CALLING ALL ANIMAL LOVERS

To characterize Bozeman as an animal friendly community is a huge understatement!  We are so lucky to have a shelter that is truly a template for shelters all over the US:  Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter (“HOV”).

Claire Gillam, HOV Board Member

As a past Board President, I was privileged to spend a lot of time at Heart of the Valley interacting with a talented, dedicated and professional staff and also working closely with an exceptional board to fund raise and make sure our PR and Marketing communications did justice to our amazing shelter.  In addition to the major fund raising event of each year held in June, the Dog Ball, it is important to give back to the community that supports HOV: since 2008, Woofstock has been the day of giving back in September, a day filled with activities and fun for the whole family and their pets.  More than 1,000 people and 3,000 dogs participated in 2010!

Peg Potter, Volunteer

Every animal receives loving care and attention each day and a veritable army of volunteers receives training specifically adapted to cats and dogs before they begin handling the animals.  A full- time veterinarian and assistant are available in a state of the art hospital on the premises.  A 15 acre off lease park is open to the public 7 days a week and only closed at certain hours to allow the shelter canines to stretch their legs.  The community room is also open to the public for children’s and pet’s birthday parties and the summer day camp for children 6-12 has become a must do for Bozeman’s youngsters from June-August.

Please check out Heart of the Valley’s web site at www.heartofthevalleyshelter.org and feel free to call Kathryn Hohmann, Development Director or Kari Chiocchi, Volunteer & Education Manager at 388 9399 to arrange to tour the facility.  But be warned, you will lose your heart to one of the many cats or dogs looking for their forever home!

Written by Nancy Palmer, Past HOV Board President

The answer is YES

The answer is YES.


By the time you are reading this we will probably not know a whole lot more about where the real estate market is heading than we did back in the late summer, but we’ll look for some clues by reviewing where we’ve been. The market has been trolling for a bottom for, well, lets just say for what seems like a very long time now. Clearly, the “highs” of the 2005-2006 market era retreated dramatically as the false sense of absorption and demand that a surge of speculative acquisition brought into being gave way to more need based purchases and a corresponding drop in volume.

Still, while looking in the rear view mirror is not a great way to predict what lies ahead, reviewing the past can shed some light on our journey. Looking back into 2004, there were 212 MLS reported transaction in the Big Sky and Canyon markets. While MLS had been introduced to the Big Sky area in 2003, I’m going to discount it as a unreliable metric due to its uneven use by the local real estate community at that time. By 2004, the use of MLS information was more universal and representative, resulting in sales of 212 properties in all categories: homes, condos, town-homes, small and larger lots. Anything on MLS (Multiple Listing Service). 2005 saw absorption of 207 properties in our market. Interest rates were low and lender underwriting standards were, well, a work in progress. Several projects came on line: land subdivisions, condos and a raft of speculative houses, yet by 2006, the year many consider the “peak” of the bubble and certainly a year in which there were some astounding and escalating price points, MLS closings dropped to 178 units, then 140 units in 2007 (the year that the “recession” officially began...). By 2008, a year that saw the complete upending of the American financial system, the closing of Lehman Brothers and coining of the satirical and caustic phrase “Too Big To Fail”, there was a slight decline in absorption to 121 closings reported on MLS and speculative building had all but ceased. Not many shovels were going into the ground. Inasmuch as the financial meltdown occurred closer to the 4th quarter of 2008, closings during the first 6 month of 2008 ran at more than double the pace than during the final 6 months and led into 2009 which saw another slight decline by 4 closings, with absorption of 117 units. It certainly did feel like 2009 was a slow year.

So, what’s happened thus far in 2010? Year to date (January 1, 2010 to November 15th, 2010) the market absorbed 151 properties, a full 20% jump in units closed on MLS over fiscal 2009, with 6 weeks left to go in 2010. What appears int the rear view mirror is the decline from 2004 into the valley of 2009 and the increase in absorption in 2010, topped off with a legendary snowfall this November.

MLS may offer an imperfect metric, and the underlaying layers of data and values should be reviewed for pertinence to a particular market layer, but its clear that any question of the resiliency of the Big Sky market would be answered with a resounding “yes”.

By Eric Ossorio
Broker
Prudential Montana Real Estate
55 Lone Peak Drive, Ste. 3
Big Sky, MT 59716
406-995-4060
eric.ossorio@prumt.com

FINE HOME MARKETS IN SOUTH WEST MONTANA

The fine home market in Southwestern Montana is recovering, with the local MLS reporting a slight increase in the number of sales and volume for 2010, yet this volume is still much lower than 2007.


The Average Sale Price for the fine home market, in our area, has remained relatively stable in the past four years; perhaps more stable than almost any other segment of the area’s real estate market. The Days on Market have increased since 2007 and remain much higher also indicating a continued slow market.

YEAR AVERAGE SALE PRICE DAYS ON MARKET

2007 $1,493,765 171

2008 $1,641,525 260

2009 $1,639,633 296

2010 $1,444,898 310

The sales volume decreased dramatically in 2009, but we are seeing a slight increase in the volume and number of transactions in 2010.

YEAR TOTAL SALES VOLUME # OF TRANSACTIONS

2007 $164,314,206 110

2008 $142,812,745 87

2009 $59,026,803 36

2010 $65,020,450 51

While conducting a survey of people whose incomes are greater than $306,000.00 per year and are buyers, United Marketing found that the percentage of those people planning to buy homes rose from 3% in 2008 to 11% currently.

The CEO of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, Laurie Moore-Moore, said that while the luxury market is not booming, she is seeing sellers who are more realistic about prices and that are influencing buyers.

“After waiting in the wings, many affluent buyers spent the summer shopping for value and snapping up trophy properties” according to Moore-Moore.

Also helping this portion of the real estate market is the return of jumbo mortgages. These loans are more available than in the past two years as many small and regional banks are offering them once again. Jumbo lending increased 30% in the second quarter of the year when compared to the first quarter.

For the first six months of this year Wells Fargo jumbo lending is up 47.5%, while J.P. Morgan Chase’s jumbos have increased by 146%.

Still, qualifying for these larger loans will be strict. Down payments will range between 20 to 40%, excellent credit scores are mandatory and verification of income is necessary.
 

By Don Pilotte
Broker, GRI, RRS
Big Sky, Montana

55 Lone Peak Dr, Ste. 3
Big Sky, Montana 59716
Cell: 406-580-0155
Office:406-995-4060