About Yellowstone County, MT

below is the market performance so this year in the Billngs/ Yellowstone County area. the $8,000 first time buyer has brought activity ti the market place that will slow when it is gone. essentially if you have not entered in to contract by the end of October it will be hard to meet the dead line of November 30th to be closed. over all the year has performed decently when the events are taken in consideration

Market update at glance	9/15/2009		Year	Percentage Increase or -Decrease
Yellowstone County			2008	2009
Residential Closed Sales Units			1463	1288		-12%
Residential Pending Sales Units			219	325		48%
Residential Active Property Units For Sale		904	864		-4%
Average sales price Single family Home		$208,540	$201,119		-4%
Average Square feet Single family Home		2316	2278		-2%
Median sales price Single family Home		$185,000	$180,500		-2%
Median Square feet Single family Home		2206	2158		-2%
Average Days on Market Till Offer Received
Single Family Home				60	67		12%
Absorption rate -	TIME IN DAYS
Time it would take for all existing				176
properties to sell with no new inventory coming
into the market place - residential
SINGLE FAMILY PERMIT ISSUED FOR MONTH	thru 8/31	28	29		4%
SINGLE FAMILY PERMIT ISSUED FOR YEAR	thru 8/31	206	155		-25%
Average Number of Rentals Advertised Sundays		108	131		21%
Average Asking Price for a Rental Home		$1,114	$1,053		-5%
Average Asking Price for a Rental Apartment		$678	$682		1%

Toxic Assets Still On The Bank Books?

Toxic "invest in Real Estate" scam programs continue to be peddled by gypsy sales seminars!

Who's buying this crap?

There must be buyers, lots of them, otherwise this stuff wouldn't be for sale. When I get calls from folks who have recently, I said recently, attended one of these "how to invest in Real Estate" sales seminars, I just have to shake my head. It's not that I don't want to help them, but come on, you can't get a property for 50cents on the dollar here! Even a short sale has a price, a market price, and it's not half off!!!

You cannot buy a property here half off market price, put in new carpet (cheap) and paint and turn around and sell it for 100% market. There may be parts of the country where this was possible, but not here in Billings Montana!

Quit wasting your money, time and energy only to be disappointed with the truth. Find out what the truth is about the REAL ESTATE MARKET before you fork over $1,000 of your hard earned money to learn something that isn't true. Frankly you'd be better off buying $1,000 worth of lotto tickets.

There is an art to Real Estate Investing, it takes some real capital for the investment. When an investment property is priced well, you can actually make money on the capital you invested.

I've worked with some very good home renovators, or those you might like to call flippers. They have seen it all, and I mean some "you can't believe what I found" type situations during their renovations. They take an "educated guess" based on their own inspections about what kind of money they'll need to bring a distressed property to market condition. Sometimes they win, and sometimes they lose. Be careful!

It's ok to dream! I dream all the time. Just be careful to use your good sense, and get good advice before you sign up for a traveling sales-pitch. Get advice from trusted local professionals. Attend a local group meeting of Real Estate Investors, many communities have these groups. Don't forget to ask your local Realtor for Real Live Market information, they can give you the numbers, the real numbers.

Sleep tight!

At The MetraPark In Billings Montana we host Rodeo's, Graduations, Sporting Events, Concerts, Fairs, Horseraces, You Name It, We Do It Here

Branding In Montana

Placed around a corner of our Arena Building at the MetraPark also known lately as the Rimrock Auto Arena, are Brands from different ranchers carved in Granite and stuck on the building like tiles!

I'm not sure Uncle Willard's Brand is there, but he told me this spring that he built the Metra with his tax dollars he's been paying for 70 plus years! There's a lot of pride of ownership even though it's shared ownership, in this community project that serves so well.

We also honor our Rodeo stars around here, one recent successful competitor is Dan Mortensen. He's usually giving the other bronc riders a challenge lately. Nice bronze of him in action right in the front of the MetraPark Arena where our rodeos are showcased.

We Honor our Flags around here as well. They look very majestic against the Ponderosa Pines and the Big Blue Sky!

Annual Free Admission Event At The Expo Center At Metra Park.

This weekend, September 11th through the 13th is the Annual Home Improvement Show.

Free Admission, bring the family!

I use this event for some of my best ideas for staging and recommendations for home improvements for my clients. Great place to mingle and learn about new techniques in heating, building, roofing, gardening, hot tubs and you name it, they've got it.

There's usually some food, and a bit of local entertainment!

Not much you can do for free these days and have so much fun.

Check it out!

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!