Elinor Smith
HELENA (UM Legislative News Service) A program run through Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks compensates landowners in Montana for opening their land for public hunting access.
Now, a bill that could double the amount of money they get is just a few steps away from reaching the governor’s desk.
In 2020, there were 7.1 million acres of private land open for public hunting in Montana because of the block grant management program. Current law caps payments to landowners who allow hunting on their property at up to $25,000. Sen. Steve Heinbauch is the sponsor of Senate Bill 58, which would cap payments at $50,000 a year. Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage, is carrying the bill in the House.
“It was last increased in the 2021 session, from $15,000 to $25,000. But after that there was still quite a few landowners that had reached the cap. Some of these landowners are providing hundreds, if not thousands of hunter days that are not being compensated for,” Ler said.
The program would also help landowners with maintenance and insurance to help make up for the risk of letting people hunt on their land.
Democratic Representative Tom France from Missoula supported the bill. He said if Montana wants to keep its reputation as a recreation mecca, it needs to invest in the programs that make it so.
“Our block management program in this state that provides public access through voluntary agreements between the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and private landowners is really the envy of the nation. Just like we’ve seen housing prices go up and rental prices go up, the price of partnerships with landowners has gone up. And this bill will ensure that we continue to have great access in Montana,” France said.
No opponents spoke against the bill during its hearing March 14th or during the debate in the House. The House advanced the bill on a 99-to-1 vote on Thursday. It now goes to the House Appropriations Committee before coming back to the House for a final vote. The Senate already passed the bill 45-to-3 in January.
MISSOULA – The old Sleepy Inn property could be removed and prepared for redevelopment as early as April, setting the stage for redevelopment within the West Broadway corridor, city officials said this week.
Funding from the property’s sale could also help fund affordable housing elsewhere within the corridor as aspects of the West Broadway Master Plan begin to take shape.
On Wednesday, members of the City Council approved a $283,000 contract with 3 Rivers Landworks to remove asbestos and lead-based paint from the Sleepy Inn. Once the work is completed, the firm will deconstruct the buildings and level the site for redevelopment.
The work could begin as early as next month, according to Tyler Walks, a brownfields program specialist with the city.
“Once we get the cleanup done, we can hand it off to demolition and deconstruction,” he said. “It would be available for redevelopment as early as April of this year.”
Missoula Current
Walks said the funding would have no impact on the city’s general fund budget. Rather, the project will be paid for using the city’s brownfields revolving loan fund.
At the request of the city, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency purchased the property in 2020 for $1.2 million. For the next two years, it served as a quarantine shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic and housed 395 people, the city has said.
During that time, FEMA provided around $1.8 million in reimbursement costs, enough to cover the property’s initial purchase price.
The purchase was also made as part of the city’s land banking strategy – a goal detailed in Missoula’s housing policy. Sale of the property to a private developer would enable the city to recover its expenses from the initial purchase and abatement work and place the revenue into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
But how the site is redeveloped hasn’t been finalized, though commercial uses on the ground floor and market-rate housing above are most likely, the city has said.
“We want to understand what the market would support on this site,” said Annie Gorski, deputy director of MRA. “It would be a win-win for the city if we had both a sale that provides money to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and also places housing on the site.”
Last summer, city officials said the size and constraints of the lot could make redevelopment challenging and more costly. The current vision calls for a five-story building with ground-floor retail and roughly 35 residential units.
Other properties within the West Broadway planning area would be targeted for subsidized housing and funded in part by the sale of the Sleepy Inn.
Missoula Current
“I don’t think we’ve decided what’s happening here yet,” said council member Amber Sherrill. “We’re land banking, and whether there’s affordable housing in this spot specifically or if the best use of the proceeds from this sale is to support affordable housing somewhere else is what we’re talking about.”
The city has contracted a realtor to market and sell the property for redevelopment, but city officials on Wednesday said it’s not yet known what the property is worth now, or what it will be worth once abatement and deconstruction are finished.
Some members of council voiced skepticism over the lack of numbers. Without them, they voted against the $283,000 cleanup contract.
“I feel pretty uncomfortable with this whole project,” said council member John Contos. “First of all, the city bought this for more than what it should have gone for, and now we’re removing everything on it in order to sell it. Missoula is a pretty hot spot right now, and I have no doubt that property would sell with the things that are on it. We should have some idea what it would sell for, clean or unclean.”
But others believe the city has a responsibility to abate any contaminants before selling it to a buyer. They also believe a clean site ready for redevelopment will make the property easier to market and potentially add to its value, particularly given its prime location.
