country living close to town (Missoula, Bozeman: for sale, how much, big home)

[hockeygirl773]

Hi, my hubby and I are looking to move from Tennessee to Montana within the year. We will have to be close to Missoula or Bozeman since he works for Firestone and will be transferring. I want some feed back on open country feeling towns near these 2 bigger cities. I am looking for somewhere that we can have a few acres and be near foothills of mountains. We have no children so schools are not a concern. Looking for places within 30 mins or less of Missoula or Bozeman. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[happiness is]

Everywhere around Bozeman looks open, even if you are living in town.
Consider the fact that people who are buying a "few acres" are actually destroying the open landscape. We have a protective feeling toward open spaces here and hope to curtail their destruction caused by sprawl. You can live in town and walk the trails right to the foothills from town. I suggest you consider exploring the town and area when you get here and see how much better it is for nature and land-use to buy a residence in town and then enjoy all the open space in the mountains and valley.

Photo of the MSU campus and Bozeman
http://www.math.montana.edu/~nmp/mat...s/msu-view.gif

Bozeman trail system
Bozeman Montana Hiking Trails & Bike Paths - AllBozeman.com

To preserve open spaces, it is best to buy a home in town. If you don't, at least
educate yourself on the sustainability issues of rural land.
Welcome to the West Guide | Western Sustainability Exchange

H.I.
Bozeman

[Geo Roam]

established acreages are right in the foothills of the Bridgers and Gallatins and still very close to the benefits of town. No need to build, there are plenty. Agree with HI and the rampant expansion seems to have halted with the recession. It shows that there is excess capacity and no need to pen up new areas.

We decided to live in city limits as opposed to our past 4 homes on acreages and in the country. For what we are doing the next 3-5 years it is the best mix. It takes us 10 minutes to get to Hyalite canyon and less to get in the Bridgers. So many options.

[happiness is]

Forgot to say,
Welcome To Montana, hockeygirl.

Whether you land in Missoula or Bozeman, what I wrote earlier applies to Missoula as well. It is important to understand that we have rural areas here that we want to preserve from being subdivided into residential parcels. We've already lost a lot of agricultural and habitat land. When people move out of town limits, they disrupt wildlife habitat, pave over ag land, add a burden to road maintenance and snow removal, fire and law enforcement services, school bus routes, postal delivery... it impacts more than some people consider. The towns and cities in Montana are so small and so spread out, you really are "in the country" very quickly, even when you are in town.

Hope that helps.

H.I.

[bongo403]

While I share the concerns about chopping up the landscape, the way I read the original post is that you're looking for an established place that has that feel - not that you were necessarily planning to chop a few acres out of a currently open landscape and build a house. Speaking for Missoula, there are a number of existing smaller towns that fit that criteria. If you're looking for foothills, you may want to go east or west of Missoula - Clinton, Frenchtown, or Alberton. The commute is easy (all interstate) and the mountains are close. You could probably find a number of existing properties for sale in these areas that might interest you.

South of Missoula is Lolo, then Florence and Stevensville. Lolo is really just a busy Missoula suburb and doesn't have the open country feel in my opinion. Florence and Stevensville definitely have lots of open country, although the valley is wider and the mountains are bigger. The commute is also a little more difficult, as there is a lot of traffic and only one road to Missoula so if there is anything that holds up traffic (like a wreck) you're stuck for awhile.

I'm not as familiar with the specifics of the Bozeman area, but you'll find plenty of opportunities there to be in the open country in the smaller towns a short distance away from there as well.

[Wisedupmom]

If you don't mind a bit of a commute, I lived out there in Stevensville for awhile, and while it was closer to Missoula, I thought Hamilton was just beautiful.

[hockeygirl773]

Thank you for the information. I'm not into chopping up the open country. Actually, I am going to law school in order to help preserve the open country and wildlife. Environmental and wildlife law is one of my concentrations in school. Enough about that. I don't like the big city and prefer the country. An established acreage is perfect. I hope to one day raise horses on my land. So thanks for your opinions and hope to hear more suggestions from others.

[NDak15]

If you want to live within 30 minutes of Bozeman I would recommend looking in the Four Corners area. You are close enough to town but enjoy the feeling of living in the country. Keep in mind that you will pay for living in foothills and it will not be cheap. Towns that are close to Bozeman include Belgrade (which has pretty much been engulfed by Bozeman), Manhatten, Three Forks, and Livingston. Those are within the 30 minute mark but in more open areas (except Livingston). If you live near Missoula stay off of the Flathead Reservation.

[magoomafoo]

Originally Posted by hockeygirl773

Thank you for the information. I'm not into chopping up the open country. Actually, I am going to law school in order to help preserve the open country and wildlife. Environmental and wildlife law is one of my concentrations in school. Enough about that. I don't like the big city and prefer the country. An established acreage is perfect. I hope to one day raise horses on my land. So thanks for your opinions and hope to hear more suggestions from others.

If your goal is to come and raise horses on a "few" acres, you might want to consider a ranch with a more ideal amount of acerage. Far too many out of staters move here thinking they can raise horses on land with 10 acres or less. That's called hobby ranching/farming here and is very much frowned upon. Even with winter pasturing, 10 acres or less is not enough to sustain more than one, maybe two horses as they eat the vegetation down to the dirt thus destroying the land. There are far too many "ranchettes", (big homes with bigger horse barns empty with jacked up prices too high for locals) that have been left by out of staters that had high hopes for the Big Sky wide open spaces dream.

[happiness is]

Originally Posted by hockeygirl773

...I don't like the big city and prefer the country. .

There are no big cities in Montana. Have you visited Montana before?
Bozeman has a population of about 37,000.

Denver is one of the closest big cities, and you have to drive across Wyoming and Colorado to get there, or
Salt Lake City, but you have to drive through Idaho and Utah to get there.

Montana is extremely different than where you live now in terms of population density.