A "sign of the times"............... (Conrad, Ravalli: sales, 2009)

[Montana Griz]

Clerk and Recorder of Ravalli County has just released the following Foreclosure Information:

Between October 2005 and October there were 75 Foreclosure Sales.
Based on the numbers so far this year....it is estimated that over 400 such sales will be tallied for all of 2009.

From October 2008 to October 2009....there were 339 such sales.

In the opinion of some, the demise of the Log Home Industry in the Bitterroot Valley (loss of many, many jobs) is a significant factor contributing to these numbers. Sad situation.

[rickers]

Boom and bust cycles, it's the way of the world I guess. This recession has prompted lots of sad "Grapes Of Wrath" like tales all over the other state forums. There are so many folks unemployed that are trying to move here because the so called unemployment rate is lower here but they don't realize that the low figure is deceiving. You can't lose jobs you never had and the figures are based on new unemployment application filings. It gives the impression that there are more jobs here in Montana than there are.

[Analysis]

That's sad, but in comparison to other states, MT economy is very strong and stable. I know the builders around here are the ones who are in the biggest trouble, not to be mean but many of them overleveraged and thought stupidly the boom would last forever so it's kind of their own foolish fault.

[rickers]

There have been some decent paying jobs in my area (Conrad) lately because of the construction of some new windmill generators and a big fiber optic communications cable being installed. Those jobs will soon go bye bye for the winter and we'll be back to the normal struggle to survive that goes along with an economy that is not based on constant growth. We had another good grain harvest year again so the folks in the golden triangle will just "keep on keepin on" ! Maybe more windmills will be built next year but it seemed like the company building them now is from out of state and they brought their own workers with them.