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Newsletter from Montana - Minnesota
May 2007
We are having an unusual wet spring here in Montana, the ranchers are enjoying a bumper crop of hay, all the hills are green and it turned Eastern Montana into a surrealistic beauty with golden sandstone formation among the velvet green hills. I also discovered one of those intriguing sandstone formations across the river from the property I have listed in Belfry. The 153 acres are across the water from BLM land and now all the beautiful old trees are leafed out around a picturesque meadow that used to be an island in the river. I took fresh photos,
take a look
If you buy all 153 acres you could divide that into 12 five acres riverfront lots and sell those for $ 195,000 each and the other 5 acres pieces for $ 95,000 with river access, then you would still have 33 acres left for road (you would just need a straight shot down the middle), common park and your own property. Nice retirement concept, just 20 minutes from Red Lodge Mountain, the 4th largest ski resort in Montana and one hour from Billings, the largest city in Montana. $ 1,275,000
Hercules Mortgage, LLC is offering monstrous loan financing (up to $3M) with exceptional interest rates. For a 5 Year Arm, Interest Only, no prepayment penalty, stated income at 5.875% as of today. Josh and Buzz Alexander, Office 406-626-4140, Cell 406-239-5802 buzz@herculesmortgage.net
I also took fresh pictures of the
320 acres south of Laurel near Rockvale. There you can buy 175 acres for $ 450,000 - it is surrounded by steep hills on three sides for privacy and to the East you are looking across the valley to the Pryor Mountains and to the south you are getting a glimpse of Beartooth, but actually the valley surrounded by the three stately cliffs features a hill for a homesite and if you would build on top of there, you would have a fabulous view of the Beartooth, while still protected in your cozy valley which sits a bit higher than the farmland below. From there it is 12 minutes to Laurel, less than 30 minutes to Billings and a good 30 minutes to Red Lodge.
The
motel in Park City
is back on the market for $ 199,000
with the adjacent
bar/restaurant $ 299,000
The
automotive shop in Billings $ 985,000
and the
Nursery in Park Rapids, Minnesota $ 1,700,000
Hercules Mortgage offers STATED INCOME commercial loans. This means that the business does not have to show a cash flow/show a profit. Maximum loan-to-value is 85%, but will llow seller financing 2nds to 90%. There is a minimum of 10% down. Rates are in the 9-13% range.
Allowable property types include: Mixed use, multifamily 5-plexes and larger, retail, office, warehouse, automotive, bed and breakfast, campground, self-storage, mobile home parks, car wash, hotel/motel, bar/restaurant, light industrial, funeral home, nursing home, and gas stations. Other types will be considered on an individual basis. Josh and Buzz Alexander, Office 406-626-4140, Cell 406-239-5802 buzz@herculesmortgage.net
To show a cash flow in a business is always problematic since the owners usually write everything off over the business to minimize taxes.
If you enjoy hunting, be it with a camera or otherwise, I just listed
237 acres close to the Agassiz Wildlife Refuge in NW Minnesota. This property is not only swarming with wildlife, it also pays $ 8,200 a year until 2014 in CRP (183 acres). In other words, you get a good $ 50,000 back on your original investment. Not only that, but there is already a well, a septic tank and a raised area for a homesite with electric installed! Such a deal for only $ 440,000! (Just think there are 227 acres for sale north of Bozeman with similar features and it is on the market for $ 6,750,000!). NW Minnesota is definitely still a sleeper and bargains such as this can be had. I wonder how long that will last? The property is 23 miles from Thief River Falls, which is the home of the Artic Cat, they manufacture it there. Over the last 45 years NW Minnesota warmed up quite a bit and the growing season got 39 days longer from what it used to be, which is actually hard on the moose, and the moose population dwindled from several thousand to just a few hundred in that time frame. They have to put out a lot of energy trying to stay cool. Nevertheless they are still around!
The Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge was established by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order on March 23, 1937. Many refuges were established during the "Dirty Thirties" to counter the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl Era on people and wildlife when severe drought conditions dried up much of the nation's midsection. Today Agassiz is comprised of 40,100 acres of wetland, 10,000 acres of shrubland, 7,000 acres of forestland, 4,250 acres of grassland and 150 acres of cropland. An additional 22,440 acres managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which borders the refuge and creates 83,940 acres of unfragmented habitat for wildlife just two miles from this property as the crow flies!
Agassiz and this property are located in the aspen/parkland transitional zone between the coniferous forest, tall grass prairie and the prairie pothole region of the United States. The area was formed by a glacier that encompassed an area larger than the size of the present-day five Great Lakes. Meltwaters from the receding glacier created Lake Agassiz over 10,000 years ago, resulting in a very flat terrain varying from one-to-two feet per mile, which reminds me of northern Germany, which has been ironed flat by glaciers as well.
