Info. On land and honest home builder (Helena, Montana City: for sale, broker)

[steve104c]

It's been a while. Still planning to relocate (retire) in Montana. Need some info. What is a good price on 20 ac. piece of land, near Helena? Within 10-15 miles of Helena is prefered. Who is a good, honest house builder? We are thinking of a timber frame, but aren't definitely set on that. Might be too expensive. Maybe I'm asking for too much info? But if someone or several people can give me this info. I would be very appreciative........Steve.

[flyingcat2k]

20 acres in or around Helena can cost a pittance or an arm and a leg depending on what you want. As you are in/near Houston, you're likely accustomed to having reliable electricity and septic systems. That puts you in the arm and a leg category unless you want to live in East Helena near the old lead smelter.

Also, as you want the fancy timber frame home (not the normal housing stock in Montana), you're looking at 350k for the home to start. Given that you want 20 acres and assuming you don't want to live in East Helena, you are looking at least 20 miles to Helena for medical/shopping ect. each way with nothing in between and possibly not well maintained roads.

Some advice. You're looking for some idealic "rural" spot that doesn't exist. If you are trying to do something on the cheap, you won't be happy with it. Montana can generate some deals but it is a place where you get what you pay for. If you've never lived here, I'd recommend coming up in the winter and driving on the snow covered streets with the legislature in session for a week to see if you truly like it. I personally know of a rich stockbroker who wanted "rural", dumped 1.5 MM in his place, stayed 1 year and ran away to Seattle because he couldn't handle driving 70 miles to see his doctor or 50 miles for a gallon of milk. He can't get the money out (no private air strip and too high for a helicopter) as nobody will buy at that price but his timber frame home sure does look nice in photos.

[MTSilvertip]

Steve104c,

Land around Helena is not cheap by any means, but right now you can find some deals.

You need to be specific in what you are looking for as you can find bare ground in the valley, no trees, no surface water, power close but not to the parcel for around 2k an acre up.

Timbered land with a stream can get really high.

My best advice right now is look for a seller that has already done the work of installing a septic system, drilled the well, brought in power and built a house, and is trying to get out from under it.

There are short sales going on right now especially on spec houses they need to sell or loose.

The amount of land they sit on could vary from 1/2 acre to 40, just have to look.

As to builders, there are several reputable builders here, and some not so reputable, but there are a lot of contractors around here so a list would be long for both.

Check out some of the outlying areas if you are retired and don't have to go to a job every day. Boulder, Townsend, Winston, Montana City, Clancy, Jefferson City are all within 30 miles of Helena, and have cheaper taxes than Lewis and Clark County.

If you have specific requirements, or a specific area you are interested in, I may be able to help.
I would reccomend you look at some of the realtor listings online to see what is out there.

Good Luck

[PatriotSearcher]

Steve - We live outside of Townsend, on the east side of Canyon Ferry Lake. It takes us approx. 40-45 minutes to get to Helena. There are acreage parcels for sale in this area. I've found that a great website to check out land in specific areas is landwatch.com. You can search by state, county or city and be specific about how many acres and what price you'd like to search for. We were finally able to have our house built in 2009 and had an excellent builder - his subs were great too. Not sure if we're allowed to give specific contractor names or if that would be considered advertising, so you can send me a personal email. We highly recommend him. We used log siding on our house and have some timber accents in and outside.

When you are checking out land, be sure to check info about wells in the area. We were surpised at the depth and price! Another thing to think about is the cost to bring power in from the road to the location of your house on the parcel.

Good luck Steve!

[steve104c]

Thanks for all the info. I will take all of this info. to help me make decisions on where to build our retirement home. I look forward to being one your neighbors..........Steve.