What will Echo Boomers learn from Baby Boomers?  While the terminology of Baby Boomers seems to have an identity I'm familiar with, the term Echo Boomers is something I've recently started to think about, especially since I produced a few of them myself. What is an Echo Boomer?  A child of a Baby Boomer, and the Echo Boomers are watching their parents!  What will they be learning and doing for their future?  What will we (a Baby Boomer myself) teach them about home ownership? That you can make a lot of money, tax free, when you sell your home if you bought low and sell high. That you can lose a lot of money, tax free, when you sell your home if you bought high and sell low. That the idea of home ownership is a term used very loosely, especially if the bank owns your home and you just re... 01/27/2011

Here is the head line New Homes Sales Hit 8-Month High in December- Reuters And as Paul Harvey said  "now for the rest of the story As I have mentioned recently, numbers without context or perspective are meaningless. The purpose is not to be negative but to share accurate information on which to base decisions. To repeat some recently released census bureau information 2000 to 2010 9.3 million households formed 2000 to 2010 14.5 million net housing units built so regardless of financing all things being equally housing has 5 million units without households to occupy. So we need to create jobs to create new households to absorb the excess. It appears the powers that be cannot figure that one out. Sooooooo pass this along if you talk to the powers.   The building industry is not in a re... 01/27/2011

here are the price trends in south billings for the last five years you can see the effect fo the tax credit disappearing 01/27/2011

here iare the price trends in west billings for the past five the median price has being reamining realtively flat the last real price increase year was from 2006 to 2007 01/27/2011

  this is the five year trend of single family homes in the heigths west of main the most note able is the median price is essentially flat for  the last four years   01/27/2011

I heard something on one of the morning news programs today that just made me want to chuck my coffee at the new big screen tv.  Some "knowledgeable" woman was being interviewed about the housing market and was telling the commentator that people would no longer be able to get a mortgage loan unless they had 6 months of monthly payments and utility bills in the bank (cash reserves), after they paid their down payment and closing costs.  WHAT? I haven't even heard of this before, and maybe I heard it wrong, but that's what I heard, and I was listening. In my local market, that is absolutely not the case!!!  Maybe there is a home buyer that has a history of some sort that puts them into a higher risk category and requires them to have this "emergency" fund, but a normal buyer has not requ... 01/22/2011

The West End of Billings Montana has seen a slower than average amount of buyer activity, but really not too slow considering we're just about to reach the middle of January. The area measured in today's graph is Area 8, most of which is South of Grand Avenue and West of the downtown area.  20 homes have sold in the last 30 days, with an average size of about 2,000 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath.  The average sold price was $180,825 and the average number of days it took to sell those homes was 41 days! 01/13/2011

How about we get the word out to the Billings Montana and surrounding areas about a Mascot Naming contest for the new City Of Billings Energy Star program! A new public information campaign named "Blue Skies Green Pockets" has been launched after more than a year of planning between the City of Billings and Montana State University Billings.  A $53,000 grant has been awarded to the collaboration with a target of marketing energy star information to our local public. The website is fabulous and deserves a look around.  I ran across a page that asks for middle school kids, aged 10 to 15 to submit names for the new mascot and thought I would post in AR and on my facebook page. Some of the tips for these ages include turning off their video games when they're not in use, along with playing ... 01/11/2011

"The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history." -Friedrich Hegel quotes (German Philosopher (1770-1831) Thought that the quote above might be appropriate to real estate market of 2011. Looking forward into the murky crystal ball from 2010 to the 2011 market, my belief is I am glad I live in the Yellowstone valley, yet I will not expect to much to change. During the years of craziness in the real estate market in the nation when I talked to persons thinking of investing in the Yellowstone County I would tell them that it would do several thing for them. #1 it would protect their capital #2 it would give them a return on that capital #3 the market was slow and steady. The market has produced that in spades in Yellowstone County, as a contrast from Las Vegas w... 01/05/2011

 "What a long strange trip it has been."  Grateful Dead  the song "trucking" Real estate has been anything but boring. Changes in the market place continue to provide plenty of challenges. Although there are positive signs that real estate's  fall from grace and the market, is close to approaching the bottom of the trip , my belief is 2011 will still provide all the challenges a person wants in accomplishing sales. While the number of person going into default will be on the decline, the number of properties actually foreclosed will increase. The natural repercussion of more foreclosed properties will be, on a "national" level, lower pricing structure causing, unfortunately for my friends in building, 2011  not resulting  in a substantial rebound in building, although I do not believe i... 01/03/2011

