Hey, there, North Dakota!

[Genipher]

My family and I currently live in Oregon. Love the beauty here but the political atmosphere isn't that great. Also, super expensive to buy a home with land.
For fun, the husband and I started looking at North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas...
We ended up finding a really cheap but non-crappy looking house that would be perfect for our large family.
Now, instead of playing around with the idea I'm actually starting to wonder if we SHOULD move.

Soooo... I'm wondering, anyone from North Dakota that's up for sharing pros/cons about your state?

Thanks!

 

[tourist]

My family and I currently live in Oregon. Love the beauty here but the political atmosphere isn't that great. Also, super expensive to buy a home with land.
For fun, the husband and I started looking at North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas...
We ended up finding a really cheap but non-crappy looking house that would be perfect for our large family.
Now, instead of playing around with the idea I'm actually starting to wonder if we SHOULD move.

Soooo... I'm wondering, anyone from North Dakota that's up for sharing pros/cons about your state?

Thanks!

My wife had the same line of thought last year. After years of living in Florida and now starting to get up in years she decided that she would rather look at mountains than traffic jams. We put our home up for sale, it closed in November and our new home is due to close next week in a small town in NE Tennessee. We have been living in motels since Nov 13 which is the date that our house closed and anxious to move into our new home. We have downsized and will have a much smaller mortgage with no HOA monthly fees. Went from living in the Tampa / St. Pete / Clearwater area with a population of 3,500,000 to a little city of 2000. My counsel is that if you don't follow your dream now you may not get another chance.

 

[Genipher]

My wife had the same line of thought last year. After years of living in Florida and now starting to get up in years she decided that she would rather look at mountains than traffic jams. We put our home up for sale, it closed in November and our new home is due to close next week in a small town in NE Tennessee. We have been living in motels since Nov 13 which is the date that our house closed and anxious to move into our new home. We have downsized and will have a much smaller mortgage with no HOA monthly fees. Went from living in the Tampa / St. Pete / Clearwater area with a population of 3,500,000 to a little city of 2000. My counsel is that if you don't follow your dream now you may not get another chance.

Oh, that sounds wonderful! Especially not having an HOA. Never been part of one but I've heard a lot of horror stories.
Were you on the same page as your wife or did it take you a while to warm up the idea of moving? Even though my husband has been looking with me at different places I'm not sure that he actually wants to go through the effort of trying to move. I've been praying that God will change his heart on that matter.

I keep hearing about Christians moving to Tennessee. Something going on over there that I don't know about?

 

[Isny]

My family and I currently live in Oregon. Love the beauty here but the political atmosphere isn't that great. Also, super expensive to buy a home with land.
For fun, the husband and I started looking at North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas...
We ended up finding a really cheap but non-crappy looking house that would be perfect for our large family.
Now, instead of playing around with the idea I'm actually starting to wonder if we SHOULD move.

Soooo... I'm wondering, anyone from North Dakota that's up for sharing pros/cons about your state?

Thanks!

There is indeed much to consider before moving from a place like Oregon to North Dakota. How are you to support yourself (Job market in ND)?How about the weather? My niece and her family moved to South Dakota a year ago. She said the wind never stops blowing and the winter snow can be overwhelming. Also shopping in small towns can be rather expensive (no competition from other stores). There also may be a "culture" shock waiting for you (whatever "culture" means....local peoples' main/only interests).

And yet there will probably be no "defund the police" riots as in Portland, OR and no really high state income/real estate taxes. The overall cost of livig will be lower. There will be many things to think about before moving. Maybe you could rent a place there with the option to buy after a year or so.

We live in central North Carolina, 1 1/2 hours from the Blue Ridge Parkway and 3 hours from the ocean. We have done some traveling in our lives, but we are always happy to get back home. We are happy here.

But then sometimes we all just need a change in our lifestyle to inspire us to keep going in life! Hope you make the right decisions that will bring your family the greatest long term happiness.
Best Wishes!

 

[tourist]

Oh, that sounds wonderful! Especially not having an HOA. Never been part of one but I've heard a lot of horror stories.
Were you on the same page as your wife or did it take you a while to warm up the idea of moving? Even though my husband has been looking with me at different places I'm not sure that he actually wants to go through the effort of trying to move. I've been praying that God will change his heart on that matter.

I keep hearing about Christians moving to Tennessee. Something going on over there that I don't know about?

I was not on the same page at first but understood that my wife wanted a dramatic change of scenery and we are not getting any younger. After awhile I supported her and encouraged her to follow her dream.

She lived in Tennessee for a few years growing up and I lived in Clarksville in the early 80's while serving in the army so we were already somewhat familiar with the state.

You are correct in mentioning the effort involved, in our case preparing our townhome for sale, actually selling it, obtaining a new mortgage and finding a suitable new home with less expense and easier to maintain. It has been hard though because of the hassle of applying for a mortgage online, countless phone calls and follow-up tasks before the loan is approved. Currently, our things are in Chattanooga several hundred miles to the south in the moving companies storage area. Set to close on Dec 22, and probably 6 or 7 days to have our stuff delivered.

My wife has handled most of the steps involved in selling, buying, mortgage and I helped with preparing boxes to be picked up by the movers and clean-up. Of course, I was working full-time as well.

The last couple weeks have been extremely stressful for my wife as we are in motel rooms where she can get on the computer to complete the necessary tasks by Chase which is handling our loan and trying to use a cell phone in areas with spotty service and reception. Thank God the end is in sight.

I resigned my position in St. Petersburg and hope to just work part-time once things get settled down. I'm not getting any younger either.

It remains to be seen whether it will be worth it or not but my wife is very excited about starting our new life and she has my full support. Basically I'm just going with the flow and and along for the ride. I am basically an adventurer having lived in quite a few places and eager to start another chapter in the adventure of living.

Yes, Tennessee is very much a Christian state with the 10 Commandments posted outside many business establishments including the motel we are currently staying in. For a small city of Jamestown I've been told that there are 87 churches in this area. Looking forward to finding a new church home. I need Jesus.