Need New DD...~15k

[Murlo26]

Good luck to both of you guys, sounds exciting.

Thanks, hopefully it all works out.

[Halon]

That is the only city I figured was a decent size and a place to live if you aren't from SD. Well as long as you are there :)

One advantage I see, ND income tax is a lot better ;) But sadly cost of living isn't much cheaper with the oil boom.

Just because their income tax is lower, doesn't mean they don't still get you in other ways. North Dakota is a conservative state, but Fargo as it grows faster is starting to feel less that way. There's lots of special taxes, they want to build a damn around the city New Orleans style which they have to fund. Lots of schools going up because of how quick it's growing. Houses (built in the last decade) all come with a bunch of special assessments. Sales tax on clothing.

But as a state, ND usually does not have money issues like MN seems to always have. They are loaded and are conservative. It's almost always windy there also, which makes winter that much more shitty.

[Murlo26]

Just because their income tax is lower, doesn't mean they don't still get you in other ways. North Dakota is a conservative state, but Fargo as it grows faster is starting to feel less that way. There's lots of special taxes, they want to build a damn around the city New Orleans style which they have to fund. Lots of schools going up because of how quick it's growing. Houses (built in the last decade) all come with a bunch of special assessments. Sales tax on clothing.

But as a state, ND usually does not have money issues like MN seems to always have. They are loaded and are conservative. It's almost always windy there also, which makes winter that much more shitty.

Yea, I found out about the clothing tax, but people said they just go to Moorhead to shop. And also, I think property taxes are higher too and several other things. I asked my tax person which state he would recommend and its not really clear cut, depends on a lot of things but housing appreciation was at the top of his list. I might just pick based on finding a house I like vs anything else but we will see.

Yea, Fargo is windy as shit, I have been traveling there at least monthly for a while now if not every other week somtimes, so I have a good feel for it weather wise. It's cold for sure, but not much worse than here, at least not bad enough to not want to go because of that.

I'll have to do more research on taxes etc before I make a call on which state I pick, MN or ND as I could do fargo or moorhead.

I haven't gotten the details from my company yet, but I am hoping my raise will be enough to where I won't care AS MUCH about a few hundred dollars and care more about picking the house/neighborhood I like more. But who knows, tough to say until they give me more details.

[Halon]

For places to live, I think Fargo / West-Fargo are more sought after than Moorhead. Housing has been on the rise there for quite awhile, I wouldn't say any of that is really that much do to the oil boom (which is happening no where near Fargo). When the rest of the country got hit by the housing crisis, Fargo pretty much never budged and kept going up. That place has been growing for some time now. We made a pretty healthy profit when we sold my wifes house there 2 years ago. Just make sure to watch out for specials. A house that's 250k is probably really 270k once you figure in the specials.

[Murlo26]

For places to live, I think Fargo / West-Fargo are more sought after than Moorhead. Housing has been on the rise there for quite awhile, I wouldn't say any of that is really that much do to the oil boom (which is happening no where near Fargo). When the rest of the country got hit by the housing crisis, Fargo pretty much never budged and kept going up. That place has been growing for some time now. We made a pretty healthy profit when we sold my wifes house there 2 years ago. Just make sure to watch out for specials. A house that's 250k is probably really 270k once you figure in the specials.

The reason the oil boom has affected eastern parts of the state is because for that area to keep qualified workers around they have had to offer higher wages otherwise people just dip out and head west for huge sums of money. So they have had to compete. These are what all of our customers are experiencing as I work in the industrial sectors and they have a hard time keeping people from moving west without paying them lots.

However, from what I have seen you are right, its mostly just that it has been growing for other reasons but the oil has still affected it.

"specials" well that is lame, I dont' want to pay 20k for that whatever that is haha. I will have to look into that nonsense.

West fargo is where i am hoping to go I think, there are some newer developments and I would love to finish a new house per my spec if I can, but we will see. That is the range that I am looking in though, 260-280k as my house now is roughly worth 265-270k per my last appraisal last summer. But that price range isn't really buying more house in fargo which I was disappointed in as I figured Fargo was cheaper but its roughly teh same amount of house you get in blaine if not slightly less. Blaine is a great housing market to get a lot of house for your money I think. My main thing is I don't want to go down in quality of house as I love my house and I feel like if I am leaving friends/family I should be able to upgrade other stuff a bit to ease the pain so just want to stay in the same range or slightly better.

So what are the specials you speak of? I know a few people in the area and was going to question them on all of this before I commit.

[Halon]

Special Assessments. Just like you'd get here if say the city decided to refinish the road in front of your house, they send you an assessment for part of that bill. The thing in Fargo / West Fargo though is that so much of it is new. So you're paying for all of it still because these neighborhoods were built from scratch. So people have special assessments for the brand new roads built for that neighborhood, the sidewalks, the street lights, the neighborhood parks, etc. Nobody can afford to just pay off all of those at once, so it becomes almost like a 2nd mortgage. When we sold my wifes place, she only had like 10k in specials left I think, but that's because she payed cash for a lot of them up front. Most people just pay it monthly.

You can avoid specials if you go to an old neighborhood, but if you want to live in any of the newer developments make sure you ask about specials.

Also West Fargo, that is really growing. From what I gather taxes are going to go up there because their going to have to start building more infrastructure like high schools and stuff. But whatever, wherever you go there will be taxes haha. You're going to have to become an NDSU football fan now too. Everyone up there loves the Bison!!

[Murlo26]

They really do love the Bison up there haha. I guess might have to just to have something to talk to others about. I am probably going ot target a newer area as I prefer to have a newer house to make sure all the appliances are newer and then you don't have to worry about aging items as much. So I guess I will have to pay close attention to these specials and factor that into my buying price.

Thanks for the tips/info sir!

[Halon]

My wife is NDSU alumni, so I've become a fan by association. Tailgating is awesome there, the games are awesome.

Anyway, good luck if u end up there. Big D's has 2 for 1's all day everyday, and triple up for a buck! Also a lot of the bars have black jack which is kind of cool.

[Murlo26]

Just a quick update, the Kizashi is ready to sell, it's all detailed and 60k maintenance done. Going to start it at $12,000, I'll give someone $100 for a referral that leads to a sale!

And I will be moving the end of the month, I close on my house in Blaine (sold after 10 hours on the market lol)the 24th of July and will be moving into my new house in the lovely town of Dilworth, MN (basically Moorhead) a town of 4,000. There is a brand new development there so found new construction that is nice. And no, not selling the evo, got a moving bonus so no need ;)

But bump for a great AWD car that I would not sell if I didn't need to, I have a 2012 ford taurus now, like 100,000 miles but not too bad, my "new" company car as I am a sales guy who drives a lot now. Don't need 3 cars.

I'll be making an autotrader/carsoup ad later tonight with pictures, I will link here and probably make a real FS thread.

[Kracka]

Not a bad little winter-climate DD! Why are you replacing it with a Clitaurus since you're moving to an even snowier area?

http://www.dailyfunnies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Ford-Clitaurus.jpg