Looking for Housing | Video

Alex Hagan | 10/3/2012

The jobs are plentiful in North Dakota. Housing on the other hand? Not so much. Workers come to the growing state for all the jobs but forget about the most important thing. We`ve heard stories of people sleeping in tents and trailers, and now temperatures are dropping.

Travis Pfetzer came to Dickinson two months ago looking for a job, which he found in carpentry. But finding a place to live was the tough part.

"Stayed in a tent when I first got here. I was in a tent for probably a week and half, two weeks," said Travis Pfetzer, a carpenter from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Pfetzer was able to find a place to live temporarily with a friend. However, he still has a mortgage to pay.

"I`ve got a house at home and I don`t want to let that house go until I find something here and until the meantime, paying both, it`s just stretching me thin," said Pfetzer.

Newcomers aren`t the only ones being affected by the housing crunch. Realtors are literally busy around the clock.

"Person that handles property management, it`s a 24 hour job. He`s getting phone calls, morning, noon, and night from people either looking for space or looking to get more space, bigger space, so it`s a constant battle," said the Vice President of Meyer Real Estate Group in Dickinson, Brian Bochman.

But realtors have some advice for potential buyers.

"As a person who wants to move here, you have to decide what it is that you want to live in for the long term, and then probably try to find your job based on where you can find that," said Bochman.

And make sure you check availability constantly.

"You have to be real persistent about chasing after leads and checking back with them regularly," said Bochman.

Pfetzer has a little bit of his own advice for everyone.

"Come out here and have you a couple thousand dollars that`s going straight to housing or a trailer. But it gets mighty cold up here for a trailer," said Pfetzer.

But just doing your homework can go a long way in securing housing for potential newcomers.

Realtors saying using resources like the Chamber of Commerce and city offices can also help potential buyers in obtaining housing.

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