America’s Land Auctioneer

How Colfax Built Housing, Community, And Hope

• Kevin Pifer + Jack Pifer + Steve Link + Andy Mrnak + Jim Sabe + Christian Miller • Season 9 • Episode 11

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What does it really take to keep a small town alive—and help it grow? We sit down with developer and community leader Nathan Burseth to unpack how Colfax, North Dakota, paired housing with heart to attract families, remote workers, and retirees while strengthening its school and tax base. From the first 15 lots to multiple phases in Colfax Meadows, to the shop-friendly Trackside, to the barn dominium-focused Reserve, Nathan shows how choice, covenants, and city services create real momentum without losing the rural feel people love.

We dig into the practical playbook: municipal water and sewer on large lots, creative architecture with many builders, and fiber internet that lets Minneapolis or Chicago professionals work from the prairie. Nathan explains how a diversion settlement funded county-wide housing initiatives, reducing risk for builders and banks, and why home rehabilitation is a powerful lever for affordability and neighborhood renewal. Each new household matters; just a few students can change a district’s budget, keeping class sizes small and opportunities wide.

Community culture ties it together. The Richland 44 Foundation’s scholarships—up to $10,000 per graduate—plus a new events venue keep resources flowing to students and teachers, from dual-credit support to classroom tech. Add pheasants at dusk, kids biking to the pool, and a 20-minute interstate drive to Fargo’s jobs and concerts, and you have a compelling mix of small-town life with big-city access. If you care about the future of rural America—or you’re searching for a home where values and opportunity align—this conversation brings a blueprint you can use. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s “small-town curious,” and leave a review with the one idea your community should try next.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Christian Miller hosting on this week's episode. I'm joined by our guest today, Nathan Burseth. Welcome to the show, Nathan. Thanks for having me, Christian. Absolutely. We got a lot to talk about. Nathan has agreed to be on for four segments here today. Nathan, uh, talk to us a little bit. I know you have some projects south of town. Um, and I know you're from the Colfax area. Tell us a little bit about your growing up years and your connection to Colfax and and dive into that a little bit. Introduce yourself to our audience who doesn't know you.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, sure. Uh yeah, it's Nathan Bursteth. I I grew up born and raised in in Colfax and moved out to our family farm when uh after my my paternal grandfather passed away, but had really a lot of great memories growing up in Colfax. It's a little bit Norman Rock, not a little bit, it's very much Norman Rockwell experience. We have a small town pool. Actually, as one at one time we were able to boast that we are the smallest town in America with a municipal pool. I don't know if we are that anymore because we have grown, but at that time we were probably 80 to 90 people. For those that don't know, Colfax is halfway between Fargo and Wapton, about 25 miles each way, uh, about a mile and a half off interstate. So fortunately we are well situated because of the Fargo growth and Wapton's growth and in southeast North Dakota with Gwyner as well. And uh so grew up there, graduated from high school there, moved away for a brief bit, uh, moved back, uh farm a little on the side. My grandpa, my paternal grandpa again, he retired in 1974. So started back up farming. I had a uh neighbor that was very gracious to assist with me, uh assist me, I should say, and and start farming and and did that and um had a few businesses in between there. I've sold uh to my uh employees and sold another business and uh it kind of brought me uh to where I am today. I work at Bank Forward in business development uh in uh in Fargo here, uh particularly West Fargo. But in addition to that, um my hats, I uh I'm Richland County uh 44 or I shouldn't say not Richmond County, Richland 44 school board member and then a Richmond County Commissioner as well. Um and I I take great pride in both of those positions and it's an opportunity to move the needle in our county and our school district. Um Richland 44 school district has seen some nice growth. Uh we just created a new venue on the east side of Colfax, uh our foundation owns, hopefully with a performing arts center in the future. But in particular, um in in Colfax, in the last probably 15 to 17 years, started a little land development. And the reason I did that, Christian, is it seemed like there was some folks that grew up in Colfax or in that area that wanted to move back and there weren't lots available and there weren't houses available, and so we were losing out there they were building or buying in neighboring communities, and um and once they build and buy, they we lose them for probably a lifetime. And so a buddy of mine and I, childhood buddy and I decided to do a little little development on the north side of Colfax. Started off with probably 15 lots and uh slowly took off, and it went from 15 lots and did a little another second phase, and now we're in our third and fourth phase in Colfax Meadows. So we've got over I think it's over 80 lots in the Colfax Meadows for a second, third, and fourth, maybe even barking on a hundred. Um and and so we only have a few lots left. So it's it's been it's been it's done well. It's done well for our community, it's done well for our school district in particular to see that growth. Um and then and then we have a track side development on the west side of Colfax, uh, west side of the tracks. You know, some folks they build and and then they want to shop. And uh while we're Colfax and we're kind of countryish, you know, I say we're a country club, we're all country, no club. Uh but uh but we don't allow for a large shop in their backyard. So folks were looking for that option. So now they can have their shouse, or not pardon me, not their shouse, their she shed or their man shed over there, and that was just launched this spring, last actually last fall. So we've got four or five uh shops out there. Then I'm excited. We have the reserve that just started construction this this fall now. KPH is constructing that, and that that'll be 20 lots, and that'll be our our shelves development, barn dominium development, whatever you want to call it, shelves or barn dominium, depending on who it describes it. So um seems like there's a real pent-up demand for that, and we're I'm I'm real excited for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. There's a lot going on south of town there. Um you know, I I wanted to touch a little bit on on you growing up in Colfax. Um, this has to have a pretty special meaning to you to be able to go back to your hometown and and provide um housing for people that are are they looking to move out of Fargo to more rural, or are you having people move from rural communities to try to be closer to Fargo? