Let’s be civil. The Flathead Beacon encourages vigorous discussion and lively debate, but we will delete comments that attack other readers, make accusations we can’t verify, stray too far off topic, criticize local businesses (call them if you have a problem), convict someone of a crime, use profanity or are simply judged to be in bad taste. We don’t always have someone moderating comments, so we ask for your help: If you see a comment that violates these ground rules, or you simply deem it offensive, please e-mail editor [at] flatheadbeacon.com. The views expressed in the comments section do not reflect those of the Beacon.
By blood gulch on 03-24-09
The lack of affordable housing in the flathead is “deplorable”. I do hope that builders concentrate on building homes in the 160,000 dollar range. As for my family and I, It is too late- we are already planning our move at the end of summer. We love this area, but after many years of paying too much for rent, and not being able to afford our own home, we decided to make the move. I’m sad about it because I’ve been a leader on the vol. fire dept. for many years, have met the best friends ever, and have volunteered many seasons as a youth football coach. I’m sure there are many others in the same situation. I just hope the housing situation doesn’t drive away all the good folks that make the flathead the last best place.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Tony on 03-24-09
As long as the people here do not want growth and new business, than any affordable housing is out of reach. The Gov here makes it difficult to do anything.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By real estate joe on 03-24-09
Are you kidding? Land trusts are a bad concept. I am surprised to learn that the president of the realtors association would be advocating this. The homeowner won’t gain any equaity in their home when they sell it. Which only hurts them when they want to buy their second home.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-24-09
waaawaahwaah.HEY TONY WANT SOME TISSUE WITH THAT?????cry baby
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By DarkHitler on 03-24-09
Since we’re all slaves now with the passage of the Americorps bill, just a matter of time before private property
no longer permissible and therefore the “expensive..“ article discussion is mute. Banks to be closed in July/August..martial law imposed..FEMA CAMPS filled up..I got dibs on an upper bunk. Yes we can.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Tony on 03-24-09
Hey Littlehawk….I guess you needn’t worry living in your Teepee in Whitetrash Evergreen under the bridge with the rest of the trolls.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Cowgirl Up on 03-24-09
To By Tony…being Native myself I take great exception to your reply to Littlehawk. The people living in Evergreen are NOT white trash and you have no right to impose your racist remarks on others. Just a reminder…we were here first. Where did you migrate from?
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Helena on 03-24-09
That is a horrible graphic by UM. An “index value” below the “affordability threshold” is worse than a value above the threshold?
Put down the text book and go look at graphs in USA Today.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Tony on 03-25-09
Cowgirl….born and raised in the Valley.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Can't Afford a Home on 03-25-09
“We basically have open ears and open eyes right now to see what would be best for the community,” Osweiler said.
Right now, they are looking at what is best. The past few years this would have never been muttered. Let’s face it, it was greed that took control of real estate agents setting unrealistic and artificial values on homes that every Tom, Dick or Harry “contractor” who could swing a hammer, flooded the market with. Paint it any way you want, but greed was the motivating factor. This report finally sheds light to the truth - people can’t afford homes here. Wages have not been able to keep up with this overinflated pricing. It is bad for communities, as we are now seeing an exodus of people. That is less people to support local businesses and merchants. And because of the greed, we now see so many contractors and realestate agents out of work. There was never a balance to this system, but it was their own doing.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Nancy on 03-25-09
The greed is not only the fault of the Realtor. The Realtor educates on the market value of their homes based on what has sold in the area. The market here until the past year or two, was on the rise and EVERYONE was greedy. I had a woman next door to me try to sell her house way over what it was worth and her Realtor was telling her it was not worth it and would not take the listing.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-25-09
i have always felt for people that want and buy things they cant afford…......i have always felt bad and sad for them…
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-25-09
cowgirl up.i think you whole point went right over the racist head…
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By James on 03-25-09
Thank you Flathead Beacon for writing this article. Unlike the DIL (in my opinion the worst paper ever circulated) your paper has well written articles that are important for the people of this valley to stay informed. What has happened to this valley’s economy and the housing market is truly tragic and I am sorry for all the people it has affected. But to be a newspaper like the DIL and choose not to write about the bad things that are happening in the valley’s economy just because their afraid it will effect their bottom line, is a true crime. A newspaper’s job is to keep the people of the community informed despite their own opinions or agendas. People need to stop subscribing to the DIL in protest, maybe then they will get the hint that doing ###### stories to suit their needs is not good for anyone.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By hey on 03-25-09
James if I wrote that I’d be accused of being malicious. Which I never am, just telling the truth and injecting some opinion which is what the comments are all about.
