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The slump isn't everywhere but it I think eventually will be.
Houses are selling fine where I live (
Bismarck Tribune - Bismarck News - Expert says N.D. housing market is bucking national trends ) and, yes, it was 8F below early in the day but it is 12F above now.
Homes are fairly cheap, about $110k up (
Bismarck Tribune - Bismarck News - Expert says N.D. housing market is bucking national trends ). Labor is cheap (right-to-work state) here, but very little is done by illegals. Too darn cold I guess. I think part of the local boom is due to the westward expansion from St. Cloud, Minn. to the Fargo area which was recently one of the fastest growing areas in the US. It helps that land is cheap, farm prices are up and there is
a lot of coal and
oil in the state. In the past,
oil booms have left towns stranded when the boom ran out and it will happen again. City planners, as usual, don't seem to have a clue. Still, most cities and the state itself, are currently running in the black.
In the past, during national slowdowns, I noted that a lot of itinerant crews, such as roofing, drywall, framing and concrete would drift into the area seeking work and even a few developers took the opportunity to move in. Few stay. It takes a knack to make money moving like that and an even bigger knack to be welcome back (Caveat emptor).
In the past, the national slump always hit this area, but after it began elsewhere. Then it stays here when recovery is underway in other parts of the country. It kinda paid to realize that when I still worked in the housing construction industry.
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