Oil, crops and trucks
In Williston, Watford City, Dickinson and Minot the self-employed are the service companies — water and crude hauling, roustabout crews, equipment rental, welding — and the mineral owners whose royalty checks rise and fall with the price and the rig count. Across the Red River Valley and the central counties they are wheat, soybean, canola, sugar beet and cattle operations selling in a few large transactions a year, with USDA program payments and crop insurance on top. Connecting both are the owner-operators paid by settlement. None of it is W-2, and all of it produces a return — after depletion, depreciation and prepaid inputs — that supports a fraction of the actual cash.
What is specific to a North Dakota file
- Both spouses sign on a homestead. North Dakota law requires both spouses to execute any instrument that encumbers the homestead, even when title is in one name. It does not make the non-owner spouse a borrower or add them to the income review.
- No mortgage recording tax. North Dakota charges county recorder fees only; there is no state tax on the amount secured.
- Boom-cycle valuations. Home values in the oil counties have swung with the cycle, and comparable sales can be thin. Fargo, Bismarck and Grand Forks have solid automated-valuation data; in the west and in rural counties, expect a valuation step involving a person even under $400,000.
- Farm property. A rural residence on some acreage is straightforward. A home that is part of a working farm is reviewed differently — say which it is.
- Winter changes nothing. The closing is electronic; nobody drives to a courthouse in a blizzard.
Royalty and service income, read over 12 months
A mineral owner receiving monthly royalty deposits, or a service company invoicing operators on net-45 terms, has income that a two-year tax-return average describes poorly and that depletion and equipment write-offs shrink further on paper. Twelve months of deposits show the actual receipts, high months and low months alike, and the line is sized from those.
Common questions
The house is in my name. Does my spouse have to sign?
On a North Dakota homestead, yes — state law requires both spouses to sign an instrument that encumbers it. Signing does not make your spouse a borrower.
My royalty income dropped by half last year with prices. How is that read?
As 12 months of actual deposits. The current run rate is what the file shows; nothing is averaged against a prior year's return.
Our farm shows a loss after equipment purchases. Can we qualify?
The return is not part of this file; 12 months of deposits are. A home that is part of a working farm is a different property review than a rural residence, so tell us which yours is.
Is there a state tax when the lien is recorded in North Dakota?
No. County recorder fees only.