The landlord game

Great article in the August 3 issue of Forbes magazine about the great opportunities that this real estate market has created for investing in rental properties. Considering that prices are as low as they have been in years and that due to new tighter lending restrictions many people can no longer qualify for mortgages and need to rent instead, the timing could not be better for investing in residential rental properties. The article does a great job of explaining the formulas a potential landlord might want to apply to make sure a property is a good return on his money, and how that might compare to investing in the stock market at this particular time. My gut has been telling me this for the last year and we are seeing more and more people cash out their stock accounts and invest in rental properties here in Helena. There are many properties on the market right now that will cash flow positive from day one. Call me and I will be happy to share those with you. Don't miss out on this opportunity. Regards, Karina

Helena, MT #1 place to retire

Well it's official: Helena, MT was just named #1 place to retire for young retirees between 55-59 by USA today. This is old news for those of us living here, of course, but it was nice to have it officially acknowledged. I am a partner in a condo project in a historic building in Helena and about 50% of our buyers fit that criteria. They have chosen Helena for all the same reasons it made the #1 spot: cost of living, outdoor activities, culture and weather. It helps that it is one of the friendliest places I have ever lived (and I have moved about 39 times so far, incl. 3 continents). Making friends here is as easy as attending a local event. Locals are happy to share their favorite places and mean it when they invite you to dinner "sometime". Housing prices are stable and our median home price is actually up by 5%. Of course now that the word is out I am expecting some additional activity....so get your piece of it while the prices are still reasonable!!Give me a call, I will be happy to discuss all of the housing options in our beautiful area. Karina

How to speed up the timely sale of your home

Even though the market here in Montana is much better than in the rest of the country, certain price ranges are moving slower than others. It seems that homes under $200K are selling at a brisk pace whereas homes in the upper $200-300K range are not moving as fast. Here are some tips to help you sell your home faster:
Lower your asking price to 10 percent to 15 percent below what comparable properties in the neighborhood are selling for.
Spruce up the outside. Update the landscaping. Power-wash the exterior and paint the door.
Appeal to first-time buyers. Advertise on younger consumers’ favorite Web sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Hire a photographer to shoot the house with a wide-angle lens so the rooms look bigger in online photos.
Price the house in the lower end of the range. A $299,000 house is in the high end of the $250,000 to $300,000 range but a $301,000 home is in the low-end of the $300,000 to $400,000 range.
Do what you can to make the deal close quickly. Be ready to move, offer to pay part of the closing costs, and/or throw in a year’s worth of association fees, or offer a home warranty. Source: Money Magazine, Beth Braverman (06/30/2009)
Call me for additional tips on how to sell your home faster. 406-600-0432
Regards,
Karina

First time homebuyer tax credit can be used as downpayment

The government just announced that FHA approved lenders can allow their borrowers to use the $8000 first time homebuyers tax credit toward the downpayment of their new home! What exciting news!! This in conjunction with historically low mortgage rates and bottomed out home prices makes this the best time to buy your first home in recent history.
In Helena and Bozeman the array of homes that are available to first time buyers is a virtual smorgasbord of choices. Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; call me today and I will help you find the home of your dreams!

Housing trends in the Northern Rockies

Here's a great article taken from Newwest.net about the housing shifts that will be happening in the coming years in our area, and which only solidifies the mission our company Urban Mountain Development has already embraced:

Researcher: Northern Rockies Housing Market Near Bottom, Will Rebound Soon
By Greg Lemon, 4-17-09
As the national economy comes out of the recession and sets a course for the future, changes in demographics are going to radically shift demands for housing, not only in the Mountain West, but around the country.
This was the message from Arthur C. Nelson, presidential professor and director of Metropolitan Research at the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, who was the keynote speaker at the Designing the New West Conference in Bozeman Friday. “Now is the time to think ahead about the new paradigm that will come – it’s already well underway,” Nelson said.
Nelson looked specifically at Northern Rockies – Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. In these areas, he said, the housing market is currently working through an over-supply of homes. Montana is probably at the bottom of the housing market now. Idaho should be there next year and Wyoming will be there by 2012.
The emerging housing market will be driven by two major demographic changes: the growing baby boomer populations, and a continued shift from large families to small families and couples and singles without children. “Eighty-six percent of the new demand for housing is assignable to households without children,” Nelson said. Populations in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming will continue to grow – doubling by the year 2050, he said. These growing populations will want to live closer to services and urban centers. They’ll quit buying large lot single-family homes and focus on connected housing units and small lot single-family homes. They’ll be more apt to rent. They’ll live longer – possibly much longer – due to advances in medicine. “The bottom line is by 2020 we can probably expect the typical American to live to 120 or 140 somewhere in there,” Nelson said. “A lot of people are thinking it’s pretty imminent that we’re going to live well into our hundreds.” Ultimately, the best opportunity to serve this new market is going to be urban redevelopment opportunities, he said as he flipped to a slide of an abandoned strip mall with acres of asphalt. Spots like this will become prime areas to build mixed-use developments to meet future demands.

