Relocating to S.D. Want nice,small town! (Sioux Falls, Spearfish: for sale, apartments)

[cspanny]

I am wanting to relocate to a very, small, possibly secluded country town in South Dakota. Max population of 500. If you know if any towns that are like that, do you know where I could find info and pics for that town. Newspaper? Rental info? thanks

[Jammie]

http://www.city-data.com/city/South-Dakota3.html

Hi and welcome to the forum!!! I wasn't sure which area of the state your preference was in, but here is the list of towns that have a population of under 1,000. If you find something you're interested in, we'll try to help you get more info such as the nearest local newspaper, etc.

[MJ1986]

SD has tons of towns under a population of 500... I grew up in one .
Like Jammie said, is there any specific area you were looking for? The Missouri River basically divides the state in half... "west river" and "east river". West river tends to be less populated, more secluded, but much more scenic. East river is more populated, but still have plenty of small towns. East river is pretty much flat with gently rolling hills.

The town I grew up in, generally didn't have homes for rent... People owned them. But local newspapers would have the information you would need for homes for rent. You can buy a decent home in a small town for really cheap. Some towns may have a small apartments too. Mine had a group of low-income apartments.

I could take a few pics of some towns around Sioux Falls (where I live), although they aren't really secluded as SF is a growing city of 150,000.

[Chris19]

There many nice smaller towns under 500 people in southeastern SD. Ones I recommend include Hurley, Chancellor, Humboldt, Irene, Tabor, Montrose, Gayville, Wakonda, and Colman (although it might be a touch over 500).

There are other nice smaller towns in across other parts of the state also.

[tpabes]

Sometimes the best way to find out about rentals in a small town is to call the city clerk. If they don't have a list, they probably know some of the top of their head because they know everyone in town anyway.

[nanjosbrand]

Great idea to call the city clerk as they can advise you to a local newspaper that perhaps will have an ad in the paper for rentals.

[SDHomesteader]

Well I do live in a one of them small towns listed in that Link that Jammie put up there (although it says 380 population, last time I checked we were down to roughly 300 or so, maybe they were counting pets on that census lol). We live in Buffalo SD, Northwest Corner of the state. The Scenery is kind of nice, we got some buttes and mini buttes and lots of mini grand canyons (star wars action figure size Grand Canyons LOL). Everyone knows everyone up here, They are getting ready to open up a few apartments here in town just on the south side of the town. We don't have much up here though, specially for jobs, We have the School, 2 Gas Stations, 2 bars, COurthouse, Hardware store, Grocery Store and Post office and thats about it. Belle Fourche is about 70 miles away and Bowman ND is about 45 miles away. We trek once a month to Spearfish to Walmart to do Grocery Shopping cuz we just can't afford to do the whole months grocery shopping at the local mom and pop grocery store. absolutely no fast food up here unless you count the Pizza counter at the Cenex Gas Station so if your looking to loose weight this is a great place since theres no tempting fast food joints lol. Our population triples during hunting season and alot of residents rent out basements or have some Hunting cabins for rent for that. Jobs---Forget it, bring yer money with ya. My wife did commute to Spearfish for almost a year for a job though till the mileage and the driving drove her nuts. Well ok, she was already nuts before the job but what the heck LOL.

But on a good note, It is sooo nice and peaceful here. No boom boom kids driving down the street blaring their ghetto music, No crimes (although we do get the occasional bored teen with a bb gun incident but those are quickly dealt with). There are a few Vacant houses here but not sure if any would be for sale or anything. Most of the people up here refuse to sell anything. And if they do sell they want 10 times what its worth. We did pick up our house here in town though for 15 grand on a 5 yr contract, 2 bdrm house and it included a 2 bdrm mobile home on the same lot that I have turned into my Work shop and storage area.

Hope this info helps. I am sure other small towns aren't so obsessive compulsive about selling houses that are sitting there just rotting but I have lived in several small towns over my lifetime and it seems they would rather the house rot than to sell it to someone who could fix er up and get some use from it.

[dpf]

Check out: Tripp, Avon, Fairfax, Geddes, Delmont, Armour, Bonesteel, Burke, Ethan and Emery