“I participated in the West Broadway Master Plan, and removing this structure from the site will make it more desirable for a buyer,” said council member Mirtha Becerra. “The sooner we can sell this property, the sooner we can start implementing that vision.”
Shortly after the pandemic hit and the Sleepy Inn began serving as a shelter, the city completed its master plan for the West Broadway corridor.
Megan Mannering/MTN News file
The resulting plan covers roughly 15 acres and envisions around 130 market-rate townhomes and apartments, and a goal of 70 affordable housing units targeted to a range of incomes.
It also calls for office and retail space, transit stops and other amenities. The city owns other properties within the planning area, including the Missoula Water building and an adjoining property.
The plan identified the Sleepy Inn property as having a gateway structure with stature leading into the West Broadway neighborhood.
“(The Sleepy Inn) would be one of the first properties to be redeveloped and would likely be the catalyst for other redevelopment in the area,” said Walks. “The city’s realtor advised us the property would be more marketable for sale as a clean, level site with the building removed.”
News release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana
BILLINGS — A Nevada man accused in an investigation into commercial sex activity in Billings admitted today to transporting a person with the intent to engage in prostitution, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Cecil Jerome Hatchett, 32, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with transportation of a person with intent to engage in prostitution. Hatchett faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,00 fine and three years of supervised release. If accepted by the court, a plea agreement reached by the parties calls for Hatchett to serve a sentence of not less than five years of imprisonment.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing was set for May 4. Hatchett was detained pending further proceedings.
In court documents, the government alleged that on April 21, 2021, law enforcement responded to a call concerning possible commercial sex activity at the Quality Inn in Billings. Officers knocked on the door of the suspect room and announced themselves. Co-defendant Ashley Stella, another female identified as Jane Doe 1, a minor, and co-defendant Mark Jay Albrecht emerged. In interviews with law enforcement, Jane Doe 1 indicated she had met Stella in December 2020 and that Stella informed her that she worked in commercial sex. Jane Doe 1 told law enforcement that the two traveled from Nevada and elsewhere to Montana in April 2021. Once in Montana, both Stella and Jane Doe 1 engaged in commercial sex. Stella told law enforcement that she had met Jane Doe 1 in the fall of 2020 and learned of her true age later that year. Stella said the two had traveled from Nevada to Montana for the purpose of commercial sex and had asked Jane Doe 1 if she wanted to go on this trip with her. Investigators searched electronic media belonging to Stella and Jane Doe 1 and found numerous messages between Hackett and Stella. The communications included discussions about the upcoming commercial sex appointments of Stella and Jane Doe 1. In addition, law enforcement discovered a rental car from Reno, Nevada, from April 2021 in Hackett’s name and determined it was the same car that Stella and Jane Doe 1 drove to Montana for commercial sex. In April 2021, prostitution was illegal in Montana.
Stella, of Reno, Nevada, was sentenced to eight years in prison for conviction of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution. Albrecht, of Gillette, Wyoming, pleaded guilty on Jan. 4 to prostitution near military and navy establishments, a misdemeanor, and is pending sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zeno B. Baucus and Bryan T. Dake are prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Billings Police Department, the Reno, Nevada, Police Department and IRS.
A Nevada man accused in an investigation into commercial sex activity in Billings, Montana admitted to transporting a person with the intent to engage in prostitution according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana
Cecil Jerome Hatchett, 32, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with transportation of a person with intent to engage in prostitution. Hatchett faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,00 fine and three years of supervised release. If accepted by the court, a plea agreement reached by the parties calls for Hatchett to serve a sentence of not less than five years of imprisonment.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing was set for May 4. Hatchett was detained pending further proceedings.
In court documents, the government alleged that on April 21, 2021, law enforcement responded to a call concerning possible commercial sex activity at the Quality Inn in Billings. Officers knocked on the door of the suspect room and announced themselves.
Co-defendant Ashley Stella, another female identified as Jane Doe 1, a minor, and co-defendant Mark Jay Albrecht emerged. In interviews with law enforcement, Jane Doe 1 indicated she had met Stella in December 2020 and that Stella informed her that she worked in commercial sex. Jane Doe 1 told law enforcement that the two traveled from Nevada and elsewhere to Montana in April 2021.
Once in Montana, both Stella and Jane Doe 1 engaged in commercial sex. Stella told law enforcement that she had met Jane Doe 1 in the fall of 2020 and learned of her true age later that year. Stella said the two had traveled from Nevada to Montana for the purpose of commercial sex and had asked Jane Doe 1 if she wanted to go on this trip with her.
