Looks like I found a good place to ask relocation questions (Billings: housing, rent)

[MAINEr]

I has been my dream to move to a secluded spot in the Montana woods for over 10 years. I know you have your share of out of staters moving in and raising the costs of everything and leaving nothing but I do not want to be one of them. I live in Maine which is very similar to Montana, and instead of people from Cali, Oregon etc we have people from mass, Conn. and New York buying up every nice piece of land that was once affordable and building $$$$$ homes here to visit once or twice a year . I want to have wildlife in my backyard and neighbors that aren't sitting right next door, I want a tight community who cares for one another and their town.

Sure I can find a hole in the wall in Maine but I want to live among the beauty that Montana still has. Living here I know of hard work and crappy wages. I spend every cent to survive and I Know that I will not get rich living in Montana and that is not my goal.

I am considering the Butte area for work and living ouside the limits. What can you tell me about the area as far as housing costs, job opportunities etc. My husband cooks and I am in Insurance. I also have a fondness for Roundup, Miles City and Circle. I guess I can just picture saying that I am from Circle, Mt.

It will be another couple years before we get there, by then we will have good equity in our house to sell with a good chunk to start out with. I hope to be buy some land while still in Maine so that I will have a place to go when I get there. I don't want to live in a "golf subdivision/ranch" or "ski in/ski out" for 800k (like I see in Montana mag) I want a small piece of nice land to have a garden and a few animals, a nice cabin with a woodstove and no electric. A place where I can't hear cars and see in my neighbors bathroom. A nice view and new friends.

Any help would be appreciated. Right now I am trying to narrow down my locations so next year we can fly out and visit.

Thanks so much,

[SouthernStar]

HI!

Hopefully ladyflyfish or rambrush will be on soon, they are both very familiar with that area. I feel exactly the same way as you, and have very similar goals. We don't live there yet, but have been heavily researcing the area. Butte has very affordable homes, but I think to have suitable land for what you (and I as well) want, you'll have to go 1/2 an hour or so out of town. There is still affordable land (not as affordable as Maine, though), but you will most likely have to clear a homesite, dig a well, and build a home. I have not seen any small homes on acreage like that. But like I said, one of the other posters will be on soon and will be able to help you more.

I hear ya on the mcmansions on acreage...they're for sale because the owner probably lived in them once or twice and tired of it and moved back to where they came from.

For really good info, see the young family homesteading thread I started a few weeks ago. Much of the info you want can be found in there.

[MAINEr]

Thanks, I have been reading many of the threads onthe area and currently work 30ish miles from where I live so don't have a problem commuting. I am saving (slowly) now to come out and visit next year sometime. I can't sell my house till june 2009 (which seems so far away) but if I wait that long and sell I will have a real good "egg" to start in MT with. I hope to buy land after I visit and pay on that while i am still here.

I have requested relocation info from several places and am now waiting to receive it.

[ladyflyfsh]

MAINEr,

Most of your questions have been answered in the thread called questions on Butte so read that first. As far as Roundup, Circle, Miles City, I'm sorry, I can't help you as I have no idea about those areas. Some I've only driven through and some I've never even been to. I have no idea what jobs might be like in those areas. My best suggestion to you is to find out what newspapers are in those areas and see if they offer online versions so you can check the classified ads for jobs. That goes for Butte as well. Check out The Montana Standard in Butte for their online ads.

Good luck to you!

[rambrush]

I have not been over on that side of the state in years. I recall that Billings? on east was mostly rolling hills and farm fields.
As stated previously there is a ton or 2 of info in the Buttte posts.
You can check for chamber of commerce in those areas for a relocation packet as well.

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by MAINEr

I has been my dream to move to a secluded spot in the Montana woods for over 10 years... I live in Maine which is very similar to Montana...
I am considering the Butte area for work and living ouside the limits... I also have a fondness for Roundup, Miles City and Circle.
I want a small piece of nice land to have a garden and a few animals, a nice cabin with a woodstove and no electric.

If you want a cabin in the woods, in a Montana that looks like Maine, you're more likely to find it in western third of Montana, not the east. The east is simply too hot and dry in the summer to grow trees; it is open prairie.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around the vision, "cabin in the woods", and the towns you mention, which are in dry open prairie with rolling hills. I just can't quite do it. I'm not grasping the connection between your vision and the reality.

