Wanda's Blog From Billings, Montana

I saw an ad in the newspaper about a book signing in Red Lodge Montana about a week ago and decided to get my husband and head 60 miles to the southeast of Billings and check out these "vintage trailers".

I'm so impressed, and so excited to work on my own trailer now.  These gals know how to find friends and have a good time, hopefully I can get my act together and saddle up my own outfit and hit the trail with these gals.

There is a website that shows over 400 pictures of sisters on the fly trailers, some have great paint jobs!  Check out their website at www.sistersonthefly.com.

I'm really trying to figure out how I can jazz up my own 23 foot 5th wheel trailer.  The kitchenette is going away and I'm gonna put 2 lightweight recliners in their place and bolt them to the floor.  After a hard day hiking and huckleberry picking, those dinnette benches are just awful to sit in.

I need a name for my trailer, I'm thinking chicken coop, I'll have at least one "chick" and one "rooster" in this outfit.  Apparently there are "couples" activities on occasions.

Having enjoyed Karen Anne's post about "What Do You Do When Someone Get's Your Goat" my ears just perked up when a video appeared on the local news channel KULR 8 in Billings Montana tonight about 2 goats that had stranded themselves on a railroad trestle, high above the highway.

North of Billings in the Bull Mountains is the new Signal Peak Mine, which is a brand new high grade coal mine.  A new railroad was built to transport the coal from the mine to the nearest railroad junction. 

2 Goats found themselves stranded high, and I do mean high, above the highway for 2 days.  The Billings Gazette provided some pictures on their website of the goats and their rescue operation.

I don't have permission to copy the pictures, but if you link to them I think you will be impressed with the predicament the goats were in.

The Rimrock Humane Society out of Roundup Montana organized the rescue operation, which was accomplished with a really long reach bucket truck.  Both of the goats had collars, and the rescuers are waiting to see who claims them.

So would the owner of these rascal goats please come and get them, I think they want to go home.

Full page ad in our local newspaper this week for a "training" to educate the stay at home Mom's how to scoop up properties and turn them into cash cows, once you learn the secret formula!

Over the last 5 years these "educational" seminars that use the whole pyramid scheme for recruiting attendees have come to our town.  Mind you, our market is not as great as it was, but so far we haven't had many short sales and foreclosures selling for "pennies on the dollar".

What's really sad is the percieved intelligence level of the people who attend these things, and really how delusional they are about how "easy it is to do this".

As I hang out in coffee shops, I overhear conversations from the recruiters for a good 6 weeks prior to the "seminar".  The conversation goes something like this "for $xxxx investment, you can take the class, get the handout directions and start your own Real Estate Investment Business, can you borrow money from your home equity line of credit to pay for this?"

I have been taken on a few little joy rides with these prospective "buyers" who tell me an unbelievable tale of how they are gonna get rich on Real Estate.  I have asked them, "do you know anyone in our market who has been successful in doing what you're trying to do?  I know a few contractor flippers who've been in the business for years, maybe you should talk to one or two of them first."

Part of the conversation involves "looking for desperate people who will sign over their interest in their home, just to get away".  And I believe that some people are desperate, and might be swayed into signing things they really shouldn't due to a difficult curve they've been thrown.

I do not participate in preying on the scared and desperate, in order to take advantage of their situation.  Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to bust my butt to help people who need it, if they participate in what needs to be done to get out of a sticky situation.  Education and due diligence are better for our home owner community.

Does anyone get the fact that the reason these guys come to town and recruit for these "seminars" is because the seminars are the cash cow?

Grasshoppers are just gross looking.  I know they're one of God's creatures, but yuk!

We were destined to have a terrible year for grasshoppers on the Eastern Montana prairie, but so far, it's been bad, but not nearly as awful as we expected.

I love to go for rides, and while I was touring some large land parcels on the Molt-Rapelje road, I had to stop the car for the biggest grasshopper I'd ever seen in the area. 

I don't know what kind of fertilizer this fellow was munching on, but I think farmers should just keep that stuff in a tighter grasshopper container.

If I head out to the mailbox and run into one of these guys, I'm just gonna have to call on the Montana Army National Guard (could make a good movie). 

Sellers are remembering what prices used to be, last year, 3 years ago, 5 years ago.

Buyers are thinking about what prices are going to be, next year, 3 years from now and 5 years from now.

Think about it, the emotional attachment to price, depends on which direction you're looking, and from which position you stand!

Let's take this same thought and just flip it!

In 2003 to about 2008, sellers were thinking about what prices were going to be next year, 3 years from then and 5 years from then.

