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Hi, Im new to this forum thing. But my husband has just recently been stationed in GF. We are looking for a house to rent. The base housing wait list is way too long so we have to live off base. Where do I find a house for rent? I looked on just about every website I could find. I managed to find 2 houses that were affordable but the heat is oil. I have no idea how that works and how expensive it is especially in ND. Help??
Hi, Im new to this forum thing. But my husband has just recently been stationed in GF. We are looking for a house to rent. The base housing wait list is way too long so we have to live off base. Where do I find a house for rent? I looked on just about every website I could find. I managed to find 2 houses that were affordable but the heat is oil. I have no idea how that works and how expensive it is especially in ND. Help??
Most of the newer sections of Grand Forks have nat gas for heat (generally cheaper, especially in the past year), but those are harder to find for rent. The older homes are often fuel oil - which is like diesel. Fuel oil has gone up in price in recent years like gasoline, so heating is likely double or even triple of what nat gas costs this past winter. This past winter has been warm, so find out what the winter bills were like in 2011 and then add 20 or 30%.
With fuel oil, there is really nothing you have to do except pay the bill to the fuel oil company. A fuel oil truck will refill your tank from outside the house. The refills will be based on how cold it has been and their estimate of how fast the fuel oil is being used. It's really not that much different than having nat gas, but there most often will be a tank in the basement.
There's a lot of housing that go up for rent in June, when University students let go of their leases. Students go in together and rent houses, so houses should be coming on the market soon. Neighbors would generally welcome a family rather than students in a rental home.
Off street parking is really important to avoid in the winter, so a driveway and especially a garage are helpful. With snowfall most winters, the city often plows streets in the evening, so a car parked on a street can be surrounded by snow that needs to be shoveled out before the car can move. That can add half an hour or even more to morning plans.
Hi, Im new to this forum thing. But my husband has just recently been stationed in GF. We are looking for a house to rent. The base housing wait list is way too long so we have to live off base. Where do I find a house for rent? I looked on just about every website I could find. I managed to find 2 houses that were affordable but the heat is oil. I have no idea how that works and how expensive it is especially in ND. Help??
Hi
I live in East Grand Forks MN and work in Grand Forks. I have helped some AF people in the past on this forum in moving to town. The supply of rental single family homes is always quite limited, as this part of the country is more of a buying home and renting an apartment area. That said, there seem to be even fewer rental SFH than usual available at the present. There might be some improvement when school ends in a few weeks, but in most cases home rentals are likely to be older and smaller and newer homes to rent are very very few.
Have you tried Elite Properties of ND website. They are the largest property management group in town. But right now I see there are none available.
Oxford Realty is another in town but nothing on that place as well. You will see a couple at times pop up on craiglist that is legit, but be aware of the many links that take you to some national homes for rent site that are useless in ND.
You might have tried this already, but one couple found a house in East Grand Forks through an Air Force housing forum...homes rented out by other military families that want to return to town, but are temporarily somewhere else.
Outside of the above, not much there. I would suggest looking at Times Square townhomes as this is a nice townhome rental community. It is very conveniently located on the south side between Walmart and Target and is a very clean area.
Hi, I would like to know if there is any new sub-divisions or housing development area in Grand Forks, and what are the best-ranked elementary and middle schools in Grand Forks, in particular, where there is more diverse student population. Thanks
Hi, I would like to know if there is any new sub-divisions or housing development area in Grand Forks, and what are the best-ranked elementary and middle schools in Grand Forks, in particular, where there is more diverse student population. Thanks
There are new homes being built... not many truly subdivisions per se...like with names and all.... but new home areas. One of the largest is north of South Middle school and south of 40th Ave S. Places like 44nd Ave S, 43rd Ave S, Star Ave, and 41st Ave S. There are many newer homes already but they are expanding these streets a bit east with new homes being built and to be built over the rest of the year. You can buy lots and go with a builder, but many of these lots are sold to builders and they put up the homes and then sell them. Prices range generally in the 260-320k range and I would consider them upper middle class in nature.
Crary is a large real estate company and builder of homes in the area and have several areas in Grand Forks....check them out at
They are mostly building in Prairewood and a few other places. The last street to go at Highland Point is 16th St S and you see see the new homes there. They are a bit cheaper than the other ones generally in the lower to middle 200s.
That is where most of the new homes are going in.
There are a smattering of new places outside of the city limits on the south end of town in the Thompson school district. You will not see these under city of Grand Forks listing...may need to check Rural Grand Forks or Thompson.
Here is a way to check all the MLS listings for the entire region with a map....
In terms of education....all schools in the district are about on par. Grand Forks schools and for that matter almost all ND and MN school districts are very good and no real ones to avoid.
That said....Century K-5 school which serves a lot of the city south of Demers and and west of Columbia then down into the new development north of the middle school is the newest, but also is the most diverse with a mix of incomes from doctors to apartment dwellers to new immigrant arrivals. Century is the english as a second language school so most of the new immigrants who are brought over by Lutheran Social Services are sent there, regardless of where they live. Thus Century would have the most diverse population if you will. South Middle school is the same, of the 3 middle schools in town, south is the newest but also is a school where most of the ESL students are sent as well. Now there will be a new K-5 school built in the near future likely near that first development I mentioned...location very likely to be north of South Middle school.
South and Century all feed into Red River High School.
The boundaries are approximate...just check the grand forks public school webpage for more exact boundaries...
Among the stories on down the page is one concerning the housing crunch in town as they have seen some folks move in from western ND and there has been a pipeline and other construction through the years and a need to house temp workers.
All areas of Grand Forks are now protected for 500 year flood. D-y-k-e-s and floodwalls were built to a much higher level than even the 1997 level flood. The most vulnerable neighborhoods were turned into green space.
Twwice in the past five years, Fargo has been practically a war zone because of potential flooding. Fargo is working on a diversion channel to protect it, but that work has not started and may not be in place for 15 years.
When Fargo was fighting for its life, Grand Forks residents had few concerns. In GF, bridges are closed and the Greenway is off limits, but otherwise normal life continues on thanks to the new protection system.
Yes I echo fourwinds posts... the both Grand Forks and East Grand Forks city limits and some just outside are protected from flooding up to 60 ft level. The record level in 1997 was 54ft. The greenway established along the Red and Red Lake Rivers provide green space for recreation (bike trails, camping) but in times of high water the only thing it floods are trees and bushes and no homes. The bridges can be closed between GF and EGF over the red depending on water levels....with the US 2 bridge (Kennedy) being the highest and is open to about 52-53 ft. So....in short answer....no worries about where to buy in town...you are just as safe near the river as you are away.
Growth is for sure south.... with the hot area south of 32nd and mostly south of 40th and west of Washington for residential and also south of 47th to 62nd St S along Belmont. There are some country subsidvisions that are not in the city limits and decided not to be annexed and do not have as much flood protection....but all but a few are far enough from the river to not have to worry anyhow.
As for ND and MN....we choose to build in EGF MN in 2003 as lot prices are cheaper and there was/is a city incentive. We also liked the smaller school district. Property taxes are cheaper (now at least) but income tax is quite a bit higher....so ends up a wash. There is a lot of talk about property tax relief in ND now...so that advantage that MN has over ND may soon be history. If you are looking for a small town environment I do like the point section of EGF as it is all residential and pretty tight knit. But for being closer to shopping, etc Grand Forks wins. School quality is the same I think....just that in EGF you have one school for each grade level versus having several in GF due to size. Thus I know the kids our son knows in first grade he will see all throughout growing up....
Dan
Last edited by Kamsack; 05-31-2012 at 08:49 PM..
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