moving to Butte from AK! (Bozeman, Dillon: best neighborhood, apartments, rentals)

[skoebens]

Hi friends,
My family will be relocating to MT at the end of March and I am looking for some honest information and suggestions regarding housing and jobs. I will be working at the hospital as a RN and my fiancé is looking for PT work prior to attending MT Tech for Mining Engineering (non traditional aged student). I grew up in Northern MN and graduated from Montana State in 2003, so I am familiar with cold. So here are my questions:
1. Is Butte really colder than most cities around it? What are the average winter and summer temps? Snowfall?
2. Who are the local tv/Internet carriers?
3. Best neighborhood to buy a house (less than $400,000)?
4. My fiancé is an avid hunter here in a Alaska and feels his opportunities for hunting will be limited by lotteries and private land...so how is the hunting scene around Butte?
5. Any outdoor clubs? Hiking/running? Mom and kiddo groups?
6. Best realtor?
7. Any leads on apartments (we need temporary housing lined up soon)?
8. Good daycare centers (please name)?

Thank you for any input you can offer, we appreciate it!

[ElkHunter]

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry, I know nothing about Butte, however if you look at the sticky thread on the Montana page called "Winter Weather Alerts", in the first post is a link for climate averages. if you open that link you can look up any town and be able to see the Highs, Lows, Precipitation etc.... over a long period of time. So you will be able to see exactly what has been recorded in Butte.

Good luck, I look forward to learning a little something more about Butte.

[MTSilvertip]

Welcome to the Montana Board skoebens!

I don't live in Butte either, but I have spent some time there. While I can't answer all of your questions, I will answer the ones I can.

1. Is Butte really colder than most cities around it? What are the average winter and summer temps? Snowfall?

The information Elkhunter listed will show you the averages for snow and Temperatures, I don't know that they get more snow than say Bozeman which gets dumped on pretty regularly, but they do get snow and cold.
I know it can be a miserable drive across Elk Park when it is storming

3. Best neighborhood to buy a house (less than $400,000)?

In Butte you will be able to go just about anywhere you want in any neighborhood for $400,000.00. That's pretty high end for much of that area.

4. My fiancé is an avid hunter here in a Alaska and feels his opportunities for hunting will be limited by lotteries and private land...so how is the hunting scene around Butte?

Montana has more huntable species of animals than Alaska, and most tags are over the counter. Drawings are for species like Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat, Moose, Buffalo and Pronghorn Antelope.

Over the counter you can get tags for 2 species of deer, Elk, Black Bear, Cougar, Wolf, Wild Turkey, (depending on area), and while we have a lot of Silvertip Grizzly, we aren't allowed to hunt them at this time.

Yes, a lot of land is private, but nearly 1/3 of Montana is federal in one way or the other, then there are the state lands, and best of all, block management where the FWP pays landowners a small fee to allow hunters on private lands.

Lots of good hunting opportunities around Butte on Forest ground and private.

I have never lived in Butte, so the housekeeping questions like best cable internet carrier, best daycare, best realtor I can't answer.

Butte is a nice little town, pretty high altitude, with a lot of attitude, but great spirit and lots of events all the time.

I think you will enjoy it.

Good Luck!

[notoriouskelly]

Butte is a fun town and great central spot for exploring other areas.

My only hunting is gold & treasure and Dillon is a favorite, plus there is tons of forest land not far to explore and I'm sure much hunting.

Montana is a good lateral move from Alaska - same politics, friendly & hard-working people who love America and all it offers.

The North side of town has some steeper hills to be aware of house-searching wise. Check the Google maps street view to look around an address and have an idea how it'll be in winter.

The weather isn't any more severe but here's an idea what May 22, 2010 looked like as doggy and I camped in Denny's parking lot:



I guess 5" snow fell in 3 hours - just looked it up HAMweather Severe Weather Center - Storm Reports for Sat May 22, 2010 - Northwest View

You will love Montana!

[historyfan]

MTStandard.com - Butte, Montana

This is the Butte newspaper. If you look in the archives you will see that there was recently a big multi million dollar fine involving doctors and the hospital...a graft & corruption issue.

Butte is what it is. It is a superfund site and old company town that has fallen on hard times. The folks of Butte are very clan-ish. They stick together so there might be occasion when if you are not from Butte you will automatically be excluded from consideration...for a job, promotion etc. That said, it is possible that the medical community is a separate functioning area untouched by this.

The Catholic private schools are very good. Montana Tech is internationally known. Hunting & fishing is available within an hour's travel in most directions.

Prior to purchasing a home be certain to have radon testing done in house inspection as a contingency to close.

Good luck.

[skoebens]

Thank you to everyone who replied! I really appreciate your responses! Cheers

[skoebens]

And thank you historyfan for the informative link.

[LJKGuide]

Butte is cold, but you already know that! It was -35 last week.

I have lived here for 3 years.

Bresnan, Charter, RF Wave are some of the local internet carriers.

We have KXLF, KTVM, for TV stations. ABC, NBC, FOX, CW, and PBS are available w/o Dish/satellite connection.

I live in the Hillcrest neighborhood. Hillcrest is an Elementary School. I don't have kids, but I like this neighborhood/area. Houses range from 70,000 to 150,0000.

Rentals can be hard to find. Many do not accept pets. Some charge way too much for the property - Silverbow and Dryden.

I organized a hiking group. [Mod cut]

Feel free to reply.

[AirborneVespa]

I am assuming you have moved already since this is an old thread, but for future searchers:

I moved to Butte from San Diego 2 years ago. I spent 30 years on the East Coast.

Montana winters, especially in Butte, are nothing like an East Coast winter. There were more than a handful of days I'd be outside, in the sunshine, in 20 degree weather doing yard work in only a t-shirt and jeans in Butte. If it was 35 and sunny I could go without a shirt and get a sunburn (the shade would be cold of course, as would night).

68 degrees in Butte is hot. Very hot (again, at least if the sun is out). 90 degrees you can feel your skin cooking.

It will get to the -30s but only briefly. Even then it isn't nearly as bone chilling cold as 40 degrees on the east coast.

There is not a lot of snowfall, maybe 3-4 good events (4" plus) per year, and it often melts same day when the sun comes out.

If you buy a house get one that faces south - half the time in winter it can be below freezing and I'll set the heat at 65 degrees and the sun will warm the inside to over 70.