missoula: First look at Missoula's 2013 Real Estate stats - 01/20/14 06:58 AM
While we're already just about 3 weeks into the new year I figured it was as good a time as any to give you all an early look at how the residential real estate market in Missoula turned out.  As you'll see in the charts below Missoula has seen continued recovery, which is great.  There are some other mixed signals coming out now and some challenges ahead, I'll touch on those in a bit.
First off, how did Missoula do in 2013?  The quick answer, pretty darn good.  Missoula's residential market saw it's sales figures climb back up over 1000 homes … (18 comments)

missoula: Missoula's first 5 months show continued market recovery - 05/09/13 03:09 AM
I've been keeping an eye on sales volume and trends in the Missoula MLS and I wanted to quickly share some numbers that have stood out to me.  In particular April, which was a huge month for our area.  This is not just sales in the Missoula valley but within our entire MLS.  What we're seeing so far is continued market volume recovery.  The most recent numbers that I've pulled show our reported amount of sales in the MLS puts the greater area at higher volume than this time in 2008 and just under the pace of this time in 2007. … (0 comments)

missoula: Missoula's 1st quarter shows continued volume recovery - 04/03/13 03:36 AM
It appears we're seeing more good news that the Missoula residential market is on a steady pace of recovery.  Now that the 1st quarter is in the books I looked back at the amount of sales volume, the median sales price, the impact of REO/Foreclosure sales, and the amount of market supply.  The data shows pretty good news for the most part, continued volume recovery, fewer REO sales, and about as normal of market supply as one could hope for.  This is not without challenges though as we see the median sales prices are down yet again and some segments of … (0 comments)

missoula: Neighborhood year-end stats, U-area - 01/25/13 12:59 AM
Alright, lets get these neighborhood-specific reports going for year-end activity.  I've been awfully busy these last few weeks so that's kept me from getting these up sooner.  Over the next few weeks I will post more areas/neighborhoods - also I'll provide numbers from the Bitterroot Valley as well.
So lets start with an area near and dear to my heart, where I grew up, the University Area.  The U-district experienced an explosion of sales compared to 2011.  Sales volume actually doubled (and then some), there were 24 sales in 2011 and in 2012 we saw 52 sales!  That represents an increase … (0 comments)

missoula: Missoula's volume figures through the 3rd quarter - 10/05/12 03:05 AM
Missoula has just kicked off its 4th quarter and the market is still moving at a tremendous pace compared to years before.   As always, here are some numbers to show you how things are going in our little college town here in Western Montana.
Missoula’s 3rd quarter was a busy one, in our valley we saw 298 residential sales occur.  This is up compared to last year by 51 homes, or an increase in sales volume by 21%.  To find the last time the 3rd quarter had similar numbers you’d have to go back to 2007 where we saw 403 sales … (0 comments)

missoula: The differences between a short sale and foreclosure - 10/04/12 08:36 AM
I've just put a very general description together of the difference on these two different types of sales processes.  I still have people asking me weekly what the difference is - so I figured I'd throw this out there.  As I said, very general and specific to my own experiences and observations here in Missoula, MT.
 
 
The difference between a short sale and a foreclosure
 
 
1. Short Sale – Short sales are properties that have not yet been foreclosed on.  They may still be occupied by the owner.  With these sales the seller is attempting to sell … (1 comments)

missoula: Is it the best time to get a steal in Missoula? - 07/26/12 08:12 AM
The other day at the Missoula Organization of Realtors board meeting the discussion came up that a lot of reports you see which show the list price of a home compared to the sales price isn't the most accurate.  One of my colleagues pointed out that the MLS grabs the price at the time the offer was written and not the original listing price.  With a recent update to our MLS system a newer export code popped up for "original price" which allowed me to export original listing price and compare it to final sales price.
So for fun, I downloaded … (0 comments)

missoula: Mid-summer absorption rates for Missoula - 07/24/12 02:11 AM
Taking a quick snapshot at our market and how it's doing, looking at what's currently active vs what has sold in the last 31 days:
$0 - $150k:       70 active / 21 sold = 3.33 months
$150k - $200k:  187 active / 22 sold = 8.5 months
$200k - $275k:  146 active / 28 sold = 5.2 months
$275k - $350k:  100 active / 22 sold = 4.5 months
$350k - $425k:  38 active / 5 sold = 7.6 months
$425k+:            134 active / 5 sold = 26.8 months
Total market:      675 active / 103 sold = 6.55 months
 
Wow, Missoula's … (0 comments)

missoula: Almost mid-year numbers - 06/18/12 07:33 AM
We're just a few weeks away from the mid-way point in our markets and Missoula (much like other areas around our region) has had a very strong second quarter so far.  In fact when I prepared stats for the Missoula Organization of REALTORS(R) I knew the numbers would look good, however I didn't think they'd look this solid. 
 
Now with the info below you can take this two ways.  On one side there's the lower/normal supply rates in many segments suggesting a healthy market (range of 3 to 9 months absorption rate).  This is good for sellers and our market … (0 comments)

missoula: Missoula's 1st half shaping up nicely - 05/14/12 09:07 AM
Missoula's good news with sales volume continues to roll in.  Right now (5/14) within just our valley and not looking at further out communities Missoula is up 32 residential sales compared to this time last year which represents a nearly 14.6% increase in volume sold.  Buyers are flooding the market with increased purchasing power and some more favorable conventional loan programs sneaking back into the scene. 
 
