The following was a question posted on another blog where I have several listings posted. I realize my response is controversial but that is why I'm posting it. Keep in mind as I stated to Miranda, Minot ND has a huge housing shortage and homes that sold for $35,000 just a few years ago are commanding 2 to 3 times that amount today. There are plenty of $250,000 homes available in our market but those are not the ones your typical Contract for Deed buyers are looking for.   My name is Miranda and my question is would you be willing to do a rent to own type of deal?  Miranda, The Minot ND area housing market is just the opposite of the rest of the USA. We have a huge shortage of housing here due to our Air Force Base and all of the energy related things going on. Rent to own or Contract f... 07/02/2009

If you have been watching any news this week you would get the impression that all of North Dakota is under water. AP Photo -- A resident walks down a flooded road in a rural neighborhood north of Fargo on Friday. The answer to that question is NO but a whole lot of it has had it's trouble. Minot North Dakota is in good shape and that is for one good reason... prevention! The Souris River (also known as the Mouse River) runs through Minot North Dakota. We had our turn 40 years ago. Thankfully after the disaster 40 years ago the City invested BIG in dikes, dams, and reservoirs. The water certainly got high and had it not been for the excellent planning from years ago mine and many other Minot homes would have been under water. Hats off to the people with the insight to actually use tax d... 04/16/2009

It's time for the Minot ND Friends Of The Library Spring BOOK SALE! I love these sales at our public library. There are many books, art objects, movies, and various types of music media donated to the library book sale along with thousands of retired books and referance resources. I often pick up referance materials that would cost me hundreds of dollars for just a buck or two because they are last year editions. It's well worth the $2.00 to go to the pre-sale. The pre-sale is April 22nd 5:30 - 8:30 PM. Gourmet coffee and bars will be served. The sale will continue on at no charge on April 23rd, Noon to 9 PM; April 24th 9 AM to 6 PM; April 25th 10AM to 4 PM. Feel free to bring donations as well. See you there! Bob Timm, Realman, Minot ND 04/07/2009

Here is a "Heads-Up" to all the Southerners coming to our community to serve on the Minot Air Force Base or out in the Oil Field. North Dakota has been known as the land of 2 seasons.... Winter and Road Construction. Keep in mind that unlike our Southern States we can only maintain our roads when they are not snow covered. I'm posting this now because it's only been in the last week that we are seeing the actual surface of many of our streets here in Minot. So far what I'm seeing is not pretty. For the last 4 years we have had the busiest street in town, Broadway, completely closed in a several block area as we repaired it from one end to the other. This year I'm betting on the next busiest, Burdick Expressway. I drive East Burdick Expressway every day and I'm sure hoping they get to it... 03/17/2009

This is my first "Thankful Thursday" post and it's hard to decide what the first one should be but I'm going with this: Spring, Flowers, and Rainbows. Today has us thinking spring in North Dakota because the weatherman is promising today will be our last sub-zero temperature day of the season. This weekend the temp is supposed to climb into the 40's and usher spring into our neighborhood. It's been our worst winter ever according to the record books so I am really really thankful for Spring, Flowers, and Rainbows. 03/12/2009

When I was growing up my mother worked for a Hostess for a service called "Welcome Wagon". Back in those days (before privacy laws) she would receive a list of new arrivals to town from the local gas company. Sponsors (local businesses) would give her treats to hand out to these people in hopes of receiving their business. When I moved to Minot ND I was looking forward to "Welcome Wagon" bring me a Welcome Package. It didn't happen. I checked into the service and found that it's demise here in Minot was the privacy laws and the local owners lack of desire to find ways to deal with it. I saw this as a great opportunity and jumped in creating Minot's New Neighbors. Just to shorten the story let me say that the idea went over well and Minot's New Neighbors is now owned and run by a great c... 02/20/2009

When I was growing up my mother worked for a Hostess for a service called "Welcome Wagon". Back in those days (before privacy laws) she would receive a list of new arrivals to town from the local gas company. Sponsors (local businesses) would give her treats to hand out to these people in hopes of receiving their business. When I moved to Minot ND I was looking forward to "Welcome Wagon" bring me a Welcome Package. It didn't happen. I checked into the service and found that it's demise here in Minot was the privacy laws and the local owners lack of desire to find ways to deal with it. I saw this as a great opportunity and jumped in creating Minot's New Neighbors. Just to shorten the story let me say that the idea went over well and Minot's New Neighbors is now owned and run by a great c... 02/20/2009

