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Hello all. I am new to this forum so bear with me.
I am married and have a 7 year old child. We currently live in CA. We HATE CA and want to move to ND. We have been talking about the move for some time and are into the stages of physically moving. What I have discovered however is there isn't a whole lot of resources for houses online. I'm not worried about jobs. I know the job market is fantastic and both my husband and I will be taking a trip to ND prior to the move for interviews.
We have narrowed it down to Minot. We want a smaller "town" feel. The more rural the better. We also realize being new we need some amenities. We would prefer land but because we don't know ND I am not comfortable buying a house or land. I fear, however, we will pay more in rent than mortgage.
As far as Minot is concerned what is a "good" part of town? What is a good real estate resource, either online or in person and what advise in general does anyone have for relocating to ND from CA? ANY help is so much appreciated. We hate CA and it's politics, taxes, crowded cities and policies.
My wife is from Minot and we were just back last weekend. There are several posters who recently moved to Minot or have lived there a while who can help I am sure with more specifics than I can in regards to housing.
May I ask why Minot? Minot is a fine town/city but it is going through growing pains with lots of newer commercial properties and housing popping up. The Flood of 11 impacted the area of town river along the River pretty bad....but didnt impact much 80 pct of the town which sits in the hills either side of the river (South Hill and North Hill). Typically the south end of town has seen the most commercial growth with the southwest end the most housing growth...but the northwest end is seeing more growth now. At least from a Minot native perspective like my wife and her parents/cousins....Minot isnt what it used to be in terms of traffic, etc.....but it is a place where jobs are plentiful....esp in the service sector.
If you have jobs lined up or areas where you know Minot fits your bill then go ahead. If not...I might suggest Fargo area as housing costs there are the lowest in the state. Fargo and the metro itself is larger,about 100k in Fargo city and West Fargo is growing very fast.....but you have outlying rural areas such as Mapleton and Casselton which are seeing housing growth but remain much more rural.
Houses for rent in ND have always been more scarce as over history we have bought homes and rented apartments. While most new rentals will be apartments in Minot, some homes are available but prices are likely quite high and demand may exceed supply. That I dont know much about, but here are some places to check out. I would suspect anything newer with 3BA/2BA home to run 2000-2500/mo at least....
I would add....there are ads for rentals on craiglist (look under North Dakota section for Minot area -- maybe Bismarck section). But be very very leery as while there are some actual good rentals, there are just as many if not more scams. If you see some ad without a local number, or some crazy low price like 800.00 or that takes you to a rent to own place.....dont use.
Thanks! Minot because my husband can not do anything that resembles a big or biggish city. As far as night life and clubs/ bars...that is not important to my family. We are a small family and dont "go out". I could look into Fargo and the surrounding area.
Do you know about the job market in Fargo?
As far as Minot, I would rather buy I just dont want to buy a house without knowing the area. We would rather buy a home on a couple acres if possible.
Thanks! Minot because my husband can not do anything that resembles a big or biggish city. As far as night life and clubs/ bars...that is not important to my family. We are a small family and dont "go out". I could look into Fargo and the surrounding area.
Do you know about the job market in Fargo?
As far as Minot, I would rather buy I just dont want to buy a house without knowing the area. We would rather buy a home on a couple acres if possible.
Hi Minot and area is a fine area. Once you go outside of the town/city....it does get very rural fast....so once you get to the area you can start looking for places outside of town.
Fargo job market is quite strong....I think as strong as Minot in most fields. Minot has had very fast growth in the past 5 years....growth in the Fargo area has been more steady over the past 20 yrs with the most housing growth in West Fargo. But rental housing is a bit more available and a bit more reasonable. A 3BA/2BR house for rent in Minot for 2500/mo would be closer to 1500/mo in Fargo-West Fargo. However, the air base near Minot (north of town) does provide a lot of energy to town and is a big presence in terms of population.
Fargo is the main commercial hub still for the state and has a large mall and still the most shopping/restaurants and has colleges and a bit more diverse population. To me Minot with its fast growth seems traffice wise worse than Fargo as Minot is more compact it seems versus the more spreadout sprawl of Fargo metro. There are two excellent hospitals in Fargo. Sanford, based in Sioux Falls, came to town and will build a new large hospital in West Fargo, and there is Innovis. Also Microsoft is in town along with some manufacturing, etc.
I would visit Minot area first and just see how it feels to you and use the links and call. Around here....calling does well and better than most websites. Minot airport is growing very rapidly and a new terminal is needed and to be honest a new road network in town as traffic backups on Broadway (hwy 83) can be bad at times.
I would also think about jobs....think about what you guys want. I personallly would think that what you can get in Minot you can get in other ND cities as well....though unlike Fargo is closer to oil regions any jobs associated with that.
This is a good time to visit... you can fly to Denver or Minneapolis and then fly to Minot. There are many new hotels in the past year.....but still call and plan ahead.
Weather is weather....obviously that would/may be a change for you but you already know that. Our region has highly varied weather from season to season and year to year. -30F can be possible in the winter for a few days as well as highs in the 90s in the summer. Wind is present on many days, but we have lots of blue sky...as well as cloudy days, thunderstorms to blizzards. So very varied weather. Folks around our area I think are friendly....but reserved friendly. They will jump in your face and say hello, but always will help out each other if needed, such as the Minot Flood of 11. BTW I am a meteorologist at NWS Grand Forks ND, so the weather talk.
Isn't perspective interesting...?
I think Minot IS a biggish city!
For small town, I'd pick Mandan.
Quite true nowadays..... Minot pop estimate in 2012 was approaching 45k. It may well pass Grand Forks in the next 2-3 years.
Mandan is right next to Bismarck so I consider one in the same.... but true in that Mandan side of the river is smaller and more open to the west. Bismarck is a fast growing area of the state too with plentiful job opportunties in many areas.
If you are considering Fargo (Fargo-Moorhead has a population of about 150,000) then you won't find any cities in North Dakota that are "too big" for you. Have you considered Bismarck? One of the big problems with Minot and the other oil patch area towns is the housing situation.
Mandan is right next to Bismarck so I consider one in the same.... but true in that Mandan side of the river is smaller and more open to the west. Bismarck is a fast growing area of the state too with plentiful job opportunties in many areas.
Which is precisely why I said Mandan.
For an out-of-stater, the job opportunities, city amenities, etc. are available in Bismarck, but Mandan itself is a small town.
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