Where should I move to in MT?

[Hammsolo]

You said:
Helena and Butte don't have skiing... same with Durango.

Depends on what you consider local. Discovery Ski Basin is about an hour from Butte.

Just depends on what kind of guy Hammsolo is?

Depends on who you ask.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

If you’re taking about Grand Rapids, MI then Cannonsburg doesn’t qualify?! Spent my HS days sprinting up that thing 4-5 times every Tuesday in the summers. Being from MT, always had to chuckle that we used a ski area for conditioning. I don’t see any high schools in MT using any of the areas here to do sprints up.

What, sacrilege. Cannonsburg night skiing is the chit... wore out a pair of mittens on the rope toe.

 

[MTHunter1321]

What, sacrilege. Cannonsburg night skiing is the chit... wore out a pair of mittens on the rope toe.

Haha! Landed my first 360 in their half pipe at night back when I went through my snowboarding phase from 5th-8th grade.

 

[406Born]

What, sacrilege. Cannonsburg night skiing is the chit... wore out a pair of mittens on the rope toe.

Nothing beats skiing down a 100 ft high ski hill made out of trash. Don’t know how that place is still open. It is terrible and I currently live 45 minutes from there.

 

[Poke 'Em]

I always find it funny when people in Bozeman think it's expensive... View attachment 168933

Except Bozeman IS now in line with those prices. Median household income in Somerville, MA: $91k. In Bozeman: $52k

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Except Bozeman IS now in line with those prices. Median household income in Somerville, MA: $91k. In Bozeman: $52k

Ok before this gets to silly and stupid. Bozeman is getting expensive, I grew up in a town in CO that was pretty cheap growing up. No I can’t afford my parents house, as is, that they purchased on two teacher salaries. 100% the market of places like Bozeman had skyrocketed.

That being said it’s not every town and the Rockies median home prices are still far below the coasts. When I live in Bozeman 2013-2016 I was able to rent an nice 3 bed 2 bath with a garage for my wife and I, she was a full time student, I was new in my career working hourly. The price was $1100 a month, it was on 191 out towards 4 corners. To get the same price in Denver when we moved rented a place in Aurora that was 750sqft 1 bed 1 bath and I had 45min to 1 hr commute with traffic to downtown. But we could afford it.

Your cherry-picking the most expensive property in Bozeman and comparing it a suburb, to which in all intents and purposes is like Belgrade or Manhattan, it’s not even kinda the most expensive and you are comparing one building to the median. You can find affordable housing in the greater Bozeman area, but yes it’s going up.

I’m correct, because that’s the whole point. Why is Bozeman getting crazy, why are people moving there and buying with cash... because so many other places with diserable amenities are so much more expensive.

cherry picking is fun though...

 

[lapuahunter]

Background: My wife, myself and our two year old live in Omaha, NE where she is in year two of a four year OBGYN residency program (completion June 2023). We both grew up in ND, spent a couple years in both WA and AK. I’ve always wanted to live in MT for hunting, we both love the mountains for activities like snowboarding and lastly it allows us to be somewhat close to home to see family. The limiting factor for location is her job. Most smaller towns don’t have a dedicated OBGYN or you’d have to be on call most every night is my understanding. She would ideally like to live in a town of 15k or larger for those reasons, an ideal call ratio is 1:5-7. We have family in Helena and Butte so Helena is currently at the top of the list with Bozeman, Missoula and Sheridan (yes I know it’s in WY ) following. I’ve explored ideas like the Hamilton but I fear its too small. All that being said I have no experience with any of this, just basing this off of what I’ve read and what she has told me. I’d love to live in a smaller communityOur main goal is to find a community to invest ourselves in for decades to come and also have good work/life balance. Starting this month we will begin introducing ourselves to recruiters which may dictate a lot of this. We hope to have a plan by summer of 2022 to give us time to plan the move. I’ll update you all on what happens!


Question: Where in Montana should we look to move? Anyone have past experience with friends or family in a similar situation and can offer advice?

Thanks for any input and advice offered. I apologize for being another person looking to move to MT but I hope you understand our reasoning!

I grew up in Stevensville which is really close to Hamilton. Although the area is beautiful I would not choose to live there if you're looking for a place. The valley is filling up fast and becoming little California and the price for housing reflects that. I'm getting ready to retire after 20 years of military service and when we do move back to Montana we are looking at the Helena area so I think that should be your top choice. The area is incredible for both hunting and fishing. There are some beautiful places to live just outside of town. Missoula is large yes but very liberal and not a place I would ever choose to raise a family. Bozeman is awesome but also people are getting priced out as it's an expensive place to live.

 

[Sytes]

Of the areas you mentioned in your opening post @mr_steve seems Helena and surrounding areas would be ideal.

 

[Randi]

Mr--steve

thanks for starting this thread.

I have enjoyed reading the replies as I recently green lighted a project my son and daughter had been interested in doing for some time now. They are looking at ranch land in Montana, Wyoming, Alaska and Texas, although Texas and Alaska seem to give us our best overall Tax options, they are at the moment looking at land approx 50 minutes from Helena. It has a perfect blend of ownership/ lease---water/grass--mtn/flat with no buildings.

But there is also a ranch close to Delta Junction in Alaska that seems to have grabbed their attention as well. But today Montana has their attention and therefore this thread has been an interesting read.

Best of luck on your move

Texas, Texas, Texas However the place up by Delta Junction is pretty sweet

Montana is beautiful with good fishing hunting skiing, whats not to like. Good luck on finding your dream property Mr. Steve.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Ok before this gets to silly and stupid. Bozeman is getting expensive, I grew up in a town in CO that was pretty cheap growing up. No I can’t afford my parents house, as is, that they purchased on two teacher salaries. 100% the market of places like Bozeman had skyrocketed.