Most of my posts deal with how our housing market in Minot ND has been the total opposite of the rest of the nation. We have a stabile, growing market here in Minot ND. We are a community of about 40,000 counting the local area. This week the availability of single family homes with-in the city limits of Minot is at it's peak for the year. Below is a breakdown by price: Homes for sale under $100,000.00 as of 02/17/2008 = 7Homes for sale between $100,000.00 and $124,999.00 as of 02/17/2008 = 10Homes for sale between $125,000.00 and $149,999.00 as of 02/17/2008 = 18Homes for sale between $150,000.00 and $174,999.00 as of 02/17/2008 = 11Homes for sale between $175,000.00 and $199,999.00 as of 02/17/2008 = 10Homes for sale between $200,000.00 and $249,999.00 as of 02/17/2008 = 12Homes for s... 02/18/2009

Having lived along the North Coast (US/Canadian Boarder) all my life I was surprised when Southerners moving here due to our Air Force Base or our oil field commented that our days and nights are different then theirs. How could that be? I knew that our summers were shorter and our winters longer but a difference between day and night. Of course I knew that at either the North or South Pole they experience a period of 24 hour nights and 24 hour days but I just never put two and two together as far as the land between the Poles. The following link gives you some detail as to what we experience here in Minot. In a nut shell our January Sunlight is about 8 am to 5 pm and in July our daylight starts around 5 am and sets around 10 pm. http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/minot-north-dakota.html... 02/04/2009

If I had a dollar for every out of State contractor who has called me in the last 6 months asking if they should bring their crew up here I'd be a wealthy man. If I had a dollar for every contractor who called me and then showed up I'd be penny-less. I do appreciate the calls but get off your butts and get those crews up here and working! It was just announced (again) today that there are less then 1% of Minot's rentals available. Let me say that again less than 1%!!! That even includes units being remodeled. If you have been visiting my website, www.minothome.comyou know that in our fair city of 35,000 there are less then 100 homes for sale. So let me recap: Nothing to rent, next to nothing for sale. Oh, lets not forget 1,000 troops soon to arive at our Air Force Base and an oil boom ... 01/12/2009

Two weeks ago I blogged that we had set an all time snowfall record for a year, EVER! Well it just keeps coming. I had really hoped to post several blogs about our community over the Holidays but frankly I've been doing a lot of bonding with my snow thrower. As you can see from the pictures above I've got plenty to do in my yard.. BUT what you don't see is that I also run over to my mother-in-laws and do hers and then I have a listing (or two) by elderly clients that I head over to and do theirs as well. In the summer I often mow the lawns (also at no charge) for my elderly clients). The snow has been so heavy and frequent that yesterday the Minot Super Walmart closed (and still is) until they clear the roof of snow. Many business here are in fear of failing roofs as the weight of 5 fe... 01/12/2009

Incoming Air Force personel, oil workers traveling to North Dakota, please NOTE: This is officially the snowiest winter EVER in much of ND including Minot ND. Again, keep in mind EVER!!! So when your friends and relatives tell you how bad it is just keep in mind this is beyond unusual. I don't know about the official temperature stats for this month but it's got to be close on the lows as well. It's going to get better, this just happens to be a new benchmark on the low end so chin-up and look forward to meeting the warmest people in the USA right here in Minot ND. So how do you shovel so much snow? Hardware stores are reporting record sales on snow-blowers and shovels. Excavating companies had a banner building season and now this has just been an added bonus. While a boon to the cons... 12/30/2008

In my previous post I mentioned that in our recent blizzard we had a very nasty wind chill. I had to make a correction to that post as I reported that we had a temperature of about -20 (that's 20 degrees below zero) but with a 40 mile an hour wind it was like 40 below... WRONG, as you will see from the chart below it was more like 75 degrees below zero. If the chart is to hard to read click this url http://www.math.montana.edu/~nmp/materials/ess/atmosphere/novice/activities/windchill.gif If you are moving here from a climate that wind chill is foreign to you please check into it. Wind chill is a deadly threat and you owe it to your loved ones to know about it if you are moving to this climate. 12/14/2008