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh to your first part. It is uh special. I even get a little emotional when I see those kids being able to r uh have the childhood experiences that we had. They're out there playing kickball or wiffle ball in their backyard, going over to play uh go swim and then go back home and do the same thing. And that's exactly what my buddies and I did, and we have lifetime memories of it. So um, you know, and if you don't have that growth, you sometimes have a community that goes from a youthful community to a retirement community just by just by life. You know, the kids grow up, they move away, there aren't homes for them, and all of a sudden you have an elderly uh population, and and that's a real ch and there's nothing wrong with that, but that's a real challenge for your school district to keep it open. And I think that's what our our smaller communities offer versus suburbia is that mix of the older population, the younger population, they go to the church and they see the grand-and-grandpas that might not live next door to them, but act like a grand-and-grandpa uh to them. And uh into your second part, yeah, originally, like I said, it was some, you know, Richland 44 natives or alumni that wanted to move back. That was kind of the target. And then it was um the target audience, and then it was somebody that grew up in Harvey or Henninger, and they're in Fargo now, and their kids are grade uh uh school age, and they just didn't quite feel that Fargo matched what they grew up with. Not a knock to Fargo, it just wasn't the same. Absolutely and so that was kind of our market. And so and and now it's opened up where some Fargo folks, we just had a couple that grew up in he grew up in West Fargo and just wanted to have more of that rural feel, and and um and and particular with the school, you know, it's usually 20 to 30 kids in a class, but then if it's above that 20, we're looking pretty hard as a school district and we split them. So the student teacher ratio is pretty you know, pretty low. Uh, and I think that's a that's attractive to a lot of people. And uh, you know, you know your you know your your kids' friends and you know their parents, so you know where they're going and where they're who they're hanging out with, and that's a real strong attribute uh for uh attraction to Colfax.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. I think in a in this fast-paced world that that's ever changing, we see the things happening on the news, and I think community has started to take a a strong meaning for for our younger generation and and beginning parents being able to get away from maybe the larger classes and Fargo and have a little bit more attention for your child from a learning standpoint. I I can imagine that has been a big draw to move into Colfax.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's a big draw. And if your child might be struggling early on with that closer uh teacher uh student relationship, I think we nip some of those issues early, and it really helps them develop as students uh later and as a just as adults. And um yeah, one thing I have you know so to describe Richland, it's it's four communities that would make up the school district. It's Christine in our northern uh northern tier, and then it's Colfax, and it's Abercrombie to the east along the Red River, and then Galshu's a smaller, more village. And and it's a so it's a consolidated district back in 1967. So we've been together for quite a while. And I bring that up because uh it's exciting that I haven't really this is the first time I've announced it. We're gonna be uh launching a a development in ABBR as well. So we're really excited about that. So I would say our sister, s the Colfax's sister or brother's community in ABBR will have a development um which is a little closer to to Wappton and Breckenridge along the Red River, it adds a little bit different, and it's kind of back to the earlier conversation. There's some ABBR folks that want to move back, and uh there's just nothing nothing available. And you see that in a lot of communities throughout North Dakota um where they're bottlenecked, they're landlocked, but they're not literally landlocked, but they're landlocked from the availability to have a uh uh landowner sell them land to grow. And I enjoy going out throughout the state with my job with uh Bank Forward and uh working with communities um with my with the bank forward job because I I work with some municipalities, but also talking to them about growth. When we have this uh proper not to get down a rabbit hole, but this property tax cap and the opportunity for growth. And everybody always wants to talk about jobs, but if it's just jobs and you don't have the people, it doesn't do much good. And with people you need to have housing. And and one thing that COVID did allow is it really expedited, I think, remote working. And back to that target audience in Colfax, you know, it's it's the it's the Harvey and Hinninger natives and it's the Colfax natives and sometimes some Fargo folks, but it's also we've had some folks move in from Minneapolis that grew up somewhere in this area, but they're in Minneapolis. They still work in Minneapolis, but they remote uh work, and we have great fiber optics, redover communications is phenomenal. So we have as high a speed of internet as anywhere in the st in the upper Midwest, I would argue. And so it allows for those folks to to come and work. And like I said, they might travel once a quarter to their home base, wherever that might be, Minneapolis or Chicago, but allows them to have that small town feel.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, small town feel with the big town benefits. Yeah, exactly. That's uh you you touched on a great point there. I think COVID did change that the the job scene quite a bit, allowing people to work from the spaces that they enjoy working from and and live in areas that they I know in years prior people would move uh halfway across the country for a good job, and and that's something that was required being far away from the places they grew up. And I I think it's something, Nathan. Somehow we always end up close to it might be 10 or 20 or 30 years down the road, but it seems like a lot of people do end up coming back to where those roots are at. Sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Whether it's a re their retirement age, you see a lot of folks do that. And that's the beauty too, is we're we have some uh folks that have couples that have moved back that grew up in the area and they were that retirement age. So we get that mix, that's really exciting. Sometimes they'll say, Well, we don't bring any kids to the school district. That's not always it, it it's nice to have that, you know, those folks in their retirement ages into the young, so it's not these these kids experience different. Uh it's it's a life experience and it's great. And um, and and and COVID not only expedited into how we work, but it also helped us reflect on who we are and where we live and how we reacted to COVID. And I think a lot of folks thought, you know, this isn't quite for me. And um, and so maybe it's time for us to uh move and look what uh matches more of who we are.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Folks, we're nearing the end of our first segment here. We want to thank Nathan Burseth for being on with us today. He's gonna stick around for three more segments. We also want to thank our sponsor on today's show, Piper's Auction Realty, and land management. Make sure you give them a call, 877-700-4099, for your free consultation. We'll be right back after this break. Nathan, welcome back to another segment here. Thanks. I know we covered a little bit on segment one about some of Nathan's background growing up in Colfax and and the development down there. I uh I wanted to dive in a little bit more, Nathan, and and talk about differentiate a little bit between Colfax and and track side and availability and and some of those details.