Anyway, my attorney once explained to me that the Interlake is like that because they have a political agenda. They put that certain spin on because that’s what they are paid to do. Notice they don’t correct facts that become disproven. Most notably (and what caused this explanation from an attorney) that murder case years ago in which the system was railroading the wrong guy. The true story was never made public, was it? Because it would shed horrible, ghastly light on the local legal of that time. Which has gotten much better, thankfully.
Just so you know.
I like the Interlake because it has things the Beacon doesn’t. I didn’t say I believe what’s written there any more than anything else. Sometimes you just have to take the clues, figure out the spin, and draw your own conclusion.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Get It Right on 03-25-09
So much of our local economy has been driven by this growth and development that a slow down in new home starts and existing home sales will create a turbo charged downturn. The index is an extremely telling statisic. These home values and building rates have been inflated by land and property speculators operating in much more robust economies and investing in ours. The down turn has forced them to tighten their belts and the tap is kicked. We are stuck trying to live simple lives in a land market inflated by dollars not created in the local economies. The realtors are looking for a way to save these values. They need the tradesman and laborers to struggle through and stick it out, so that someone can build homes at $60/ sq ft that they can sell to out of staters who can afford $350,000 homes to use a week or two a year. The index is an extremely telling statistic. If these realtors want to save the long term market potential of the valley they need to come to terms with a thirty or fourty percent correction in housing prices right now. Some of those out of state speculators might have to take a hit on their investments, but that is happening everywhere. $200,000 corrections on million dollar homes are the norm right now. Affordable housing, affordable labor, a remarkable living environment, and a tradition based quality of life in the flathead valley will draw in new economic engines, new industry, and a diversified economy. Timber, aluminum, tourism, healthcare, and the building trades is a very narrow foundation on which to build. Add more industry, higher education, and services and you gradually the land values will learn to grow in step with the growing average household income.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-25-09
lets see here.the main reasons of our economic deterioration.lets see illegal aliens perhaps?buying lumber from canada and china?hmm.let me think.sending our money out of the country.Duh!!
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Cowgirl up on 03-26-09
littlehawk hit the nail right square on the head!
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-27-09
thank you cowgirl up!ta know evergreen might see a boom with thi economic depression coming on
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Tony on 03-27-09
Littlehawk12, please put down your six-pack of beer before writing.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-27-09
i dont drink. you schmuck.why dont you quit judgeing people before you know them?!?>
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-27-09
but i could find a way to fill yo’ tank with someething other than gasoline.racist tony… what are we to do with you?
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Dissappointed on 03-27-09
how did race get played into this?
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Tony on 03-27-09
LH12, maybe your drinking gasoline, whatever, why don’t you and Cowgirl hook-up, perhaps between the two of you, you can come up with complete sentences…but then again I doubt it.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Dissappointed on 03-27-09
By the way littlehawk- you started the whole thing by insulting tony… And now your throwing the whole race thing around? That doesn’t sound too intelligent, and does not add any productivity to this forum.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk7x62x39 on 03-27-09
do i haft to explain everything to you re-tards?
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By litttlehawk12 on 03-27-09
wahwahwah for tony .he is the racist pig .i might live in a tent .wouldnt you like to know?maybe it is a t-p?maybe racist tony would like to know?too bad he dont!ha ha ha!HA
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By upinthemorning on 03-28-09
Blood gulch- Im sorry to hear you are leaving the valley. There are homes out there right now for around $160k. If you love it here, I’d suggest you look one more time, because the prices have gone down, interest rates have gone down and the government is giving an $8,000 tax credit to first time homebuyers right now.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By James on 03-29-09
UITM, I think your missing blood gulches point. Even a 160k home is out of reach for someone on wages of most jobs in this area. And besides, what 160k buys here (almost nothing unless you live by yourself) can buy a decent home in most other locations.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Can't Afford a Home on 03-29-09
James, good comments. $160k homes are still overpriced for what you get. Not to be rude, but most of those homes need serious rehabilitation. Who (local workers) has the money after dropping $160k on a home to pour in another $40k to get it in good shape. Yes, there are homes priced in the mid-100’s, but let’s be real, they are aren’t worth it given their current conditions. My guess is that economic factors prevent homeowners from doing maintenance and upkeep on their homes.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By blood gulch on 03-29-09
Thanks for your support guy’s- The bottom line is that my money will go a lot further in Minnesota, than here in the flathead. Of course, the downside is living in Minnesota, and not here. A quick search for real estate in and around the St.Cloud area, and not to mention most other parts of Mn, you will see the nice homes that are affordable, with good schools for my kids. We have family there as well, so thats a plus. When it comes down to it, I can buy a really nice home there, where here, I can get into a fixer upper. I’d rather raise my kids somewhere they can have a nice home to come to after school. We will miss the great people here! We will miss the last best place. Mabey someday we can come back.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By upinthemorning on 03-29-09
I’m sorry you are leaving. We chose to move here from Minnesota although i would have gotten twice the pay in Minnesota.
