Thinking of moving to North Dakota. any advice?

Russian Proverbs (according to "the Storm of War")

There is no bad weather -- only the wrong clothing.

In Russia there are no roads -- there are only directions.

From my experience in the Texas/Louisiana oilfields, you can make money if you can cook. I've seen an SUV back up on location and charge $10/plate for at best mediocre food, and they leave with $300+ cash. I'm told up there in ND there are mancamps galore, I'm sure they need cooks.

If you're single, used to cold weather, and a rough environment (culture) is acceptable to you, go for it!

Dickinson ND is where there are a ton of jobs. They can't find employees. But it's very difficult to find housing. A friend of mine in his 50's, married, no kids, left his wife to find work and found a great job. He visits his wife every 4-5 weeks. He rented a bedroom in a house site unseen, $600.00/mo. It was filthy, kids running around everywhere. He lasted one month and found another bedroom to rent for $600.00/mo but a more adult atmosphere.

In fact, here is the link to the classifieds for employment in the Dickinson Press. Good Luck

www.thedickinsonpress.com...

Does anyone know where that thread went just recently that talked about good paying oil field jobs in Oklahoma ? I just read it not long ago and I now have a son that could use the work. Please link me if possible!

reply to post by Bluesquid


Dress Warm.............

reply to post by Bluesquid


Go where the jobs are, just DO it!

Watch where you move. I saw an article saying that hundreds of oil spills have gone unreported there. Here's the link . Also, avoid wood chippers. Just kidding about that one. Watch the movie Fargo and you'll get the joke.

Bluesquid
I live in upstate NY as of now. The restaurant I have worked at for almost 20 years is closing, and its pretty much the only thing that has kept me here.

There was a story on Drudge today about ND's low unemployment rate. That caught my eye as jobs here in NY are hard to come by.

So, i would love to hear any advice from those in the know. Where is it hopping? Where is the best place to live? Any inside knowledge or advice would be appreciated.

I had a long conversation last Friday with a guy who just got back to Texas after working in North Dakota for Haliburton. As stated by others, the money is great, but housing is in very short supply, and it is very cold (which is the reason he decided to return to Texas and work the oil/gas booms in three areas that are currenly operational here, although they not expected to last more than a couple of years. The North Dakota fields have an estimated life of 20-25 years, and the potential in that state is greater than all of the oil in Saudia Arabia....which is great for the U.S. and maybe we can wean off that foreign oil dependence soon!

He lived in one of the mancamps supplied by the company, but definitely told me that if anyone is heading that way, and they don't already have housing, they need to bring their own such as a trailer, motor home, etc. Housing that used to be in the $500 range for apartments is now $1500-$2000 per month, which although not expensive for oil field workers, those rates have hit some of the locals hard. And that literally if a person was able to do so, they could drive almost any decent size motor home up here, and rent it out for around $2000 a month, (and fly back home), and people would be lining up to rent it.

Apartments and hotels are being built as fast as possible but still not enough to meet the demand, and the cost of construction labor is easily $25-$30 an hour or more.

He also confirmed that at places like Walmart and McDonalds starting salaries are between $14.50 -$16 per hour and they can't seem to hire enough people or keep employees long term. At Walmart he told me that they hardly ever stock the shelves because everything sells out quickly from the pallets in the store aisles. And anyone with nearly every type of business there does booming sales all year round. Being from Texas originally, he found it interesting that when you walk into nearly any restaurant or retail store, and they don't recognize you as a regular, the first thing they ask you or say to you is do you need a job? And if the answer is yes, you hired almost immediately.

One excellent and accurate

article and video I located is here:

money.msn.com...

And that literally if a person was able to do so, they could drive almost any decent size motor home up here, and rent it out for around $2000 a month, (and fly back home), and people would be lining up to rent it.

I have heard the same thing except they have some really restrictive policies on out of state investors. They really only want residents to get the loans to start a construction project. With the launch window for starting a large project is so slim that most annalist implore their investors to keep their money in the south and southwest, particularly Texas, where there are huge incentives to lure out of state money.

That is the reason for the shortage of housing. If you say they are building as fast as they can it's not fast enough because policies that penalize out of state investors. Investment bankers say the same thing as 90 and 120 day construction loans are just not feasible because of politics and the far north climate. Also, defunct Countrywide LLC stuck Bank of America with thousands of Foreclosures in both South and North Dakota that the bank can't give away-even at auction.

So, you can buy 800 acres for peanuts, but you can't do a damn thing with it unless you take up permanent residency. I suppose you could hire a land manager to get around some of the restrictions however that is silly as it is so much easier to sign a couple of forms and get 7-8% return in Texas who are begging for investors and delay propriety taxes for up to 5 years.

Something to think about anyway.

reply to post by spooky24


spooky: What the guy was referring to are motor homes or trailers that are portable and owned by individuals, not houses; and deals for rentals that would be made by individuals with each other. Apparently it is going on, and without problems.

There are literally tens of thousands, if not more, of trailers and motor homes all over the U.S. that are not being used by their owners for a variety of reasons. I am sure those same owners could use some extra money every month and the demand is strong in the immediate areas of the various oil fields in North Dakota; I am guessing that the foreclosures you are referring to there in North Dakota, are in the large cities or areas too far away from the fields to interest buyers or renters.

And yes I am aware of the incredible demands and sometimes frustrations out of state companies go thru in various development ventures, in North Dakota and elsewhere; of course the Texas economy/people in general nearly always welcomes new investments/money to Texas!

As true in many aspects of life, it is all about more efficient and productive allocation of resources available to meet demand. Unfortunately there are not that many people/companies interested or dedicated to that task whether it be in housing, food, jobs, etc.

There a lot of problems which could be solved in our country if people would just make up their mind to make it happen!

spooky: What the guy was referring to are motor homes or trailers that are portable and owned by individuals, not houses; and deals for rentals that would be made by individuals with each other. Apparently it is going on, and without problems.

MY bad I guess. I was judging from the codes here and not aware of what they might be in ND. Portable trailers, for the most part, have simply been done away with-or zoned out-simply because they are so dangerous. Tennessee had the highest number of tornado deaths for 2 years in a row until they made all trailers have foundations. It cut the number of deaths dramatically.

Also, here, all renters must carry insurance and register with the state to conform with the Federal Fair Housing Act which protects minorities from discrimination. So individuals, like you said, renting to each other goes on and is not a problem-until someone files a discrimination lawsuit. I'm sure state officials know this practice violates federal policy however they must think the benefits outweigh the law bending.

People who have never been in the rental property business have no idea how screwy the laws are. You just have to wonder who makes this stuff up. Right now, here, it is more cost effective just to leave your rental properties vacant. You can still deduct the maintenance, utilities, taxes and contract upkeep(grass mowing) even if no one is living there and pay yourself the monthly rent just like a tenant would.

All perfectly legal coming right out of Washington and it's about as silly and stupid as a law can get.