Fine Homes Group: May 2010

According to the Center for the Rocky Mountain West (CRMW), Baby Boomers are shifting the traditional demographic pattern from that of retirement to warm climes to that of retirement to the cooler, mountainous regions of the Rockies, particularly Wyoming and Montana. This, in turn, is shifting the average age of the population of these states from a relatively younger to a significantly older average age. Baby Boomers are retreating north, buying homes and other types of real estate in Rocky Mountain cities, enjoying the relative quiet and freshness of the Rockies, and loving it!

In late 2007, The Center For The Rocky Mountain West, stated that by 2030, Census Bureau predicted that Montana would rank fifth and Wyoming third in the nation for their over-65 populations.

Montana set up a trust fund in 2007 so the Treasure State’s older population would have health care access and other key services, even in Montana's rural regions.

According to Charlie Rehbein, chief of the Montana Aging Services Bureau in 2007, "We’ve done projections and seeing our elderly population doubling in the next 10 to 15 years...I think it’s going to have a tremendous impact."

According to the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula, Montana, "One challenge is that the two states already have very low unemployment, around 3 percent, and could face a real labor crunch when the oldest baby boomers hit 65 in 2011."

Larry Swanson, an economist and director for CRMW stated in 2007, "We haven’t seen anything yet, because the exodus has not really begun out of the work force. That’s going to begin in two or three years.’’

Due to the 2008 economic crisis, Rehbein's and Swanson's predictions may be forestalled another few years, but, nonetheless, it’s been my experience in the last 6 months that Baby-Boomers are visiting and purchasing southwest Montana real estate as evidenced by the uptick in late 2009 and early 2010 of both residential and luxury home sales.

In just the past 2 months I’ve served 6 out-of-state Baby Boomers choosing Bozeman not as a second-home town but as their primary hometown because of Bozeman’s quality of life. Bozeman is a health-conscious, University town, appealing to artists, outdoor recreationists, and entrepreneurs. And, Bozeman offers a state-of-the-art health-care facility ; excellent, multifarious dining; a western rodeo; many art galleries; house to a regional, summer arts and crafts festival; a symphony and opera; a community committed to its people, healthy living, and so much more.