There are new homes out there for 160-180k that don’t need any fixing up. I’ve been looking. I think the prices are lower because of our local and national economy lately. It is a good time to buy a house if you have a job.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By litlehawk12 on 03-29-09
whats this we #### tony?i did not here anybody rooting for you!
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By littlehawk12 on 03-30-09
what?you got frog in your pocket tony?
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By BH on 03-30-09
I have to support Tony. I think it’s time for littlehawk12 to be blocked. The blogs are getting very offensive.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Tony on 03-30-09
Thank you BH, your wise words are appreciated.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
By Myers Reece on 03-30-09
This comment thread is being shut down because people are making personal attacks on each other.
Beacon Readers Rated This Comment:
In order to post comments you must register once with the Beacon and be logged in. Log in below or register now.
Hundreds Gather for Hungry Horse Soldier’s Funeral
As Candidate Filing Deadline Passes, Political Season Begins
Hilliard Rises from Practice Squad to NFL Backup
Celebrating the Centennial on Screen
For Valley’s Young Professionals, a Recovery in Fits and Starts
Comments on: Gallatin, Flathead Most Expensive Counties to Own a Home
Let’s be civil. The Flathead Beacon encourages vigorous discussion and lively debate, but we will delete comments that attack other readers, make accusations we can’t verify, stray too far off topic, criticize local businesses (call them if you have a problem), convict someone of a crime, use profanity or are simply judged to be in bad taste. We don’t always have someone moderating comments, so we ask for your help: If you see a comment that violates these ground rules, or you simply deem it offensive, please e-mail editor [at] flatheadbeacon.com. The views expressed in the comments section do not reflect those of the Beacon.
By blood gulch on 03-24-09
The lack of affordable housing in the flathead is “deplorable”. I do hope that builders concentrate on building homes in the 160,000 dollar range. As for my family and I, It is too late- we are already planning our move at the end of summer. We love this area, but after many years of paying too much for rent, and not being able to afford our own home, we decided to make the move. I’m sad about it because I’ve been a leader on the vol. fire dept. for many years, have met the best friends ever, and have volunteered many seasons as a youth football coach. I’m sure there are many others in the same situation. I just hope the housing situation doesn’t drive away all the good folks that make the flathead the last best place.
By Tony on 03-24-09
As long as the people here do not want growth and new business, than any affordable housing is out of reach. The Gov here makes it difficult to do anything.
By real estate joe on 03-24-09
Are you kidding? Land trusts are a bad concept. I am surprised to learn that the president of the realtors association would be advocating this. The homeowner won’t gain any equaity in their home when they sell it. Which only hurts them when they want to buy their second home.
By littlehawk12 on 03-24-09
waaawaahwaah.HEY TONY WANT SOME TISSUE WITH THAT?????cry baby
By DarkHitler on 03-24-09
Since we’re all slaves now with the passage of the Americorps bill, just a matter of time before private property
no longer permissible and therefore the “expensive..“ article discussion is mute. Banks to be closed in July/August..martial law imposed..FEMA CAMPS filled up..I got dibs on an upper bunk. Yes we can.
By Tony on 03-24-09
Hey Littlehawk….I guess you needn’t worry living in your Teepee in Whitetrash Evergreen under the bridge with the rest of the trolls.
By Cowgirl Up on 03-24-09
To By Tony…being Native myself I take great exception to your reply to Littlehawk. The people living in Evergreen are NOT white trash and you have no right to impose your racist remarks on others. Just a reminder…we were here first. Where did you migrate from?
By Helena on 03-24-09
That is a horrible graphic by UM. An “index value” below the “affordability threshold” is worse than a value above the threshold?
Put down the text book and go look at graphs in USA Today.
By Tony on 03-25-09
Cowgirl….born and raised in the Valley.
By Can't Afford a Home on 03-25-09
“We basically have open ears and open eyes right now to see what would be best for the community,” Osweiler said.
Right now, they are looking at what is best. The past few years this would have never been muttered. Let’s face it, it was greed that took control of real estate agents setting unrealistic and artificial values on homes that every Tom, Dick or Harry “contractor” who could swing a hammer, flooded the market with. Paint it any way you want, but greed was the motivating factor. This report finally sheds light to the truth - people can’t afford homes here. Wages have not been able to keep up with this overinflated pricing. It is bad for communities, as we are now seeing an exodus of people. That is less people to support local businesses and merchants. And because of the greed, we now see so many contractors and realestate agents out of work. There was never a balance to this system, but it was their own doing.
By Nancy on 03-25-09
The greed is not only the fault of the Realtor. The Realtor educates on the market value of their homes based on what has sold in the area. The market here until the past year or two, was on the rise and EVERYONE was greedy. I had a woman next door to me try to sell her house way over what it was worth and her Realtor was telling her it was not worth it and would not take the listing.
