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Newsletter from Montana
December 2004
If you are accustomed to prompt service, you might want to brace yourself when you are buying a property in Montana. Here is the email conversation "live" between my clients in the Midwest and the Montana title company: "Linda, Your 12/8/04 email said that you were sending copies of the signed documents to both Brent and I. Haven't seen anything yet. When should we expect them?" Answer Friday, December 17, 2004 "The documents were sent out to you yesterday. (We were out of legal sized envelopes). Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a blessed Christmas. Linda"
In spite of it all, I sold twice as many properties this year as I did the year before and I am bound and determined to double it again next year. Just to keep things lively, I added airplanes to my listings. We have three for sale now, and I put them on my listings page along with a link to Sky Cams from all over Montana.
http://www.montanahereicome.com/Listings
Each new listing and changes to listings within the last 30 days are marked with a star, so they are easier to spot and I moved the date of the latest update to the top.
Changes were made to the Studio Condo in Red Lodge - price reduction to $ 25,000
The
furnished townhouse in Red Lodge is back on the market - Ash floors, custom doors, fully furnished, near new Jacuzzi
I have a new listing -
a post and beam home designed by our famous Montana architect Deppmeier - on 30 forested acres also with access to the National Forest and the Stillwater River. $ 895,000
An additional 30 acres can possibly be purchased from the neighbors and then you have the whole top of the cliff for yourself. All the lights you will see from there are those of the stars and the moon. The home is snuggled in the foothills of the second tallest mountain in Montana, Mt. Wood.
I sold the log cabin for $ 150,000 in the Cathedral Mountain Ranch, but I have
one left and they just reduced the price on it from $ 175,000 to $ 149,500 It has
2bedr/2 bath, 1000 sqft red wood deck, wood floors, wood stove, remodeled, 4" logs and it comes with an extra lot for privacy!
In the
Sheep Mountain Ranch are three contingent lots for sale and the winter special on all three together is $ 670,000 for 103 acres with access to the National Forest along a spectacular rimwalk with views for hundreds of miles and at the highest mountains in Montana. There is no property like it, incredibly unique. The prices for the individual lots are also reduced for the winter and will be back up in spring.
The
little farm in Boyd
did not get a star, but what the owners did not tell me before is, that they have a nice swimming hole on the property every year because of the irrigation run off! The ditch did not fill up this year, because of the drought the next door rancher did not irrigate, but still, what a nice feature when the rains return!
There is a beautiful homesite in the back of the ranchette with mountain views, privacy and just 20 minutes from Red Lodge, or 40 minutes from Billings.
By the way, I bought the name of my company as domain name and when you type into the address line
http://www.skylodgeproperties.com
it will take you directly to the listings page.
I added a "Details" button to most of my listings, which will bring up the entire MLS information sheet. I am a member of three multiple listing systems, Billing, Red Lodge and Cody, Wyoming. The Wyoming MLS engaged a new internet based company, and now I can create websites for certain searches, which will update themselves as new listings come on the market and old ones get sold. I put links to the searches I made so far, below my signature and if you would like me to make one for a different search, let me know!
Did you know it might be cheaper to rent a small U-Haul for a one way trip than to rent a car going across a few states? I think that is a hot tip, I sure wish I would have known that earlier. A small truck from Montana to Southern California rents for $ 200.- but if you would rent a car for a week one way with the condition to drop it anywhere, they charge you about $700 per week.
When you drive through Montana, and like to figure out from which part of the state the cars are you meet on the road, take a look at my
"Vitals" page. I added the county seat for each starting number of the license plates. It is in the left margin below the links.
My
old newsletter index - which is the most boring page of them all, got a herd of galloping horses following your mouse.
Take a look at these spectacular
Northern Lights photographed in Nebraska
Did you ever think of building a home out of straw? Straw-bale construction originated over 100 years ago in Nebraska. The lack of timber and other materials in the sand hills region of the state necessitated the use of straw bales for homesteaders to build their homes and other structures. Many of these buildings are still in existence today. Straw bale construction is now widely seen as a superior system to wood, steel and concrete structures for its energy efficiency, durability, sound-dampening and overall aesthetic value. Structural testing has shown that it is comparable or even stronger than wood framed construction when used in residential or light commercial applications. Helena is a seismically active region, and the plaster/bale wall system is a Primary Lateral Force Resisting System (LFRS) and can conform to the 2000 International Building Code. Other structural systems used for the Straw-House include an internal steel moment frame and exposed glulam beams. A growing number of straw-bale homes are being built across the nation, and they come in two basic styles: Some use ordinary post-and-beam construction with straw-bale insulation. Others use a structural method, known as Nebraska style, where the bales support the roof. In post-and-beam homes, a fairly typical wood, steel or concrete framework is erected. Then bales of straw are placed in the walls as insulation. A distinctive feature of the homes are the walls. On average, straw-bale walls are 18 to 24 inches wide. Other than that, the homes can appear as ordinary or unusual as the architect and homeowner desire.