Investigators searched electronic media belonging to Stella and Jane Doe 1 and found numerous messages between Hackett and Stella. The communications included discussions about the upcoming commercial sex appointments of Stella and Jane Doe 1. In addition, law enforcement discovered a rental car from Reno, Nevada, from April 2021 in Hackett’s name and determined it was the same car that Stella and Jane Doe 1 drove to Montana for commercial sex. In April 2021, prostitution was illegal in Montana.
Stella, of Reno, was sentenced to eight years in prison for conviction of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution. Albrecht, of Gillette, Wyoming, pleaded guilty on Jan. 4 to prostitution near military and navy establishments, a misdemeanor, and is pending sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zeno B. Baucus and Bryan T. Dake are prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Billings Police Department, the Reno, Nevada, Police Department and IRS.
(U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana)
Claire Matten
(Sterling CRE) In 2023, Montana CRE investors, owners, tenants and developers are seeking answers after a volatile year.
As we look ahead, here are trends we predict will shape the commercial real estate market in Montana. Knowing what’s next can help guide smart decisions about your next Montana commercial real estate move in 2023.
- The ask-bid gap will begin to close as sellers become more realistic about pricing. Sellers with well-performing assets have been holding tight to 2021 pricing as the cost of capital continued to climb. As we get comfortable in our “new normal” Sellers will start to adjust to market expectations
- That may not happen until later in the year, as we don’t expect pricing to level out until the third quarter of 2023. This means that there will likely be a drop in the number of transactions completed in 2023
- Commercial real estate defaults may rise as short-term notes become due. Rising interest rates along with increasing labor costs, inflation, and other factors will cause some owner-occupier stress. Investment deals financed under record-low interest rates set to adjust will find some investors unable to hit their return targets
- Speculative development will slow in 2023. Money center banks (i.e. JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo) have paused on speculative development, a trend that is trickling down to the local lender level as well.
Overall, these trends suggest that the commercial real estate market in Montana in 2023 will be marked by an air of caution and uncertainty, as stakeholders navigate a shifting market landscape – at least for the first few months.
It will be important for property owners and investors to stay up-to-date on market trends and be prepared to adapt in order to achieve success.
Montana CRE: Multifamily in 2023
- Vacancy rates will continue trending upwards, approaching equilibrium. That’s especially true for Missoula and Gallatin counties, as thousands of units are set to deliver in both markets. Specifically, knowing that at least 2,000 new units will be added to the Missoula market in 2023, we predict this will lead to higher vacancy rates. In Gallatin County, we’re anticipating at least 1,300 new units to come on board through the new year – creating another situation where vacancy rates are likely to rise.
- Rent growth will plateau or slightly decrease in 2023. As the supply of rental units increases and demand potentially flattens, landlords may have to compete more aggressively for tenants by lowering rents or other incentives – which has already begun in Gallatin County, as many incentives are now available for renters.
- Cap rates for multifamily assets will increase by 150 basis points or more in 2023, as compared to 2021 averages. The cost of capital and unknown exit cap rates will result in lower risk tolerance and returns will need to move higher in order for deals to pencil.
- It is likely that the leasing market in Montana may become more competitive in 2023, as landlords navigate a shifting market with more options for tenants.
Montana CRE: Industrial in 2023
- Speculative developments will decline as lending restrictions remain in place. This means that there will be fewer new industrial projects being built, as developers face challenges in securing financing
- In turn, we expect that rents for industrial properties will hold steady due to the lack of speculative product delivering in 2023. With fewer new buildings coming onto the market, demand for existing industrial space is likely to remain strong, helping to support rental rates
- Cap rates for industrial assets will increase by 150 basis points or more in 2023, when compared to 2021 averages. Cap rate movement in this sector is tied to the debt market and what a buyer is able to pay to meet their required returns
- While some investors may remain cautious about investing directly in cannabis-related assets, “cannabis adjacent” uses, such as packaging, private incubators, cosmetics manufacturing and distribution centers serving the cannabis industry, will continue to draw interest in 2023
- Industrial outside storage (IOS) will remain popular but may become more difficult to find due to zoning restrictions. As demand for industrial space continues to grow, IOS properties may be seen as a valuable asset but may be more difficult to come by due to limited availability. However, IOS is an emergent asset class that is not yet widely used in Montana
Claire Matten is a CCIM/SIOR with Sterling CRE in Missoula.
