big the lake cabins are getting nowadays and so much more expensive. Beautiful area...

Dan and Mikey(too),

thank you so much for your encouraging words. i prefer cold weather to hot weather, and that would help. Thank you both for the information on shopping. I saw on the web that there is a Best Buy store in Grand Forks, which is a good thing.

Thank you, both! I appreciate your time

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by sbwmn

Dan and Mikey(too),

thank you so much for your encouraging words. i prefer cold weather to hot weather, and that would help. Thank you both for the information on shopping. I saw on the web that there is a Best Buy store in Grand Forks, which is a good thing.

Thank you, both! I appreciate your time

Most of the big time stores are in Grand Forks too....but West Acres Mall in Fargo or areas nearby along 13th Ave S or 45 th St S has every chain store you can name of. So if you cant find it in GF you should be able to find your favorite store in Fargo. If not there is the Albertville outlet center (well not really an outlet discount place but more of a collection of stores) which is about 4 1/2 hours away from GF.

Most of the big box retail stores in GF are on 32nd Ave S right off I-29.

If you have any other questions...shoot them my way or just direct message me.

Dan

[sbwmn]

Thank you, Dan. Do you have power outages? - Sandy

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by sbwmn

Thank you, Dan. Do you have power outages? - Sandy

I have lived in Grand Forks and live in East Grand Forks now....and in the city power outages are very infrequent....if they would occur say due to a bad thunderstorm maybe half hour. It would have to be some unusual event to have a long term outage... Now I have lived in the part of town where the power lines are underground so that helps a lot.

Dan

[krotzmc]

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents...

Start by saying 'welcome' to Grand Forks. It is different termperature and culturewise than a lot of other regions of the country, but it is a good clean place to live and raise kids. You won't find a better quality of people anywhere. We moved here 19 years ago after retiring from the military, so have both lived in other places to have a comparison and have lived here long enough to have a good feel of the place.

I am a realtor with one of the largest firms here in Grand Forks, and would just like to comment on some of the real estate comments.

Yes, I believe the base realignment could potentially affect the market somewhat.

Yes, we have seen some price adjustments in the market in the past year -- as have most areas of the country -- and finally we have a decent selection to pick from. Our market is still very strong -- 2008 finished out the 3rd best year ever for home sales in this area -- so contrary to what the media would like for us to think, we aren't a dying market. There are some very good prices out there, and frankly I kind of wish I was in 'buyer's mode' now.

If you decide to buy when you get here, your safest bet, I think, is to buy in the GF/EGF area rather than one of the small towns surrounding the base. In my opinion, I believe those markets will possibly take a bigger hit from BRAC than the metro area. For resale it seems like the highest demand would be in the south end, altho Congressional (on the west side just south of DeMers) is a nice neighborhood with good mid-range pricing. EGF also has some really nice housing, and offers a pretty nice incentive package if you purchase a new home. Real estate taxes tend to be lower over there, while state income taxes are higher. However, I know from our years in the military, often military members retain residence in their home of record, so the state tax issue wouldn't necessarily affect you.

Good luck on your move and welcome to the area.

You've already been supplied with some really good real estate info.

[sbwmn]

Originally Posted by DaninEGF

I have lived in Grand Forks and live in East Grand Forks now....and in the city power outages are very infrequent....if they would occur say due to a bad thunderstorm maybe half hour. It would have to be some unusual event to have a long term outage... Now I have lived in the part of town where the power lines are underground so that helps a lot.

Dan

Dan,

thank you! i thought about power outages after listening to news about the recent ice storm in several parts of the country. Do you have public television stations, if so,what kind of programs do they show? we have three, here. They show nice Masterpiece Theatres and British comedies, many children's programs, travel, and news. Is it cable TV or satellite, mostly? thanks.

sandy