That being said it’s not every town and the Rockies median home prices are still far below the coasts. When I live in Bozeman 2013-2016 I was able to rent an nice 3 bed 2 bath with a garage for my wife and I, she was a full time student, I was new in my career working hourly. The price was $1100 a month, it was on 191 out towards 4 corners. To get the same price in Denver when we moved rented a place in Aurora that was 750sqft 1 bed 1 bath and I had 45min to 1 hr commute with traffic to downtown. But we could afford it.

Your cherry-picking the most expensive property in Bozeman and comparing it a suburb, to which in all intents and purposes is like Belgrade or Manhattan, it’s not even kinda the most expensive and you are comparing one building to the median. You can find affordable housing in the greater Bozeman area, but yes it’s going up.

I’m correct, because that’s the whole point. Why is Bozeman getting crazy, why are people moving there and buying with cash... because so many other places with diserable amenities are so much more expensive.

cherry picking is fun though...
View attachment 169087
View attachment 169088
View attachment 169089
View attachment 169090

One note is that house you rented in 2016 for $1100 is now $2200-3000 a month. That’s median rent, not the highest price.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

One note is that house you rented in 2016 for $1100 is now $2200-3000 a month. That’s median rent, not the highest price.

Appartments.com has a similar place, similar age build quality... 3 bed 2 bath, garage for $1,700.

3 br, 2 bath House - 513 Prairie 59718 - House for Rent in Bozeman, MT | Apartments.com

513 Prairie Ave house in Bozeman,MT, is available for rent. This rental unit is available on Apartments.com, starting at $1700 monthly.

www.apartments.com

That's still 150% increase in 5 years... and I would absolutely not be surprised if was rented for $2000 shortly. Never argued Bozeman isn't getting more expensive, just reflecting on the fact that it's still much cheaper for a lot of folks than where they are currently living.

 

[MTGunner]

Bozeman=LA
Missoula=SanFrancisco

Avoid each!

 

[mtmuley]

Bozeman=LA
Missoula=SanFrancisco

Avoid each!

Ha. I call Missoula San Francisco North. mtmuley

 

[mtmiller]

Just checking in to make sure my honey hole is still under the radar. Appears to be safe.

 

[Dale_P]

Got transferred up here from Texas in 2019. Love Montana for the hunting/fishing. I live east of Rock Creek, near Missoula. Missoula's definitely a mix; leans heavily toward the liberal. However, 2 hospitals and a lot of growth in health and tech. COVID kicked my company in the teeth and we closed mid-December. I've got 2 kids in high school, so we're trying to finish the semester; but I doubt we'll stay. I've been looking and the prices are inflated by Californians. I am scared to death to go into a mortgage at 56 years of age, for a home whose value is 2/3 based on demand. I don't want to buy in on the high side of the bubble, only to have it burst and me be left with a home worth a third of what I paid. We'll probably move back to the Southwest to get ready to retire in a warmer area. All that said, it was worth the move to get to hunt and fish here. In Texas it's all "pay to play". I got to deer hunt and elk hunt this year. I wasn't successful in terms of packing out a load of meat, but I hunted. I walked out my back door and hunted areas my where my Texas friends would have had to hire a guide. My son (16) and I fly fished Rock Creek and Salmon Lake. I caught a 20" fish on Salmon! Good memories up here and I'll hate to leave, but I at least got to do it. I hope you and your bride are able to make Montana happen while you're young enough to experience it all!

 

[JCS]

Just checking in to make sure my honey hole is still under the radar. Appears to be safe.

Is that the honey hole with wind, Mosquitos, and lots of snow?

 

[jlong17]

Got transferred up here from Texas in 2019. Love Montana for the hunting/fishing. I live east of Rock Creek, near Missoula. Missoula's definitely a mix; leans heavily toward the liberal. However, 2 hospitals and a lot of growth in health and tech. COVID kicked my company in the teeth and we closed mid-December. I've got 2 kids in high school, so we're trying to finish the semester; but I doubt we'll stay. I've been looking and the prices are inflated by Californians. I am scared to death to go into a mortgage at 56 years of age, for a home whose value is 2/3 based on demand. I don't want to buy in on the high side of the bubble, only to have it burst and me be left with a home worth a third of what I paid. We'll probably move back to the Southwest to get ready to retire in a warmer area. All that said, it was worth the move to get to hunt and fish here. In Texas it's all "pay to play". I got to deer hunt and elk hunt this year. I wasn't successful in terms of packing out a load of meat, but I hunted. I walked out my back door and hunted areas my where my Texas friends would have had to hire a guide. My son (16) and I fly fished Rock Creek and Salmon Lake. I caught a 20" fish on Salmon! Good memories up here and I'll hate to leave, but I at least got to do it. I hope you and your bride are able to make Montana happen while you're young enough to experience it all!

Rock Creek is amazing! I spent a week exploring that area a few years ago with my wife and dog. I can’t wait til my little girl gets a bit older so I can fish those waters again.

 

[mtmuley]

Is that the honey hole with wind, Mosquitos, and lots of snow?

Those are the best ones. Unless your significant other doesn't like wind, mosquitos and lots of snow. mtmuley

 

[mtmiller]

Is that the honey hole with wind, Mosquitos, and lots of snow?

Hit 40f today, no wind, no snow and haven't seen a sqeeter in months.

 

[mtmiller]

Those are the best ones. Unless your significant other doesn't like wind, mosquitos and lots of snow. mtmuley

And I am not that charming.