Z & R Venture, Inc. in some ways appears to be a typical real estate development business venture.  Two guys with different talents get together and begin a real estate development.  Each brings a different skill set to the table.  One is the money, the other the expertise.   Doesn’t seem all that novel.  In fact there is probably a “For Dummies” book out there to show you how to put together a real estate deal.  The difference with Z & R Ventures is what they have achieved in a relatively short time frame can’t be learned in a book.  It takes years of experience and a true sense of what can and cannot be done to achieve what Z & R duo have done.

I recall the first meeting with the Curt and Gary over a cup of coffee where they shared their passion for their project in Watford City, North Dakota.  A little south of the Bakken epicenter (Williston, North Dakota) it seemed little more than a wide spot in the road.  A couple of years ago, you would have blinked and missed it.  But, with the proliferation of oil development throughout the state, and more specifically  in McKenzie County, North Dakota, Watford City has turned into a hot bed of exploration and production, and thus commercial and residential development.

Z & R’s Dakota Landing project in the the Amber Hills is conveniently located in the heart of North Dakota’s thriving oil boom, and offers investors a variety of lucrative income opportunities ranging from land development to current tenant housing. This property is positioned less than one mile south of Watford City (the County Seat of McKenzie County) and is in the heart of the most prolific drilling county in North Dakota. There are very few pieces of prime real estate in North Dakota that offer the abundant income potential found in Amber Hill Properties sitting on an aquifer and a stones throw from the truck bypass route.

Taking 50 acres of what appeared to be junk land and having the vision and capacity to develop it makes Z & R a standout in the Bakken.  To learn more about Z & R Ventures, Inc., connect with them on their website or through their Synergy Station virtual business directory listing.

Amber Hills Properties  Z & R Ventures, Inc. Watford City, ND

For those who don’t live in and around the Bakken, it’s difficult to understand what it’s like here in the Williston Basin.  A few years ago, Watford City and Williston were like a lot of North Dakota towns:  quiet. 

There were a few stores on Main Street, a Walmart and a some family-friendly restaurants that you didn’t need reservations for. Some people were still oilfield workers, others farmed and ranched.  Back then, you could buy a house for less than $100,000.  If you wanted to rent an apartment in Williston, you could get it for $300-$500 a month.

Thanks to the exploration of the Bakken shale, fracking and the high-paying oilfield jobs that followed, however, those days are behind us.  Fast food businesses are paying employees $15/hour and Walmart is paying $17/hour and still having a tough time hiring. Rent an apartment in Watford City or Williston now and you’ll pay $2,000 or more.  Hotel rooms are non-existent.  Home prices are skyrocketing.  Oilfield workers are living in their cars despite earning six figures a year. 

Big money is being made in “man camps”, which offer full-service lodging for oifield workers. These man camps provide a room for sleeping and up to three meals a day for those staying there.  With laundry facilities, game rooms, televisions and other basic amenities, man camps are a popular option for these workers.  For the people who purchase land around the Bakken and put up these man camps, the money to be made is significant. Rooms rent for an average of $150 to $200 per night, and empty rooms are rare.  

 But that’s not the whole story. Somewhat more “traditional” rentals in Williston, Watford City and surrounding North Dakota towns are bringing huge returns on investment. Manufactured homes built to suit 8 people rent out for over $13,000 every month. Put a 2-bedroom trailer house on a property with utilities and you can receive tenant income of $4,000 a month or more from oilfield workers who value having a little more privacy than man camps offer.  People who invest their money in Bakken housing now can make it back quickly and then start earning straight profit within a few months. 

My father and my mother lived in an airstream for many years and as a child I remember spending my summers on the road with my father.  I could see an ordinance limiting the number of inhabited RV living to be more attainable than a complete ban.  There are people making an income off renting RV space while housing is being built.  I also noted comments from someone called Go back home.  That perhaps Go back home should visit parts of America that are hurting for jobs. 

I own a home in Southwestern Minnesota were work is almost impossible to find unless you can climb a wind turbine.  Father’s don’t go hundreds of miles away from their families to send money home unless they have exhausted all other options.  I am a transplant to North Dakota and Montana but my first experience here was in Golva, North Dakota back in 1997 with farming.  I moved back in 2008 to work on scenic art and my writing.  Go back home you need to expand your horizons on what the rest of America is going through. 

I attended the inauguration of President Obama and drove through some very impoverished Area’s of America.  My full time day job has me interacting with the public and area workers on a daily basis.  I watch many of the worker’s count the days until they can go back home to see their son’s Prom or their daughter’s ball games.  Many would love to move their families to North Dakota or Montana but the cost of housing has tripled or gone beyond that since May 2008.

It is a sad but true factor in life that were there is a boom you will find that snake trying to make a fast buck off someone less fortunate.  North Dakota and Montana are beautiful states and there is plenty of open range left to build housing.  Go back in time and look at all the booms this country has experienced and be thankful you can say you were a part of the great opportunities available in the Bakken.

