Missoula, MT

Are Your Missoula or Western Montana Property Taxes Too High?

If you're like most of us, you recently received your notice from the Department of Revenue for the property taxes on your home or land in Western Montana. The Montana constitution and state law require periodic reappraisal of property and 2009 is a reappraisal year.

And if you're like me, your mouth dropped at the value that was assigned to your property - our appraised value was significantly higher than what our property is worth. If you're assessed value is high then the taxes assessed to your property may also be high.

So what can you do?

1.) Request an Informal Review: To do this, complete a Request for Informal Review Form (Form AB-26) and send it to your local Department of Revenue office within 30 days after you receive your assessment notice. This form allows you to attach information to it - such as a summary of similar properties and recent sales prices to show the market value. We provide a Free Comparative Market Analysis for residents in Western Montana upon request.

The completion of this form requires your property's Geocode and Legal Description, if you don't have that information, you can look it up online on the Montana Cadastral.

2.) You can also File an Appeal Directly to the County Tax Appeal Board. To do this, complete a Property Tax Appeal Form (which is much longer than the Request for Internal Review Form) and send it to the Clerk and Recorder in the County in which the property is located before the latest of these dates:

• 30 days after you receive your assessment notice
• 30 days after you receive the determination of your Informal Review Or
• By the first Monday in June

The forms are available by clicking on the above links, at your County Clerk & Recorder's Office or online at www.stab.mt.gov.

If you are appealing your property's market value or classification and your taxes become due before your appeal is resolved, you will need to:

• Specify the grounds of your protest in writing, and
• Pay the taxes disputed under protest by the due date.

If you are successful in your appeal, your County Treasurer will send you a refund.

Property Tax Assistance Programs

There are also several programs available for qualifying Montana property owners. Contact your County Treasurer for more information or visit the State's website at www.stab.mt.gov.

• Disabled Veterans or Spouses of Disabled Veterans
• Low Income
• Extended Property Tax Assistance
• Elderly Homeowner/Renter Income Tax Credit

Completing the forms just take a few minutes and could save you hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars on your property taxes.

Missoula MT Sept 8, 2009 - Agreements with Intermountain MLS of Boise and Northwest Montana Association of REALTORs in Kalispell, plus two others, continue to grow Goomzee’s nationwide footprint. Goomzee®, a leading text message marketing and lead generation provider that connects buyers and sellers in real time, announces agreements with four more multiple listings services.

Intermountain MLS of Boise Idaho spans southern Idaho and eastern Oregon and is the largest multiple listing service provider in Idaho. Northwest Montana Association of REALTORs spans Montana’s beautiful Flathead Lake communities and is the largest multiple listing service provider in Montana. Goomzee also has signed agreements with Missoula Organization of REALTORs and Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORs with respective deployments pending.

“It is the Intermountain MLS’s practice to provide our members with the best available information resources and tools, increasing their value to their customers and making them more productive,” said Greg Manship, CEO of the Intermountain MLS of Boise. “Goomzee will be a great asset in helping agents connect with buyers using today’s mobile and web technology.”

Mike Sparr, CEO of Goomzee, celebrated the signings.

“The nation’s leading MLS groups are recognizing Goomzee’s unique value proposition and continue to move forward with implementations. Recently in California, for instance, we’ve been selected as the provider of choice for three additional MLS groups totaling over 51,000 members. The nation’s leaders continue to acknowledge that Goomzee’s service, agility, and dedication to helping their members is unrivaled and for that, I’m thrilled.”

With the addition of Intermountain MLS, Northwest Montana Association of REALTORs (NMAR), Missoula Organization of REALTORs (MOR) and longtime client, Billings Association of REALTORs, Goomzee has further secured its leadership position throughout the Inland Northwest. Additional rollouts in Pennsylvania, and pending rollouts in North Carolina, California and other key markets continue to secure Goomzee’s leadership position nationwide.

Goomzee’s existing partners continue to rave about the power Goomzee’s technology delivers to their agents, and their organization.

“Goomzee has provided a cutting edge product to the membership with very little effort by MLS Staff while having developed many opportunities for rev share or site license to its partner,” states Rosemary Scardina, CEO of The Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORs. “The Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS MLS couldn't be more pleased to be working with Goomzee. ALL MLS' SHOULD CHECK THEM OUT.”

