Wanda's Blog From Billings, Montana

We've sold 17 homes in the past 90 days, and that's not too shabby!  The price range for the home sales seems to be under $200,000 with only 4 selling over this price.

This is the slowest sales summer in the past 5 years, pretty much in step with the rest of the country (even though living east of Billings is always a bright spot to me!)

Just take this little bit of info to help you see what buyer's are doing;

The average listed price of homes with and without acreage in the Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar area right now is $241,890.  But the average sales price for the same area in the past 90 days was $156,722, that's quite a bit different then last year. 

For 2010 during the same period the average list price was $237,381 and the average sales price was $228,133! 

The average number of days on the market for the sold homes almost doubled from 2010 to 2011 from 50 days to 93 days.

What's the reason for this change?  Here in Montana, when we feel a little pressure on our paychecks, or at least when we worry there might be more pressure on our paychecks, we hunker down and sit tight!

This is really a buyer's market right now, only we are missing some good well priced listings!  Homes that are well priced and in good condition will sell in 45 days or less.  Overpriced homes continue to lag without any movement, very frustrating for home sellers who were hoping for more in an environment that will only give them less.

Sometimes I feel like the grim reaper when I educate people on the current market conditions.  My advice?  The reasons people move are the same as they've always been, looking for a neighborhood, location (location, location), schools, work, family changes, move up, move down, moving over.  Making money on a home in this environment depends on whether you own the home or the bank does, and what the spread is. 

Paying down a mortgage is still a really good investment, but it may take years before we have growth in prices at a rate of 3% or more.

How's the Market in Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar this December 2010?  The Shepherd area is leading the pack in sales volume.

Let's look at supply and demand:

• Supply = number of unsold homes on the market, includes active, pending and contingent listings
• Demand = number of homes that sold and closed during the period

Shepherd Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

37 Unsold homes for sale

15 Sales over the last 90 days

At a rate of 5 sales per month, it would take 7.4 months to sell all of the current inventory

Huntley Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

7 Unsold homes for sale

2 Sales over the last 90 days

At a rate of .66 sales per month, it would take about 10.6 months to sell all of the current inventory

Worden Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

8 Unsold homes for sale

1 sale over the last 90 days

At a rate of .33 sales per month, it would take about 24 months to sell all of the current inventory

Ballantine Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

8 Unsold homes for sale

2 sales over the last 90 days

At a rate of .66 sales per month, it would take about 12 months to sell all of the current inventory

If you total up the area's above and include the one listing in Pompey's Pillar, the picture of the current market and the number of homes sales in the past 30 days would look like this:

 

 

 

Montana lots and land sales are a hard sell this time of the year, especially since we've had the 2nd snowiest November on record!  It's pretty hard to get excited about looking for land when it's all covered with snow.

Land prices have come down just a bit, but there have been less price reductions in this area of the real estate market than you would think.

Below is a pie chart of the lots and land real estate market current activity.  You won't find any sold's in this graph, since there have been no closings in the last 30 days. 

There are 3 pending sales, which average 16.67 acres at $5,458 per acre. 

There are 84 lots for sale in this area right now, most of these in the Shepherd area consisting of 1 to 5 acre lots in subdivisions. 

I know this area very well, and love to sell bare land.  We have a few more really nice homes in the construction process in this area, so I'm encouraged that we'll see more movement on some of these lots this spring.

 

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.

 

 

Country Living 20 minutes to downtown Billings, Montana.  3 Bedrooms, 1 Bath, 2 Car Garage all on over 1.3 Acres!

We're looking for new owners for this home in Shepherd, Montana.  One level living with an open floor plan for the kitchen, dining and living room.  Covered front porch, patio out the dining room sliding glass doors.  Irrigation water for lawn, cistern for domestic use.  School bus stops close by for the Shepherd School District, all three levels of the school are on the same large campus.  You can have one horse or one cow on this property.  Laundry mud room off the garage entrance.

Call for your personal showing:  Wanda Thomas 406-698-8640

7121 Lance Street, Shepherd, Montana 59079

Stake your claim right here, minutes from the largest Metro area in Montana.  One level ranch style home on 1.3 acres.  3 bedrooms, 1 bath, double attached garage.  Open living, dining and kitchen area.  Patio door leads to a huge backyard with a patio and garden area.  Affordable and ready for a new owner.

Yes we have wine and a few snacks, but on occassion we get a couple of things done!

A small group of us country bumpkins get together and talk about what we should make, when we should make it and a little show and tell.

We've been working on our mystery quilts, nearly done I think.  But for some of you who wonder if we really work at all, here are a few examples.

 

 

 

 

This quilt was a quick one we did when Kathy found out one of her daughters was getting married in the very near future.  We didn't make it in time for the wedding, but it was completed within a month of the ceremony!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next quilt was put together by 2 of the longer quilt people of this group.  It's designed to be "cot sized" and the plan is to send it to or with a soldier.  We may make more of these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of our more serious quilters is kinda on the "over the top" side.  This was made from some goof off pieces she found in her stash while she was "organizing"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You just can't stop her!  She can make 6 quilts to my one!  She even teaches us a thing or 2 when we have our "quilt nights".  But I can drink more wine than she can!

Hooray we have some good movement in the "East of Billings" market.  Seems as though this spring like weather has sparked some interest in moving. 

Today I ran the numbers for area 10 and found that we have 14 properties under contract right now!  Here are the average numbers of interest:

• $171,107--Average price of a home under contract right now
• 3 bedrooms and 2 baths--Average
  
• $89.72--Average price per square foot
• 1,936--Average square foot size of the home
• 67--Average number of days on the market
• 30% of listings are under contract right now (that's good news)

I think the east end of Billings is at a price point where there are just more buyers who are ready to take advantage of record low interest rates.

Price it at market and it will sell.  Buyers are looking for deals, I know, I've been working with quite a few lately.  Even though the selection is good, if a new listing comes on the market priced right for the area and it's condition, it will sell quickly.

Stay tuned, let's hope we have a great next few weeks.

Have a Happy and Safe Graduation Everyone!

Remember, this is a process! 

Our little quilting group rotates to each other's homes on Tuesday evenings for a bit of fun.  Here are a couple of pictures of our latest projects which are a mystery to us until we put them all together.

 

Is this a good time to buy in the Shepherd area?

You can't beat the rural appeal of Shepherd in the springtime.  Shepherd is a rural bedroom community just northeast of the largest metro area in Montana. 

The Real Estate Market for Shepherd is blooming a bit this spring with 6 homes which have closed in the last 60 days and 5 more under contract right now out of a total of 31 homes on the market.

Prices in this area vary, here are some recent market numbers:

The average price for a home active on the market:  $270,000

The average price for a home under contract on the market:  $207,000

The average price for a home that sold in the last 60 days:  $241,000

These numbers are a bit higher than the metro area price averages, mostly because many of the sales also include a larger chunk of land.

Could the Shepherd area benefit from a few more homes on the market right now?  5 out of 31 are under contract right now.  Trends in the market show us that only about half of the active listings will sell, that would bring the number of likely closings to 15 of the 31 for sale.  Hope I'm not confusing you.  If you're still with me, that means that right now we have room for a few more homes, priced right, for the market.

When a buyer wants to look at the Shepherd area, right now, for a home with more than 2 acres, they have 18 homes to choose from (some are proposed new construction).