Things are looking up in the dark in Montana.Nothing good happens after midnight, right? Well, on dark nights here in Montana, that couldn’t be further from the truth. When the sun goes down and the stars come out, turn your gaze upward! Today I’ll discuss some resources that will help you find the best spots in Montana to be entertained by the nig…

What trends are we currently seeing in our real estate market?The first quarter of 2022 is now over, and we want to tell you about all the changes we saw in the real estate market. Today we’ll update you on the current emerging trends we’re seeing in our local area.Feel free to watch the full message or use these timestamps to browse specific topic…

Here's an analysis of what happens when a Seller overshoots the market and chooses to start high.A question I’ve been getting a lot lately is, “What’s going on with waterfront properties?” I did a little research and looked at the numbers for waterfront properties over the last six months. Today I want to share some of my findings with you.Eighty p…

If your kid is off to college, you have a fantastic investment opportunity.At this time of year, when kids are about to graduate from high school, we often receive similar questions from parents about how they’re considering buying a house or condo near their child’s future college so their student can live there for the next four years. The idea i…

The most valuable stats for all our different markets across Montana.Today I want to answer some of your questions about real estate throughout the state of Montana. We usually do this once a year, and to help me, I have the state-wide market report from the Montana Association of Realtors. I can’t wait to pass on some of this data. As a little bit…

The Flathead Valley area is getting a new semi-professional baseball team!One of the most common questions I receive from people moving to The Flathead Valley area is, “What is there to do?” There’s plenty! Today I want to discuss what sorts of activities we like to do for fun around The Flathead Valley, including a special new attraction. There ar…

Explaining the absorption rate and how it has changed since the pandemic.If you’ve been following me for a while, then you may be familiar with our market’s absorption rate. However, I haven’t talked about this topic in a while, and things have changed, so today I want to discuss our absorption rate and what it means for the Big Fork area.First, le…

Today we’ll give a recap of how our real estate market fared in 2021.Hopefully your 2022 is already off to a great start! Today we want to recap how our market fared in 2021 and share some data and interesting things that happened during the year.Cited below for your convenience are timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video. Fe…

Does your insurance policy detail unoccupied/vacant exclusions?Today’s topic is for people who have seasonal homes in the area and are leaving or have already left. While I was going over the insurance renewal for my home, I stumbled across an exclusion in the policy for vacant and unoccupied residences. Today I’ll share what that exclusion is and …

Here’s the latest news that proves just how inaccurate Zestimates are.Some of you may have heard the recent news about Zillow. I’ve made videos about their various online services in the past and how they affect the market, but I wanted to talk about this most recent one.Zillow had been using their Zestimate to make offers on homes the AI told them…

Here are all the latest numbers from our residential waterfront market.Today I’m sharing our third-quarter real estate market report for 2021. All our numbers are reflective of an extremely strong market. However, there’s very little for sale across the board, whether you’re looking for a home or vacant land. You can watch my full market update, or…

Here’s an update on the most popular 10-year investments today.Today I’m following up on a video blog from about a year ago. In that video, I covered what you should do with your money when you sell. I brought up an article by Bankrate which looked at the popularity of different investments that you’d hold for 10 years, and real estate was on top. …

Here are the 10 big rules surrounding the 1031 tax-deferred exchange.Today I want to talk about the 1031 tax-deferred exchange. As the market gets stronger and people are willing to sell, I’ve been asked about it a lot. There are 10 rules to follow with 1031 exchanges that we’ll go through in detail today.Cited below for your convenience are timest…

Here’s your midyear 2021 Flathead area real estate market update.Today, I’ll be going over my 2021 second-quarter market report. The market still looks to be moving very fast, so I’ll jump right in with what you need to know right now. Below, I’ve included timestamps for each area I cover in the video: 0:44 — Overall market for Flathead and Lake Co…

My answers to burning questions about the housing boom and low inventory.When is it going to end? That’s the question that gets asked in both booming and tanking markets. Thankfully we’re in a great market right now, but people want to know when the market’s going to shift. They want to know whether it will burst like a bubble, similar to 2008, or …

Today I’m answering a common question about septic installation.We often receive questions from buyers and their agents regarding vacant land. Sometimes they want to know if it has been perc tested, which is a term that hasn’t been used in a long time. Essentially, a perc test involves digging a hole in the ground, inserting a vertical ruler, and d…

