Buying A House In Rapid City

[luck4unme]

Any opinions or experiences buying a house in an Air Force town? It appears to be a three year assignment.

What happens if Ellsworth gets shut down?

Comments, experience and opinions will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bean

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Buy Buy Buy

I bought a place in 1996 right next to a Naval Air Station. The base closed in 1999. My property value went down initially but that was more due to the general trend of real estate in Hawaii at the time. The place has gone through the roof in recent years. The base closure had no real impact. I was transferred away from the Island just a few years after buying and had no problem covering my mortgage with the rent I collected. But I'm pretty sure you'll have a bit of a drive if you want to get anything better than a trailer in Box Elder at Ellsworth. My parents own a home just above Canyon Lake and it's gone way up. I'd say it would be worth the drive to get a nice place in Rapid or somewhere else that at least has a little relief and some trees. It's just about always better to buy and let the the VHA pay your mortgage than to donate to someone else's real estate investment. Enjoy the Black Hills.

 

[BeechScrub]

I agree with Hugh, don't waste your time with the homes in Box Elder. Go to Rapid and you'll find much nicer homes. You shouldn't have much trouble renting it out.

The city and county just spend a pantload of money relocating a small portion of the town to create a clearway at the end of the runway. They put in a new on/offramp for the freeway to redirect traffic through the relocated businesses and onto the base. This seems like a pretty big investment if there a big chance the base was going to be closed.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

regarding base realignment...

The value, use and military significance of a base will have no bearing on whether or not a base is closed. The key is how badly your Senators and Congressmen want the bases to stay open and how much clout they have in DC. Let's see... Tom Daschel....I'd say that unless old Tom could realize a benefit in closing Ellsworth, the base will make it through this next round unscathed.

 

[siouxicide]

Just my $.02 since I'm from SD....

I don't think a base closure in RAP will have too much of an effect on property value, even if it were to happen any time soon which I doubt. The reason I say this is because people from across the nation love the Black Hills and end up buying a lot of vacation homes or, as with the billionaire moving out there, permanent homes. A guy from my company got hired to fly his GV. Straight to the left seat...right place, right time. At any rate, I'd say don't worry about it. I only see property value going up around there due to location.