Tell us about the local economy . . .
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Tell us about the local economy . . .
| Thu, 02-19-2009 - 9:20am |
I know this really doesn't apply to me (as I live in Canada) but I noticed from another thread ladies were making suggestions about moving to different areas of the US. I thought it may be helpful for anyone considering a

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I live just outside a small rural town in western South Dakota and while I posted just yesterday about barely hanging on, it's not something I feel I can blame on the current state of the economy.
I live in Warsaw, IN which is in northern IN. I can see businesses being hit hard. This area has many RV companies that are either closing or laying off. (RVision, Monaco, Dutchman, Gulfstream, etc...) I'm not far from Elkhart county where Obama visited to talk about the Stimulus plan last week. Elkhart county has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. My county isn't quite as bad yet, but I can tell it's getting there. I also work at a local tax place here in town and talk to many people working at the different businesses and it's not looking good. Many are laying off or slowing down.
Warsaw has several orthopedic companies here. (Depuy, Biomet, Zimmer are the more well-known ones) and they're slowing down as well since people are putting off surgeries as well as the companies are moving some of their divisions overseas.
There is a tourism industry going on here since we're close to Winona Lake/Grace college/Amish country so we see people come in for those. I also work in a hotel here in town where most of our business during the week has to do with the orthopedic people coming for for the week to work and weekends we see tourists coming in or people who like sports. (Notre Dame is 45 minutes away and we have a local sports complex that is big for baseball tournaments.) I've noticed business is down a little due to I think the companies are cutting back on bringing people in as much as they did. We're still fairly busy, but not booming like we were.
So far the housing market is holding somewhat steady. We're seeing more foreclosures though and they're selling many of them through Sheriff's auction. The housing prices seem to be doing ok. I bought my house 17 yrs ago (3 BR, 1 bath house with about 1/4 acre yard) for $50,000. About 3 years ago the house across the street sold for $75,000. The house beside it just sold last year for $60,000. (Fixer upper/foreclosure) Real estate taxes are considered low--I pay around $500 a year for my house. I live in one of the cheaper neighborhoods though. Seems like there are new subdivisions being built all the time. Most are selling houses for $150,000-$250,000 depending on the subdivision. They're not selling as fast as they once were but they're still selling.
Grocery prices aren't too bad. Although 2 liters of coke can be had at the grocery store for $1.69 last time I checked. (Only buy generic or if pop is a great sale so I don't pay that.) Gallon of milk is around $3.39 at Walmart--but is on sale frequently at the grocery stores for under $3. Bread runs at 88 cents a loaf for the generic brand to almost $2.49 for Sunbeam bread. (Bread store has Sunbeam for 79 cents.) Gas was $1.81 today when I filled up.
I live about 35 miles north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Brandee~
I have an aunt and a cousin who live in Flint. My uncle taught at Flint Northern for years.
I'm in Montcalm county Michigan and if I remember correctly, we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at around 11%. Jeff and I are doing ok so far. He works for a small family business and I'm self-employed.
Sue
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