Here’s our Q1 overview of home and land sales in Flathead Valley.Today we’ll share the first-quarter waterfront report for the Flathead Valley. 2020 was a wild ride, but the numbers from our first quarter of 2021 indicate a wild ride yet ahead of us.Feel free to follow along in the video above or else use the timestamps below to navigate the discus…

Here’s an overview of Montana real estate sales activity.Every spring, we receive a publication from the Montana Association of Realtors that breaks down all the different associations in the state by their MLS and compares their last year of activity to the previous year. I always find this report interesting; Montana is a big state with a lot of …

Here’s what to know about internet connection in northwest Montana.I read in an article that Montana Sky, one of the internet providers here, is rewiring the small community of Troy to bring a high-speed, fiber-optic connection to every home. It reminded me of a question that buyers seem to ask well before worrying about bathrooms and bedrooms: “Is…

Here’s why I recommend learning the alphabet that pilots use all the time.How many times have we misunderstood someone over the phone? The similarities in sound between “M” and “N” or “P” and “T” or any other notorious pair in the alphabet may seem harmless, but when communicating important information like addresses they can create a great deal of…

Here are all the 2020 real estate numbers from the markets we cover.Today I’m back with a full recap of the 2020 real estate market. I broke down all the numbers you need to know for our waterfront properties, and I’m excited to share them with you.Cited below for your convenience are timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video. …

Here’s what you need to do if you intend to value inherited property.Now that everyone has put their New Year’s resolutions together, today I thought I’d add a little postscript from a recent client. After we closed, they asked us for help in valuing property that had been inherited back in 1970. Certainly we can go back a little in our database to…

Here’s what the latest numbers say about our market.Today I have another market update to share as we close out 2020. I’ve compiled all the latest data from Flathead Lake and Flathead County residential market (single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums). At 1:10 in the video above, you can see a chart outlining the number of active and sold …

Here’s how condominium inspections differ from single-family home inspections.What’s the difference between a single-family home inspection and a condominium inspection?With a condominium inspection, the main difference is that the buyer doesn’t have ownership of the structure. The roof, foundation, walls, etc., are owned and managed by the homeown…

Here are the third quarter stats from our local real estate market.If you watched my video recap of our real estate market’s performance in the second quarter, you’ll likely recall me mentioning that some of the numbers popping up were harbingers of a bigger shift that would unfold in the third quarter. Well, the shift arrived as expected, and it w…

There’s a new buyer migration taking place in our market.Where are the homebuyers in our market coming from?The movement of homebuyers into our market is a byproduct of the quarantine and so many people working from home. Employers have discovered that their workforces can feasibly work remotely. Thus, many residents of major metropolitan areas who…

Here’s how you can use bugs to get rid of noxious weeds on your property.If you have noxious weeds on your property that you’d like to get rid of, I know of a solution that gives pest control a new meaning. This spring, I came across a company called Weedbusters Biocontrol that uses certain types of insects to reduce noxious weeds. After visiting w…

Here’s what the latest numbers say about our market.What’s been happening in our Western Montana market lately? To answer that question, we’ll compare the year-to-date statistics (up until June) from 2020 with those from 2019. We’ll look at the closed sales, new listings, negotiated sold price, and median sales price of Flathead, Lake, and Missoula…

Here’s how the first quarter of 2020 panned out for our Flathead market.Today I’m excited to share with you the Flathead market summary for the first quarter of 2020. Though we’re nearing the end of May, I wanted to wait until I had all of the numbers available for the surrounding areas before I presented this recap of Q1. For those worried about h…

Sometimes, you think you know an area well, but then you accidentally stumble upon something that surprises you. Here’s how I found Loon Lake.If you’ve been in my office, you know that we have a large mosaic of satellite images of Flathead Lake that I collected and assembled back in the ‘80s. We used it to tick off areas on the map where we have so…

Social distancing doesn’t mean we’re completely limited in the ways we can help others.Here are four ways you can help out and stay active during this pandemic: 1. Donate blood. If you’ve never done it before, I understand how it may feel intimidating. I’ve given well over 100 units at this point, and you get used to it after a while. It’s also ben…

We get asked all the time about when the “perfect” time to sell a home is. Here’s what I’ve been telling people lately.One of the most common questions I hear on a day-to-day basis from clients is, “When should I list my property for sale?” I’m here to answer that question today. Some things have changed, but these are the reasons you should consid…

