“Can you really advocate raising kids in this state. How can a wife stay home with the kids, and still be able to pay the mortgage. How can a family live in a good school district, have a yard, and afford to eat? You can’t unless you are in the top 3%”

Ultimately you have to prioritize. When the bubble took off back in 2004, I got the heck out of dodge and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Those little college towns are awesome places to raise a family if you can find decent work. Another problem with moving is family. Is you family in SD? If not, that makes a move easier. If what SD has to offer isn’t worth the $$$ for you and your family then yes I would try something else. We did and had the bubble not imploded we probably would have stayed in NC even though most of our family lives in SD.

We ended buying a stock condition place in mission hills about half the size of the turnkey mansion we had in Chapel Hill but it has plenty of outdoor space. That was my big priority. I wanted to be outside year round in an area where I would not be swarmed by the attack of the mosquitos. Well and I also appreciate the ocean breezes. Sometimes in North Carolina when the heat index is pushing 105 degrees you go outside and the lack of a breeze is so intense it feels like you are in a super-heated vacuum.