In 2003 to about 2008, buyers were thinking about what prices used to be, the year before last, 3 years before and 5 years before.

Right now I'm dealing with the current situation on vision and emotional attachment to price from both buyers and sellers in my market.  I have to admit, I was somewhat star struck by the brief 5 year period mentioned above. 

I was amazed that people could make a purchase and then sell and buy up every 2 years, at least 3 times during that period.  Some homes were increasing in sales price 20% in just one year, in Billings Montana.  I know there were areas of the country where this increase was much higher, but we never had anything like a 50% increase in our market.  We also haven't had any price decreases like many areas of the country either, when you go up too fast, you fall pretty hard!

I think we'll be a stronger country and a healthier economy if we work to "own a home" verses "gamble on a home".  I never would have thought of selling a home in just 2 years, and I only did that once back in the 80's when I moved to a different town in Montana.  Ever since then, we've always managed to purchase, live and improve and pay down the mortgage, about every 4 years.  (I should mention that home prices were going up on average between 4% to 8% a year for most of my home ownership) 

This pace was halted when we built our last and final resting place, the place where we live now, we've been here for 10 years!  There's a good chance we could pay this place off, completely, before we retire!  Something just feels good about that!  Feels like security, safety, good economic sense!  I won't have to worry about how well my investments do if I don't need to spend so much when I retire.  Just a little less stress I think.

Now, what to do about the kids?

Downpayment assistance is still available in Billings Montana for people who want to buy a home and can qualify with income and credit.

I went to a coffee meeting hosted by Stockman Bank for local Realtors who wanted to find out more info about the current state of lending in our community.  I was presently surprised to find out that if you want to buy a home and need a little help with downpayment assistance, you may qualify for some of our local programs, namely City of Billings Funds and Neighborworks Funds.

One of the hardest hurdles to overcome for families that have good jobs and good credit, is saving for the downpayment.  Seems something always comes up and chips away at savings (dental care, tires, car problems).  The hopeful homeowner seems to get through these issues and manage, but has trouble with saving for the downpayment.

The City of Billings downpayment assistance program is funded by HUD.  Your local lender can help you apply for some of these funds (today there is $290,000) that can be used as downpayment on a home.  It still takes a minimum of $1,000 to obtain the maximum assistance of $10,000 to $15,000 depending on the borrower's annual household income and number of dependents.  The funds must be paid back if the home is sold or refinanced. 

The Neighborworks Montana program also requires a minimum investment of $1,000 to obtain the maximum loan amount of $10,000.  Loans are paid back along with the borrower's mortgage payment over a 15 or 30 year term.  This program is not limited to first time homebuyers.

Don't count yourself out if you have most of the means and the gumpshon to buy a home.  These downpayment assistance programs may be helpful for:

• First Time Homebuyers
• Single parent with dependent child or children
• Borrower (s) with disabled family member living in the home

Some of these programs may also have a "forgiveness" clause if you live in the home for a lengthy period of time.

Both of these programs require the borrower (s) to complete a Homebuyer Education Class.  The class is designed to prep homeowners with the skills required to be successful with homeownership.

1656 Roadrunner Place, Billings Montana 59102--Condo For Sale--Priced at only $108,000.

West end location with views of the Rimrocks and the water in the irrigation ditch.  Click here for virtual tour!

When you live in a condo community, having the advantage of a little privacy is a luxury!  Call me for a personal showing if this is something that would work for you!

The main level includes a living room graced by a gas fireplace as well as the eat in kitchen with warm wood cabinetry.  A large pantry is handy next to the kitchen!  A half bath is located on this main level.  Follow the stairs to the upper level hallway.  A main bath including a tiled shower/tub area is handy for the two upper level bedrooms.

The master bedroom enjoys a large patio door that opens out onto a balcony.  The balcony is shaded by Quaking Aspens just to the west.  A large closet expands across an entire wall for all of those clothes and shoes.

A second bedroom just down the hall enjoys the same views as the master bedroom.

From the main floor, follow the stairs down to the basement level which opens up into a large utility room where the washer and dryer are located.  Plenty of room for storage, maybe a peice of exercise equipment or a sewing area.

A third bedroom, non-egress in this basement is very large and has a very long closet for even more clothes.

This condo also enjoys a single detached garage just down the walkway.

Condo fees are $120 per month which includes the outside maintenance and insurance, water, lawn-care and snow removal.  A separate paint fund for the entire complex is growing by the contributions of $75 extra per month until September of 2011. 