In an effort to improve farming operations in the Agassiz area, an extensive drainage project was undertaken in 1909. By 1933 over one million dollars had been spent trying to drain the Mud Lake area. Farming proved unsuccessful and Marshall County became so tax delinquent that the State Legislature appropriated $ 750,000 to save it from bankruptcy. In return, the State retained the right to use the lands for conservation purposes. Maintaining the land proved to be costly, and the State turned them over to the Bureau of Biological Survey (now the US Fish and Wildlife Service) and the area became the Mud Lake Migratory Waterfowl Refuge in March of 1987. In 1961 the name was changed to Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. The name "Agassiz" comes from the famous Swiss American naturalist/geologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, for whom the prehistoric glacial lake was named.
Today Agassiz is one of more than 520 national wildlife refuges totaling more than 93 million acres throughout the United States. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the only network of lands in the world primarily dedicated to the preservation and management of fish and wildlife resources. Wetlands were restored through a system of dikes and water control structures. Twenty pools ranging in size from 100 to 10,000 acres were established. Water management created a variety of wetland types with a mix of emergent and submergent plant communities. Manipulating water levels is a vital management tool used to benefit waterfowl and shorebirds. The presence or absence of water; water depth and seasonal timing are all regulated to produce various stages of marsh habitat upon which these birds rely.
Cattail is the dominant emergent plant in the wetlands. Bulrush, reed grass, white top, reed canary grass, spike rush and sedges are other typical emergent vegetation. The dominant submergent vegetation includes water milfoil, muskgrass, and sago pondweed. Abundant free-floating aquatic plants include bladderwort, coontail and duckweed.
In Germany they did a study during WWII and they found that one acre of swamp can feed 10,000 people. If that holds true, Minnesota has enough to munch on to feed the rest of the US! :-) The total population of NW Minnesota could not even eat 2 acres of swampland... The property I have listed has 15 acres of swamp land,
80+ acres of woodlands and the rest in native grasses with lots of wildflowers. The property is bordered along the south by a county ditch for 3/4 of a mile. The water doesn't look very appetizing to me, but it sure attracts the critters! For easy access the skinny side of the property borders Highway 219, which is paved, plowed and maintained and takes you right to the entrance of the Wildlife Refuge. The existing homesite is toward the county gravel road facing south with the tree shelter belt to the north.
Natural and provoked peat fires formed many of the smaller wetlands that dot the refuge today. Prescribed burning and brush mowing are tools used to maintain the grasslands and shrublands for nesting waterfowl as well as to provide habitat for moose and deer. This human intervention maintains the mosaic of grasslands, shrublands, forestlands and sedge meadows needed by native wildlife species. Farming provides food essential for waterfowl embarking on their annual migration south. Primary crops include barley, oats and winter wheat. Resident wildlife species also benefit from the farming program. 4,000 acres in the north-central portion is designated as "Wilderness" and is managed under the National Wilderness Preservation System. It is one of the most westerly extensions of black spruce-tamarack bog in Minnesota.
Two lakes in this area, Whiskey and Kuriko, were formed by deep peat fires which occurred prior to settlement of the area. As many as 280 species of birds use the refuge; half of them nest on the refuge. Forty-nine species of mammals, 12 species of amphibians and 9 species of reptiles also call Agassiz home.
The refuge supports 17 species of breeding ducks as well as giant Canada geese. In an average year 7,500 pairs of ducks and 250 pairs of Canada geese nest at Agassiz. The diversity of wetland and upland habitat provides excellent protection for ducklings, goslings and molting waterfowl.
Annual migrations bring peak numbers of waterfowl in May and October. Fall duck numbers can be as high as 100,000 and Canada geese 25,000. The Eastern Prairie Population of Canada geese are the most abundant goose subspecies that migrate through Agassiz. Colonial nesting birds include large colonies that average 25,000 nesting pairs of Franklin's gulls, 50-to-150 nesting pairs of eared grebes and 500 nesting pairs of black-crowned night herons. Smaller colonies of western grebes, great blue herons and double-crested cormorants also nest here. The moose population is around 100 on the refuge and there are around 1,000+ deer. Agassiz also has two resident packs of eastern gray wolves, which keep the grazing animals from grazing too long in one spot and overgrazing it.
Even a few bald eagle pairs are now nesting in the refuge and once in a while you can see them flying overhead on the property. Canada geese start arriving in mid-March; ducks in early April. May through mid-June is the best time to observe ducks, when their colorful spring plumage makes identification easier: Goslings can be observed as early as the first week in May and ducklings as early as the third week in May. Peak fall populations of Canada geese and ducks occurs from late-September through October.
We have a price reduction on the
Appleton, MN property. It was listed at $570K now we have it down to $520K. It is also a great property, bringing in about $14K each year for the next 11 years! Plus there are 8,000 feet of lakeshore front with the 151 acres and a 2 bed/1 bath cabin. Fantastic property for pheasant and duck hunting!
If you rather live in town and just take in the Wilderness when you are up to it, Mike listed a nice
home in Detroit Lakes for $ 149,000
If you enjoy bison, you might revel in this
amateur movie made in Africa by some American tourists - it does have a happy ending, so it is safe to watch! I do not like movies with sad endings, so I always have my kids check things like that out for me before I click on "go."
Have a happy month of June and I hope to see you soon; we'll take the dog and make a day of it showing you the area!
:-)
Best Regards,
Dorothea Lowe, Broker
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