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Husband is applying for a job in Fargo, it would be a transfer within company. We currently live in Iowa. We are 40/42 years old. We plan to adopt a baby after we get moved.
We are used to cold snowy winters and it seems as if each one gets worse. I would of liked a warmer state, but am open to going wherever he needs to go. We would be driving 14 hrs to family in OK, and approx 8 hrs to family in Iowa. We normally see OK family once a year when they travel to our home for family get together, and Iowa family we see about every 3 months or so. So, it would mean a lot more driving to visit family and vice versa.
I have started looking at homes for sale within 30min of Fargo. But there isn't many homes we like. We really want something on 1-5 acres. Prefer ones with loft and master on 2nd floor. And a water feature preferred.
About basements, does one NEED one in ND? I know my brothers family doesn't have one in OK, though they did build a semi sunken storm shelter. I found a nice home, but it doesn't have basement and just 1800sq feet. But layout is great. We have always liked having a basement, mainly for storage.
Are there any towns in area that allow chickens/goats? Are their less or more mosquitos than iowa? We really want to spend time outdoors in Spring/summer/fall. We don't really do anything during winter.
Once we find a place we don't want to move for a very long time, over 20 years.
I have been reading posts about ND/Fargo etc, and got some good info. But I would like to hear about any recommendations and also some good things about the area.
Let me see what I can answer:
Basements: yes--most every house has either a full basement or is a bilevel (raised ranch in some areas of the country, English basement if one wishes to sound slightly pretentious) that has a daylight basement. The frost line goes down to four feet below grade, so you need a foundation at least that deep or the structure is subject to frost heaves.
Chickens & Goats--it's very much a town by town thing. But if you are in a semi-rural area w/ 1-5 acres, the land most likely would be zoned agricultural and small stock shouldn't be an issue.
Mosquitoes: with the advent of the West Nile virus, the municipalities have gotten much more agressive about spraying for mosquitoes. There will be a hatch, but then Vector control (the county department responsible for skeeter control) will schedule spraying and the counts go down again. I personally think that mosquitoes are less of a problem here than in the Minnesota woods, but I don't know how that compares to IA.
As for a water feature--be careful what you wish for--you just might get it. Be very, very wary about purchasing a home on any of the rivers in the Red River Valley (the Red, Sheyenne, Wild Rice, Buffalo). Yes, being on the water could be lovely, but if you've seen any of the flooding discussions, the water feature might be a lot closer than you wished for!
I live and work in Grand Forks area and have been to Fargo area a lot since I moved here in 1998. F-M area is the regional hub for the area for shopping, entertainment and just about everything. West Acres Mall is very nice and combining that with the other shopping districts in the city/area you have just about every store you could imagine. Fargo-West Fargo-Moorhead are all looked at as one big city....granted Fargo & Moorhead are separated by a river and different states so that make the distinction more pronounced. The Fargodome attracts major music acts to the area as well.
I have noticed that home prices in the city are a bit lower than the other larger citites in ND (i.e. GF, Bismarck, Minot). Gas prices in Fargo also the lowest in the state usually....in some cases by a good 15-20 cents.
Crime in the area remains low. I can think of very few negatives about the area.
Spring flooding is and has been an issue along the Red and Sheyenne. A more comprehensive flood mitigation plan is in the works but until then parts of the city, especially along the Red and along the Sheyenne, have to deal with issues of sand bagging in several of the past springs.
It seems as if you prefer more rural areas and Cass county is quite large and contains lots of small towns/farmland outside of the immediate city area.
Casselton is a nice larger town west of Fargo. Otherwise the towns such as Ayr, Page, Arthur, etc are very small and in a very much agricultural area with farms and hobby farms making up the large majority of the area. We have someone at my work who owned such a hobby farm (with cows/chickens) out west of Fargo before moving to GF.
The area is very flat....flatter than Iowa. I went to school at ISU in Ames, IA (graduated in 1988)... Flatness is comparable to that Ames-Mason City-Hampton-Fort Dodge area.
I work in the weather forecast field, and certainly it is colder here than down there in northeast Iowa. In many days in the winter....the difference can be 15-20 degrees. Wind also is a factor creaing blowing snow and rural blizzards. Cold is more long lasting here too....though brief warm ups to above freezing can occur even during the heart of the cold season.
For example as I type this just after 5 pm Wed....it is 7 at Fargo and 22 at LaCrosse and 28 at Iowa Falls.
Mosquitos are quite bad in the rural areas as they dont spray outside the towns. I think the problem is worse than Iowa as due to the flat nature of the land and clay soil water "ponds" here a lot and is hard to drain away. Thus if you have a wet late spring/early summer it creates a good breading ground for the pests.
Husband is applying for a job in Fargo, it would be a transfer within company. We currently live in Iowa. We are 40/42 years old. We plan to adopt a baby after we get moved.
We are used to cold snowy winters and it seems as if each one gets worse. I would of liked a warmer state, but am open to going wherever he needs to go. We would be driving 14 hrs to family in OK, and approx 8 hrs to family in Iowa. We normally see OK family once a year when they travel to our home for family get together, and Iowa family we see about every 3 months or so. So, it would mean a lot more driving to visit family and vice versa.
I have started looking at homes for sale within 30min of Fargo. But there isn't many homes we like. We really want something on 1-5 acres. Prefer ones with loft and master on 2nd floor. And a water feature preferred.
About basements, does one NEED one in ND? I know my brothers family doesn't have one in OK, though they did build a semi sunken storm shelter. I found a nice home, but it doesn't have basement and just 1800sq feet. But layout is great. We have always liked having a basement, mainly for storage.
Are there any towns in area that allow chickens/goats? Are their less or more mosquitos than iowa? We really want to spend time outdoors in Spring/summer/fall. We don't really do anything during winter.
Once we find a place we don't want to move for a very long time, over 20 years.
I have been reading posts about ND/Fargo etc, and got some good info. But I would like to hear about any recommendations and also some good things about the area.
Small acreage homes on the edges of town seem to be harder and harder to come by as developments keep getting added. Also, you'd have to at least look at one of the smaller towns outside of Fargo/Moorhead/West Fargo to find a place that would allow chickens or goats.
You don't necessarily need to have a basement around here, although the vast majority of homes do have them. If you wind up looking at older homes, pay significant attention to the basement walls. The "pudding basin" nature of the Red River Valley means that the shifting of the ground tends to push basement walls in. So, if it's an older block basement (particularly with block), make sure everything is square. A good reinforcement job makes a big difference, too.
As far as mosquitoes, they are tolerable in town due to the spraying. Out of town, they are pretty rough.
Thanks! As for the chickens/goats, I was asking about within city limits.
Because I know many towns allow chickens now.
I know the weather will be worse than here, but I am glad I am at least used to -30 below and windy conditions.
Glad to hear gas prices are good. As we have a Ford F150 now and with 4 wheel drive which will come in handy on winter roads etc.
I have noticed many homes saying they have had some flooding and had to use sand bags, and these are homes not next to the river. This is something we would prefer to not deal with, but looks like we would have to be quite a ways from a river etc.
How about along a lake? Any problems?
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