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Howdy, I'm still interested in retiring to montana. I've been reading these "tell me about Helena/Bozeman/Missoula..." threads and the conversation always turns to: "you just gotta visit montana and talk to the folks."
well, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go to montana, and talk to the folks.
I'll be coming up on a motorcycle (i'm used to long motorcycle trips, its no big deal) and I'm looking for folks who are willing to sit down with me for a few hours on their porch. Tell me about montana. Tell me about your life in montana. Tell me about what its like LIVING in montana. Tell me about the season changes. All the stuff that people on this forum asks.
This will be in September or first week of October.
While I am from california, I'm not some sort of weirdo. I'm in my 30's and have done quite well for myself and my wife, and we're looking for a slower lifestyle instead of the rat race.
what I'm looking for is folks who are willing to spend a couple of hours with me on their porch over coffee/beer/soda and tell me about montana. I'm not looking to tour your house (but if you offer, i won't refuse), or looking for free meals (i'll be asking you what restaurant to go for a good steak though). I just want to know a few folks who really LIVE in montana and have their biased/unbiased opinion.
I'm not going to limit myself to certain cities, if you're willing to host me for a couple of hours, and the logistics works out, depending on how many people offer to have me, i'm up for anything.
you can send me a private message, or just post the city you're in, and i'll plot a route.
My budget limit is $250k, and I'm looking for something around the size of 3-10 acres (fensed in) within 45 minutes of town. 2200 sq/ft maximum. single or 2 stories. 2 car attatched garage and an attatched or non-attatched LARGE workshop (I do some small time welding and woodwork).
My budget limit is $250k, and I'm looking for something around the size of 3-10 acres (fensed in) within 45 minutes of town. 2200 sq/ft maximum. single or 2 stories. 2 car attatched garage and an attatched or non-attatched LARGE workshop (I do some small time welding and woodwork).
That might be a challenge. While prices have fallen some your demands might well exceed your budget by two or three times in Western Montana. I can't begin to tell you where to start - maybe with a realtor.
Howdy, I'm still interested in retiring to montana. I've been reading these "tell me about Helena/Bozeman/Missoula..." threads and the conversation always turns to: "you just gotta visit montana and talk to the folks."
well, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go to montana, and talk to the folks.
I'll be coming up on a motorcycle (i'm used to long motorcycle trips, its no big deal) and I'm looking for folks who are willing to sit down with me for a few hours on their porch. Tell me about montana. Tell me about your life in montana. Tell me about what its like LIVING in montana. Tell me about the season changes. All the stuff that people on this forum asks.
This will be in September or first week of October.
While I am from california, I'm not some sort of weirdo. I'm in my 30's and have done quite well for myself and my wife, and we're looking for a slower lifestyle instead of the rat race.
what I'm looking for is folks who are willing to spend a couple of hours with me on their porch over coffee/beer/soda and tell me about montana. I'm not looking to tour your house (but if you offer, i won't refuse), or looking for free meals (i'll be asking you what restaurant to go for a good steak though). I just want to know a few folks who really LIVE in montana and have their biased/unbiased opinion.
I'm not going to limit myself to certain cities, if you're willing to host me for a couple of hours, and the logistics works out, depending on how many people offer to have me, i'm up for anything.
you can send me a private message, or just post the city you're in, and i'll plot a route.
My budget limit is $250k, and I'm looking for something around the size of 3-10 acres (fensed in) within 45 minutes of town. 2200 sq/ft maximum. single or 2 stories. 2 car attatched garage and an attatched or non-attatched LARGE workshop (I do some small time welding and woodwork).
Motorcycle + October = Bring a jacket. Have a safe trip.
3-10 acre, 2000 sq ft house with a garage & an out building is 2 or 3 times of $250k? I suppose I'm willing to go upto 300k, but any more then that, ca looks pretty good, since my current house is worth about $400k (also 2000 sq ft, 1/4 acre)
oh yeah, full leathee & helmet is how I roll. I rode through the Rockies in 27 degree F in rain and hail... I'm not too worried about getting cold. I will get a electric warming vest soon though.
610 Wheat Field (Tr 543) Road, Three Forks, MT, 59752 - MLS ID#152989 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/610-Wheat-Field-Tr-543-Road_Three-Forks_MT_59752_1100273668 - broken link)
I've lived and owned in California and Montana and seeing it by bike is a good way to meet people. Me and my Harley spend July roaming the west, visiting friends and relatives. Small town bars and diners are friendly and you'll meet chatty folks. The larger towns are less easy to have conversations.
I'm never sure what people are saying or hearing when they say come here and decide. For me it's about long winters with ironing board grey skies and wind, lots of wind, a possibility of more isolation than some places, one can't say often enough the pay scales. For me it's the food. I'm neither a gourmet, nor a food snob but I'm spoiled by really fresh fruits and vegetables, better cuts of meat and Starbucks, mmmmmmmm (joking. The food is mostly comfort food, rich, fat, starchy and will take you through a long shift at the mine. The folks will likely drink and smoke more than where we live. But all of the above considered, people are not that much different in this generation, we're homogenized by American Idol and fear of the future.