“Sexually-transmitted diseases have risen to a record high in the area,” said Deborah Thompson-Hall, a registered nurse at the health center on the Fort Berthold Reservation in New Town, less than 100 miles North of Williston.

And because of long waits for emergency care, doctor’s offices and health care clinics, people have to wait literally months to be seen. So clinics in Billings, Miles City and Sidney are also seeing an increase in immediate care visits for STDs.

“We see over a couple dozen cases a week,” said a Billings Nurse who wishes to remain anonymous. “It’s not just STDS, but HIV testing too!”

A modern day Sodom and Gomorrah! Drinking, drugs, STDs, HIV, OH MY! Where is Abraham where you need him? So what can be done? Well we all know that cities like Billings, Miles City and Sidney are seeing a number of these cases and education has to be the starting point!

We need to be proactive here and quit turning a blind eye and hope that it will all go away. It’s not going to go away, it’s just going to spread like wildfire. And if we don’t start preparing for it, we could be facing the same uphill battle.

Strippers are being paid astronomical wages, even the owners of Strip Clubs in Sin City are complaining! Now that is bad! This is an ongoing epidemic with the getting more money mentality and the thousands of job openings that still remain in the Bakken.

Man camps run rampant with single guys living in the Bakken for a few weeks at a time and then going home for a couple weeks off. And it’s not just oil field workers, grocery stores, doctors, nurses, lab techs, are doing it as well. Some are being hired and paid incredibly well to do shifts similar to some of the oil workers and live in man camps.

Companies like Schlumberger and Sanjel are working hard at getting families into homes in Williston to clear up the man camp style living. With families moving in that should slow the STDs and HIV, but is there another solution?  What can be done if anything?

I don’t have answers, but something needs to be done or at the very least education available to employees in the Bakken. It’s the wife’s at home, the innocent victims that bother me the most. Something definitely needs to be done about the STD boom in the Bakken!

Want to live and invest in the Bakken Region? Want to place yourself above the competition? Should I be looking outside the region? Who best represents my interests?

“These are serious questions that you need to ask yourself as an investor new to the region,” Larsen began. “Finding a qualified real estate agent who not only understands the region but goes beyond a single transaction to understand the clients long term investment strategy! One great starting point is to look for a commercial agent with a CCIM designation, CCIM.com. This designation places that realtor in a class of true professionals in commercial real estate. This realtor is proficient in decision analysis, marketing analyais, financial analysis, negotiations and investment analysis. We understand marketing curves, exit strategy and long term investment strategy.”

“So in saying this, the first question to ask yourself, what is my long term investment goals? If you are looking at an area with a 5 to 20 year growth curve, then maybe you should be looking at a balanced market such as Billings. Billings is a diversified market with regional medical, energy, retail and warehouse those areas may be a better long term strategy.”

Good advice for anyone looking to invest in the Bakken Region or in Billings Montana!

Billings has 6 CCIM designated realtors and Larsen is working on his designate. If you would like to discuss Larry’s analysis on the region, give him a cal, 406-672-7884l. There is great opportunity outside the Bakken Region, including the Billings area!

Bakken opportunities, however, are not for the weak kneed, or faint hearted. You need to have vision, initiative, resilience, integrity, and a healthy dose of the pioneer spirit! And, that’s what Gary Zacc and Curt Richards of Z & R Ventures possess. Two guys who landed in Montana many years ago with their love of the great outdoors, passion for wide open spaces, and looking for a place where you could still realize the American dream.

It’s been said that there are @ 18,000 unfilled jobs in the oil patch due to a general lack of housing; temporary and permanent. With demand far exceeding supply, landlords and hoteliers can charge top dollar for a place to flop for the night and they do. So, when Gary and Curt discovered a spot of land in a prime location just outside Watford City, North Dakota, the first phase of their “Dakota Landing” development included housing. While the Z & R partners fully realized they could squeeze every bit of profit from the business by offering lodging to workers at inflated rates; they chose not to do so. Guided by deep Christian principles they choose to offer lodging at a reasonable rates in their 64 furnished individual rooms in McKenzie County.

Z & R’s moral compass has paid off; as the partners have been blessed with 50 prime acres located on the proposed truck bypass route only 100 feet outside the expanded city limits of Watford City.  Additional features and potential for the property includes:

• 2,000 sq. ft. maintenance/office building with 14’ x 80’ home for on site management
• Water well @ 100 gallons per minute
• Individual septic handling system and leach field.
• Underground power
• Lighted parking lot and area lighting
• Future expansion sites for 16’ x 80’ homes (4 bed, 2 bath) for smaller companies
• Future expansion sites (1 to 1.5 acres) for small commercial shops
• Future expansion site for small personal storage business
• Future expansion for water depot
• Future overnight semi truck parking
• Future public shower facility
• Future public laundry mat

Over the next year, McKenzie County is expected to see a 200% to 400% increase in oil industry activity. This translates to more pressure on the already limited supply of housing, support businesses and existing business space.

To connect with Gary & Curt at Z & R Ventures and to learn more about “Dakota Landing” and it’s potential for your business and your employees, click to their Synergy Station Directory Listing.