 I THOUGHT I MIGHT FOLLOW UP WITH A GRAPH TO REINFORCE THE THOUGHT REAL ESTATE IS A LONG TERM INVESTMENT HERE IS A GRAPH FROM MY DATA BASE, IT ONLY GOES BACK TO 1963 FROM THE MLS DATA THAT I HAVE. IF YOU WANT THE FUTURE TO PLEASANT YOU MUST TAKE ACTION NOW TO MAKE IT SO. 12/31/2010

 Want to wish all a happy and prosperous new year. May the economic winds be kind to your business and personal life. Enjoy the opportunities the new year brings you. And for all that yearn for the thought of the warm days of the "other seasons" meaning not white grass here is a picture to remind us there is hope the sun will warm you some time 12/31/2010

The following is the most appropriate quote in relation to ownership of real estate I have seen. The wealth creation of owning real estate does not occur in a 12 month period  If you are planning for one year, grow rice. If you're planning for 20 years, grow trees. If you're planning for centuries, grow men." - Chinese proverb   12/31/2010

Census bureau information is starting to be released and with some simple math you can get a feel for the length of time it is going to take to resolve the housing oversupply/foreclosure problem. From census in 2000 to the 2010 census 1st the population in the united states  increased by approximately by  27 million people 2nd that increase means that households increase by approximately  9.3 million 3rd number of housing units increased by approximately 14.5 million Soooooooo simple math says as now 2010 we have an oversupply of about 5 million housing units (new housing units 14.5 minus new households formed 9.3) which is approximately a year's supply Again simple math says if the household formation continues at about a million a year it will take five years to absorb the excess Not ... 12/23/2010

 Since it is the end of the year and the "stock" gurus are touting the "huge" run up in stock prices thought you might like to see the comparison in Billings the past five years vs. the stock indexes First the dow  Second the S&P 500   Third the NASDQ   Fourth but not least home prices in Billings Both the Median and Average sales prices show a 9.3% increase since 2006. Now just like stocks you can find houses that have done worse and house that have done better. Yet with a house you have had a place to live and paid off Debt($191,850 100% financing @6.14% 30 years you now owe $181,540) and had an interest deduction on your taxes. So the question with all the negativity about housing would you be better today if you had put you money in the stock market or bought a house in Billings in ... 12/20/2010

Thought it might be useful to compare total permits and single family on graphs together . The important take  away is, total permits and starts include multifamily, single family is single family, at the peak you can see the larger separation of the two measurements and how the spread has narrowed. In the immediate run as we increase employment and household formation combined with the low levels building  in relations indicate pressure on both rents and sale price in the midterm (out 12 to 48 months) some demand will be filled by the foreclosures for both rental and ownership sales, yet with the length of time building will have been down by the midterm time frame the conduction infrastructure will not be able to ramp up fast enough to prevent substantial rent increases. Which will th... 12/16/2010

The Billings Montana Heights, West of Main Street Real Estate market is less active during the Holiday Season, but is this any different than any other year?  Well, not really if you take into account that we've had the 2nd snowiest November on record, and not much of that snow has melted! Are there still people out there hunting for homes?  You bet, in fact, 16% of the homes for sale are under contract right now, some are pending and some are contingent. This Activity Index is much more favorable to buyers where an Activity Index above 25% is much more favorable to sellers.  All listings that are active, pending and contingent are considered "unsold" and can still receive another offer should a buyer take a liking to a home that is already under contract.  2nd offers can be accepted by... 12/12/2010

looking at the trends in rental availability in Yellowstone county, it seems to indicate rent hikes are in the offering for tenants. when looking at the trend line there are lees homes and apartment available for rent and generally speaking when there is less of something available it means the price goes up. will be interesting to watch what happens in 2011 12/09/2010

in looking at the November sales comparison you can see in 2008 where people felt the world was going to end, we just at the beginning of financial storm. what it communicates to me is market stabilization which is a real positive. 12/07/2010

 When you look at single family permits you can see the effect of the new building code that went into place November 1st. last month they we up and you can see the decline this month. We should end the year with a tie for 2009 in building permits. So 2011 should most probably exceed 2009-2010. There is a cave eat installation of fire suppression sprinklers may go into effect January 1st 2011 and if that happens the cost of new homes with jump without any added space or new amenities , which most probably will depress demand until existing prices start to rise. Market update at glance   Year  Percentage Increase  Yellowstone County  6/30/2101 11/30/2010   2009 2010 or -Decrease                 Residential  Closed Sales Units   1835 1569   -14%                 Residential  Pending Sales ... 12/04/2010