Williston Home Shortage Tsunami Coming -- Realtor -- February 12, 2018 -- Debbie Downer And Old News

Second In The Series

From The Williston Herald: why is building houses so difficult in Williston? Two reasons:

• not enough builders; builders currently swamped with new orders; backlog
• the city is running out of "buildable" lots" 

Doesn't sound like the Bakken is "dead" to me.

First In The Series

From The Williston Herald:

Unfortunately, homes like that in the FHA sweet spot — between $250,000 to $340,000 — are few and far between, area realtors say, and that has the city headed for another housing crunch, this time for single-family homes.

“For lack of a better term, I foresee a Williston home shortage tsunami coming,” said John Voll, a realtor with Bakken ReMax Realty. “I’ve never been busier than I am right now, for this time of year.”

Normally the type of activity he’s seeing waits until March or so. But not this year.

“I was listing houses between Christmas and New Year,” he said, “which is unheard of. There is a lot of activity out there.”

Most of Voll’s prospective homebuyers are young families buying a first home, who have been in Williston for three or four years. They’ve had a job long enough to get loan approvals, and they’ve decided they’d like to stay.

*****************************

On The Other Hand ...

See first comment. I completely blew this one. This is from 2016 -- this is not a new article. I will leave it for the archives. 

Two Williston hotels are closing -- at least for now --

• the Missouri Flats; and, 
• the Marquis Plaza and Suites

Story over at The Dickinson Press.

Something tells me they'll be back. Possibly as low income housing or long-term affordable housing.

Later (February 13, 2018) -- I was so struck by this "old news" that I had to go back and look at Debbie Downer again, and yes, indeed, this story -- dated September 27, 2016 -- has been posted at the newspaper for at least the past couple of days. Of all the newspapers I read on-line, Debbie Downer consistently finds these kinds of stories to re-post about the Bakken, without noting that they are old stories. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.