Scouting out Montana (driving) (Billings, Great Falls: real estate, renting, house prices)

[jeeg]

We are looking for a place to finally put down roots. My wife has family that has lived in the Kalispell/Whitefish area for decades and we've visited that area a few years ago (flew in). While it is beautiful, we could never afford to live there and the family reports that it is growing like crazy.
We are looking for a quieter place in which to settle. We live simply and frugally. Most all of our spare time is spent outdoors (hiking, camping, fishing, kayaking, etc. etc.). We could care less about malls and restaraunts (hate shopping and love our own cooking, cheaper too). All we need for shopping is a well stocked grocery store within a reasonable drive for our twice monthly trips.
We do need a job (one stays home with the kids) but it can be most anything (have several years in the cable industry). We would like to be within an hour or two of the mountains but will take what we can afford (which isn't much). Our last home we owned was a 900sq ft with 3 small bedrooms and we were perfectly happy with that. We would really like to find a community of friendly self-reliant people to live amongst. We have a 3yr old and a 10 month old and we're strongly considering homeschooling. I think that is all of the relevant info on us! LOL

We are driving out to Colorado to visit other family members the end of September. On our way back we're going to swing through MT to check out the areas that seem to fit our criteria according to what I've read on here.
We'll be coming in on I90. Figuring we'll drive through Billings over to Butte, up through Helena to Great Falls. From there we'll head north (not sure if we should stay on I15 and get off at Shelby or take 87 over to Havre) until we can get on highway 2 and head east to home (we currently live just north of highway 2 in Michigans U.P.).
Can anyone recommend any must see towns to check out along the way? This will probably be our last visit until we move next year. Thank you in advance!

[Rickers]

If you don't need to be real close to large lakes or rivers then you may want to check out Lewistown.

[jeeg]

Thank you rickers. Will investigate Lewistown more.
Anyone else have more suggestions?

My wife really wants the whitefish/kalispell area (where her family is) but wowsers the real estate is high there!
Her family suggested the Helena area but could not offer any info on the small towns within driving distance.

We are not afraid of snow & cold (actually we enjoy it). Here in our area of the U.P. the average annual snowfall is 189 inches a year.

[oregonready4change]

Originally Posted by jeeg

Thank you rickers. Will investigate Lewistown more.
Anyone else have more suggestions?

My wife really wants the whitefish/kalispell area (where her family is) but wowsers the real estate is high there!
Her family suggested the Helena area but could not offer any info on the small towns within driving distance.

We are not afraid of snow & cold (actually we enjoy it). Here in our area of the U.P. the average annual snowfall is 189 inches a year.

You might want to think about Townsend. Nice small town about 25 miles out of Helena.

[NoRoots4Me]

Columbus is a small town off of I-90 40 miles West of Billings. It's far enough away from Billings to be peaceful and secluded, and yet not too far away to do your occasional shopping trips. It's a 30-minute drive to the beautiful Beartooth Mountain Range and it's only a 2-hr. drive to Yellowstone National Park. It is located in Stillwater County and the Yellowstone River runs through the town. We lived in Kalispell for 9 years, but we invested in property in Columbus because it is more affordable and we like the location better. We love Glacier National Park, but we love Yellowstone National Park even more. Columbus is also considered to be in a "banana belt" so the winters aren't as harsh or as long as in Northwest MT. The people are friendly and neighborly, and it just has that true Montana feel about it!

[jimj]

Originally Posted by jeeg

Thank you rickers. Will investigate Lewistown more.
Anyone else have more suggestions?

My wife really wants the whitefish/kalispell area (where her family is) but wowsers the real estate is high there!
Her family suggested the Helena area but could not offer any info on the small towns within driving distance.

We are not afraid of snow & cold (actually we enjoy it). Here in our area of the U.P. the average annual snowfall is 189 inches a year.

I understand your concern about house prices in the Flathead but there are several areas that may fit your needs that are less expensive than Whitefish. Take a look on any real estate web site and do a search of all areas in the Flathead. You might find something in Columbia Falls or in the county around Kalispell or Whitefish. The county area encomapasses a whole lot of houses. It all depends on what type of house you need, I've seen everything from
3bd starting at 125k and up. Maybe renting in the area until you find what you want?

[jeeg]

Thanks ya'll! This is the kind of information I'm looking for. We're not going to have a whole lot of time while driving through so if I can narrow it down to 6 - 7 strong contenders to investigate while we're there and just keep our eyes peeled as we drive through the rest of them............. it'll have to suffice!

So far the recommendations we have from here are:
Lewistown
Flathead valley
Columbus
Townsend

[thepizzaguy]

How about Butte, the other mountain town or Helena?

If I was moving to Montana, I would want to be as close to Yellowstone as possible. But that's just me.

[jcbmontana]

Columbia Falls, it's seven miles from Whitefish and much cheaper. Granted, it's not as nice, but they are making improvements.

[mark6052]

the closer you get to yellowstone the more expensive it gets bozeman, livingston, ouch.