Are you familiar with the Pryor Mountains in Montana? Probably not, there are no outfitters, no motels, no tourists, just ranchers and locals. Snuggled up against this small mountain range is a section of land cut into two parcels. 278 acres ($ 200,000) and
258 acres ($255,000). One has a strong 8GPM well, the other one doesn't but it has more trees and borders the National Forest. Both have electric on the property. The fun part is the way to get there. The good news is, it is a very well maintained county gravel road, but for 17 miles you are not driving by any houses, just ranch land, hills and spectacular vistas. Like they say, Montana is a small village with very long roads :-) From the properties you can see the whole Eastern Front of the Beartooth Mountains (the highest mountains in Montana) - from the ski runs in Red Lodge to the Heart mountain near Cody, Wyoming. If you like eagles, bears and like to listen to the wind in the pine trees - this is Montana as it used to be! Bring your ATV or your horses and visit the wild horse range in the Pryors, the ice cave, caves with Indian drawings or go fishing for brook trout in Sage Creek just a few miles across the rugged terrain. Elevation of the property is 5,600 and the Pryors right next to it go up to 8,000ft.
If you rather live in town and drive 3 minutes to get into the National Forest for hunting, the price for the
cheerful little log cabin in downtown White Sulphur Springs has now been reduced to $75,000. You could even run a small store, coffee shop or whatever else might come to mind there. The cabin has new carpet, a new front door, freshly painted interior, floor and subfloor in kitchen and bath newly replaced, new faucets and some new plumbing, in other words, move right in! The vacant lot next to it (it has a trailer on it now - which is actually quite livable) comes with it for the price, but the trailer can be removed with a full price offer.
My little house in old town Red Lodge is on the market for $ 250,000 and
with this newsletter I will sell it to you for $ 230,000. We have 5 deer that live in the back yard and sleep next to the hot tub. Once in a while we also have a moose sleep in the front yard and everyday about 20 wild turkeys wander through the yard and across our porch to pick up after the birds, which made a mess around the bird feeder.
Would you rather like to build your dream home? The price for the
20 acres on top of the rimrocks above Joliet is reduced to $ 134,000. It has big pine trees on it and amazing rock formations, which actually have quite a drop off to give way to the view of the whole Rock Creek Valley all the way south to the Beartooth Mountain Range and the ski runs of Red Lodge.
The latest news from the land of Montana are that the coal mine I had told you about a few newsletters back near Roundup is indeed starting up and they began
building the railroad spur from the mine down to Broadview where it hitches up with the railway. The project is the largest railroad construction project in Montana since the 1970s, when the Burlington Northern and the Chicago Northwestern built 100-mile lines into the Powder River Basin. The proposed 130-mile Tongue River Railroad received federal approval in November 2007 but has yet to be built.
The Stillwater platinum/palladium mine in Nye and Big Timber on the other hand will
drastically reduce production and many miners who are loosing their job there, are heading up to Roundup to extract some coal instead.
What happened to all the oil activity in Montana and North Dakota with the falling oil prices? Well, they are still hiring, in Sidney alone they are looking for 167 workers. New wells will not be drilled until the price is well above $80 a barrel though, because a new hole costs $5-8 million, but whatever pumps now will keep pumping and only slow producing wells will be shut down. Stands to reason, they are getting it out of the ground for $16 a barrel and can still sell it for around $50.
Overall Montana is holding its own with the unemployment rate 2% below the national average. The ticket sales for our
ski mountain in Red Lodge are much higher this year then they were last year, with 80% of the skiers coming from Billings. Of course the $2.5 million worth of improvements with newly renovated ski runs, lodge and restaurants on The Mountain might have something to do with that. There are now three terrain parks designed for all levels of riders. No matter what your skills are, there is a place for you to show your stuff. The idea behind the Shred Lodge Terrain Park System is to learn by doing. There is a park for advanced, beginners and small snow monsters. Kids can cruise through the banked turns, miniature race course, climbing ramps, and obstacle course, while they make friends with the many different characters that live within the fenced boundaries of the SnowMonster™ Kids Park. There is also a new magic carpet lift for beginner skiers and snowboarders and 17 new snow guns! The ski runs opened November 28th.
If you think the mountains just get in the way and there is not enough rain in Montana, let's take a closer look at Minnesota.