SPEAKER_02:

So, like I said earlier, you know, Colfax Meadows, we're in our fourth phase. Uh one and two are completely filled. Uh the third phase, I think, has maybe one or two lots available. And in Colfax uh fourth phase, which just came online last spring, uh pardon me, last fall, we've got uh, I believe three homes being built, Delta, two or three homes. So we've got about 12 lots left in that one. Uh and it's there's some pond lots. We have a nice pond with a with a fountain uh out there as well. And so we've got those 12. And then you jump over to, and I'll go back in the details on some of these, and you jump over just to the west just across the tracks. And when people hear tracks, it's a short line. It's Red River Valley Western Railroad. So they come in on average maybe once a day. Um so it's not like it's it's they're be bopping through all the time, and they're very courteous when they come through our communities. And I I applaud Red River for that, uh, Red River Valley Western. But anyway, on the on the west side, so it's just a short walk or um a side-by-side or car drive uh to to get across pickup drive to get across the tracks. And those are um, like I said, those are that's track side, and those are smaller lots, but they allow for uh whether it be commercial and or just a residential, night residential living use, I shouldn't call it residential, but somebody that just wants to use it for their for their own hobby purposes, uh is by probably a better explanation. And that's what we're seeing, a heavier use of folks buying it and they just they need more storage rather than spending a couple hundred bucks a month in storage for a little unit, they're able to have a you know 30 by 40, 40 by 50, 50 by 60, whatever that might be. They can put their tractor in there, they can put their boat, they can put everything in there, plus their wives can have their storage or vice versa. Um, and those seem to be prop popular as well. And it's got power and it's got water, and then they have a you know holding tank for septics. So um, like I said, we've got uh quite a few going up out there right now, and that's proven to be popular. And then as I said earlier, the reserve is just coming on, that's for the Shellson Barn Dominium development. And I should say all of our all of our lots, residential lots, have city water, city sewer. Um so it's not a septic system. You know, they're on city water, they're on city sewer, so if something goes awry, they don't they're not gonna have a big bill in that regard. And those are larger lots, and then like I said, those are all slab on grade, whether that's the requirement and the covenants, and uh and and then it you know the obviously it's a sh it's a shell, and some people are what's a shells or barney meaning what describes what's the difference? And I don't know if there's a real clear definition other than you're basically attaching a shop to your house. Sure. Um, and so you don't have that detached shop, you're you have your 60 by 80 shop or might be 50 by 60 oversized, very much oversized garage that they can walk out into and work on their equipment or uh their uh hobby tools again or hobby uh side by sides. Uh the difference in going a little bit further, the difference between the reserve and Colfax Meadows, Colfax Meadows, historically, most of those lots are half acre to three-quarters of an acre lot. Sometimes there's a couple of them that are an acre lot, which people here are an acre, and you know, and you compare that to more of our urban friends, uh half acre to an acre lot's a large lot. Uh, you know, you're looking at that, you know, 150 foot frontage, 200 feet deep. You know, you don't have your neighbor, you put your hand out the window and you're shaking their hands. It's not that, you know. Absolutely. Uh, you know, it's uh 150 foot frontage, you can have a side delivery garage. You can do some, you know, you can have a side garage, side delivery garage. We have one that's doing an L-shaped garage right now, so you can have a little bit more creativity when it comes to building those homes. And then you skip over to the north on the north side of Colfax Meadows, and you you have, you know, 0.7, 0.8 acre lots to be specific, all the way up to two and a half acre lots. Um, so yeah, I mean you now you're looking at three, four hundred foot frontages and same thing that that much that deep as well. So part of the requirements out there is you know, you have your shop is on the side or in the rear side, so you don't drive by and it looks like a shop. You know, you see the residential side, then you see the shop maybe on the back, or you don't see it at all. So you still have that feel