We're still 45 days out from the end of the 2nd quarter however if you tally up the sold homes so far in the MLS plus what is pending sale we could be looking … (0 comments)

missoula: Some Saturday morning stats - 05/05/12 02:03 AM
It's a cool and raining morning so while having a cup of coffee while the kiddos watch a few cartoons I figured I'd take a look at how Missoula is doing statistically so far this year.  This is looking 1/1 - 5/5 in the given year.
For 2012:
- 231 homes sold YTD with a median sales price of $201,000,
 
In 2011:
- 199 homes sold with a median sales price of $204,000
 
In 2010: (keep in mind 1st time buyer tax credit influenced market):
- 257 homes sold with a median sales price of $195,000
 
In 2009:
- 209 … (1 comments)

missoula: Missoula area absorption rates - early March - 03/04/12 11:56 PM
Yesterday was a beautiful day in the valley, highs near 60 degrees and lots of sunshine.  In my almost 13 years in the business I've seen that many times when the sun starts shining and it begins to warm up, buyer activity seems to increase as well.  With the spring market starting to arrive I thought I'd put together a quick look at the last 30 days absorption rates to see where Missoula's inventory levels are sitting in early March.
As a quick refresher, the absorption rate represents the total amount of supply currently listed for sale in our market.  I … (0 comments)

missoula: The impact of foreclosures this year in Missoula - 03/03/12 12:09 AM
I've been keeping a sharp eye on foreclosures in our area and how they're impacting our overall market.  This year it is projected that the biggest wave of the shadow inventory will start to hit the market as the "robo-signing" delays in the release of foreclosed properties is now behind us.  From my earlier posts this year my concerns are that 2012 will have a negative effect on the median home values, and the large cause could be foreclosures coming up for sale.  I'll explore more into the median home value impact at the end of the 1st quarter when I've got … (1 comments)

missoula: Missoula's continuing its strong start to the year, but... - 02/24/12 12:48 AM
Volume in Missoula continues to do well, today is Februrary 24th (77 residential sales in the Missoula Valley YTD / 177 total sales in the MLS YTD).  Missoula as well as the entire MLS have not out-paced our quicker start in volume of sales since 2008... that's right pre "bubble" considering it was the start of 2008.  I went back and looked at volume of 1/1 - 2/24 going all the way back to 2003, you can see the "ramp-up" and the cool down, and now the slow and steady volume recovery.  I'm very encouraged to see that volume is continuing … (0 comments)

missoula: Starting the year off strong: Missoula's early numbers - 02/11/12 06:05 AM
It's bee a time of reflection for me, just about 1 year ago my mother decided to close down the local RE/MAX franchise that she'd owned for 16 years.  As a group most of our office joined up with the local Windermere office and we've loved it.  The Missoula market was very choppy at that time, our early winter/spring was the worst we'd seen in terms of volume.  We came out of the winter with a solid summer market but the lasting effects of a down winter wound up putting Missoula's volume of sales at another decline compared to the years … (1 comments)

missoula: Sharing my numbers from last night's news report - 02/02/12 04:21 AM
I had a nice opportunity to do a little interview with our local NBC affiliate.  The only thing I wish I would've done better was notice my tie!  It's all I see when I watch this, should've not worn it or tightened it, haha. 
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/30355875/detail.html 
 
Brint Wahlberg
REALTOR®
Windermere Real Estate
406-529-4663
 
While the Missoula Organization of Realtors (MOR) releases a much more comprehensive market report that won’t occur until the early spring.   All of the data I’m providing I retrieved from the MOR multiple listing service.
Numbers for just Missoula (does not include Lolo, Frenchtown, or Bonner … (0 comments)

missoula: A very cool montage of memorable images around Missoula - 01/18/12 01:31 PM
This video has been making the rounds on facebook and via email.  THis was put together by a local student here in town that stiched together this animation that consists of many of the familiar sights you see around town.
It's pretty cool, I thought it'd be fun to share!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDpabLDK83E
… (2 comments)

missoula: Putting it all together, Missoula's Neighborhoods - 01/10/12 08:15 AM
So now that we've done single re-caps of the segmented neighborhoods and surrounding communities of Missoula, lets put this data together in some easy to understand charts and data.
 
First off, looking at how each area did from 2010 to 2011 in terms of their median sales price.  You'll see in the chart below that we're looking at most areas still are experiencing a negative affect on their median values over the course of 2010 to 2011.  I had speculated that some areas could see a bit of median recovery in 2011 due to the exit of the overwhelming presence … (1 comments)

missoula: Missoula's neighborhood trends, Frenchtown - 01/10/12 06:58 AM
My last one!  The Frenchtown area sits about 12 to 16 miles west of Missoula heading down I-90, it's fairly spread-out but does feature a small town core that has a few commercial businesses, a grade school and high school, and even a nice little golf course.  You can find some homes on smaller lots but the majority of homes you'll find in Frenchtown are bigger homes on larger parcels of land.  For the sake of applying some sort of boundaries to this area the region in which I'm pulling data from stretches as far east as Hwy 93 North (known … (0 comments)

missoula: Missoula's neighborhood trends, East Missoula, Bonner, Turah, Clinton - 01/10/12 06:44 AM
Continuing my trends research looking at 2010 and 2011 I did want to see what was happening in areas around Missoula as well.  While this is really 4 communities it's mashed into just 2 MLS "regions" and easier to combine than to break apart.  East Missoula is a small extension of our city, it's located on the other end of the Hellgate Canyon and features a mix of older and newer housing.  Bonner was built up around the now closed down lumber mill that has a small cluster of older company housing built up against the hillside, there's also a small … (0 comments)