Searching for a new home in Montana

[Sir Henry]

My search for a new home in Wolf Creek was a bust. Great place to camp but not to buy a home and live. The locals aren’t selling their piece of heaven and what is available is shacks. Great for a cabin by the river to stay at while fishing but not to live full time.

Now I’m looking at the Helena area. Montana City in particular. I’m not sure I want to start over and fix up a place. Why don’t I sell my upper-middle class home here and move up to lower-upper class? I may be back to shooting pellets so I’ll pick a mansion where I can have a shooting room and shoot rimfire a mile out of town.

I meet with a real estate agent on Saturday and will have a better idea of that my house is worth. That will dictate what I can afford. Some say my house will top $2M.

To quote a Johnny Cash song ‘where did I go right’. How did I become this rich coming out of the Army with just a seventh grade education. Oh I went back to school and worked hard all my life and lived within my means.

[North Country Gal]

The real estate market is a good news, bad news thing right now. We have a local friend in the real estate business and he says it's just nuts, these days. Even those shacks you mentioned are selling sight unseen. Doubt you'll have any problem selling your house, then. Getting another one will be the issue. I do have a couple of forum friends who are building houses, right now, but lumber prices have gone through the roof. Building might be an option for you, though. That way you can pick your spot.

[JEBar]

once you see your local realtor, it might pay to find one you like in the area you are interested in .... that person should know what's available in the areas you are looking ... hope your plan comes together

[beaverislander]

How about a nice motor home for half of the year? You could pull an enclosed "toy" trailer for a gun room and a jeep.

[Sir Henry]

The real estate market is a good news, bad news thing right now. We have a local friend in the real estate business and he says it's just nuts, these days. Even those shacks you mentioned are selling sight unseen. Doubt you'll have any problem selling your house, then. Getting another one will be the issue. I do have a couple of forum friends who are building houses, right now, but lumber prices have gone through the roof. Building might be an option for you, though. That way you can pick your spot.

Three years ago my house would have sold for $800K. People tell me $2M but I’m thinking $1.7M. Not that I wouldn’t take it.

Three years ago the same house in Helena would have sold for $175-200K and now is at $600K and they are available if you offer them $50K more than they are asking. I’m also in contact with a realtor in Helena.

Three months ago a house in my development sold for $1.7M with an original $1.5M asking price. I’m thinking repeat not a $300K jump.

[Sir Henry]

How about a nice motor home for half of the year? You could pull an enclosed "toy" trailer for a gun room and a jeep.

That is also in the plans. Any home I buy will have RV parking.

[John E Davies]

My personal impulse in your situation would be to sell your current house while the prices are sky high and sit tight somewhere. Find a condo, apartment or duplex in a more affordable small rural community, put your excess furnishings and stuff in storage. Do some traveling as beaverislander suggested. Buying a home right now is not a great move. At all! I think this insane market will finally calm down in a year or two, prices may still be elevated but the feeding frenzy should go away.

Unfortunately the RV world is just as crazy, especially in more urban areas and near major attractions like National Parks. You can't just cruise around aimlessly, expecting to find a place to stay. A self contained RV with 400+ watts of rooftop solar and a big lithium battery bank would allow you to explore more, and stay in remote areas, AKA boondocking.

How is the rental market in Helena? Around Spokane the vacancy rate is less than 1% !!!! The home builders are putting up fancy single family homes but not putting up any multi family units, which are more needed. My modest 1850 sq ft home that was built in 2017 has gone from $325K to $500K, mostly in the last couple of years. $500K was once for rich folks, but it is the new norm here, and houses get snatched up after fierce bidding wars. I can't begin to understand how the average household with kids can begin afford to buy at these stupidly elevated prices. I expect to see a whole lot of foreclosures, like in 2008, especially if the stock market tanks. That is how my BIL got a super nice house in North Carolina, by way of a foreclosure.

There are a bunch of really nice small farm towns in Eastern WA, for example Dayton:

https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-livi ... n-wa/50000

Buy a modest home there, get an RV, travel, look for a property in MT or WY, then resell the Dayton home when you get ready for the main move....

It's a very VERY tough choice, I wish you well. I don't recall if you ever mentioned, are you single or do you have a family?

John Davies
Spokane WA

[GtownGeorge]

Buy some acreage and put up a house you want.

[dave77]

Hopefully this comment is not considered too political but if you're going to move I wouldn't see a lot of sense in staying in Washington State. Maybe consider Idaho if you don't find anything acceptable in Montana.

The climate also might be a little more acceptable. I know a couple of people who grew up in Montana, a friend who was raised in Eastern Montana says they really only have 2 seasons, Winter and then Spring, Summer and Fall condensed into a few months. Actually might not be too bad considering the Summer we've been having, 113 predicted for this coming Monday and Tuesday.

[SAGA22]

I watch the property in western Montana and dream.... seems like a lot of good values still available there.
This one looked good! log house plus 35 acres.... $799,000

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/150- ... 4496_zpid/?

Zillow search for Montana turns up a lot.

No.... I'm not in the real estate business

Doc

[markiver54]

Buy some acreage and put up a house you want.

Exactly my thoughts, except for the price of building materials right now. I suppose if you had a livable RV for an extended stay, one could buy a beautiful piece of land and wait to build until things hopefully get back closer to normal.

[BigAl52]

Dont blame you for not wanting to start over with the fixing up deal. building a house right now is a long drawn out process. All the products to complete one are not available. There is places here in town sitting and waiting for certain items to become available. Its a tough decision right now and if I had to make a choice and buy a place it would be one already complete for me.

[Sir Henry]

Thanks all for your comments. It helps to hear different options.

[Sir Henry]

I could see me living in something like this.

https://my.flexmls.com/shawnakorth1/sea ... 7000000%27
Edit: added second link.
https://my.flexmls.com/shawnakorth1/sea ... 1685000000

[Sir Henry]

This one really caught my attention. I could easily shoot quiet rimfire.

https://my.flexmls.com/shawnakorth1/sea ... 7000000%27

And I think I would like Clancy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clancy,_Montana

[BigAl52]

All nice places I like the log cabin look of the second link first post. First house is a lot of house for one person but thats just my thought

[Hatchdog]

All nice places I like the log cabin look of the second link first post. First house is a lot of house for one person but thats just my thought

That and man, that’s a lot of stairs!

Beautiful area Clancy tho…….

[GeoBoy]

Too much house and property for me and home prices are at a premium right now. Sell your home and rent for now, until home prices get back to somewhat normal again. This will also give you a chance to get a good feel for the area.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

The market out there is crazy as indicated, but as long as someone has something to sell makes it not only OK, but sometimes even pretty profitable, value wise. We are ready to build a new house on land we are already living on. Which means we got to wait it out. Lumber prices out there are too crazy for me.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

This one really caught my attention. I could easily shoot quiet rimfire.

https://my.flexmls.com/shawnakorth1/sea ... 7000000%27

And I think I would like Clancy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clancy,_Montana

Nice house, but not enough land.

I would want at least 10 Acres, especially in MT where there is so much of it.