of a residential. And I should clarify that all those 20 lots, they have to be a shouse or a barn dominum. So you don't have a traditional home and then a shouse and a traditional. Both are wonderful homes, but it just throws off the aesthetics a little bit. So even though we're a small town, I give the city of Colfax credit. We, you know, they we they abide and keep things you know on the up and up. Um, they've been a great partner as far as putting the infrastructure in uh as well. And they've seen the uh upside of the growth for them and this and their and the community and their and this and the school district as as well as myself, of course, as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And and so when someone's considering moving into the area, it sounds like there's quite a bit of availability as far as what they want to do, uh, lot size, and then are they once they choose the lot, are they able to participate in the design of the home? How how does that process work for a potential buyer?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's a great point. So they do. They you know, once they purchase that lot, you know, there's approval by the city and approval by the developer of that of that house design. Having said that, they get to choose the their house design. Uh they have complete control over that as long as it meets the covenants and the request city specs, they have that control. And that's one thing that's really uh, I think, a benefit to Colfax as well. You don't see the same house on the entire same block and it all looks the same. We probably have, I would say, 12 to 15 different builders out there. So you're getting a lot of different looks. Uh, you know, and originally when we first started off, builders were real little reluctant to go out to Colfax, it's like, well, where is Colfax? So that was, you know, even marketing took a little while to get Colfax on the map because it's a Richland school district, it's not Colfax School District. So that took a little bit of uh, you know, education. But now when builders and of course our our market, our buyers realize it's a it's a quick 20-minute drive from South Fargo uh to get home, and it's easy. You get on interstate, you know, you'd rather go drive north and south than east and west in the winter time. Um and the builders as well now realize you know it's it's easier to build out in Colfax. You can spread yourself out, you don't have to be in this tight lot to build and uh and be a little bit more relaxed. So there's a lot more architectural opportunity, I would say, with the builder and the homeowner in uh in Colfax.

SPEAKER_00:

That's great to hear. Uh it's always nice when someone gets to customize what they want. I know there's a lot of people out on the market that I think that's some of their struggle when they're looking to buy. There's uh when they look at something that's already been built, there's usually a few things that they would like to change or or would like to um to add some touches to it. And so at Colfax, they have the opportunity to do so when they choose both by lot size and by uh style of the home.

SPEAKER_02:

That's correct. And sometimes it can be a blessing and a and a curse because now it's up to you. You know, instead of just saying here's your home, if you pick the siding color and the shingle color, you have to have a little bit more, but it obviously it's I consider it a much more of a blessing to have that. And then that back to the reserve as well. That's really an open uh uh uh painting, uh so to speak, because they the there's not a lot out there. So we're working with some architects to come up with some plans with builders so there's at least a starting spot so they can place so they can look at and say, okay, this is what I like and I don't like because it's up to your wildest imagination. And in in Colfax Meadows as well. And there's a lot of builders that have a starting point, of course, with some homes and price points, but um but yeah, the there's a lot of opportunity for people to be very creative.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And for an outdoorsman like myself, I I can see how the the barn dominium or or the the the he the he shed or she shed, though those style of designs for people that might have a construction business or they enjoy the outdoors. I know if you're out hunting or fishing, there's a lot of dirt and mud involved, and and versus bringing that home to your own garage, maybe having the option to build something at at track side allows those people to have a second option for their outdoor hobbies. Is that correct? That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02:

They can pull in their boat, you know, have a pressure washer and they're wash it off rather than having to go to a car wash and go through all that hassle and uh whether they're side by side or their four or their four-wheeler or their you know, snowmobile. It's endless. And everybody seems to have a few of those, especially when you get into the into the more uh rural area. It's nice to have a few of those toys. It seems like everybody out there has a side-by-side uh should have a dealership because there's uh you know they're very popular. They're all even a golf cart. But yeah, and you can work on them as well. So you can pull it in, have a heated shop. If it's something's wrong with you, you can tinker around rather than going you know to a like I say a cold storage area where it's at. And and you bring up a really good point. One thing I re- I recall uh we're showing a couple young couple around, and they're is there any wildlife? They asked. I said, Yeah, we have wildlife, oh of course you're saying that you're trying to sell us a lot. And as luck would have it, here comes a nice rooster pheasant right in front of the windshield, you know, and and lands. And could we and this year is a really good population of rooster or pheasants, excuse me, out in the in the Colfax area, and we've got some great CRP. So it's it's fun at night. You can not only see the stars, you can hear the roosters crow. It's uh it's a pretty cool, powerful uh experience.

SPEAKER_00:

Nathan, thank you for for sharing here today with us. We're really enjoying hearing about Colfax Meadows, trackside, and the reserve. We're nearing the end of our second segment here. We want to thank Piffers Auction Realty and Land Management for sponsoring our show today. Make sure to give the folks over there a call for your free consultation, 877-700-4099. We'll be right back after a short break. Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm your host on this week's show, Christian Miller, and I'm joined by my guest, Nathan Burseth. Nathan, welcome back to segment three. Thanks again. You bet. We're talking about Colfax Meadows and and uh the community down there. And and during the break, Nathan and I were talking about the diversion a little bit. Many of you are familiar with what's going on here in the Red River Valley with the diversion, but we wanted to touch a little bit, Nathan, the diversion has has touched the Colfax community as well and and has had some impacts down there. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, correct. And um, you know, I don't not gonna go back and we could have four segments on the history of the diversion, but the diversion's here. Um and uh but a little bit of just a little brief history. You know, when when Richland County and Wilken County joined and and entered in a lawsuit to s to halt the diversion, what resulted in that was uh a change of plans and got uh a plan B, which really benefited Richland and Wilken County took a majority of the impacts out of it. But there were still some unknown consequences, and so anyway, exp uh fast forward through all those years that we came up with a settlement and uh a cash settlement, and what those dollars were designed to is for economic development. And you know, when you have dollars, you take some heat as a as an elected official because everybody's uh is looking for it, but really focused on how can we grow our tax base for versus just uh subsidizing our taxes so it lessens the burden for our current taxpayers. And part of that was a uh housing program, uh housing rehabilitation program. Uh and so those have really played well into our communities. And part of the settlement was to impact all of Richland County, even though the northern part was the part that was impacted, it would impact the entire county, of course, with a lower tax base. So when we settled that with Fargo, uh it was the designed for a larger dollar amount so we can go from you know our northern partners or uh towns in Walcott all the way down to Hankinson and Ledgewood to Fairmont and every corner. So we really got those dollars rolling in a housing program. I won't go into those details, but in any way it it assists housing uh uh builders and the banks that are participating in that to take a little bit of the risk out. And it's really benefited us now in regard to this caps on the 3% for the for property taxes, because that's uh new growth is above and beyond that. But like I said earlier, you know, we can talk about jobs, but if you have the jobs in your community and everyone lives outside of your community, there you don't see those benefits. You don't see those those kids in the in the in the community, you don't see the the family spending the money. And I give an example, one of our communities we built a home in the southern part of the county, and a family moved in with four kids in that household. Well, the the taxes have changed in North Dakota in regard to school districts, and a lot of it's dependent on the enrollment. So those four kids roughly are about$11,000 give or take per per kid. So now that school district had another$44,000, which of course in a Fargo or West Fargo doesn't seem like a lot, but in our smaller school districts, that's a huge impact, whether you lose four kids or you can gain four kids. So we really focused in on um on our housing, and then also in some of our smaller communities, you have some homes that need a little TLC. And if you can put a little TLC into those homes, you maybe attract some of those younger families, those first homeowner buyers versus some of those folks that are coming in that maybe don't have the best intentions for your community. And I think that helps overall the social aspect of our communities as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. That's uh that's a great point that you made, and and that kind of goes back to a lot of the small towns in North Dakota. I I see a lot of them. You had mentioned the the age of of the people living there, and I I've noticed that across North Dakota, a lot of these small towns are starting to lose out. And so to be able to give the existing homes a facelift and brighten that community to pair with those new homes, I I would imagine has to be pretty attractive to people looking to buy.

