Since the Real Estate Market is often a matter of opinion in conversation, sometimes it's just a good idea to get a handle on the real picture.  Below you'll find an Inventory Supply Chart.  What the heck does that mean?  Let's review. The number of homes that sell, in a specific time period, compared to the number of homes available for sale, in that same time period, can help us understand the pace or speed of sales.  When you look at the green bars below, the number on top of them reflects the time it would take to sell all of the unsold properties.  You'll see that really high green bar for last October, that was a really slow month of closings.  Then right next to that bar, we had more closings for the month of November. This graph reflects the Real Estate Market Activity for the S... 04/01/2012

We've sold 17 homes in the past 90 days, and that's not too shabby!  The price range for the home sales seems to be under $200,000 with only 4 selling over this price. This is the slowest sales summer in the past 5 years, pretty much in step with the rest of the country (even though living east of Billings is always a bright spot to me!) Just take this little bit of info to help you see what buyer's are doing; The average listed price of homes with and without acreage in the Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar area right now is $241,890.  But the average sales price for the same area in the past 90 days was $156,722, that's quite a bit different then last year.  For 2010 during the same period the average list price was $237,381 and the average sales price was $228... 08/29/2011

How's the Market in Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar this December 2010?  The Shepherd area is leading the pack in sales volume. Let's look at supply and demand: Supply = number of unsold homes on the market, includes active, pending and contingent listings Demand = number of homes that sold and closed during the period Shepherd Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days 37 Unsold homes for sale 15 Sales over the last 90 days At a rate of 5 sales per month, it would take 7.4 months to sell all of the current inventory Huntley Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days 7 Unsold homes for sale 2 Sales over the last 90 days At a rate of .66 sales per month, it would take about 10.6 months to sell all of the current inventory Worden Montana Homes F... 12/06/2010

Montana lots and land sales are a hard sell this time of the year, especially since we've had the 2nd snowiest November on record!  It's pretty hard to get excited about looking for land when it's all covered with snow. Land prices have come down just a bit, but there have been less price reductions in this area of the real estate market than you would think. Below is a pie chart of the lots and land real estate market current activity.  You won't find any sold's in this graph, since there have been no closings in the last 30 days.  There are 3 pending sales, which average 16.67 acres at $5,458 per acre.  There are 84 lots for sale in this area right now, most of these in the Shepherd area consisting of 1 to 5 acre lots in subdivisions.  I know this area very well, and love to sell bare... 12/02/2010

Yes we have wine and a few snacks, but on occassion we get a couple of things done! A small group of us country bumpkins get together and talk about what we should make, when we should make it and a little show and tell. We've been working on our mystery quilts, nearly done I think.  But for some of you who wonder if we really work at all, here are a few examples.         This quilt was a quick one we did when Kathy found out one of her daughters was getting married in the very near future.  We didn't make it in time for the wedding, but it was completed within a month of the ceremony!                         This next quilt was put together by 2 of the longer quilt people of this group.  It's designed to be "cot sized" and the plan is to send it to or with a soldier.  We may make more ... 09/06/2009

Hooray we have some good movement in the "East of Billings" market.  Seems as though this spring like weather has sparked some interest in moving.  Today I ran the numbers for area 10 and found that we have 14 properties under contract right now!  Here are the average numbers of interest: $171,107--Average price of a home under contract right now 3 bedrooms and 2 baths--Average $89.72--Average price per square foot 1,936--Average square foot size of the home 67--Average number of days on the market 30% of listings are under contract right now (that's good news) I think the east end of Billings is at a price point where there are just more buyers who are ready to take advantage of record low interest rates. Price it at market and it will sell.  Buyers are looking for deals, I know, I've ... 05/15/2009

Remember, this is a process!  Our little quilting group rotates to each other's homes on Tuesday evenings for a bit of fun.  Here are a couple of pictures of our latest projects which are a mystery to us until we put them all together.   05/08/2009

Is this a good time to buy in the Shepherd area? You can't beat the rural appeal of Shepherd in the springtime.  Shepherd is a rural bedroom community just northeast of the largest metro area in Montana.  The Real Estate Market for Shepherd is blooming a bit this spring with 6 homes which have closed in the last 60 days and 5 more under contract right now out of a total of 31 homes on the market. Prices in this area vary, here are some recent market numbers: The average price for a home active on the market:  $270,000 The average price for a home under contract on the market:  $207,000 The average price for a home that sold in the last 60 days:  $241,000 These numbers are a bit higher than the metro area price averages, mostly because many of the sales also include a larger chunk of lan... 04/23/2009

Thank goodness we have lots of people who volunteer their time and services to others, why do they do it? Because they showed up at a meeting and raised their hand (this has always been my problem) Because they know if they don't volunteer, it won't get done Because no matter what kind of appreciation they get, or don't get, they know in their own hearts that they stepped up and did the best they could Because the act of volunteering fills a need we have to contribute to our community, some in small ways, some in large ways So do yourself a favor and volunteer, for something AND thank a volunteer! Little league helpers, coaches, team parents, concession stand workers, field workers, umpires Scouting leaders, school club leaders, special event organizers Leaders of special events in your... 04/22/2009

New discovery in the war against gophers at the Thomas acres.  Paint the PVC pipe brown and rub some dirt in it! Please refer to Montana Gopher Wars:  Part 1 for the introduction to this militant activity. All of the cable tv my 21 year old son has watched over the years must have paid off!  He's been a fan of Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel for years.  He has a look at our great plan for getting gophers to take the bait out of our PVC pipe contraptions and makes a note "Mom, a gopher doesn't want to go in a white hole".  How do you know this I ask?  He's chased down a few gophers around here, with the dog and his 22 rifle.  What he noticed was, they love to make a B-Line for the flexible black pipe we had laying out for our rain gutters.  We have conducted an experiment, just l... 04/04/2009