Mike Olson roped in a great
investment opportunity with a 12-Plex, that will serve you a lot better than the stock market. $410,000 is the asking price and the net income is $43,000. That's what I like about Minnesota; you can still get great bargains and a good return on your money. Barnesville is close enough to the Fargo/Moorhead area and along I-94, so there are hardly ever any vacancies.
Do you just have a horse or two and are looking for a nice
home on about 10 acres with a state of the art horse barn and small pasture for around $ 215,000? Well, here it is, and close to fishing lakes! Just 6 miles west of Detroit Lakes, which has a small college, a Wal-Mart, restored downtown, Maynard and a sandy beach!
Oh, but you wanted granite counters? Hmm. Do you know that some
granite slabs contain radon? A "hot" granite countertop can be equal to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day if you hang around it all day. Most granite countertops are perfectly harmless, but if you want to be sure because somebody in your home has a pacemaker or is pregnant, you might want to get it checked.
Here are some cool alternatives to granite:
"Kirei Board" is an environmental friendly substitute made out of Sorghum straw
~$15 per sqft
"Vetrazzo" is created using salvaged glass pieces ($125-$150/SF).
All of the glass used in "Vetrazzo" is recycled, and it makes up about 85% of the final material by weight. No two surfaces are alike and the glass can come from unusual sources such as decommissioned traffic lights. The company actually tracks the history of each slab, and when you purchase "Vetrazzo", they give you a Certificate of Transformation that tells you exactly where the glass in your "Vetrazzo" came from. They have me convinced, that will be my next counter top!
"Squak Mountain Stone" is a fibrous-cement material comprised of recycled paper, recycled glass, coal fly-ash and cement. The material is hand-cast into "slabs" and resembles soapstone or limestones. ($50/square foot).
"Paper Stone" is a smooth, solid-color surface made from 100% post-consumer paper waste ($40/square foot).
"Terra Green Ceramics" manufactures 55% recycled glass tiles in a few different textures ($20/square foot).
We installed a bird feeder on our back porch, which the cat and I find to be a lot of fun to watch. We not only have the small song birds, but the Wild Turkeys come and pick up whatever the tiny ones tossed out. There is a store in Billings which specializes in Wild Bird seed and feeders. You can find much cheaper feeders and seeds just about anywhere else, but "Wild Birds Unlimited" sure is an interesting store right on 24th Street. I think it is a chain and they have branches all over the place, including a
very good website.
I subscribed to their email newsletter and there it said:
"Feeling Good About Fattening Up
As winter approaches, throw dietary caution to the wind. We're not talking about some radical new nutritional plan. We're talking about feeding your wild birds high-calorie, high-fat foods to help them survive the winter. Food is the most essential element to providing birds with the energy, stamina and nutrition they need during the winter months. To stay warm, birds will expend energy very quickly, some losing up to 10% of their body weight on a cold night. An ample supply of a high-calorie food, such as suet or peanuts with or without shell, is critical to a bird's survival. Suet is a high-energy, pure-fat substance that is particularly helpful in winter when many birds have a difficult time finding the insects they would normally eat. If you offer suet in addition to your seed, bird species, such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice are even more likely to stop by your yard and become frequent visitors."
The bird feeder my daughter gave me for my birthday has a removable bottom for easy cleaning, which I really like.
You can also buy
decorative seed cakes which can hang in a tree outside as Christmas decoration or just for fun.
It sure makes a nice Christmas gift, do you know anybody with a cat?
If you are a little short on cash for Christmas presents,
this websiteoffers coupons and has links to screaming deals, and here is a website for
petfood. Coupon code: "dog"
In Minnesota you can buy farm products
straight from the farm.
And if you have horses, we bought 160 lb of
Apples for $10 not far from us.
Are you familiar with the Pryor Mountains in Montana? Probably not, there are no outfitters, no motels, no tourists, just ranchers and locals. Snuggled up against this small mountain range is a section of land cut into two parcels. 278 acres ($ 200,000) and
258 acres ($255,000). One has a strong 8GPM well, the other one doesn't but it has more trees and borders the National Forest. Both have electric on the property. The fun part is the way to get there. The good news is, it is a very well maintained county gravel road, but for 17 miles you are not driving by any houses, just ranch land, hills and spectacular vistas. Like they say, Montana is a small village with very long roads :-) From the properties you can see the whole Eastern Front of the Beartooth Mountains (the highest mountains in Montana) - from the ski runs in Red Lodge to the Heart mountain near Cody, Wyoming. If you like eagles, bears and like to listen to the wind in the pine trees - this is Montana as it used to be! Bring your ATV or your horses and visit the wild horse range in the Pryors, the ice cave, caves with Indian drawings or go fishing for brook trout in Sage Creek just a few miles across the rugged terrain. Elevation of the property is 5,600 and the Pryors right next to it go up to 8,000ft.
