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Hi everyone, I will soon be moving to Bismarck from Dallas-Fort Worth Texas to start a new job(not with the oil field) sometime in mid to late August. I was told my future employer the housing situation in the city is kinda scarce at the moment and I should start looking early.
I am married and my wife is pregnant but we do not have any other children. She may or may not be coming with me in August, it depends on if we have sold our current home and if we think at the time if it will be beneficial for her to stay back. Right now I am thinking I will take the majority of our furniture up early to put in storage before making the final trip with the few things we left behind and then putting those in storage as well.
I do not mind staying in a small one bedroom apartment for a while, but would at least like something somewhat comfortable by the time the baby comes in November. I am not planning on buying a home until I am well familiar with the area.
Some questions I have:
It looks as though home prices are high right now. How much residential construction is going on and is this anticipated to stabilize prices soon?
Is it possible to show up and rent an apartment or do I need to get on a waiting list?
Are there any parts of town I should stay away from?
Are there any nearby cities that are not too lengthy of a commute that I should look at?
If I buy a pop up camper here for temporary housing, is there a market for them to sell when I get somewhere else to stay?
Any other tips or advice?
I am very excited to get out of DFW and into a smaller sized town, I love the fact that there is only two interstates cutting through the state. My ultimate goal is to get land outside the city where I can have a shed and a couple of acres. That is just not possible where I am living at now if I expect it to take less than two hours to get to work.
Bismarck-Mandan has no bad areas, but maybe bad neighbors sprinkled around. The idea of waiting to buy a house to understand the neighborhoods really isn't valid like it would be for Dallas-Fort Worth. Spending half a day driving around Bismarck and its outskirts reveals the choices unlike DFW. The housing choices in Bismarck-Mandan aren't about safety, commuting, taxes, school districts, but rather if you want to live near the river, near downtown, or much higher land that is being developed. Also, while housing may now be "expensive" in Bismarck, if the Bakken continues to grow, the state will continue with its growth pattern and Bismarck as the state capitol will reflect that trend. It could be that in another four or ten years, housing prices could be much more expensive. Bismarck has a Midwestern character to it as the Missouri is where the tall grass prairie ends, while Mandan has a more western, high plains feel to it, as butte ranch country begins on the west slope of the Missouri(kind of like the difference between Dallas and Ft Worth but on a totally different scale).
There are a number of small towns around, but generally if that is of interest would look at smaller towns along the Missouri River - like Wilton or Stanton to the north. Further east or south, most of the small towns have very little in the way of services or retail and are very isolated. Going west, the housing crisis intensifies. Also, living in the country (10 miles or more from Bismarck) requires a lot of fortitude and planning in the winter, unlike in Dallas area where blinding drifting blizzards aren't a problem.
There should be a lot of apartments coming on line this summer, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to call Bismarck apartment management companies and see what is available. Living in campers is much rarer in Bismarck than places like Williston, Minot, or Dickinson. Those three cities have markets for campers, so they should be easy to sell.
Bismarck and Mandan school districts are excellent, so that issue isn't really a factor.
Thanks I appreciate your advice. Is there a lot of residential construction going on? I am concerned that if I buy a house early and the supply finally catches up to the demand than the house I bought at $300k will drop back down to the normal price at $200k and it will be unfortunate for me .
Also, are there any particular apartment complexes that I should shoot for? I looked at a couple on line and honestly they looked somewhat dumpy. I know I may be stuck with what I can get but in a perfect world I would be able to get one that was nicer and primarily catered to adult professionals.
Bismarck housing prices haven't really seen a decline (even in 2008/2009) in 25 years. Last's years prices went up about 13% (which was the rate of ND's growth last year), which is high but not a bubble condition. The local economy would have to have a regional catastrophe for real estate to fall by 30%. All the population moving into western ND need services that Bismarck traditionally supplies. More typically the housing market goes up 4-5% a year. Bismarck's economy is geared toward government, retail, and services, much of which used to be in the small towns within a 100 miles.
If you don't buy now, the risk will be that prices will actually accelerate because Bismarck is fast becoming the white-collar place to be for the Bakken. Legal, engineering, and administrative jobs are locating there. ND is projected to have the fastest growing economy in the US for several years.
In North Dakota, home ownership is the norm. Apartments are traditionally either where younger people start out or older people move when they can't take care of their homes. More deluxe style complexes found in more urban locales are not typical in Bismarck, because there hasn't been much demand. Maybe that will change with more and better paying jobs, but for now maybe renting a condominium or house would likely be a better option if you want something more upscale. Traditionally, Bismarck has been very middle class with a lot of lower paying clerical state workers, but now more corporate jobs are changing the real estate market there.
So, if you were going to recommend a real estate firm or individual agent in the Bismarck area who would it be?
And if you were just going to get a short 6 month lease for your first 6 months in town while you ensured your home in Texas sold and you looked for the perfect home in North Dakota, which apartment complex would it be? I really just need a 1 bedroom or studio. It will only be my wife and I and we dont have any children yet, but she is due in November. So maybe somewhere close to a hospital would be good.. I dont know how cold it will be in November but I would rather not have the newborn outside for longer than I had to. Yes I know you guys do it all the time, but us Texans arent used to that.
So, if you were going to recommend a real estate firm or individual agent in the Bismarck area who would it be?
And if you were just going to get a short 6 month lease for your first 6 months in town while you ensured your home in Texas sold and you looked for the perfect home in North Dakota, which apartment complex would it be? I really just need a 1 bedroom or studio. It will only be my wife and I and we dont have any children yet, but she is due in November. So maybe somewhere close to a hospital would be good.. I dont know how cold it will be in November but I would rather not have the newborn outside for longer than I had to. Yes I know you guys do it all the time, but us Texans arent used to that.
For specifics, I'm probably not the person to answer as my familiarity with Bismarck is mostly through my cousins that live there, and not with real estate agents there. There are others here that can probably make recommendations, or maybe ask HR from your future employer.
As far as the hospital, just make sure the car has been warmed up for a while before picking up your newborn and wife at the Hospital entrance.
Remember folks, if you are going to recommend an individual real estate organization, send it in a DM. Any single listings will be deleted as advertising.
Or, you can post a list of all the Real Estate offices in town.
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