I have not been in this business for too long, but I have been living in houses all my life. I know that all houses, and many people have distinct smells. Some houses have old carpet smell, cigarette smell, or lingering cooking smells.

While touring new listings during my office's weekly sales meeting, I really have something I need to get off my mind. The one smell that beats out all, except some we will not mention, has got to be the cat. More specifically, the male cat! I have a female cat and have had male cats in the past and by far, male cat odor is the worst. If the male cat is one of those artistic males that like to spray secret places, this is even worse!

On our office tour, we arrived at a nice looking house that had supposedly been through a fairly extensive interior remodel and should really wow us all. Like a punch in the face, the cat odor hit me as I entered the front door. I looked around at my fellow Realtors to see if anyone else's eyes were beginning to water. No one was talking about it, they were talking about the flooring, windows, appliances, but not EAU DE CHAT! I knew that was cat smell and soon enough, two very friendly, huge male cats came out from behind the couch.

There was a Seinfeld episode where Jerry valet parked his car and the valet's body odor took over his car. After trying everything known to man, Jerry ended up abandoning it, but not even a thief wanted his stank mobile. I feel this is the same with houses. I hope I do not offend any cat owners or even ferret owners, but I really think Realtors need to emphasize to their clients the importance of removing or at least masking unpleasant odors from the house. People know that smells are usually coming from deep in carpet padding, behind or under something. A few extra dollars spent in a higher end carpet cleaning will make potential buyers actually enter houses, and the sale may happen.

This is not a rant, but just an idea I had after entering this house. I was not into the cat odor, but was more shocked by the lack of reactions by my fellow agents. Realtors, listen to your nose!

 Thanks for you time

Mike Warren

Western Montana has seen a surge in property values over the past decade. Even with the current correction in prices, the average home price is still out of reach for residents making the average income for the area. That has not stopped people from moving here for school, jobs or to retire in our little piece of heaven.

Renting in Missoula, once popular mostly with the University students and young adults, has developed into almost half (49.75%) of the housing demographics in Missoula. Rents in and around the University of Montana have traditionally been high, but now with the higher need for rentals in the area, rents through out Missoula have seen considerable increases over the past several years. This is not to say affordable housing is a farce in Missoula, but that there is an increasing number of rentals that are seeing rising rent amounts.

Currently the median rent for Missoula is just under $500 ($472) with much higher rents in some areas and lower in some of the large rental complexes that have been built recently. As an investor, Missoula is a great place to enter the rental market. My wife and I have purchased 2 houses close to the University and have seen the rents increase close to 40% in 3 years. There are 41 multifamily listings in the Missoula area as of today, with the lowest asking price at $139,000 and the highest at $865,000. If you or anyone you know are interested in a hot rental market that is only seeing increases, please feel free to contact me and I will gladly fill them in on more market information. Thanks for your time.

Active Rain is a great place. I can't say I have received any business yet (3hours old), but several people have commented on my blog. so far I feel really loved!!

Thanks

When my daughter was born in 2003, I was regularly found standing waist-deep in an archaeological excavation unit or traversing a mountain in Wyoming for a forthcoming gas pipeline. I thought at the time I had the greatest job on the planet. I got the chance to travel the back-roads of the west, visiting towns time had forgotten, walk all day amongst the sage brush seas of the arid west and even master camp-stove cooking in a hotel room without setting off the smoke alarm.

All this was great, but I needed to be on the home-front in Missoula, not in southern Wyoming chasing artifacts and fossils. All this changed when I joined the team at Prudential Missoula Properties. There is so much information I needed to learn, all of which were very different from the liberal studies from my undergraduate degree and the cultural/scientific information from my graduate education. But education and life experiences can all be brought down to a personal core knowledge base which helps me meet and help people. I am becoming more and more agressive and confident as I have more transactions, but I will not forget my past, but try to integrate it in my future doings.

This is my first-ever blog, so bear with me as I am just rambling and forming thoughts. I will update my ideas soon and maybe have a story or two about Missoula.

thanks

Mike Warren