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I would suggest a small town outside a med. size town. Valley city is really nice but a town about 20 mins from there you could get a house in Fingal ND..there is one listed now with 29 acres + a house for $69000. You have the benefits of a town close enough for shopping & activities but still out by yourself. We lived 30 miles from Fargo and raised our 2 children there. Taxes on our house ran around $500 a yr!!! Remember heating costs because our winters start around Nov but really cold hits in Dec and lasts thru Feb. Those are our biggest heating months. But a word of warning. In a small town everyone knows everyone...they grew up together & more than likely they are all related. VERY hard to blend into a small town community. Just check out the smaller ND towns then look out within 30 miles for those really small towns. You might be surprised of the cost of the homes & how much land you get with that.
I looked up the map of Valley City...off I-94 only an hour outside Fargo. No dice.
I don't need shopping or activies, either.
I'm aware of heat. That is why I'm going to heat independently so it won't be costly. Sounds like it's the same situation here.
I know how small towns work. We all experienced it...remember high school? It still continues on, even after graduation. Actually, you never get out of it. I'm not worried about that.
I'm not sure if that means corn as in grain, or corn as in corncobs. I suppose either would burn just fine. And whether there's wood or not depends a lot on how fussy you are. When I had a woodstove I burned cottonwood by preference, which meant I was always the only one cutting it since no one else wanted it.
Hey, ChrisC, thought you might be interested in this, very creative about small spaces... more complex than you'd want for a home in ND but maybe some ideas for ya!
Hey, ChrisC, thought you might be interested in this, very creative about small spaces... more complex than you'd want for a home in ND but maybe some ideas for ya!
I didn't catch this when you posted it. Thanks! Very interesting and creative little homes. That first little house on the island is similar to the house plan I have sitting here waiting for me to build it (along with about ten other plans that turned out well, but I haven't taken the time to finish the drafting). Something about very small living spaces that are ultra-efficiently designed to make use of every square inch of that floor space really intrigues me.
The website you linked to has a bunch of interesting stuff. Thanks again!
I didn't catch this when you posted it. Thanks! Very interesting and creative little homes. That first little house on the island is similar to the house plan I have sitting here waiting for me to build it
Well, I only posted it day before yesterday Yeah, I like that first little house too. A lot of 'em are designed for tiny city lots (weirdest one I've seen myself, the house barely fit on the lot and it was 8 feet wide, 50 feet long, and 5 stories high!), but that first one is just a nice small country-style house that would be equally at home in farm country. You'd have plenty of yard and garden space left over on any ND lot!
There used to be more houses on islands in the lakes in ND and MN, but last I saw (decades ago) most seemed to be getting either tumbledown, or more recently, drowned. There was a once-beautiful mansion on an island in Rainy Lake, that had apparently been abandoned for decades when we were there in the mid-60s... roof caved in, stairs falling down, trees growing "indoors"... wonder who built it? (I think that's where we got the two slot machines, both dated 1902... makes a person wonder if it was once a bootlegger's hideout or fancy speakeasy-type retreat.)
strange to be so focused on ND when WY and SD have similar features but much lower tax.
True enough. But in my case, one of the main selling points was the fact that northeastern North Dakota, on average, has quite a bit cooler weather in the summer (unless you're talking about the high mountains of Wyoming). Also, the property prices are way more reasonable in northeastern North Dakota than nearly anywhere (with a similar climate and sparse population) in the United States.
strange to be so focused on ND when WY and SD have similar features but much lower tax.
Taxes are a factor for some folks, true... Having ambled aplenty through all these states when I lived in MT... there are subtle differences even when they appear alike on the surface. ChrisC points out one, that the ND/SD winters are overall colder and more solid than the come-and-go winters of MT and the whole east slope (where chinook winds can bring you a brief summer in February!) Another is that there are small cultural differences -- they're all basically farm or ranch country but it doesn't feel quite the same. What appeals to one person might not to another. I think generally tho, if a person can be happy in one of these states, they can be happy in any of the others.
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Yeah, I like that first little house too. A lot of 'em are designed for tiny city lots (weirdest one I've seen myself, the house barely fit on the lot and it was 8 feet wide, 50 feet long, and 5 stories high!), but that first one is just a nice small country-style house that would be equally at home in farm country. You'd have plenty of yard and garden space left over on any ND lot!
Places to live in ND
