MHPronews.com has reported several times about the North Dakota oil boom that is drawing thousands seeking well-paying jobs, spiking the demand for ASAP housing. “Man camps”, modular dormitories for mostly male oil field workers have sprung up around Williston, ND. Some people are sleeping in cars, tents, and RVs. The strong demand for single-family factory-built homes, is partly being met by Chief Custom Homes, Magnolia Homes, and Champion Homes of Nebraska. The TusconCitizen tells us another side effect of the money pouring into the area has produced a housing demand in Arizona. Real estate agent Rocky Parra of Gilbert, AZ has sold eight homes in recent months to North Dakotans. “A lot of people have struck it rich,” he says. “Oil companies are coming in and buying businesses and land. They’re selling up there at the peak and buying down here at the bottom.” Home prices have fallen by more than double in Arizona. Blaine Bjella sold his cabin and six acres to an oil company that made him an offer he could not refuse, and bought a $5 million 8,000 square foot mountaintop estate with a view of Phoenix, Mesa, and Scottsdale for $2.1 million cash. He returns monthly to oversee his auto repair and truck businesses, and knows more than 50 other North Dakotans who are moving to Phoenix. The population of Williston has grown by 15 percent in the last decade.
