Living outside of Sioux Falls? (Rapid City, Pierre: real estate, employment, transfer)

[MJ1986]

Garo, thanks for the nice comments... and a great trip report... And I agree with a lot of your comments.
I'm glad you liked SF... Pierre is a really nice city... It has a certain charm to it... You don't have some of the bigger town aspects... but you do have the necessities.
I've been to Bismarck a few times... I actually like Bismarck more than Fargo...

[Garo]

mjgustafson,

I agree about Bismarck over Fargo. I have to be carefull not to sound negative about Fargo, as I have nothing against it and would prefer it to here or where I was looking before, such as Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, IA. I thought Bismarck had a charm to it as well and if something doesnt work out with Pierre for some reason, Bismarck could be back in the running. I really liked how you see nothing but open land then come over a big hill and BAM, there's Bismarck. In my mind, it was between Bismarck and SF before I found Pierre. My wife was leaning towards RC and SF. It's very, very close.

Pierre just wow'd us and were still talking about it. We are not "big city" people which is probably why we loved it so much. It's big enough. But for big cities, SF was hard to beat imo due to it being so clean, quiet and just overall "nice."

I had been pronouncing Pierre "pee-air" like french or candian...then I read differently. Is it pronounced "peer"? I would hate to sound stupid when talking about my future hometown...

[MJ1986]

lol yes, it is pronounced "peer". and don't worry, its a common thing to pronounce it wrong.

If you have any other questions about SD, we'd be happy to help ya...

[ElkHunter]

When I was little, late 50's, it was more pronounced as the original pee-aire. Not real pronounced, but a lot closer then the lazy way we say peer now. haha

[Jammie]

That's funny about some people thinking it's terribly cold here 10 months a year. Guess they don't listen to our weather reports when it's 110 here in July.

It's got to be awfully hard to try to survive without AC down there. It'd be hard enough in eastern So. Dak. to get along without it. I've lived with AC since I was 17 so I'm spoiled. You may be able to make it out in the Hills without it, but you'll need it in Pierre cause it's a hotspot.

There are so many fallacies about our state. I know I said this before, but someone I know was at a game out of state and someone asked him where he's from. He said, SOUTH Dakota and they thought it was strange because he didn't have a southern accent.

[Garo]

Jammie,

Southerners can be a wee bit narrow minded at times and even worst, they tend to speak very confidently on subjects they know nothing about. Alot of the stereotypes about people from south are very true, not all people, but most. It used to be annoying and make us mad the way people act/think but now it's became comical. I will never quite understand them. Reason #157 why were moving to SD!

We were basically without AC for only a few days before we couldnt take it anymore. We put in a window unit to survive until next week when the new central unit goes in. The house is cool again and looks like we'll live to see SD again.

I wanted to ask you and everyone else what the real estate world is like in and around Pierre? Is there any surrounding towns nearby that may be cheaper to buy in? As with the orignal plan, we would be looking for an apartment at first and hope to buy a small farm outside of the city. I haven't been able to do any research yet and was just seeing if anyone could give me a good starting point along with the basics such as value of land, etc.

Also, what time zone is Pierre in exactly?

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Garo

Also, what time zone is Pierre in exactly?

The time zone officially went down the center of the river. With Mountain Standard on the West and Central on the East side of the river.

But years ago, the good people of Pierre put it up before the state to move the time zone, 5 miles West of Ft Pierre. Although officially, the time zone is down the middle of the river. The locals have a time zone down the West side 5 miles from the river.

They did this because of the drinking that was being done in Pierre. When the bars would close, everybody would hustle over to Ft Pierre and then they could drink for another hour.

Don't know if it's still that way, but it was back in the 70's.

[DannyBanany]

I cannot say for sure what the real estate market is like in Pierre but we have some friends that just recently moved to nearby Shelby, SD. They bought a 2 story, 3 bed, 2 bath house with a separate garage and it was only something like $70,000. Property is very cheap up around there due to lack of people and jobs. Down by Fort Randall they are giving lots to people who will stay on them for 5 years. It's almost like the pioneer days!

[cancan]

Where does one find out about this lot givaway?

[prairierose]

Danny,

I think you meant Selby which is the county seat of Walworth County, and is about 100 miles north of Pierre. The real estate market there would be quite different than in Pierre.