Advice for Bozeman area housing

[atlantis7]

[quote=Traveler256;6550359]Why is it so expensive? Montana has so much land and so few people I would think land would be cheap. Here in Middle Tennessee I can buy 30 acres for $30k. I routinely see homes for sale on 15-30 acres here for under $200k.[/quote}

Magoo is right. I bought property in Costa Rica several years ago after going there for years and being shy about buying. Now there are title companies there who do your search work. It used to take YEARS to get free title and then, sometimes NOT.

I should have bought in 88 when I could have owned 300 acres for about 100k and with that, lots of beachfront.

NOW, the same people who have made the west coast so miserable are trying to escape it and move to central America (and places like Bozeman) where they rebuild that misery there!

The real problem with Bozeman prices is too much money and no brains. For lack of a more specific tag, I call it the CALIFORNIA SYNDROME.

Now everybody wants to be Ted Turner (who has his 200,000 acre ranch in nearby Gallatin) or any number of Hollywooders who own thousands of acres near Emigrant ( south of Livingstn)

It is ironic that everyone thinks they want to live in nature, yet have to build a small city inside a compound and it is sad for a place like Montana
because prices are pushing the average guy out.

BUT I AM LOOKING AT COMING THERE TOO....only not with pockets of money.

My wife has a job interview in Bozeman on Jan 5. It's a good job but she lost her job (in the healthcare field) in Houston due to massive job eliminations and would take a 20k pay-cut to go there..

I immediately started doing research and found that Bozeman is the most expensive place to live in Montana and prices have only dipped about 10%
in home prices. It holds it own because of tourism economy and the folks who have money haven't cut skiing from their lists.

Being close to Big Sky and Yellowstone as well as the world class fly-fishing is why Bozeman is primetime. I have skiied Big Sky since the early 80s and saw Bozeman go from literally a "stagecoach" town to instant "boutique" town overnight. Used to, you got off the plane ad went directly to Big Sky. Bozeman was lunch at best.

Now lots of BIG MONEY PEOPLE are flooding the area and building 2 million dollar homes and up..as well, they are buying up land and so are the developers and golf course designers. This means the prices of everything has more than quadrupled in the last five years! In the early 80s, you could buy practically any land for $200. an acre. If I only had a vision for what would have happend in the future!

I am looking in the 200-270 price range. In Houston, housing is remarkably reasonable and you get quite a few upgrade ammenties. I have a hotspring hottub and a lap pool, in ground sprinklers, full landcaping and about 2600 sqft and paid 239,000. The trade off is that everything is a planned subdivision here and all the homes are 6 feet apart. I came from Tennessee where I lived in the woods on a mountain with 3 acres and stream with hiking trails. There is another very pretty state that has NO JOBS but a very reasonable cost of living. Houston is a flat, boring concrete parking lot. It sucks other than the home prices and above average build quality.

I am concerned about getting something energy efficient and well built in Bozeman. Everything looks rather cheap and flimsy until you get to around 350k and the homes start to look like they look here at 250!

Can someone comment on build quality and energy efficiency, insulation, etc?

I discovered that Bozeman has high electricity and low taxes. It is a shame one moves to Bozeman and can't afford to enjoy having elbow room under the big sky... I am now thinking that I will have to compromise and buy a townhome to get the st.footage in need (2500 or so).

Anybody know where the best of that sort of thing can be found ?

My preference is to have an acre at least or more if I can. I like single story homes and the more trees or view the better. I don't mind driving 20 miles or so to get more if I can but dont want to be any farther than that with heavy snow conditions. and Basements are cool too.

Any suggestions?

Good LUCK AND Happy HOLIDAYS

[bigtrees]

Yes, I can offer comments on the energy efficiency and insulation of the homes in Montana. All of the newer construction will be built to meet the Montana energy code, which requires reasonable insulation standards. There was a program called Super Good Cents a few years back that encouraged voluntary energy effiency improvement and the state adopted it as law back in the 90's.

So newer homes will have insulation in the walls and ceiling, they will have windows and doors that are designed to keep out the wind and cold and not frost over on the inside during the winter. Doors are required to seal tightly. There are a lot of other requirements as well to ensure the house is tight and energy efficent.

Older homes may not have been built to the energy efficient standards of today so you may feel that they are more drafty, leak more energy, and require more heat in the winter. But newer homes are built to much higher energy effiency standards (by law) than older homes.

[Mt-7]

Maybe some of these Bozeman threads could merge together, seems we are seeing the same questions?