Moving to SouthEast ND from So Cal... (Fargo, Bismarck: houses, rental)

[MyShell]

Hi... We are bound and determined to move from So. Cal to North Dakota. We have researched it all (thanks mostly to this awesome site) and have dediced that ND is the best place for us to raise our kids and give them the life they deserve. We are so excited to make this move this summer!

We particularly are interested in the South East areas. We kept looking up all the small/smaller cities in between Valley City and Fargo.

The only problem we are having is finding somewhere to live! I'm having the worst time trying to find a rental home. We want to live in a small city not too far from a larger city. But, finding homes for rent in these areas seems to be impossible. I've done numerous searches and tried the rental web sites and even tried CraigsList.

Being so far away really makes it difficult. Is there some other route I can try? Some link? We have to be out of our house here in the middle of June and are so worried that we will drive up there with no where to go. We absolutely love N. Dakota! There has to be a way.

Any and all suggestions and help is so greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

[Jammie]

Have you checked the classifieds in the local newspaper for the city you want to live in? There may even be some houses in the country that could be for rent. Hope you have good luck in finding what you want.

[MyShell]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Have you checked the classifieds in the local newspaper for the city you want to live in? There may even be some houses in the country that could be for rent. Hope you have good luck in finding what you want.

Thanks for the tip. I will check that out.

[DaninEGF]

For local classified....have you tried inforum.com.... forum communications company owns the Fargo Forum...Grand Forks Herald and a local TV station. This web site is the link to the Fargo Forum newspapers classified, which on the web are seen in a large number of markets. Fargo Forum is the largest newspaper in the region. Here is a link to their Homes HQ section for which you can view homes for sale, rent, etc and also see about posting an ad if desired.

http://www.in-forum.com/classifieds/...es&title=Homes

If not tried already this would give you the best shot at finding out what is there locally. You can also try realtors in the area as they may have rental listings or help you find more out there.

As for areas.....I would suggest areas in or around the towns of Casselton it is west of Fargo on I-94....serves as a bedroom community...but far enough west to not be a true suburb of Fargo. It is not along a river so flooding is not a problem during spring thaw or heavy rains. I have driven through the area before but not spent anytime in that city other than it looks and feels nice. Pop is growing a bit, up to around 1800 but growth is not explosive though.

Here is a web link for the city of Casselton http://www.casselton.com/

Other Cass county towns and info can be found from the Cass county government web site.... http://www.casscountygov.com/cities/cities.htm

Enderlin and Kindred to the southwest of Fargo are nice small towns also a bit farther drive from Fargo but pretty close for shopping, etc. Not much in the way of towns west of Casselton on toward Valley City.

As for rental options....never see that many homes for rent in my local area...more for sale than renting...so might try some digging or contacting a city manager, etc person in some of the small towns.

I hope this helps....

Dan

[ulsterscot]

No offense, but I hope your kids aren't very old. When I lived in a small town in Washington we constantly had folks from So. Cal move up to "get their kids away from the bad elements" in Calif. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that THEIR kids were going to become the bad elements in OUR schools; bringing with them rap music, gang culture, and drug problems.

If your kids are junior high age or older, I hope you are able to break them of the So. Cal lifestyle before releasing them on small town schools. Outside of driving up home prices and bringing liberal ideas with them, bringing juvenile delinquent children into rural areas is one of the major reasons everyone hates Californians. ( Again, no offense intended. If this doesn't apply to you, then disregard and good luck on your move )

[MyShell]

Ulsterscot:

No. My kids are very young. My oldest one is 10 and she is one of the good elements in her school. No drugs, no rap, no gangs. She's a bookworm and an excellent student. She can't wait to get away from the bad elements out here as well. And trust me, I know exactly the kind of kid you mean... I've seen a million of them. I don't want my kids turning into those kids.

I see that you are protective of your city/school... I think that's great.

[Sunset_Va]

I like reading and learning about ND. I read the response by ulsterscot
about bringing out of state problems there, and your gracious response MyShell , its good you both understand each others viewpoints.


In my area of Virginia, that is one of the biggest irks the native population has about out of state transplants, coming in an ridiculing the resident populations lifestyles. Guess that goes anywhere however. If I moved to SOCAL, I would probably be labeled a backwoods moron....

Good luck , but just remember....ND gets cold...

[MyShell]

Originally Posted by Sunset_Va

In my area of Virginia, that is one of the biggest irks the native population has about out of state transplants, coming in an ridiculing the resident populations lifestyles. Guess that goes anywhere however. If I moved to SOCAL, I would probably be labeled a backwoods moron....

