Wanda's Blog From Billings, Montana

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).

Thank goodness we have lots of people who volunteer their time and services to others, why do they do it?

• Because they showed up at a meeting and raised their hand (this has always been my problem)
• Because they know if they don't volunteer, it won't get done
• Because no matter what kind of appreciation they get, or don't get, they know in their own hearts that they stepped up and did the best they could
• Because the act of volunteering fills a need we have to contribute to our community, some in small ways, some in large ways

So do yourself a favor and volunteer, for something AND thank a volunteer!

• Little league helpers, coaches, team parents, concession stand workers, field workers, umpires
  
• Scouting leaders, school club leaders, special event organizers
  
• Leaders of special events in your community along with all of the volunteer workers
• Firefighters, neighborhood watch, MILITARY
• This list can go on and on, so many volunteers, so little space

New discovery in the war against gophers at the Thomas acres.  Paint the PVC pipe brown and rub some dirt in it!

Please refer to Montana Gopher Wars:  Part 1 for the introduction to this militant activity.

All of the cable tv my 21 year old son has watched over the years must have paid off!  He's been a fan of Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel for years.  He has a look at our great plan for getting gophers to take the bait out of our PVC pipe contraptions and makes a note "Mom, a gopher doesn't want to go in a white hole".  How do you know this I ask? 

He's chased down a few gophers around here, with the dog and his 22 rifle.  What he noticed was, they love to make a B-Line for the flexible black pipe we had laying out for our rain gutters.  We have conducted an experiment, just like the science fair kids do in school.  JT spray painted the PVC pipe brown, including inside the entrance holes.  After just 2 days, more than half of the bait in the brown pipe was gone (he also rubbed dirt in the entrance holes).  The bait in the white PVC pipe looked untouched!

Below are some pictures of the PVC pipe, JT and again the dog (the gopher whisperer).

Link to Montana Gopher Wars Part 1