A lawsuit filed against the city of Whitefish and a developer over a commercial subdivision has been dismissed.
Flathead District Court Judge Dan Wilson on Nov. 9 ruled that the case be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiff cannot refile the case. The ruling notes that the plaintiff, the South Whitefish Neighborhood Association, did not serve a petition on the city within three years of filing the complaint, which is required by state law, and thus the court must dismiss the claim.
Whitefish in September 2019 approved a five-lot commercial subdivision requested by Whitefish Housing Group, LLC on U.S. 93 just north of the First Baptist Church. The subdivision was approved to include four commercial lots close to the highway and one residential lot to the west.
Roughly a month later the neighborhood association, which was formed by a group of neighbors who have been vocal in opposing development in the area, filed the lawsuit against the city, Whitefish City Council and the developer of the project.
The lawsuit claimed the development would “degrade the safety, welfare, wildlife, and aesthetic values” of the area and harm the property values and quality of life of those living in the area including destroying the “residential rural and agricultural character” of the neighborhood. It also claimed that the city violated its own subdivision regulations and the Montana Subdivision and Platting Act.
As part of its approval, council found that the site is located entirely within the urban confines of the city and not mapped as winter range for big game, thus the subdivision should not have a negative impact on wildlife or wildlife habitat.
Findings also said that the subdivision would not have a negative effect on public health and safety because of compliance with fire code and traffic generated would be evaluated when building permits were submitted for specific uses on the site.
The planning staff report at the time of approval noted that the project complies with the city’s growth policy that designates the area as both for general/highway commercial and suburban residential and it also complies with the zoning of the property.
A SEPARATE lawsuit involving the property is still making its way through the court process.
Rimrock Companies filed a lawsuit against the city after it was denied approval to construct a hotel just off U.S. 93 in the subdivision. Rimrock proposed to construct an 85-room hotel at the site, but City Council in October 2021 shot down the proposal stating concerns over traffic congestion on the highway and saying that a hotel does not fit with the community’s vision of the area.
Rimrock claims Council did not have the facts to support making statements on potential issues and that as hotels are listed in the city’s growth policy as a use in that area, thus the hotel should be allowed.
Rimrock is asking the court to reverse the denial. It says the reasons Council stated for not approving the project were not based on fact and that the city abused its discretion in denying the project.
The city denies the allegations in court documents.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Parsons, left, runs through lines with Victoria Padilla, right, for an upcoming play, at Gardiner School on Oct. 26, 2022. Padilla is the speech, debate and drama coach. She also teaches seventh through twelfth grade science.
GARDINER — Inside Victoria Blaeky-Padilla’s classroom is an eclectic series of cell models created by students and posters of wildfire patterns, together a snapshot of the various middle and high school science subjects Padilla teaches at Gardiner Public Schools.
On a cool October afternoon, her room is host to the school’s speech and drama team, with students preparing for an upcoming meet.
As the practice wraps around 6 p.m. and elk graze on the football field outside, Padilla is within walking distance of her apartment building, a three-story former bed and breakfast lined with rocks from the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone National Park’s Roosevelt Arch.
Three Gardiner teachers live in this former bed and breakfast, now owned by the North Yellowstone Education Foundation. It is pictured here on Oct. 26, 2022.
Principal Mike Baer poses for a photo outside of Gardiner School on Oct. 26, 2022. Baer has been the principal at Gardiner School for ten years.
Teacher Cody Carlson poses for a photo in his classroom at Gardiner School on Oct. 26, 2022. This is Carlson’s first year teaching. He teaches high school math and music.
A student drinks out of a drinking fountain at Gardiner School on Oct. 26, 2022.
A mural is painted in a hallway at Gardiner School on Oct. 26, 2022.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Parsons, right, runs through lines with Victoria Padilla, left, for an upcoming play, at Gardiner School on Oct. 26, 2022. Padilla is the speech, debate and drama coach. She also teaches seventh through twelfth grade science.
Like more than half of Missoula residents, Mark Gibbons and his wife Pam don’t own their home and instead have sent a rent check to their landlord for the past 23 years.
They love their nice little house near the University of Montana, where they raised their two sons. Pam works at a local grocery store and Mark is an author and teacher. He was named Montana’s Poet Laureate in 2021. So, as they near retirement age, it came as a shock when they got a call from their landlord notifying them that they were being evicted from their home after nearly a quarter of a century.
The family that owns their house has decided to take advantage of record-high prices and sell. A local Realtor estimated it’s going to be listed for nearly $700,000, far beyond their reach. So they’ve had to scramble to find another place to rent in Missoula, where median home sales prices and rents have skyrocketed in the last decade.
