Bozeman real estate market? (for sale, rent, condos)

[emmank]

I live and rent in Bozeman, but I can find very little information about what the real estate market is doing in the last 6 months or so. It's been overpriced since I moved here (in '02) but I find it hard to believe these prices can hold so steady with everything that is going on in the broader US economy. Doesn't Bozeman pretty much rely on out-of-staters bringing in money since the job market here is so limited? I drove down Baxter going westward today, and I was absolutely astonished at all the new construction and for sale signs in front of crappy condos. Are people actually buying this stuff? The only information I can find is from Bozeman realtors who seem to be sugarcoating the facts, saying it's a "buyers market." Does anyone have any insight? This isn't meant to be a "Bozeman sucks" thread, I love the area despite its flaws and want to raise my family here. I'm just interested in others' opinions and knowledge of what's going on in the Bozeman RE market, since there seems to be a void in cyberspace when it comes to discussion or actual facts about it. Thanks!

[Radek]

Talk to Real Estate agents, and have them give you closing information on the prices of houses in the area. You'll find that it dropped slightly. But not a whole lot.

[rangerider]

From being in the construction business, I can tell you that there has been a fairly drastic reduction in new foundations being poured this last few months. A friend of mine recently bought a house for about 35% less than the asking price; he had sold a couple small lots and had cash/loan in hand. I don't think this is entirely uncommon at this point, and I know for a fact that some of the loan companies have been writing loans for less than what the bank wants just to get rid of the properties.

Radek's right, though, I follow the real estate market here and I don't see much of a drop in the listed prices at this point. I think it may be that a lot of agents and sellers are waiting for this entire mess to blow over and see if they can't get what they want out of the properties. I betcha, though, this winter you may be able to swing a pretty fair deal on certain places if you have the resources to do it.

I've heard a couple realtors say they aren't being hurt a bit, but I have to take that with a grain of salt. The only way that could be true is if they were totally selling to interests outside the area. And even then....

And OP, you are right about the grade of construction; there is some nice stuff being built, but a lot of the condo/townhouse construction, and to an extent new house construction, is built on the premise of making it look attractive, but the guts of the place are about as cheap as you can make it. Roofs and all. I'll take my old house built in the 70s over most anything today.