****Are there any transplants to MN who are happy with their move to MN? (Minneapolis: 2014, lease)

[rzzz]

Originally Posted by starrider434

I cant see St Cloud being like Fargo, to be honest. It has to be better in every way, I would think...is St Cloud actually as cold as Fargo??

Check out the average temps and snowfall for the two cities on wikipedia. They are almost identical. It is true that it gets windier in Fargo, though. I'm not sure why you couldn't see them being similar. They both have a similar small downtown, similar big box retail areas, similar state universities, similar housing, etc. Fargo has improved quite a bit over the past decade. I personally think Fargo is a lot nicer than St. Cloud. There's nothing great about St. Cloud, in my opinion. I'd be surprised if someone who didn't like Fargo ended up liking St. Cloud. Honestly, if you are worried about winter, Minnesota is not the right place.

[Kamsack]

Originally Posted by rzzz

Check out the average temps and snowfall for the two cities on wikipedia. They are almost identical. It is true that it gets windier in Fargo, though. I'm not sure why you couldn't see them being similar. They both have a similar small downtown, similar big box retail areas, similar state universities, similar housing, etc. Fargo has improved quite a bit over the past decade. I personally think Fargo is a lot nicer than St. Cloud. There's nothing great about St. Cloud, in my opinion. I'd be surprised if someone who didn't like Fargo ended up liking St. Cloud. Honestly, if you are worried about winter, Minnesota is not the right place.

I would agree....Fargo metro area is a bit bigger than St Cloud and in general I think a bit better. But they are quite similar and have mid size state universities in them along with smaller private schools. Both are somewhat college age oriented but also offer a mix of ages and nationalities. Fargo overall is probably a tad colder on most days and subject to a few more wind blown blizzards and flatter....but the weather differences arent huge. It's not like you are comparing Fargo or St Cloud to Omaha or Kansas City....now you are talking about significant enough differences.

[wushuliu]

Originally Posted by starrider434

so as long as a car is garaged it should start during the winter? I lived in Fargo briefly in an apt, and had to plug my car in at night, had a battery warmer or something you wrapped around the battery....lord, I sure hope somewhere like Big lake MN is not as cold as Fargo in the winter. I was hoping to look for a home around Winona, cause the hills and bluffs, but the housing inventory is very skimpy there, at least in my price range....as I am in Seattle...and will miss the forests and mountains....the majority of nicer, newer homes seem to be around St Cloud, Princeton, Big Lake and Becker....

From Seattle to small towns in Minnesota is a big leap. In the small towns, yeah it's gonna be tougher to make friends, it's going to be cold as heck and frankly I would only make such a move if I had a significant other with me. Small town Minnesota would be tough for a transplant who's single.

Minneapolis on the other hand is awesome and I prefer it to Seattle. The milder winter and Mt. Rainier are the only things Seattle have over Minneapolis. Seattle/Washington State is more beautiful in spring and summer, but I give the edge to Minnesota for fall.

I'd rather live in a small town in Washington State (Snoqualmie!) though than a small town in Minnesota.

[folkguitarist555]

But the one thing Seattle has it the huge mountain ranges and lush year round greenery, and downtown is a very cool place......and the ocean is not far, and there are tons of rivers and lakes and the Puget sound itself...I consider Seattle along with Portland OR, by far, the prettiest and nicest cities in the USA, .....I thought Minneapolis had more run down sections, and was completely void of trees and nature for the most part....but the skyscraper's and many buildings looked nice. I just though the trees there looked non existent or looked like tiny bushes to me. I have driven thru there a few times, and other then that, I still thought it was nice looking enough of city, but no nature, or hills and etc.....Fargo to me, when I lived there, seemed to have no transplants, and was very insular, and really sucked if you were not college aged, or not born and raised there, being single there, was also a real downer imo. Unless you were from overseas it seemed, they didn't seem to take too much toward other transplants from the states, imo. Just my opinion and experience, I would never go back to Fargo, for anything. I thought much more highly of Sioux Falls SD. The problem with small towns in WA state is that the house prices to own, are still ridiculously high....whereas the small towns like Big Lake, Princeton, and Becker, have great priced and much nicer houses for sale then any small town anywhere in WA state. 240k will get you a manufactured home on an acre or two, in the rural areas of western WA. Or....and outdated, ugly fixer upper.

[wushuliu]

Seattle is very, very pretty. It is also very, very depressing once fall sets in and the dismal grey clouds hang over your head along with the constant undending dampness, the permanent misty drizzle that seeps into your clothes, your home, everywhere. I hated it. Spring, summer, amazing, but once that grey rolls in yuck. There's a reason Seattle's known for coffee and grunge.

I'm pretty sure Minneapolis/Minnesota gets more sun annually than Seattle.

Yeah the downtown is cool but it's still overcrowded and the traffic is TERRIBLE - not as bad as Los Angeles, but still awful. So the you have to ask yourself given all that just how often will you make it out to the ocean, mountain ranges, etc.? When I spend time with my gf's family and Seattle friends sure some go camping once in a while but like most folks they don't really take advantage of what's there.

This is moot because I'm talking more about Minneapolis and you're looking for something further out and no question small town Minnesota does not compete with Washington. But then if you find a place cheap enough you can put aside some to fly out to Seattle whenever you get the itch.

[rzzz]

Moving to Becker or Big Lake from Seattle just sounds like a very strange move, especially if you don't have family in the area. There are a lot of places with cheap houses in the USA with warmer weather and dare I say, warmer people.

[folkguitarist555]

the main reasons for me looking at leaving Seattle..is the traffic, number one, then the high cost of home ownership, number two.....I like the rain, and the grey skies though....as I am not a sun worshipper type. Forget about finding an affordable home that is nice, newish and updated on some acreage, anywhere in WA state, even in Spokane....imo..for under 250k

[folkguitarist555]

yes there is rzzz, and I am looing at such places, and guess where most of them are? in tornado country...IN, AR, MO, KY, TN, AL.....all extreme temps with heavy tornado activity. How many Seattle-ites would choose to live in Alabama? Or in Arkansas?...these are not the same libertarian, live and let live sort of places like the PNW is, possibly, culture shock may be a factor. Just my thoughts and views...sometimes those warmer people, may not be to warm to someone from NJ or CA, for instance, if we are talking KY, or TN possibly...I don't know though, I am just assuming from things I have read....

[folkguitarist555]

In the course of my research, there are tons of nice homes on acreage all over the area outside of St Cloud, Princeton, Becker and etc.....and not far from the twin cities for major events.......in my price range, 250k and under......I guess I could go live in eastern TN, where homes are dirt cheap...where they are not too fond of yankees and outsiders in general...sometimes it is about culture as well.....one has to take into account...especially when one is a northerner by birth, imo. I am not a huge lover of long hot summers as well.....prefer 4 seasons, though I wish the winters were not so cold and long in MN....I would prefer to stay right here in the PNW if only I could afford to do so....

[rzzz]

There are a lot of cheap places in desert towns. I have a condo in Tucson. Of course, that's not everyone's cup of tea.
That said, are there really houses in Big Lake that are are a good deal? The situation you describe about WA state sounds similar to MN unless you are talking about some really remote and economically depressed parts of MN. My family lives all over the state, even a few aunts out by Monticello. I don't think any of their homes cost less than $200K and they aren't living in mansions. Usually if there is a lake involved it drives the price up and if it seems like too good of a deal, that means it's going to be really hard to sell.