Sellers: What do you plan to do with the money you get when you sell your property? Here is a list of the top investments to consider.A recent survey asked, “For money you wouldn’t need for more than 10 years, which of the following do you think would be the best way to invest it?” Here’s how the investors’ answers panned out in descending order: “…

I’m sharing statistics about the buyers moving into our area.People are often curious to know from where buyers in our market are coming. Normally, I just answer from personal experience, but today I’m sharing an end-of-year analysis aimed at answering that exact question more precisely. By breaking down our website traffic through Google Analytics…

By Scott Hollinger

A reminder to watch out for snow dams during the winter months.Something many people can have issues with during a particularly snowy winter are snow dams. This winter we will likely have substantial snowfall, so this is a message to pay attention to.An ice dam is water melting underneath snow, and as water runs down your roof and hits the edge whe…

Here’s an update on the third quarter of the Montana real estate market year. Tune in to learn the latest developments.For waterfront sales, the third quarter of 2019 was very interesting. Overall, the dollar amount has been higher in the past, but the number of transactions has also been lower. Year to date, we’ve closed 80 properties on the water…

If you’ve got questions about short-term rentals, this great website will likely have the answers.People ask me all the time about whether their property could be used as a short-term rental, and my response is always the same: Do your homework. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Thankfully, I recently stumbled across a new compa…

Before you sell your home, there are some key questions that you should be asking. Find out more here.Whenever I talk with a potential home seller about their property, I’ll typically ask them right off the bat if they have any specific questions themselves. Often, they respond by saying they don’t really know what to ask. To ensure that you’re a m…

Nobody wants to feel like they’re living in a construction zone. Here are a few ways to reduce the noise that makes its way inside your home.Homeowners often ask me how to reduce the noise level in their home. Usually, this question comes from people who live near busy streets or highways and are concerned that the sounds of traffic might negativel…

If you’re not entirely sure how the appraisal process works, you’ll be a little wiser on the subject by the end of today’s video.Appraisals are a common topic of interest among buyers and sellers alike, so today I’ll answer nine questions about this topic to help you gain a better understanding of them no matter what side of the transaction you fin…

In today’s market update, I have some interesting facts to share with you regarding the first half of this market year.With half of 2019 gone, let’s take a moment in today’s market update to look back on the numbers we saw from the first half, sorted by area.The overall number of sales for both residential and vacant land in Flathead and Lake Count…

If you’d like to improve your home’s saleability, I have six tips to help you.Here are six tips to help you freshen up your home and improve its saleability in buyers’ eyes: 1. Rearrange the artwork and decorations. You can shuffle things around, for instance, to direct people’s view toward some of your home’s nicer features. 2. Replace your simple…

Here are a few simple tips to prevent mold from growing inside your home.Mold—it’s become a word with such negative connotations that I believe the majority of home inspectors will start calling it “fungal growth.”No matter what it’s called, it’s important that you keep it from growing in your home, and today I’ll tell you how. Mold can come in man…

What’s going on right now in the Flathead Valley real estate market? Keep reading to find out.Today I’ve got a brief market update for you for the first quarter of 2019. Overall, we’ve seen about a 5% decrease in home and land sales in our area. We had 1,736 so far this year after seeing 1,815 at this time last year. On the residential side, transa…

What does it mean when we Realtors talk about our market’s absorption rate? Today you’ll find out.What is our market’s absorption rate? What can this term tell us about where our market is trending?To answer the first question, consider this example: Last year, if there were 100 homes for sale and 20 of those homes sold, that means we’d be averagin…

Now that we’re well into the new year, let’s take a look at how our real estate market performed in 2018.Now that we’re well into the new year, it’s time to take a look back at how our local real estate market performed, overall, in 2018.First, let’s look at some data regarding buyer demographics. In 2018, 33% of all people who bought a home were f…

Is your home prepared for the worst? If not, here’s how to make that happen.I receive a lot of questions about home security, especially in regard to alarm systems. Today I’ll be going over three of these systems and share a tip for online security. Here are some home systems I recommend:1. Burglar alarm. This will detect when there’s an intruder i…

How did the real estate market fare in 2018?Today we’ll be going over the numbers we saw in our local real estate market for 2018. For your convenience, we’ve included timestamps for each section of the video. Feel free to navigate to the section(s) you’re interested in viewing:00:17 — Overall MLS activity for the year01:01 — Flathead Lake home sal…