North Dakota area?

[Varinder Kumar]

I was researching on which states are doing the best economically and North Dakota is listed number 1. Anyone with experience in North Dakota area. I was looking into cities such as Lisbon,                           Fargo Jamestown, Carrington, Williston,  Lincoln. Looking into single family rental for cash flow. If anyone has info on the potential of this area please advise.  I am a Investor from California looking to go out of state.  Thanks. 

[Mike Krysinski]

We just moved to Minot, ND back in June and am starting to research the local area for deals.  We bought our primary residence just outside of town and were able to get, what I think was, a good deal.  We are now starting to explore the area for small multifamily units.

I am still new to the area, and Landon is correct, the boom is dead.  But, IMO, towns like Williston and Dickinson that saw the largest boom based on oil cannot truly be compared to towns like Bismark, Minot and Fargo that have other industry other than oil such as agriculture, education and military.  If you are looking at North Dakota, I would stay away from the boom towns and focus on towns/cities that do not rely on oil for their growth.  The way I see it, Minot AFB, Minot State University and the agriculture industry are not going anywhere which makes me feel more confident about investing here.

I wish I could give you more on what the market is doing in Minot; I am still educating myself on Minot's inventory and what properties are selling for and in turn, renting for. From what I can tell, the market has stabilized. There is a lot of new construction SFHs, duplexes and triplexes and it seems the average cost per sqft is about $110-120 which is certainly higher than other states/areas. We payed roughly $115.00 per sqft for our SFH primary residence.

If anyone has any other information, or corrections to what I have said above, please contribute!  I am certainly not an expert seeing as we are looking to acquire our first multifamily unit.