Yes, there are mountains around Butte, but to get up high enough to actually get into the trees, the terrain is darned steep and it's national forest which you can't buy anyway. The valleys, where you can buy land, are dry, open grassland.

There are some small hills south of Roundup, but the valleys in them are open grassland. Miles City and Circle, well, they also look a lot more like North Dakota than Maine, that's for sure. No trees, except a few poplar along the river. You'd have to drive many many miles just to cut wood for that woodstove!

p.s. Just a minor thought question: Your wish of "no electric" is OK, and you can do this, but just hope you realise that for a garden and animals, you need a well. And a pump. So you're going to be running a generator a few hours a week, even if you don't want things like internet and TV and so on.

[MAINEr]

Actually,I lived here in Maine with no electric and had water. We actually hauled water from my mothers house in the city for drinking and cooking and had a hand pump for the animals water, dishes etc. Also if necessary we used a hand dug well that was on the property, yah know throw the bucket in the hole and pull it up hoping not to fall in and have some water in the bucket when it got to the top. And while not steep terrain, my other cabin had a road that was about 1/2 mile or so in and in spring the car was left at the end of the road and I walked in.

And the tv, you can find a nice color one that runs off 12 volt. I am not trying to be snotty here and if it comes off that way I apoligize but that's why I posted here to get insite from the people who live there on what it's like. I won't be able to get there myself for about a year. The towns I mentioned are ones I found while looking online. like you said it is a vision, I know that reality and vison are NEVER alike, if I end up in a mobile home in the middle of town or a cabin in the middle of a prarie, so be it. If I have to travel by snowmobile,atv, or horse to get to work, I don't have a problem with that, I keep saying that horses must be cheaper then a veh, gas, ins etc. Driving in the snow sucks anyway.

I want to move from Maine to get into a different enviroment. I am not looking to find Maine in MT. I can buy my cabin in the woods right in the town I live in now.

Maybe when I move there, you can some see my cabin

I'll post pics when I get home of my other cabin. Really, I don't want much.If I get rich between now and then, maybe i can buy one of the $500,000 plus ranches. I am not looking for paradise.

Thanks RodFarlee for your response, like I said I need more insight on the area. And since I loved South Dakota, I might like the Eastern part of the state. I really don't want to move to Alaska, that's where hubby wants to go.

[MAINEr]

Here is the cabin in Maine I had about 10 years ago. As you can see I am looking for simple. This was @16x16, no insulation, just logs on top of each other. Where might I find an area like this there? I would like a better view though.

[mark6052]

maybe somebody could start a thread on the benefits of living off grid. no corporate power, water from a dug well & bucket, etc. a horse is cheaper than a car? I sold mine (horse)and own a new polaris atv, it spins cool brodes in the snow! i had friends that lived in a small cabin in dixie ID, no modern convienences, they died from living in those harsh conditions.

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by MAINEr

Where might I find an area like this there?

It's in the woods, which cover most of the western third of Montana (still, that's an area 1-1/2 times the size of Maine).

Regarding gardening, please realize that rainfall in the west is much more seasonal than it is in Maine. It's common to go for a month or more with no rainfall whatsoever, and through an entire growing season with 1/2 inch or less. So gardening is entirely dependent on irrigation. And because of the terrain, wells are often deep out here. My dad grew up out on the prairie, and was darned fortunate to have a shallow well, but even to this day my aunts and uncles talk about trying to keep a kitchen garden going from a hand well. Seven of them each hauled buckets in shifts of 3 hours a day, every day. If you're proposing to do this, I truly salute you!

I mentioned the generator because, even for 12 volt TV, you need to charge a battery. Photovoltaic is problematic in Montana, because there's little sunlight in winter (it is further north than most of Maine, our winters are more overcast than yours, and snow is a problem). Even in summer, PV won't produce enough power to pump water for a garden.

Mark6053, I commend the homesteadingtoday.com forum to you. There are many others as well. You'll find both expertise and experienced people there.

I apologize if my questions put you off, MAINEr, I was just trying to understand your vision. There's no woods anyplace near Circle MT. I'm just trying to be helpful, but as you haven't expressed a preference between prairie and woods, it's difficult to suggest any specific location over another!

Or perhaps your posting is more metaphorical, and I am taking it too literally? I tend to do that! Sorry.