I’m currently living in Denver with my wife (we’re in our early 30’s) who is originally from South Dakota. Her family lives in Sioux Falls and she wants to live close to them. She works IT from home and will be able to keep her job. I’m thinking of finishing my B.S. in Computer Science or something similar and then looking for a new job in the greater SF area. Does anyone have firsthand knowledge/advice about Dakota State U and the surrounding area (Madison)? How would the drive be from Sioux Falls to the school and back every day? Google maps says it's about an hour drive (doesn't bother me). How would traffic be on the highway? Does that exist in SF? Not trying to be offensive, I’ve just never lived in a city smaller than Denver/Seattle. We visit SF a lot but I’ve never driven on the roads/HW during “rush hour”. Also, what parts of SF are good for buying a house? Her brother lives on the West side of town, but I'm looking for other opinions. We really want to own a good size piece of land (5-10 acres) that either already has a house or we could build on. It needs to be close enough to town that it has fast internet (COMCAST) available for the wife's telecommuting. We are open to living in an actual neighborhood as well, but my deal breaker is a large basement and 3 car garage. What neighborhoods offer that? Thanks for any information/advice you can give.

-Eskimo

Traffic isn't so much of an issue, but winter weather can be. Aside from that, anywhere in South Dakota is better than Denver! lol.

for Internet, you'd want Midco and just look around online a bit at homes.

Homes for Sale

I'd look at the Dell Rapids area.  Just north of SF, would put you closer to Madison.  Great community and good schools.

Truth. Madison depresses the shit out of me but I guess Dakota state has a pretty awesome school.

Anyways I get allot of customers in that make the commute either to work in sioux falls, or coming from sioux falls and going to DSU.



Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Funny you should start this thread. I'm considering moving from South Dakota to Colorado.

A lot of folks commute between SF and Madison. Personally its not for me. Traffic on I-29 is like a ghost town compared to Denver.

Dakota State has been strong partners with CitiBank for years. Citi basically built or developed the program to provide a pool of potential IT employees. My wife has worked with a lot of new hires from DSU and has nothing bad to say about their education.

As far as your house requirements, the best chance is probably one of the many newer, higher cost developments around SF. The central and northeast parts of SF have a higher concentration of taxpayer subsidized individuals. Acreages tend to be high priced close to SF.

Want to trade houses?  

Thanks for the input everyone. I've been in IT for 14 years (8 of it in the Army). I was a little worried about the job prospects in SF since it's a lot smaller market than Denver. Figured if I finished my B.S. it would help me find something good. I've heard great things about Dakota State (NSA holds it in high regard apparently) and hearing the same from locals makes me feel better about the decision. Going back to school in my 30's should be fun; now I just have to get over the dreams about going to school in my underwear again

Its great not having state income tax. Some people complain that real estate taxes are higher than say Minnesota or Iowa. But I've got relatives in both states and they complain a lot about real estate taxes along with the other bazillion taxes.

You can avoid some real estate tax if you don't live in a fancy house or if you live on a big enough chuck of land to be considered agricultural..

I just got our vehicle license renewal notices, $100 per vehicle (05 models).

Just came from our big gunshow of the year in SF. Makes me glad to live in a free state.

I'm in SF and me and the family like it here NW part of town.  The only thing we don't like about it is we do t have a lot of couple friends.  Having said that I love the outdoors and SD has lots of that.

Madison sucks, glad I dont have to drive up there for drill anymore.