If you rather live in town and drive 3 minutes to get into the National Forest for hunting, the price for the
cheerful little log cabin in downtown White Sulphur Springs has now been reduced to $75,000. You could even run a small store, coffee shop or whatever else might come to mind there. The cabin has new carpet, a new front door, freshly painted interior, floor and subfloor in kitchen and bath newly replaced, new faucets and some new plumbing, in other words, move right in! The vacant lot next to it (it has a trailer on it now - which is actually quite livable) comes with it for the price, but the trailer can be removed with a full price offer.
My little house in old town Red Lodge is on the market for $ 250,000 and
with this newsletter I will sell it to you for $ 230,000. We have 5 deer that live in the back yard and sleep next to the hot tub. Once in a while we also have a moose sleep in the front yard and everyday about 20 wild turkeys wander through the yard and across our porch to pick up after the birds, which made a mess around the bird feeder.
Would you rather like to build your dream home? The price for the
20 acres on top of the rimrocks above Joliet is reduced to $ 134,000. It has big pine trees on it and amazing rock formations, which actually have quite a drop off to give way to the view of the whole Rock Creek Valley all the way south to the Beartooth Mountain Range and the ski runs of Red Lodge.
The latest news from the land of Montana are that the coal mine I had told you about a few newsletters back near Roundup is indeed starting up and they began
building the railroad spur from the mine down to Broadview where it hitches up with the railway. The project is the largest railroad construction project in Montana since the 1970s, when the Burlington Northern and the Chicago Northwestern built 100-mile lines into the Powder River Basin. The proposed 130-mile Tongue River Railroad received federal approval in November 2007 but has yet to be built.
The Stillwater platinum/palladium mine in Nye and Big Timber on the other hand will
drastically reduce production and many miners who are loosing their job there, are heading up to Roundup to extract some coal instead.
What happened to all the oil activity in Montana and North Dakota with the falling oil prices? Well, they are still hiring, in Sidney alone they are looking for 167 workers. New wells will not be drilled until the price is well above $80 a barrel though, because a new hole costs $5-8 million, but whatever pumps now will keep pumping and only slow producing wells will be shut down. Stands to reason, they are getting it out of the ground for $16 a barrel and can still sell it for around $50.
Overall Montana is holding its own with the unemployment rate 2% below the national average. The ticket sales for our
ski mountain in Red Lodge are much higher this year then they were last year, with 80% of the skiers coming from Billings. Of course the $2.5 million worth of improvements with newly renovated ski runs, lodge and restaurants on The Mountain might have something to do with that. There are now three terrain parks designed for all levels of riders. No matter what your skills are, there is a place for you to show your stuff. The idea behind the Shred Lodge Terrain Park System is to learn by doing. There is a park for advanced, beginners and small snow monsters. Kids can cruise through the banked turns, miniature race course, climbing ramps, and obstacle course, while they make friends with the many different characters that live within the fenced boundaries of the SnowMonster™ Kids Park. There is also a new magic carpet lift for beginner skiers and snowboarders and 17 new snow guns! The ski runs opened November 28th.
If you think the mountains just get in the way and there is not enough rain in Montana, let's take a closer look at Minnesota.
Mike Olson roped in a great
investment opportunity with a 12-Plex, that will serve you a lot better than the stock market. $410,000 is the asking price and the net income is $43,000. That's what I like about Minnesota; you can still get great bargains and a good return on your money. Barnesville is close enough to the Fargo/Moorhead area and along I-94, so there are hardly ever any vacancies.
Do you just have a horse or two and are looking for a nice
home on about 10 acres with a state of the art horse barn and small pasture for around $ 215,000? Well, here it is, and close to fishing lakes! Just 6 miles west of Detroit Lakes, which has a small college, a Wal-Mart, restored downtown, Maynard and a sandy beach!