More good news

For those of us in the local real estate business, the latest article from the Center for the Rocky Mountain West only confirms what we have been seeing all along: people are moving to Montana and the neighboring states in droves. Most of my buyers of the last year have moved here from another state. They chose Montana and specifically Helena because of all the wonderful features offered by this "Urban Mountain" lifestyle. You can walk to great restaurants and yet are only a couple of blocks away from over 60 trailheads leading into Public land. Real estate is still very affordable as compared to other areas in the country and being a government town, the economy here is very stable. We certainly don't feel connected to all the negative news being broadcast about the state of the economy. So it's no wonder that Montana was the country's 14th fastest growing state with an over 2% net increase last year. Our median home prices are up as compared to last year and sales have been brisk this spring already. My sense is that this will only increase over the next year as more and more people are making the concious choice of moving to areas with a "healthy" lifestyle and strong community roots.

Stimulus package and Montana real estate

With the new package released this week, I am happy to see that at least the $8000 first time home buyers credit made it. I was really hoping for the $15,000 credit to all primary homebuyers, as proposed by a bill, as that would have had a major impact on home sales. However, the $8000 credit for first timers should really get the ball rolling for those homebuyers who have been on the fence. This credit does not have to be paid back if you keep the home for at least three years, and is for anyone who has not owned a home for at least three years. The rates are looking better every day and even though there has been some tightening of the qualification requirements, FHA still offers loans with as little as 3 1/4% down! Here in Helena home sales are still holding their own with about 60 homes under contract as of this week. One of my appraiser friends just stopped by and said that they are really busy, and that is usually a pretty good indicator of the overall market activity.

My guilty pleasure lately has been searching for homes on Realtor.com in Florida and Las Vegas. Amazing what your dollar now buys you there....Homes that sold for about 350K in 2006 are now selling for 200K and less. Opportunities galore for anyone who missed the boat a few years ago; unfortunately at the expense of a lot of homeowners there.

It is snowing here today, and one of those 200K waterfront homes in Orlando is sounding pretty good right now.....

2009 Economic forecasts for Montana

While attending the annual Economic Forum in Helena last week, it occurred to me what Economists and Meteorologists have in common: they are both trying to accurately predict a mostly unpredictable system. One unforeseen element enters the picture, whether it be a fast moving, upper level disturbance or gasoline prices reaching $4 per gallon, and there goes their whole meticulously laid out forecast.
The presenters at this year's forum, all highly respected professionals in their field, very sheepishly tried to explain why their predictions for last year were so far off their mark (high gas prices reduced tourism by about 20%!), and what effect it has for this year. The good news for us in Montana was, that we were not nearly as affected by the economic downturn as the rest of the country, as most of our state's economy is based on agriculture, oil and gas, and mining. And we know how well those industries did last year. Unfortunately even Montana will feel the pinch this year according to the speakers and they expect the bottom to hit around late summer. As for real estate, the biggest hit of course is the drop in new construction and that also drives our unemployment rate which for the first time in several years is now above 3%, at 5.9% to be exact. I know, other states would be happy to have that number as their figure, but for us that is almost a doubling of the unemployment numbers.

The good news is that the median home prices in several areas in Montana have actually gone up a bit, even though home sales are down.

Now the REAL good news: "Housing Predictor" a national online real estate research firm has ranked 5 Montana cities in the top 25 housing markets for 2009!!! They are: #2 Billings, #8 Bozeman, #12 Great Falls, #13 Livingston and #15 Missoula. Sounds like Montana is the place to be in 2009! (Or any other time for that matter ).

So, if you are in need for a little good news, come and see us in Montana!

Welcome to my very first blog

Having successfully evaded all my friends attempts at having me join them at various social websites (excuses: just not enough time; too old; too much information out there already) I thought it would be fun to have an opportunity to share at least one of my passions with the public: Montana Real Estate.
Having moved here from our last home in Chicago about three years ago, my husband and I are still pinching ourselves everyday, that we get to be in this amazing environment full time. We used to just visit for ski vacations, and then summer vacations and then every free moment we had, until we realized it would be so much cheaper if we just moved here. And so we did.
We were concerned that if we waited too long we would be priced out of the real estate market, as had happened in so many other states, and our timing could not have been better.
Even with the recent drop in prices in some areas of Montana, we are still ahead, as with the tightening of the loan programs, we would probably not have been able to qualify for some of our initial purchases.
That said, this is now again a great time for buying real estate in Montana at very reasonable prices. From ski studios at Big Sky that are walking distance to the lifts starting at 99K, to 20 acre lots in the gated equestrian community of Gallatin River Ranch near Bozeman starting at 199K, this is a second chance for everyone who though they had been priced out of the market.
My favorite is a large log home on a private competition ski lake in Helena for around 600K, down from 1MM. Where else can you be surrounded by snow capped mountains while skiing the slalom course on your private ski lake for less than 600K.
There is truly something for everyone in this amazing state; and I will keep you posted.
Till next time,
Karina