Helena vs Billings

[wolywig]

Hi Holly We live in Billings & we love it sometimes!!!! It is laid out great as I-90 runs along side the city & you can get any place you want in 15 to 20 minutes!!! That is great!!! The people are VERY nice & welcoming!!!! The shoppiing is great restaurants any you want!!! But you got to remember you are in the high plaines here!!! While we don't have hardly any snow we have hardly any rain either!!! If you want green grass & trees you got to water!!! The weather is wonderful NO HUMIDITY I know Georgia & there is GREAT humidity there it is great with this LOW humidity!!!!! WE live in a area on the outskirts of Billings about as far out as you can get & still have city water !!! Any farther & you got to dig a well or haul water!!! I find the places here a little pricey but it just what you can afford!!! I would encourage you to get a complimentary one time Sunday paper(we do this whenever we move) & our paper is online The Billings Gazette so you could go there & email them!!! And you can also scope out the online paper!!! Where is Georgia do you all live?? Just wondering;have relatives who live in Snellville! don't know a thing about Helena!!! Hope this helps you if you want to get in touch with a realtor here who will do you right I will give you the name of the one we worked with when we moved here about4 years ago!! He is a great guy & really up-front with you!!!

[Billingsnative]

Hello Holly,
Billings PD begins their hiring process every March and the process ends around June. They have had some pretty nasty internal patches lately, but a new Chief seems to really be helping morale. I am a cop in a small town in Wyoming and have a good friend from college who is an officer at BPD. He says that it's pretty much like any PD - 95% of the cops are very cool to work with and there is the requisite 5% that are never happy no matter what changes are brought about. If your husband can avoid the whiners I think that BPD would be a good place for him. Their website will have apps and such beginning in March. Tell him good luck!
Regarding Helena v. Billings, I grew up in Billings and still have all my family there. I LOVED it. It is big enough that there is usually something fun going on, but small enough that you know your neighbors and see your friends at the grocery store every once in awhile.
Good luck and welcome to Montana!

[wolywig]

Hi Holly I think I phrased my response wrong!!! May I correct? We love Billings & there are a few things we don't exactly like but that is true of anywhere you live!!! I would highly reccomend this city for anyone!!! It is an excently laid out city the views are wonderful the people are very nice & it is an excellent city of the West!!!!!

[GiftShoppeGuy]

Originally Posted by Holly

thank you for the information... Billings does sound very nice. Still trying to decide which city I want to live in. We are going to try to visit in Janurary.

You might also consider Great Falls possibly in your travels.
As with Billings, we have a great deal of sun throughout the year, jobs are plentiful and wages on average are higher here than even those of Billings.

We have the interstate as well as many of the big box stores that you mentioned. Land is plentiful as well... in that you can still get 20-30 acre parcels for a very reasonable price.

Our hot spots are along the mighty Missouri, Big Bend, Gannon Ranch and points south, all within 5-10 miles of downtown.... Fox Farm is also expanding (just outside of the city limits)
Of course, I wouldn't put you in touch with any realtors... Our building contractors here hold deed to most of it and will build to suit. And you won't have to pay extra fees to an agent at purchase.

Most of the contractors that build here were born here......

If you are willing to commute, however, there are parcels of land to die for south of Great Falls at Cascade (20 minute commute on the interstate)... and even a bit farther south, there is the canyon (Craig, Wolfcreek)
There are also some great parcels on the Missouri up Wilson Butte.

Water wells aren't as deep as those that might be found throughout the state, because the entire Great Falls area sits right on top of the Madison limestone aquifer (an underground river) parts of which comes out at Giant Springs State Park http://www.gonorthwest.com/Montana/n...nt_Springs.htm

All of the great outdoor activities that magazines boast about here in Montana are located w/in a stones throw of Great Falls....
We have ShowDown Ski Area http://www.showdownmontana.com/ the longest running and operational ski area in Montana.

We boast the largest and most advance medical facilities in the entire state.. they are second to none.
http://www.benefis.org/

Our law enforcement agencies aren't in the midst of any issues and are very involved with and in tune to our community.
http://www.ci.great-falls.mt.us/people_offices/police/ (broken link)

We have a ton of community related activities throughout the year.
http://greatfallscvb.visitmt.com/index.html
http://www.gonorthwest.com/Montana/n...reat_Falls.htm

We are just a bit smaller than Billings, and so far haven't been blessed with the scourge of prostitution like Billings has been over the years.
http://www.missoulian.com/specials/mt-legislature/news/news119-02.html (broken link)