12/14/2008 We are experiencing our first "real" blizzard of the season. In fact this is the first blizzard I remember for awhile. It's not the snowiest storm I remember, in fact it was a bit wimpy when it comes to depth of snowfall. It has been one of the windiest winter storms but most important it is very likely the coldest storm I remember. Cold and windy make a very nasty mix. I was out a couple of times to shovel (use the snow-blower) but I didn't really "experience" the cold until I took my gloves off to take pictures. I snapped 2 and my hand was truly frozen. That never happens to me. I went back out with a good pair of gloves and here is the results. Keep in mind you can not "see" cold, which is what this blizzard was all about but you still might perceive the cold from these pi... 12/14/2008

AIR FORCE & OIL FIELD WORKERS BEWARE!Homes for sale under $100,000.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 4Homes for sale between $100,000.00 and $124,999.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 17Homes for sale between $125,000.00 and $149,999.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 12Homes for sale between $150,000.00 and $174,999.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 10Homes for sale between $175,000.00 and $199,999.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 14Homes for sale between $200,000.00 and $249,999.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 16Homes for sale over $250,000.00 as of 12/08/2008 = 30 OBVIOUSLY WE ARE EXPERIENCING A HUGE HOUSING SHORTAGE!If you are thinking, "Well I will just rent" guess again. Never in Minot's history have we had 100% occupency, UNTIL NOW. Of course a couple of rentals are bound to come up here and there but remember this:1) 1,000+ troops and their famili... 12/08/2008

I've been on a rant for 9 months now that if you are taking part in the economic downturn there is no reason to. For 9 months I've been preaching that we need employees for absolutely everything, except maybe Realtors ;) in Western North Dakota. If you are a family man about to loose your home wouldn't it be worth leaving the family for 9 months to or so to save the family home and your pride? On average oil workers out here are earning $70,000.00 a year. These are starting level ruff-neck jobs. If that is to tough to handle then keep in mind we have openings in every field imaginable. For more information on the oil field check out www.midwestoiljobs.com . We are also very short of carpenters. Keep in mind, we are in a BOOM! We have a huge shortage of homes and the contractors have no ... 11/13/2008

I have been in contact with my favorite plumber just a little to often lately but this last time I have no doubt will save me money and be good for my "Go Green" image as well. Larry had recently replaced a furnace and water heater in a rental of mine. As I was pointing out the work that needed to be done it made me think of a long ignored problem in my own home.  It was bugging me that every morining when I would take a shower it seemed like just as much water came out of the spout as did the shower head. I told Larry that if I tried to stop the water at the spout but then it shot out of the packing around the faucett. He checked it, confirmed I was correct, fixed the packing around the faucett, and replaced the spout. I am amazed at the differance! Now I use half the water, have the s... 11/12/2008

Their Here! Millions and millions of snowflakes that is. It's our first snow storm of this winter season and it certainly is a mess. I'm making this post in an effort to help all the NEW folks in Minot due to our Air Force Base as well as all the Texans up here working on our oil boom. Watching traffic here would be comical if it was not for the fact people are getting hurt and their automobiles are sustaining a lot of damage. Here are some pointers for you:   1) If you are not scared to drive on snow you should be. If you have never driven on snow and you are not afraid then you are an idiot. Even the most experienced drivers in this area respect the snow and we all know that when that first big one comes it's a new learning experience all over again. 2) Minot ND is located in a river ... 11/06/2008

Oak Park Realty, Minot North Dakota's First and Only Green Realtor. Why: You know how you get set in your ways but then all of a sudden the light bulb comes on and you have a totally different view of something. Well this is what happened to me. In the past I felt the entire go green idea was a load of, well you know, fertilizer. There are still aspects of going green or terms that are used that make me cringe like "Save the Earth/Planet". Only Jesus can/will save the Planet but WE can be good stewards of what God gave us.  What: What really turned me on is that I can do things in my own home that are not only Green but safer and healthier for my young children and myself. Why have harsh chemical cleaners in the home that could hurt or even kill a child when safe alternatives are availa... 10/27/2008

The Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot North Dakota holds an annual open house called "Boo at the Zoo" and it starts this Friday (October 24th).   Kids day is Saturday and I strongly suggest it for younger kids. On kids day they leave the lights on so it's not so scary. My kids went when they were 6 and 5 and they were so scared they were crying and we had to back out (this was with the lights on). Also when you come be sure to bring your patience as there is usually an incredible line. The scary version is October 24, 25, 29, 30 and the 31st. For more information go to www.rpzoo.com . Hope to see you there! Bob Timm, Minot ND 10/22/2008