Moving to Montana and looking for some tips (Missoula, Kalispell: real estate, crime)

[mrmcfly]

Hello All,

I am planning on moving my family to Montana this coming year, and I was looking for any tips or advice on the best areas for my below criteria:

I am looking for a friendly location. Family oriented people. Supportive communities. Snow is OK. 2nd Amendment Rights. Anti-drug neighborhoods.

Does this help?

-- Snow is OK

-- Mountain area prefered

-- Wide open land OK

-- Don't need a job

-- Highspeed Internet

-- Safe re crime and drugs ( I hear meth is a big problem out there as it is in Oregon )

-- More conservative area if possible

-- Nearby food shopping within 5-10 miles or so

-- Near fishing rivers and streams ( 50-100 miles or so is OK flyfishing )

-- Price range 200-300k house ( and some land as we have a horse as well )

I know the above is very general, but I was just looking for a starting point, so I can continue researching well.

I appreciate any feedback

From Oregon

[mrmcfly]

I wanted to ad, I have been reading a lot of earlier posts, and have understood - and ad anything to this please, but eastern Montana is more affordable, and more Western.

I am looking for a friendly location. Family oriented people. Supportive communities. Snow is OK. 2nd Amendment Rights. Anti-drug neighborhoods.

Does this help?

[mrmcfly]

I heard Montana is as liberal as San Francisco? Is this true?

[mrmcfly]

I would like to be in a city where it's legal to defend yourself. Is Montana a place that offers this any longer?

[rickers]

It's legal to defend yourself every where, in the courts or on the streets.
Whoever told you that Montana was as liberal as San Francisco was feeding you a line of doodoo ! Nobody walks around packing heat openly here but I would guess that half of the people here either keeps a gun in the house or rig. Eastern Montana is more affordable than the west side but many folks don't last long there for a variety of reasons. I say this all the time, VISIT FIRST IN SUMMER AND WINTER !
I think that the meth problem in Oregon is much worse than in Montana.
Just remember that university degrees are pretty much worthless in the really nice small towns of Montana and a newcomer is not going to bag a nice town job over the locals , so not needing a job is a plus. Missoula has a few ok restaurants and shopping but Missoula is also the "liberal" center of this state. I think you might like Kalispell.

[jimj]

You'd be amazed at how many around Kalispell carry, and getting a concealed permit isn't that hard. I have to admit seeing guns with silencers (legal) on them was a shock (a friend has one) but real fun to shoot. Same with seeing tracer bullets and tear gas canisters and shooters being sold kind of give you an idea of what people think of the second amendment here, not to mention that in a recent survey there was an average of I believe 7 guns per person here. As for drugs, they're around but not really out of control like in other states and unless you look for them you won't notice. I think you'll have a better time and be closer to what you're looking for around Kalispell. Do a search on nmar.com which is our MLS for what you want and see what comes up.

[mrmcfly]

Hello Rickers & Jimj,

I appreciate the notes. Agree with visiting 1st. I have lived a large part of my life in the eastern snow belt, so I am pretty familiar with being stuck at home and preparations for winter etc.. However, I do think it gets much colder in parts of Montana.

Just as an onlooker, Montana always seemed to be pretty Western - namely the open lands, and it takes strong folk to endure those winters.

I was being a bit sarcastic about the "ability to defend", but these days it really does seem outlawed in some states. You can't even tell someone to get off your property without some kind of federal punishment - it's "discrimination" of some sort.

I just appreciate a place where property rights are respected, and what's owned IS owned, and knowone has the right to use or take it without permission - maybe I am dreaming

Anyhow, I am seriously considering Montana as I think it's a safer place, and it seems the general attitude is friendly and respectful.

I am speaking with a friend who just recently moved there with his wife (she raises horses), and he's going to fill me in on some more details about where he is at.

I will definitely have a look at Kalispell real estate to get a gauge on the prices, locations, property types etc..

I am open to any more feedback, ideas, or suggestions.

It took a while to get a response, so I thought my asking for a more "conservative" area was not going over well.

I certainly had some bad data about Montana being more liberal than San Fran!

From Oregon

[jimj]

Well, just as an aside, take a look at the dailyinterlake.com site and look at the police log. We had someone who came out of their house, saw someone doing brodies on their lawn and when the person in the car saw him she headed towards him. As the story went "he whipped out his gun and shot at the car hitting the tires". She was arrested and sent for mental eval, he (the shooter) just went back inside.
As for liberal, well Missoula is probably the most liberal but I think that's due to the college mostly.
Kalispell and surrounding areas are fairly conservative, though there are a couple of left wing nuts that write in the letter to editor pages regularly and it's always the same people so you can tell it's limited. Mostly it's a "mind your own business, and we'll mind ours" area.
There was a liberal teacher at the middle school here not long ago, constantly spouting anti gun,hunting,logging nonsense to the kids. Needless to say he's not teaching at that school any longer so that should give you some idea how things are going.....

[rambrush]

There is so many great places to land in Montana.

South of Anaconda on down to along the Big Hole river- Wise River. Over towards Georgetown Lake.

But again you have to get off the computer and come visit and explore each area to get a true feel for what you are seeking.

[michael11747]

mrmcfly, for the price range you seek, you will be looking at areas like three forks, whitehall, white sulphur springs, columbus, wilsall, harrison, pony, and MAYBE mccalister. they satisfy your requirements, but the areas are remote. you would be looking at 5 acres or less, with a 1-3 bed, 1 bath home, that might be a pre-manf. or trailer, on a permanent foundation (for loan purposes). but man these areas are all beautiful. pony is my favorite out of the entire list, with harrison a close second. these towns are all in south central, and eastern western (does that even make sense at all?) montana. i know there are other areas further west in the mountains for this price, but you can't be picky about your home. you can get a nice lot with a crappy house you can fix for that price. sometimes you can even find a nice home on a lot like that. good luck! mike. oh and every town under 5000 people should be automatically considered conservative around here unless you heard different.