SPEAKER_02:

Wildly attractive because you can take that home that's maybe uh you know for sale for$50,000, even if you double and put another$100,000 into it,$150,000. You don't get anything in a new home nowadays. So as these homes have these new construction homes have skyrocketed, there's a real opportunity and niche for these for these homes that are need just need some TLC. And but it kind of comes back to you know these communities and uh not to say the woe woo is me, but sometimes you have to have those folks and or the municipality, whether it be the county or the city, to take that risk. When they say, well, somebody needs to do this, somebody needs to do that, they, they, they. It's we are the they. And if if we aren't gonna take that risk, who's gonna take that risk? And that's what we looked, viewed it as a as a county, because a benefit. We have that long-term tax benefit. The school district has a long-term tax benefit from it. So sometimes we have to stick our neck out there a little bit, and it's a huge upside, and it actually lessens the burden for the existing taxpayer because now you have more folks paying for the same services. You have that tabletop, you might as well have four or five legs holding it up versus two or three, and it just lessens that burden. So that's worked out uh uh well for us.

SPEAKER_00:

That's fantastic to hear for people that first-time home buyers like you mentioned, and I'm guessing that a lot of first-time homebuyers are going to be younger people that most likely will look to start families, or maybe they have young children already. And so I'm guessing that with offering that you've seen probably an increase in in your enrollment at your school district, and and are you continuing to pull uh families into the into the Richland County School District? Is that been effective?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I think a lot of our school districts are seeing an uh not all, but some are seeing an uptick with with our with our program in particular, and I'm not as intimately involved in some of them, but Richland for sure. You know, it takes quite a few but more homes, rooftops, to equal the same amount. We don't have families that have five, six, seven, eight kids anymore. You know, it's one, you know, I'm a family with one child, so it takes that many more. But yeah, we we are seeing that the turnaround. For example, there was a house that was just renovated in Colfax, and they have uh, you know, four kids, and it was a it was a perfect opportunity for them. The the niche we're finding is some of these, there's a few uh young uh contractors in Richland County and they're buying the homes because the that young home buyer, and it's not always necessarily a home young home buyer, might be a second or third, or or retired folks, but they don't want to put the time and effort, that's not their talent and treasure, to put into renovating that house. So the the couple contractors are buying these homes, renovating them, and then selling them, and it's you know turnkey, and that seems to be working out really well. And we have a program that carries that construction note for one percent, so it really makes it opportunistic for them uh and more competitive, I should say, to get that get that home and uh in re versus a higher rate for that construction period and then get a traditional mortgage from their bank and then sell it to that home buyer.

SPEAKER_00:

It sounds like there is a ton of opportunity in in Colfax and and track side and and the reserve. It to me as a as a younger person, it sounds like you've created something down there that's very attractive for home buyers.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, and the the beauty of it, you said it earlier, you need to get the benefits of the the you know the uh the uh big city, but also the uh benefits for lack of a of the smaller town. You know, you can if you want to go to uh the big city, uh if you call big Fargo big city, uh you want to go there and and to go to a concert to go out for supper, whatever it might be, to you know, we have great supper clubs in our area as well, of course. But if you want to go to Fargo, you're only a 20-minute drive. Um and it and to me, uh that 20-minute drive into town to work, if you're commuting to work in a 20-minute home, it's kind of your wind up and you're wind down. And it's a it's a stress-free drive for the most part, usually most days, and 80 miles an hour goes pretty quick. Absolutely. Um, and so that's really uh and again, once you're home, you've got everything you need there. But if you want to go out and t take in uh some action in town, you can go to Wapton or Fargo and and have that as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And and you had mentioned wildlife uh as well. It it is really a a well rounded community where you get the benefits of of the big city close by. You can do your shopping and uh come home and unwind with a sunset and and look out your window and and see the prairie. uh unfolding in front of you. I I know your social media and uh some of your marketing ha has really done an excellent job showing showing what's available out there and and uh how beautiful that community has turned out. Another thing that I've seen on the social media, it looks like you have an events center that recently opened, is that correct?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah and uh so that the they call it the 44 venue our foundation which is part of our school district it is and it isn't so it's our it's our school district's 501c3. When I say it isn't so the financial well-being of that foundation doesn't uh hurt our school district so it's really the best of both worlds because the foundation owns it it's not a burden to the taxpayers matter of fact the goal is eventually it'll be a benefit to the taxpayers because it's a revenue source you know that's rented out for weddings next year in 2026 now when brides and grooms are applying their weddings to eight 10 12 months out or sometimes 24 months is starting to fill up. So we're excited for that because it allows for a perpetuity of funds for our foundation. We have a fairly well healed foundation thanks to a donor who bequeathed uh a multi-million dollars to our to our foundation bachelor named Daryl Hendrickson uh he gave a majority of his estate to our school foundation so it was a beautiful gift and and in his will it stated that the money shall be spent in uh uh yearly in in uh scholarships uh the uh from the principal and interest and income can be used as at the school's discretion so it was a beautiful gift so every student that graduates from Richland if they attend three other four years in high school at Richland they get$10,000 so that's a that's a game changer and whether you're a C student or a B student or an A student whether your family is extremely well to do or might be some challenges it's that$10,000. And you you could be going to welding school you can be going to Harvard which we've had both or barber school it doesn't matter it's that$10 up to that$10,000. So it's it can be a game changer for a lot of students and their families.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a for a a child going to college or or looking for opportunity um after graduation that is uh a significant amount of money and I can see how how the the community down there is offering a lot of opportunity not just to these first time home buyers but also people that have children that are attending your school district that has to be a big draw for people with with children looking for maybe a better opportunity in in education. I know from some of my friends that I visited with some of our bigger cities have challenges with large classrooms and then after you get to your graduation portion finding those those programs to help with with furthering your education can also be challenging at times and it sounds like Colfax has a great plan in place to help those students that are looking for scholarships.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah I mean I I don't know if anyone's just gonna jump down and move to Colfax because uh you know of a scholarship but it it's it's a part of that package it's the it's the lifestyle it's it's part of that I should also state we have a very active dollars for scholars uh foundation as well and they couple that$10,000 with substantial dollars as well. So you combine those it's it's a it's a it's a large dollar amount. But our foundation's also very active in the day-to-day operations of our school if a if a teacher is outside the school's wheelhouse as far as funding they can go to the foundation ask for some funds uh they've done a lot of that um they've uh they've assisted and and I should have some off the top of tip of my tongue but and also you know we're very active with our uh uh dual credits for college courses as well and that they've participated in some of the foundation with some laptops and so they've assisted students not only for postgraduation but during their high school stint as well to assist them with uh some of those expenses we are having a great conversation on development south of Fargo here we want to thank Nathan for sticking around for our final segment we also want to thank Piper's auction reality and land management for sponsoring today's show make sure you give them a call for your free consultation we'll be right back after this short break 35,000 2530 welcome back to America's land auctioneer I'm your host on this week's show Christian Miller and I'm joined by my guest today Nathan Burset Nathan we want to thank you for being on the show today we're on to our final segment here finally here yeah you bet and went by pretty quick we uh we could have done several shows with the uh with the amount of conversation that that we're able to talk about on on Colfax and and uh track side and and the reserve you you've got quite the project going on south of town there yeah it's exciting it's it's it's exciting for uh our my well our community our school district everybody involved it's it's fun to see it's fun to see a a community that's uh thriving versus just trying to survive it's a completely different mindset matter of fact last Sunday when having said that our church is discussing uh uh uh uh an addition we wouldn't be having that discussion if we wouldn't have that growth so it's really it it's certainly some challenges but they're great challenges I I think of when my daughter our daughter started going to Sunday school not just Sunday school going to church there were two kids now with you know for the children's sermon now all of a sudden there's on average 20 to 30 kids up there so it's fun to hear babies crying in church versus snoring.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely and I know we we were talking during the break it seems like there's a lot of towns across North Dakota that are kind of teetering a little bit whether they're going to continue to be thriving towns or if they can attract young people to move back. I I graduated from Edgeley south of Jamestown a class of eight small graduating class possibly one of the smallest they've ever had graduate from that school and Edgely has some businesses and and so does Ellendale and L'Amour but there are smaller towns around Edgely and and Lamore area and a lot of those towns are I would say on the brink of of kind of shutting down.