People are also reading…
“When you’ve lived in a place as long as I’ve lived in this place, it becomes your place,” Gibbons explained, gazing at the yard where his kids used to play. “You become emotionally attached. You’ve got all these stories, you raise your kids here. And so it’s like a death in a way, or a divorce, whatever you want to call it. It’s an emotional journey to get out.”
His sons wondered if the whole family could pitch in to buy it, but there was just no way to do it on their incomes. For now, they’ve found a temporary place to stay, but it’s much smaller. Moving out after nearly a quarter of a century has taken a toll on Gibbons and his wife.
“It affects people differently,” he said. “I know it’s just knocked my wife for a loop, you know, emotionally, and it’s bothered me but I’ve stuffed it in and replaced it with anger. And I can get pretty angry if I want about the whole Goddamned thing. So I just need to get out, and get away. Time takes care of everything.”
The couple owned a home in Pablo at one point, but they never felt right about buying a home in Missoula. When they first moved in, they had what they felt was a pretty good deal on rent with the owner for about $800 a month. However, the owner eventually passed away and the house was put in the possession of a trust owned by his relatives. Over the years the rent kept getting slowly increased. Gibbons would always grumble a little bit but kept paying. Still, he was blindsided by news of the sale. Now, he regrets never buying a home of his own. He didn’t think it would come to this.
“I’m not an economic wizard, obviously,” he admitted. “But it’s just the lack of decent family-sized housing.”
So this summer, Gibbons has been exposed to the brutal real estate and rental markets in Missoula after 23 years. He was shocked at the prices he saw for even the smallest apartments. Luckily, a friend let him rent a condo. Now Gibbons commiserates with people like his neighbor, who is also getting evicted because the house is being sold.
“It’s just a really bad time for renters,” he said. “My wife and I have resources and connections in the community because we’ve been here so long, but a lot of people don’t. It’s a shit show of a problem with all the gentrification and the Airbnb world and property taxes because of the massive houses.”
Housing prices have soared in western Montana since the start of the pandemic, and Missoula County saw record-breaking increases. The median home sales price was $315,250 for all of 2019. That number jumped to $575,000 in June of 2022, an unprecedented 82.5% increase.
“We realize the numbers are grim,” exclaimed Mandy Snook, the president of the Missoula Organization of Realtors, in an April 2022 meeting about the housing market. “And we are not happy about the direction that they are heading. There are not enough housing units for sale or rent. We are out of balance and in a crisis.”
In Ravalli County, the median home sales price went from $309,000 in 2019 to $682,500 in June of 2022, according to the Missoula Organization of Realtors. That’s a whopping 120.8% increase.
The story was similar in Sanders, Mineral, Lake, Granite and Flathead counties, and in fact, for almost everywhere in Montana.
Local real estate agents noticed an increase in out-of-state buyers, and data showed that the percentage of all-cash buyers increased during the pandemic.
Brint Wahlberg, a Missoula Realtor, noted that all-cash purchases in Missoula County have increased from 17.74% of all financing methods in 2020 to 23.52% in 2022.
“That’s more than one out of every five home purchases,” he said.
Realtors who specialize in land and ranch sales reported having their busiest years ever.
The surge in demand was coupled with a lack of supply because builders have not kept pace with the number of homes that should be getting constructed just to keep up with population increases, let alone a spike in interest from out-of-staters.
“We’re in an under-supply of about 2,400 units,” according to Karen Hughes, the assistant director of Missoula County’s community and planning department. At one point in 2017, there were nine single-family homes listed for sale when the Missoula Organization of Realtors estimated about 6,000 people were looking to buy one. Realtors have been astounded at bidding wars that have drastically put upward pressure on prices, shocking both buyers and sellers.
Wages have also not kept up with rising home prices. The median family income in Missoula County has risen by just 15% since 2010, while the median home sales price has increased by 180% in that time.
Rent prices also surged. In 2021, average rents increased 5.6% over the year, with increases accelerating in the second half of the year. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment stood at about $1,064 per month. The average vacancy rate for the year was about 1.3%. Most experts say a healthy vacancy rate is somewhere between 5% and 8%.
“This is the first year that I’m seeing a two-bedroom apartment in a standard multiplex go for more than $1,000,” explained Paul Burow, a local Realtor and property manager.
He noted that in the first quarter of 2021, the rental vacancy rate was 1.2% and the number dropped to .9% at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
Some efforts to ameliorate the situation have been successful, and others have failed.