http://www.grrbear.com/media/pages/strawhouse.html
http://www.strawhousemarket.com/html/straw_workshop.htm
They even use this method in New Zealand:
http://www.strawbale.co.nz/htm/history.htm
A journal about straw homes
http://www.thelaststraw.org/journal.html
http://www.straw-house.com/main.html
A visitor asked why people build fences here in the middle of nowhere, seemingly without rhyme or reason. My simple explanation that they were snow fences was not enough. If they were supposed to keep roads from drifting shut, he wondered, why did they build them so far from the road? Why were they at angles? If they were supposed to stop the snow, why were they not solid?
These fences are "porous" so they will slow the wind down, which then deposits the snow behind the fence. The wind roars along, carrying snow with it. As the fluffy flakes tumble, they become grainier and will pack tighter. As the wind slows down, it drops the snow. Snowdrifts grow in places where the wind is blocked or slowed. That is why it makes those graceful, rock hard drifts around the corners of ranch buildings. Snow that drifts into the paths is 10 times as hard and heavy as the surrounding snow.
The best snow fence is slatted. The wind is slowed but not stopped when it hits the fence, and after it carries the snow through the openings, it drops it. A dam holds water on the upstream side. A snow fence holds snow on the "downstream" side. That is the reason for building them so far from the road. There has to be room for the drift to grow. Snow drifts remain for weeks after the surrounding snow has melted, and carefully planned snow fences not only help keep roads clear, they can act as reservoirs for agriculture. There are also living snow fences, using shrubs, deciduous and evergreen trees to slow the wind down. They have the added advantage of providing habitat for all sorts of wildlife, and they are self-maintaining for the most part.
Do you have pictures from your favorite adventure, vacation or hunting trip?
Diane Cole can create a beautiful painting for you to hang on your wall so you can relive and enjoy that special moment every day. Pet portraits can bring special smiles to any animal lover too!
My 12 year old, Tanja, suggested to
download i-tunes, which is a little program that lets you listen to radio and music stations on the net. It does not cost anything and seems quite handy. It keeps me supplied with oldies from dawn to dusk, just the right music for paperwork.
There is a small store in Red Lodge that sells imports from Asia along with beads, handcrafted items, aliphatic oils and such. I bought a couple of pouches there once, which I filled with dry rice and heat them in the microwave for 2 minutes when I need moist heat packs for assorted aches, such as back and shoulder. Anyway, the storeowner called me before Christmas and told me the eye pillows I had ordered are in. I did not even know there was such a thing, nor had I ordered them. However, having a trained ear for quirky messages, which usually help me along in life, I went and bought the little box, having no idea what it was. The instructions said to put a few drops of Lavender oil on the back of the small beanbag and then to place it on your eyes for a while before going to sleep. I followed those directions, and lo and behold, I slept better that night than I had slept in years! Maybe it was just the smell of lavender oil in the bedroom?
The local store is Boomerang beads she has an email:
boomkjs@earthlink.net
it is $ 18.- including the oil, but if you cannot pick it up yourself, there will be shipping costs. I think it would make a great gift for a stressed out student facing exams, too.
There is also a more fandangled
subscribe to your favorite cartoons.
I subscribed to Garfield and Cathy. It costs about $ 10 a year to support your favorite artist.
I added some fresh links for kids on my listings page:
Here they have to
make a Penguin do fancy loops
while jumping from an ice float
This is a
tricky Lantern Walk
with a work out for the space bar and arrow keys
Since it is never too late to have a happy childhood, you are allowed to try that too. My two daughters and I will travel to see my mom in Germany from Valentine's Day to the end of February. It will be her 94th birthday, but I will remind you of my absence again in my next newsletter at the end of January.
Have a happy start into the New Year!
:-)
Best Regards,
Dorothea Lowe, Broker
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