For a complete review of the condo documents and the minutes of the last meeting, please email me @  wanda@mymontanahomestead.com for details.

I am fortunate to have an international tourist attraction nearly right out my back door!  Spent the week up in Yellowstone National Park with my husband and my daughter.  When in the Park, hiking the trails, only about half of the people we meet are speaking English!  Lots of visitors from all over the World, and they all seem to get alone just fine out in the woods.

Bears just get a bad rap!  Right now, there's only about 150 Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone National Park, but every-bodies scared to death of them (they are big, and you really don't want to mess with them).  I think the Ranger said there are about another 600 or so Black Bears (which can be brown) in the Park as well.  Check out this link for the best information on statistics for Bears in Yellowstone.

Since records have been kept, there's only been 5 deaths from Bears in Yellowstone National Park.  One other death in 1983 happened outside the West Entrance in the Rainbow Point Campground in the Gallatin National Forest. 

Just this past July, a Grizzly Bear Mom with 3 cubs attacked tent campers in a campground outside of Cooke City Montana, one person was killed and several others were injured.  Our hearts and prayers go out to the families involved in this terrible encounter.  The bears have since been captured and euthanized.  An investigation is underway to figure out why this happened, there is some speculation that a photographer may have been baiting the bears prior to the attack.

When these kind of headlines are in the news, bears become the evil empire of the forest.  In reality, these incidents are extremely rare! 

We did see a bear with 3 cubs in the Hayden Valley last Saturday evening.  She was doing one of those food searches where she goes back and forth in a zig zag pattern searching for maybe a baby elk?  Baby elk have no scent, so if a bear wants to find one, they need to do a strategic search.  I had to use my binoculars just to watch these Bears because they were a good 150 yds away.  The cubs were hiding in the sage brush, but every now and then, they would pop up their heads and check out the crowd of people watching them!

I would love to show you a picture of the Bears we saw, but I didn't get a good picture of them.

I did get a picture of the Teton's of Wyoming as the backdrop of a vacation pose.  This was taken just above the Jackson Lake Lodge.  Stunning!

The jobless rate in North Dakota is the lowest in the country right now, 3.6% compared to Montana at 7.3%, Montana ranks 16th.  Yellowstone County, where I live, is doing a bit better than the rest of the state at 5.7%.  In fact most of the East side of the Rocky Mountain Divide has a lower unemployment rate than the Western side. 

That's why I'm headed to the West side of the Mountains for Vacation, to help their economy, and because they have Huckleberries.  I get some kind of sick enjoyment out of spending hours hunched over with bug spray all over myself, looking out for bears and mountain lions, picking a Montana delicacy.  I've been doing this for 40 years, and I hope I never have to stop!

When you're from Montana or North Dakota, there's a good chance some of your relatives came over on the same trail or train.  So when we trade jokes back and forth, it's all in family fun.  I'm sure other states have similar fun, but up here in the twilight zone, where our population is sparce in most of the country, we pull jokes on each other all the time.

Here's a work joke, thought it suited the unemployment situation pretty well:

2 North Dakotans were working for the city of Fargo works department.  One would dig a hole and the other would follow along behind him and fill the hole in.  They worked up one side of the street, then down the other, then move on to the next street, working fast and furious all day, without a break. 

A passerby watched them at their work for awhile, when finally he asked the workers "you guys are the hardest working fellers I've seen in a long time, but what I was wondering is why do you dig a hole, , only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?"

The hole digger gave the passerby a quizical look and answered "well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we're normally a three-man team, but today the guy who plants the trees called in sick."

Just keep on workin, that's the motto!  Guess the jokes on Montana right now!

5711 Scandia Road in Shepherd Montana is the location of a big log home for sale on 4.8 acres.  This home is offered for $250,000 which is a great deal for over 4,600 square feet including a double tuck under garage.

This horse property is located just a few miles north of Shepherd Montana, accessed by a paved road.  The school bus stops right in front of the driveway. The Shepherd School System, the Shepherd Elementary, Shepherd Junior High and the Shepherd High School are all located on the same campus in this rural community.  Just imagine having your school age children all in the same location for in-school and after school activities!  The graduating class size for the last few years from the Shepherd High School has been 60 to 80 students. 

This big log home has a total of 5 bedrooms featuring the master suite with a large walk-in closet.  3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms on the lower walk-out level, one lower level bedroom non-egress.  2 Full baths up and 1 full bath down.

Please check out this link to the virtual tour, which has a good collection of pictures of both the home and the land-- virtual tour.