In Missoula, over 400 units of income-restricted apartments are under construction, including the largest single affordable housing complex in Montana history. However, experts say hundreds, if not thousands, more are needed over the next few years.
In Whitefish, the city council banned tourist rental homes in large portions of the town as prices there push out workers.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte created an affordable housing taskforce in the summer of 2022 as a response to the crisis.
However, Gianforte, a Republican, also vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature that would have created state Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
In his veto message, Gianforte said HB 397 would cost $45 million and would have tied Montana credits directly to the level of available federal housing credits.
“Considering current and ongoing federal funding for affordable housing development and rental assistance, HB 397 is unnecessary legislation that would have an unjustified long-term fiscal impact on the state,” Gianforte said.
The bill was supported by several nonprofits that build low-income housing in Montana.
“Since 2016, the Montana Board of Housing has denied over $310 million in federal housing tax credit requests due to lack of funding, half of which were from Montana’s small towns,” wrote Homeword executive director Andrea Davis in an op-ed published in newspapers across the state in May of 2021. “Montana missed the opportunity to build 2,000 new affordable apartments and create 4,000 construction jobs with over $186 million in wages.”
In 2021, there were 14 applications (six from small towns) for the federal tax credits totaling $81 million in construction, Davis wrote. However, she said, only $29 million in federal tax credits were awarded, which was only enough to fund 115 to 130 affordable apartments.
“Montana’s continued economic recovery relies on a strong workforce,” Davis wrote. “A strong workforce relies on homes that workers can afford to rent.”
Note: This story is part of Squeezed Out, a series from Lee Enterprises that focuses on the escalating housing crisis in the West. Across the region, costs associated with renting or buying property have skyrocketed, forcing many individuals and families to redefine the meaning of home. More than one dozen reporters, photographers and editors across the West contributed to this project.
The toilet was sinking through the rotting floor, and there was damage from standing water in the crawl space. My heart was sinking, too. The shabby, little house I was hoping to buy would take $10,000 in repairs before I could even move in.
In the short time I had been daydreaming about becoming a first-time homebuyer in Billings, Montana, the housing market had changed dramatically. Two years ago, colleagues at the newspaper where I work as a staff photographer were buying their first homes in the $180,000 range, nice little clean bungalows in tidy, working-class neighborhoods.
People are also reading…
Then came Covid and the in-migration of thousands of people fleeing urban chaos for the bucolic bliss of Montana. They brought with them their remote jobs and barrels of cash from the sale of their million-dollar homes in crowded cities like Seattle and Los Angeles.
In Montana university towns like Missoula and Bozeman, the already-escalating housing prices soared even more during the pandemic as homebuyers bid $50,000 to $100,000 — and in one case even $1 million — over asking price. And, they paid in cash, pushing aside anyone clutching tightly to a down payment and the promise of a bank loan.
Amy Lynn Nelson is photographed outside her home in Edgar.
In Bozeman, the average home price is now $900,000 and in Missoula it’s $600,000. In Billings, the average is “more affordable,” if you can call it that, at $410,000. Two years ago, the average price in Billings was $280,000.
With those kinds of prices in Billings, the housing stock available to first-time homebuyers like me is limited to a very few houses, the dwellings somewhere between a chicken coop and a ramshackle hut teetering on the verge of condemnation.
I started thinking seriously about buying a house last April, armed with $12,000 in savings for a down payment, and pre-approval from my bank for a mortgage up to $200,000. Even with the help of a state first-time home-buyer program, it took weeks of collecting tax documents, income verifications, student loan documents, credit reports, and so much more, to get the pre-approval. I was incredibly excited and my hard work was paying off. The house hunt was on and I was starting to get nervous.
Amy Lynn Nelson is photographed inside her home in Edgar.
Besides not having a truckload of cash, I had other home-buying disadvantages. I’m single, while most first-time homebuyers are couples with two incomes. I have a modest income of just under $40,000, and I have some immodest student loan debt.
On top of that, I’m younger than most first-time home-buyers. Currently, less than 1% of homebuyers are under age 25. I was 23 when I started house hunting and 24 when I moved in.
I started by browsing the listings obsessively, checking Zillow, Facebook, the MLS, Craigslist. In my metro area of about 168,000 people, and 47,000 houses, for the last year or so the number of homes for sale has averaged around 500, sometimes dipping to fewer than 300, according to Zillow.
Some weeks, I’d look at the only two or three houses listed in my price range. Some weeks, there weren’t any.