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah you're right I mean you got Gackle you've got Calm you've got even Judd in there I mean you've got a lot of small small communities and really the heart and soul of that community and and I a passion of mine is that school and once you lose that school boy it's it's hard to to uh convince somebody you know move to you know uh I'm not gonna pick on any town but that's lost their school but loop move to this town and then your your kid's gonna hop on a bus for 20 minutes. So it's critical to keep that school district open and of course it's kids that you know to keep that school district open and to your point Christian is um you know it it gets that critical loss of critical mass and all of a sudden you know you can't or you can't offer the education that you should be offering just because you want to keep the Edgely Rangers going or was the Edgeley Rangers at one time whatever they might be or the Culb golfers. And so it doesn't take a lot of growth to to move that needle. You know if you're class of eight and you have a family move in all of a sudden you know they have you know or a couple families you you have two more kids in there it's a 20% gain you know or we might probably not quite the math but it's a huge difference maker. And so you don't have to do you know 50 60 lots you can do 10 20 lots. There are some challenges in there with a lift station and things like that to get down to the rabbit down that rabbit hole but we have a lot of communities in North Dakota that offer a lot and sometimes we not sometimes oftentimes we sell ourselves short we don't recognize what we have in North Dakota or or Minnesota or South Dakota for that matter is not to exclude those city uh states as well. And um we sh we sell ourselves short but there's a reason why we're there. It's not always just our heritage and where we grew up if it was if it was just that and we didn't like the community we wouldn't be there. And so um it's it's a draw and we have to recognize it's a draw for other folks that want to move into those areas as well. And it's just a matter of we're as North Dakotans, as Scandinavians majority, we're not very well good at boasting about ourselves or our communities. We need to do a better job of that and um you know some people change you know the old joke is how many Norwegians does it take to change the light bulb change you know it's changes hard. But I'll tell you this as well I'll say this as well is doing nothing is change. Doing nothing is dying. So that is change. So whether you want to grow or die that's a choice of your community and um and it and it does attract really good folks too for lack of a better term you get solid housing quality housing you're gonna get good quality people overall.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely and I something that you mentioned Nathan that I think we should touch on is you were talking about it's not just the it's not just the people that we like in in these small towns. I think part of the attraction that draws people back is I've done a little bit of the same I've I've lived other places but you find yourself gravitating back towards where you grew up I think a lot of it is the values and people knowing each other. You go to these small towns and people recognize you.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah and and exactly and those values and like mindedness and like I said earlier you if you have children you know your your your children's friends names and their parents' names and you know whose houses they're going to and if they're out on their bikes and oftentimes the community has a the fire department has a six o'clock whistle and the kids know to go home and have supper and they may go out again and some of my Kofax does not have a nine o'clock whistle but usually come dark you better be home. But those noon and we had a I can remember like yesterday we had a 12 o'clock whistle and a six o'clock whistle and with that pool you know pool would open up at one or two o'clock you'd swim you go play wiffle ball come back six o'clock whistle you go home and eat it was like clockwork all summer and I don't think my myself or my any of my childhood buddies would trade that for the world. And sometimes can you go to bigger and better and make more as as as parents potentially but it's not always what you make it's what you keep too and I think that's important is you know low cost living and but also most importantly like you said is the is the quality and like mindedness. You see in a lot of the bigger cities the Minneapolis and the large cities they try to duplicate what we have but you got to pay a lot of money to try to duplicate that whether it be private schools and those big big cities whatever it might be where we have that essentially here in our public schools.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely and and for the people raising children those those first ten years are are the years that you develop your habits and and those are your early childhood memories the things that'll stick with you for the rest of your life and and to be able to grow up in a in a simple community where you know everybody around you your best friends are part of the football and the basketball team you go fishing together on the weekends those values are are unmatched.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah absolutely Christian whether it's grand and grandpa that live next door to you or they are like a grand and grandpa that live next door to you it doesn't have to always be blood and that's pretty powerful too because grand and grandpa may no longer be with us. And so that there's those folks are more than happy to be a grand and grandpa just because it's not blood. And the same thing with sports and debate the arts you don't have to be the Michael Jordan you know or the Caitlin Clark to go and participate. I certainly wasn't and I participated in quite a few of the sports and my buddies as well and and that it allows for a lot of life learning in a short period of time like you say from zero to ten or zero to eighteen that parlays into into life.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely I I think sports small town sports are are are critical to early childhood development I think that you know even my early teen years we we would get to know kids from other towns because we played them in basketball or or track and and we spent the day together at a track meet and uh and so you'd keep that you kept that relationship into adulthood and and I still connect with people through business and just on a friendly basis but I still connect with a lot of the people that I met through those years.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly I still see guys I competed against in in high school and and it still has that camaraderie and that connection you know and it's said many times I'm not the one that coined this but you know North Dakota is one middle sized city with long streets and it really is. You know you and you can you can you know what's it seven degrees it can be two degrees in a quick hurry. You ask somebody where are you from and they'll say you know you know uh oh oh Mott and you were the you know the fire starter wildfire whatever they are or or they were the Mott Cardinals and or the gackle Oreos and you can you know whether they're 30 years old or 60 years old you can break down those barriers and know somebody from those communities or know their school mascot. I've kind of got a infatuation with school mascots in North Dakota and especially the ones that are gone uh gone of yesteryear. Absolutely but uh and and and so yeah it it does create a lot of lifelong relationships.

SPEAKER_00:

Folks I want to thank Nathan Burseth for being on our show today. It has been refreshing hearing about small town North Dakota and and the changes being made for our smaller communities. Nathan thank you for being on today. Thanks for the opportunity Christian I really enjoyed it. You bet folks we want to thank our sponsor Piper's Auction Realty and Land Management for sponsoring today's show. Once again I'm your host Christian Miller thank you and we'll see you on next week's episode of America's Land Auction