Big Sky: You’re Welcome!

It’s early in June when the Montana Department of Transportation begins to repave and chip seal MT 64 (the Spur Road). Despite the fact that it’s still soggy and overcast, and winter is very slow in releasing its grip to summer, bright yellow Knife River trucks and equipment seem to suddenly appear everywhere at once. Flaggers with bright neon safety vests take up positions along side the road to alert drivers of the roadwork ahead. In the early morning they clutch thermoses and stomp their feet to ward off the chill. Elk are gathered in the open areas barley visible from the road where they bedded the night before, whisps of mist evaporating as the day warms. Its characteristic of Montana Mountain spring weather: a ceremonial display of nature lurching from one season into the next.

It’s a perfect backdrop for the “Spring Cleaning” underway.

The delays and improvements along Highway 191, while now very much appreciated, have now faded into the past, and soon it’ll be “Showtime” in Big Sky: the vestiges of snow melted away, with grasses and glacier lilies having taken over the landscape. By the end of June and early July, fewer road crews will visible on the Spur Road as they shift their focus to other arterials….until the chip sealing begins….Traffic began to pick up just in time to miss the longest delays. By early July RV campers and trailers with exotic names like Scamp and Wildcat (who makes these names up?) slowly will have replaced the heavy equipment, now set up along another roadway.

The Gallatin River is raging, summer events calendar is filling up, and warm sunny days are here. Attendance at Yellowstone National Park set an all time record in 2009, with 3.3 million visitors. When the park opened up to vehicle traffic on April 16th it looked as if summer of 2010 was shaping up to be a very popular summer destination again. Apparently, some of those visitors are coming back, and others found their way to Big Sky.

What a difference a year makes.

Since the dark days of early 2009, 173 MLS properties closed in Big Sky, with prices ranging from $53,000 on the low end to over $5,000,0000 on the high end. 80 of those properties closed in the first half of 2010 and there are currently 21 “pending” sales in the chute, and its only June…so something is going on. That’s not to say that we have a new bubble forming, but buyers continue chipping away at the inventory as pricing adjusts to market expectations. Some buyers are even finding that properties that seemed like a good buy back in February have sold or owners, who are less distraught over the future, have withdrawn listing. There are now 397 properties listed for sale in the Big Sky area, down over 30% (mirroring the stock market, eh?), a considerable reduction from a year ago when there were over 625 properties available at any one time, though it did seem as if there were more. There is only one (1) SSPBA (short sale pending bank approval). Unfortunately, there are still a few properties that are in other stages of distress, however. Using a silly absorption formula, if another 80 properties close in 2010, for a total of 160 sales, then there are 2 years and 4 months of inventory remaining.
Of course, we’re not shutting the doors. At least not quite yet. But the tide doesn’t seem to be rushing out quite as quickly or with such conviction. The adjustments have been painful, to be sure. And there may be more in the way of adjustments to come. But we can be and are grateful for the natural beauty surrounding Big Sky that no CDO, CDS or toxic mortgage can take away. And for that we say: “Thank you.”

And if you listen closely you’ll hear the whispering aspens say: You’re Welcome!

By Eric Ossorio
Broker
Prudential Montana Real Estate
55 Lone Peak Drive Ste. 3
Big Sky MT 59716
Eric.ossorio@prumt.com
p. 406-995-4040