So suppose we're on the porch in Harlowtown on a crisp fall evening with the sun setting rapidly over the Crazy mtns, what you gonna ask me?
well, first things first. Show me your Harley, and tell me about your longer rides. I always waive to other motorcyclists when i ride, no matter what brand, domestic, foreign, cruiser, sportbike, pirates or squids.
pull up a chair, and light up a smoke.
The weather is a major factor in me choosing Montana. I grew up in the tropics where its humid and hot, I hated it. I love cold weather. My wife is from Ukraine, she's used to the -30 below stuff.
the questions are in red, the blue stuff is my attempts at answering the same questions. so ignore the blue stuff if you're not really interested in my answers.
What do you do during the long winter?
what do most people do during the winter months?
how often do you go out during the winter months? (not counting work)
for your profession, how often is work canceled in the winter months?
how often do your co-workers go out during winter months?
Well, its not fair that I ask these questions, so I'll take a stab at providing some insights toward what i expect.
My life is rather pretty simple. I have few passions, but they are quite intense. I am a musician, and I take my music quite seriously. Unfortunately, I'm not the type that like to play out (in public) a lot, but I get tremendous amount of pleasure playing music alone, or with very few people (chamber music... so on). This is one of the things planned for those long winters. I can, and have, literally, played music all night til sun comes up, and entertained myself very well that way. I'm not a music snob, i play a lot of different types. Even though I was trained in classical music, I play a lot of different stuff: 16th, 17th century chamber music; to folk songs, to death metal (on the electric guitar).
Other passions include motorcycling, bicycling and welding. I love long trips on motorcycle. Me and the wife enjoy this a lot. I understand winter can be a problem, but we can tour the southern parts of the US during the winter months if we get tired of MT winters.
Bicycling in warmer months, sure, but I enjoy riding the trainer (sort of like a stationary bike) during MT winter. In CA, I if i dont feel like going for a long bike ride, i just jump on the trainer for 30 minutes.
Oh yeah, I love to make stuff in the garage. I do some wood work, but i'm mainly interested in welding. I weld and fabricate stuff (furniture, kitchen gadgets, wrought iron type gates and fenses, motorcycle parts... so on)
me and the wife have a lot of stuff to keep ourselves busy, I only envision us going out once a week for groceries. If we are able to become smarter shoppers, maybe once every two weeks or three, even.
We don't own snow mobiles or ATV's right now, but we'll definitely get into that when we move there. As for jobs, I don't really plan to work, i have enough to get by. If I get bored, I wouldn't mind taking a low wage part time job (welding... or something like that).
I understand the desire to live in larger, open space. It is one of the reasons I am looking into MT.
I see some ads for houses that says they are near state land, what does that mean?
what are the pro's and con's of living right next to state land?
what is the difference in temperature between the flat east and mountainous west?
I'm asian (i'm yellow) and my wife is from Ukraine (she's white), when I get beat up for this and call the cops, will they come? will they take a long time? we both are full american citizens, and attained the citizen the LEGAL WAY. (yes, we're the "immigrants" you never hear about---legal immigrants).
are zoning laws pretty ridiculous? Say, I want to build a bigger workshop on my 3-10 acre lot, is the local governing body gonna give me hell?
Here in CA, if you want to build an addition, its a huge undertaking. It's getting to the point where the expensive contractors/builders are expensive not because they do great work, but because they are great at getting through the red tape.
I haven't heard anything bad about people of MT being racists nor am i making any assumptions, its just that, as a color person, you learn to check before you move somewhere... you understand.
these are just some of the few things i have in mind that i can think of so far. I'm sure i'll have more. as you can see, mostly, it is still very general, its still typical of things people ask on this board... I'm sure, in person, a MT local would be able to get into great detail on some of these topics.
610 Wheat Field (Tr 543) Road, Three Forks, MT, 59752 - MLS ID#152989 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/610-Wheat-Field-Tr-543-Road_Three-Forks_MT_59752_1100273668 - broken link)
that's a fixer upper, so i understand the price being low. If it were finished, and in great shape, I'm guessing it could fetch at least high $300k?
if it were in normal condition, it would be priced out of my range, although, i only need less then half of the square footage of the house. I love the fact that it has a 1000+sqft garage though.
I'll be coming up on a motorcycle (i'm used to long motorcycle trips, its no big deal) This will be in September or first week of October.
There is a fairly good chance of having snow and ice on the mountain passes you'll have to cross, you never know what the passes will be like in early October or even late September.
There are some properties with shops and a modular near Whitehall in the sub-$200k range. There are also several sub-$150k properites listed in Pizzy Pines north of Three Forks, but I wouldn't want to be doing that road on a bike. Talk to Ken Nass, knass@kw.com -- he's a realtor in the Bozeman area that my sister used. Knows the area well.
Since you're a musician -- you might take a portable instrument with you and volunteer some music-makin' at local bars and coffee shops (since you do a wide variety of styles, I'm sure you must have something appropriate for just about any venue). Make yourself friendly-lookin' between cuts and you'll find plenty of people who want to share a few words. Music is always a great way to meet regular folks!
Last edited by Reziac; 07-17-2009 at 09:44 AM..
Reason: poofread carefully in case you words out
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Have a safe trip.