Good luck , but just remember....ND gets cold...

I totally understand that. I am excited about the new life/lifestyle we will be encountering. If it was like SoCal, I would definitely not be going there. LOL

As for the cold.... We are very excited about the snow. Especially the kids. I love the cold and cannot handle the triple digit temps here in CA. I always joke that we have 2 seasons in SoCal: Summer and Semi-Summer.

I am so looking forward to having all 4 seasons and experiencing the Indian Summers I read about last night. Fall is my fave season and I never see it here.

[Sunset_Va]

I totally understand that. I am excited about the new life/lifestyle we will be encountering. If it was like SoCal, I would definitely not be going there. LOL

As for the cold.... We are very excited about the snow. Especially the kids. I love the cold and cannot handle the triple digit temps here in CA. I always joke that we have 2 seasons in SoCal: Summer and Semi-Summer.

I am so looking forward to having all 4 seasons and experiencing the Indian Summers I read about last night. Fall is my fave season and I never see it here.

The coldest I can remember here was a week of single digit ( 5-9 f) temps back in the 70s...there have been some single nights, or single days here in southside Va since then that have gotten to single digits, but that was the longest time.. Imagine having -20 for about 2-3 weeks....with all that snow you want blowing with the windchill around -60. Just today I was at a local dept store , and was talking with a clerk. Somehow he said he just moved here not long ago, and I was being nosey I guess...I asked where from?

"Wyoming"....was his reply....I said "Gee such a beautiful place , why move here?"....."5 months of brutal winter, and cold , cold , cold" he replied."You get tired dealing with it after a while."

I am just teasing with you, if your heart is in it, nothing will alter your wanting to go,

[DaninEGF]

MyShell

Welcome to the area! I also loved winter and cold and moved up in my job to Grand Forks in 1998. I work as a meteorologist so I am quite familiar with the weather conditions. You will run into those here who hate the winter, those who tolerate it and those who love it. A lot of people have snowmobiles which they take out into the country and run, and quite a few go ice fishing as well. Downhill skiiing is more of a challenge...there are small ski places near Alexandria MN, Bemidji MN, and in the Bottineau ND (Turtle Mountains) and Walhalla ND areas (Frost Fire).

I love the cold, more than the snow. We dont get a ton of snow most winters....but it just usually doesnt melt a lot and accumulates over time. Yes the wind is a big factor here and the wind can often cause blizzards, especially in rural areas. Often outside of town can be white out conditions, while inside towns and cities visibilities are fine. No matter what, everyone here does carry a winter survival kit with them if travelling out of town, or at least the smart ones do. Winters can vary of course, but usually you can count on two or three very cold outbreaks. Now, northeast North Dakota where Grand Forks is and far northwest MN where I live in East Grand Forks is considered the northern valley and is usually the coldest part of the state on average. The southern valley, areas from Hillsboro southward through Fargo-Moorhead to Wahpeton is a tad warmer, but often with a north wind can just get as cold as the north. You get west of Bismarck into the southwest part of the state, the cold there doesnt last as long and they can have frequent thaws with 40s at times.

But overall in the F-M area, two or three outbreaks with lows of -25 or lower and highs below zero are common....usually lasting 2-3 days....in between our more normal weather is say lows zero to 5 below and highs 15 to 25. There can be brief warm spells with temps around 35 on occasion each month in the winter. Snowfall does vary but the average is around 40-45 inches in the valley....some winters can get more. Most winters will see two or three 6+ snowfall events, with the rest 1 to 2 inch stuff that can blow around. If you do decide to live outside of town in a very rural area, be aware that travel can be difficult at times mainly due to poor visibility. So if you or your family must make frequent trips to say Fargo and you live 30 miles away be aware that somedays it may be difficult. We issue blizzard warnings pretty far ahead though to warn people in the countryside.

I think you will find the F-M area and surrounding towns pretty progressive and open to you. North Dakotans are typically of German or Scandanavian heritiage and can be hard to warm up at first. But in small towns, even those who seem less friendly will come to your aid if need be. That is the one thing about folks up here and in much of the midwest and other rural states is that they look after each other.

From my prev post....Fargo Forum is the paper which serves southeast ND and would have some info for whatever area you choose to live. The TV stations in the area are KVLY TV 11, WDAY TV 6, and KXJB TV 4 if you choose to look them up on the web to see what is going on before the move.

Best of luck

Dan