After looking at several very small and very old and very beaten-up starter homes, all of them too expensive for me, I pursued the sinking-toilet house with a glimmer of hope. The asking price was $210,000, and the owner wasn’t kidding in describing it as a “fixer-upper.” But, it was close enough to my downtown office that I could walk to work if I felt like it, and it was in a gentrifying neighborhood with a bright future. It was the best house in my price range in the entire city.
I bid all I had on the house and signed a buy-sell agreement with the homeowner. And then just what I feared would happen, happened. Within a day, someone topped my offer by many thousands of dollars over the asking price.
I was losing hope in the American dream of home ownership.
Amy Lynn Nelson is photographed inside her home in Edgar.
Growing up in rural northeast Montana, I was surrounded by lifelong homeowners. My parents were in their early 20s when they bought their first house in 1986 for $20,000. A few years later, they bought a small vacation cabin on Fort Peck Lake for $1,000.
Those five-figure house days may be over, but here I sit writing this essay in the living room of my new house. I beat the system because I have something those cash-drunk urban immigrants flooding into Montana don’t have. I have connections, and a willingness to adjust my expectations on how and where I wanted to live.
Those connections begin with my new boss and his wife, who when I moved to Billings last year let me stay rent-free in their house so I could save up down-payment money. My boss has lived here 40 years and knows everyone, including someone in real estate. That someone knew someone who was getting ready to sell her mother’s house and may be agreeable to a private deal.
There was a catch. The house was 35 miles away in Edgar, a tiny old ranch town with one bar and about 100 people. Edgar had not been on my radar, but I agreed to look at the property. I was still burning up to buy a house and saw homeownership as more than a financial investment, it was an investment in myself and my future.
Having grown up in rural Montana, I was not unfamiliar with country living and was willing to make it work. I was pleasantly stunned by the fertile agricultural beauty of the small town. The house sat on a generous lot with friendly neighbors on each side and a backyard that bordered on a cornfield.
I walked in the back door and my jaw dropped. The home had recently been remodeled and had been well cared for, a strong contrast to the other properties I had looked at. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom home had a modern country feel that instantly felt like home. With a large deck, a two-car garage, a beautiful yard, I knew it was the right move for me.
The asking price was $190,000 and that day I started the process of getting it under contract to buy. The fun part had finally begun. In the six weeks it took to close the deal I started shopping for the furnishings and necessities I would need to make it a home. And, by shopping, I really mean scavenging, because I had no more money.
I bargain-shopped at weekend estate sales, garage sales, and Facebook Marketplace. I was able to furnish my entire house for under $1,500, including finding a log bed for my master bedroom for just $160.
By the end of July, I had finally closed on my Edgar home. I learned a lot about the home-buying process and the state of the market during my journey. Perhaps more than anything, I learned the importance of using what you’ve got, flexibility and personal connections and persistence, to make your dreams come true.
Now, here I sit, a young, non-traditional buyer in my very own home. The American dream is real, and mine has a cornfield out back.
Amy Lynn Nelson inside her home in Edgar.
Contact Amy Lynn Nelson at anelson@billingsgazette.com
Note: This story is part of Squeezed Out, a series from Lee Enterprises that focuses on the escalating housing crisis in the West. Across the region, costs associated with renting or buying property have skyrocketed, forcing many individuals and families to redefine the meaning of home. More than one dozen reporters, photographers and editors across the West contributed to this project.
The toilet was sinking through the rotting floor, and there was damage from standing water in the crawl space. My heart was sinking, too. The shabby, little house I was hoping to buy would take $10,000 in repairs before I could even move in.
In the short time I had been daydreaming about becoming a first-time homebuyer in Billings, Montana, the housing market had changed dramatically. Two years ago, colleagues at the newspaper where I work as a staff photographer were buying their first homes in the $180,000 range, nice little clean bungalows in tidy, working-class neighborhoods.
People are also reading…
Then came Covid and the in-migration of thousands of people fleeing urban chaos for the bucolic bliss of Montana. They brought with them their remote jobs and barrels of cash from the sale of their million-dollar homes in crowded cities like Seattle and Los Angeles.
In Montana university towns like Missoula and Bozeman, the already-escalating housing prices soared even more during the pandemic as homebuyers bid $50,000 to $100,000 — and in one case even $1 million — over asking price. And, they paid in cash, pushing aside anyone clutching tightly to a down payment and the promise of a bank loan.
Amy Lynn Nelson is photographed outside her home in Edgar.