Oh, but you wanted granite counters? Hmm. Do you know that some
granite slabs contain radon? A "hot" granite countertop can be equal to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day if you hang around it all day. Most granite countertops are perfectly harmless, but if you want to be sure because somebody in your home has a pacemaker or is pregnant, you might want to get it checked.
Here are some cool alternatives to granite:
"Kirei Board" is an environmental friendly substitute made out of Sorghum straw
~$15 per sqft
"Vetrazzo" is created using salvaged glass pieces ($125-$150/SF).
All of the glass used in "Vetrazzo" is recycled, and it makes up about 85% of the final material by weight. No two surfaces are alike and the glass can come from unusual sources such as decommissioned traffic lights. The company actually tracks the history of each slab, and when you purchase "Vetrazzo", they give you a Certificate of Transformation that tells you exactly where the glass in your "Vetrazzo" came from. They have me convinced, that will be my next counter top!
"Squak Mountain Stone" is a fibrous-cement material comprised of recycled paper, recycled glass, coal fly-ash and cement. The material is hand-cast into "slabs" and resembles soapstone or limestones. ($50/square foot).
"Paper Stone" is a smooth, solid-color surface made from 100% post-consumer paper waste ($40/square foot).
"Terra Green Ceramics" manufactures 55% recycled glass tiles in a few different textures ($20/square foot).
We installed a bird feeder on our back porch, which the cat and I find to be a lot of fun to watch. We not only have the small song birds, but the Wild Turkeys come and pick up whatever the tiny ones tossed out. There is a store in Billings which specializes in Wild Bird seed and feeders. You can find much cheaper feeders and seeds just about anywhere else, but "Wild Birds Unlimited" sure is an interesting store right on 24th Street. I think it is a chain and they have branches all over the place, including a
very good website.
I subscribed to their email newsletter and there it said:
"Feeling Good About Fattening Up
As winter approaches, throw dietary caution to the wind. We're not talking about some radical new nutritional plan. We're talking about feeding your wild birds high-calorie, high-fat foods to help them survive the winter. Food is the most essential element to providing birds with the energy, stamina and nutrition they need during the winter months. To stay warm, birds will expend energy very quickly, some losing up to 10% of their body weight on a cold night. An ample supply of a high-calorie food, such as suet or peanuts with or without shell, is critical to a bird's survival. Suet is a high-energy, pure-fat substance that is particularly helpful in winter when many birds have a difficult time finding the insects they would normally eat. If you offer suet in addition to your seed, bird species, such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice are even more likely to stop by your yard and become frequent visitors."
The bird feeder my daughter gave me for my birthday has a removable bottom for easy cleaning, which I really like.
You can also buy
decorative seed cakes which can hang in a tree outside as Christmas decoration or just for fun.
It sure makes a nice Christmas gift, do you know anybody with a cat?
If you are a little short on cash for Christmas presents,
this websiteoffers coupons and has links to screaming deals, and here is a website for
petfood. Coupon code: "dog"
In Minnesota you can buy farm products
straight from the farm.
And if you have horses, we bought 160 lb of
Apples for $10 not far from us.
When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, you might want to include the following:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
The card needs to be sent before December 10th.
Visit "Holiday Mail for Heroes"
For the guidelines and address for mailing cards to our wounded Americans.
Thank you for thinking of our wounded service members! You don't know
how much it means to receive cards and letters from Americans who care. Many
wounded servicemen and women, believe it or not, have no family or friends
writing or visiting them at all, ever.
Have a wonderful holiday season until my next newsletter on New Years Eve!
All Rights Reserved. This document may not be copied in part or full without express written permission from the publisher. By providing links to other sites from montanahereicome.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to montanahereicome.com The data contained herein were obtained from sources deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed by me. Prospective purchasers are advised to examine the facts to their own satisfaction. Offerings are subject to change of price and terms, lease, prior sale or withdrawal from the market, without notice.
All Rights Reserved. This document may not be copied in part or full without express written permission from the publisher. By providing links to other sites from montanahereicome.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to montanahereicome.com The data contained herein were obtained from sources deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed by me. Prospective purchasers are advised to examine the facts to their own satisfaction. Offerings are subject to change of price and terms, lease, prior sale or withdrawal from the market, without notice.
Equal Housing Opportunity