Goomzee’s text message marketing solution, Realty Connect, compliments any MLS system and not only simplifies text message campaign publishing with their MLS Publishing Wizard, but also delivers valuable real-time market intelligence to the MLS organization on what buyers are looking at, when and where. Before Goomzee, there was no efficient way to gather this information for a 360-degree picture of the market.

About Goomzee
Goomzee® Corporation, based in Missoula, MT, is a mobile and online service that connects buyers and sellers using text messaging technology. Its industry-leading text message marketing platform, Realty Connect, delivers unmatched value and innovation to pacify sellers, buyers and sales professionals by facilitating live interaction while delivering property information and photos to buyer’s cell phones. Goomzee was founded in 2003 and services clients worldwide, including the world’s leading mobile technology and telecommunications firms, real estate brokerages and franchises, multiple listing services and REALTOR associations. Learn more about Goomzee online at http://www.goomzee.com.

Add a Video Tour of Your Local Area to Your Website with a Mueller Map

Awhile ago, ok it's been quite awhile now, I won a Mueller Map for listening to JC KC Social Media Edge on Blog Talk Radio (formerly Twitter Tuesday) that is hosted by ActiveRain's Jason Crouch, Ken Cook and Mike Mueller.

I'm still pretty new to video but had some videos put together using digital still photos and RealEstateShows.com. We also had access to some great local videos on YouTube from our local Realtor Association. View Our Missoula Local Tour Here

Adding a Mueller Map to your website is a great way to show people your area through local videos that you have created or that you are able to find on YouTube.

Each point on the map is connected to a video of that location. Viewers can either click on the point on the map or on the list on the right column to get the local video to pop up.

You can also set up your Mueller Map to have your contact information on the Info tab behind the video - it even includes links to your Social Media Sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, and Email)!

We plan to add more of our own videos to the site over time but are excited to be able to offer this to visitors to our website!

According to Mike's webiste AreWeConnected, you can use a Mueller Map to:

• map your listings (with slideshow or video)
• map your neighborhood restaurants (interviewing owners or patrons)
• map your interesting local points of interest

If you choose to get a Mueller Map for your site, Mike Mueller does most of the work by setting up the Google Map and the spreadsheet for you to enter your information. All you have to do is fill in the link to the video on You Tube and some basic information about the video. Detailed instructions are provided on how to complete those parts.

Some nice features of the Mueller Map:

• It map can be updated by a simple spreadsheet (by the Agent)
• Embed this in a blog post, in a sidebar, or as a single webpage
• Map can be built to most any size (this is large but could be as small as a sidebar widget)
• Map Only or Map with Sidebar Legend
• Link to Directions, link to more info, or link to website, there are no limits

A GREAT BIG Thank you to Mike Mueller for helping us get this set up! :)

View Our Missoula Local Tour Here

Click Here to Get Your Own Mueller Map

Become a Fan of Mueller Maps on Facebook

Wordless Wednesday - Welcome to My Branch

Bald Eagles are a frequent sight along the Clark Fork River. They seem to come back to the same areas so we know where to look for them and enjoy seeing them on our drive. We loved that he was sharing his branch with a crow - that was the first time we've seen that!

Here's Another Bald Eagle Photo that Kevin took at a different time.

Photo by Kevin Ray

Hope to See You at this Year's Missoula Parade of Homes September 17-20, 2009

We always look forward to attending the Missoula Building Industry Association's Parade of Homes and Remodeling Tour. This year is the 20th anniversary and promises to be one of the best Parades yet.

They are featuring eight homes throughout the Missoula valley this year with prices ranging from $190,000 to $1.5 million, giving you plenty of inspiration for whatever your budget is. This year's Parade will feature a wide variety of enticing ideas to work into your dream home.

Missoula Parade of Homes 2009
Dates: Sept. 17-20, 2009

Tickets are on sale Sept. 4, 2009 at First Security Bank, Vann's in Missoula and Hamilton, Missoulian and BMC West and are $8 in advance or $10 at the door.

For more information on this year's event, visit www.BuildMissoula.com.

Photos and Information about Last Year's Missoula Parade of Homes