In Bozeman, the average home price is now $900,000 and in Missoula it’s $600,000. In Billings, the average is “more affordable,” if you can call it that, at $410,000. Two years ago, the average price in Billings was $280,000.
With those kinds of prices in Billings, the housing stock available to first-time homebuyers like me is limited to a very few houses, the dwellings somewhere between a chicken coop and a ramshackle hut teetering on the verge of condemnation.
I started thinking seriously about buying a house last April, armed with $12,000 in savings for a down payment, and pre-approval from my bank for a mortgage up to $200,000. Even with the help of a state first-time home-buyer program, it took weeks of collecting tax documents, income verifications, student loan documents, credit reports, and so much more, to get the pre-approval. I was incredibly excited and my hard work was paying off. The house hunt was on and I was starting to get nervous.
Amy Lynn Nelson is photographed inside her home in Edgar.
Besides not having a truckload of cash, I had other home-buying disadvantages. I’m single, while most first-time homebuyers are couples with two incomes. I have a modest income of just under $40,000, and I have some immodest student loan debt.
On top of that, I’m younger than most first-time home-buyers. Currently, less than 1% of homebuyers are under age 25. I was 23 when I started house hunting and 24 when I moved in.
I started by browsing the listings obsessively, checking Zillow, Facebook, the MLS, Craigslist. In my metro area of about 168,000 people, and 47,000 houses, for the last year or so the number of homes for sale has averaged around 500, sometimes dipping to fewer than 300, according to Zillow.
Some weeks, I’d look at the only two or three houses listed in my price range. Some weeks, there weren’t any.
After looking at several very small and very old and very beaten-up starter homes, all of them too expensive for me, I pursued the sinking-toilet house with a glimmer of hope. The asking price was $210,000, and the owner wasn’t kidding in describing it as a “fixer-upper.” But, it was close enough to my downtown office that I could walk to work if I felt like it, and it was in a gentrifying neighborhood with a bright future. It was the best house in my price range in the entire city.
I bid all I had on the house and signed a buy-sell agreement with the homeowner. And then just what I feared would happen, happened. Within a day, someone topped my offer by many thousands of dollars over the asking price.
I was losing hope in the American dream of home ownership.
Amy Lynn Nelson is photographed inside her home in Edgar.
Growing up in rural northeast Montana, I was surrounded by lifelong homeowners. My parents were in their early 20s when they bought their first house in 1986 for $20,000. A few years later, they bought a small vacation cabin on Fort Peck Lake for $1,000.
Those five-figure house days may be over, but here I sit writing this essay in the living room of my new house. I beat the system because I have something those cash-drunk urban immigrants flooding into Montana don’t have. I have connections, and a willingness to adjust my expectations on how and where I wanted to live.
Those connections begin with my new boss and his wife, who when I moved to Billings last year let me stay rent-free in their house so I could save up down-payment money. My boss has lived here 40 years and knows everyone, including someone in real estate. That someone knew someone who was getting ready to sell her mother’s house and may be agreeable to a private deal.
There was a catch. The house was 35 miles away in Edgar, a tiny old ranch town with one bar and about 100 people. Edgar had not been on my radar, but I agreed to look at the property. I was still burning up to buy a house and saw homeownership as more than a financial investment, it was an investment in myself and my future.
Having grown up in rural Montana, I was not unfamiliar with country living and was willing to make it work. I was pleasantly stunned by the fertile agricultural beauty of the small town. The house sat on a generous lot with friendly neighbors on each side and a backyard that bordered on a cornfield.
I walked in the back door and my jaw dropped. The home had recently been remodeled and had been well cared for, a strong contrast to the other properties I had looked at. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom home had a modern country feel that instantly felt like home. With a large deck, a two-car garage, a beautiful yard, I knew it was the right move for me.
The asking price was $190,000 and that day I started the process of getting it under contract to buy. The fun part had finally begun. In the six weeks it took to close the deal I started shopping for the furnishings and necessities I would need to make it a home. And, by shopping, I really mean scavenging, because I had no more money.
I bargain-shopped at weekend estate sales, garage sales, and Facebook Marketplace. I was able to furnish my entire house for under $1,500, including finding a log bed for my master bedroom for just $160.
By the end of July, I had finally closed on my Edgar home. I learned a lot about the home-buying process and the state of the market during my journey. Perhaps more than anything, I learned the importance of using what you’ve got, flexibility and personal connections and persistence, to make your dreams come true.
Now, here I sit, a young, non-traditional buyer in my very own home. The American dream is real, and mine has a cornfield out back.
Amy Lynn Nelson inside her home in Edgar.