By littlehawk12 on 03-25-09
i have always felt for people that want and buy things they cant afford…......i have always felt bad and sad for them…
By littlehawk12 on 03-25-09
cowgirl up.i think you whole point went right over the racist head…
By James on 03-25-09
Thank you Flathead Beacon for writing this article. Unlike the DIL (in my opinion the worst paper ever circulated) your paper has well written articles that are important for the people of this valley to stay informed. What has happened to this valley’s economy and the housing market is truly tragic and I am sorry for all the people it has affected. But to be a newspaper like the DIL and choose not to write about the bad things that are happening in the valley’s economy just because their afraid it will effect their bottom line, is a true crime. A newspaper’s job is to keep the people of the community informed despite their own opinions or agendas. People need to stop subscribing to the DIL in protest, maybe then they will get the hint that doing ###### stories to suit their needs is not good for anyone.
By hey on 03-25-09
James if I wrote that I’d be accused of being malicious. Which I never am, just telling the truth and injecting some opinion which is what the comments are all about.
Anyway, my attorney once explained to me that the Interlake is like that because they have a political agenda. They put that certain spin on because that’s what they are paid to do. Notice they don’t correct facts that become disproven. Most notably (and what caused this explanation from an attorney) that murder case years ago in which the system was railroading the wrong guy. The true story was never made public, was it? Because it would shed horrible, ghastly light on the local legal of that time. Which has gotten much better, thankfully.
Just so you know.
I like the Interlake because it has things the Beacon doesn’t. I didn’t say I believe what’s written there any more than anything else. Sometimes you just have to take the clues, figure out the spin, and draw your own conclusion.
By Get It Right on 03-25-09
So much of our local economy has been driven by this growth and development that a slow down in new home starts and existing home sales will create a turbo charged downturn. The index is an extremely telling statisic. These home values and building rates have been inflated by land and property speculators operating in much more robust economies and investing in ours. The down turn has forced them to tighten their belts and the tap is kicked. We are stuck trying to live simple lives in a land market inflated by dollars not created in the local economies. The realtors are looking for a way to save these values. They need the tradesman and laborers to struggle through and stick it out, so that someone can build homes at $60/ sq ft that they can sell to out of staters who can afford $350,000 homes to use a week or two a year. The index is an extremely telling statistic. If these realtors want to save the long term market potential of the valley they need to come to terms with a thirty or fourty percent correction in housing prices right now. Some of those out of state speculators might have to take a hit on their investments, but that is happening everywhere. $200,000 corrections on million dollar homes are the norm right now. Affordable housing, affordable labor, a remarkable living environment, and a tradition based quality of life in the flathead valley will draw in new economic engines, new industry, and a diversified economy. Timber, aluminum, tourism, healthcare, and the building trades is a very narrow foundation on which to build. Add more industry, higher education, and services and you gradually the land values will learn to grow in step with the growing average household income.
By littlehawk12 on 03-25-09
lets see here.the main reasons of our economic deterioration.lets see illegal aliens perhaps?buying lumber from canada and china?hmm.let me think.sending our money out of the country.Duh!!
By Cowgirl up on 03-26-09
littlehawk hit the nail right square on the head!
By littlehawk12 on 03-27-09
thank you cowgirl up!ta know evergreen might see a boom with thi economic depression coming on
By Tony on 03-27-09
Littlehawk12, please put down your six-pack of beer before writing.
By littlehawk12 on 03-27-09
i dont drink. you schmuck.why dont you quit judgeing people before you know them?!?>
By littlehawk12 on 03-27-09
but i could find a way to fill yo’ tank with someething other than gasoline.racist tony… what are we to do with you?
By Dissappointed on 03-27-09
how did race get played into this?
By Tony on 03-27-09
LH12, maybe your drinking gasoline, whatever, why don’t you and Cowgirl hook-up, perhaps between the two of you, you can come up with complete sentences…but then again I doubt it.
By Dissappointed on 03-27-09
By the way littlehawk- you started the whole thing by insulting tony… And now your throwing the whole race thing around? That doesn’t sound too intelligent, and does not add any productivity to this forum.
By littlehawk7x62x39 on 03-27-09
do i haft to explain everything to you re-tards?
By litttlehawk12 on 03-27-09
wahwahwah for tony .he is the racist pig .i might live in a tent .wouldnt you like to know?maybe it is a t-p?maybe racist tony would like to know?too bad he dont!ha ha ha!HA
By upinthemorning on 03-28-09
Blood gulch- Im sorry to hear you are leaving the valley. There are homes out there right now for around $160k. If you love it here, I’d suggest you look one more time, because the prices have gone down, interest rates have gone down and the government is giving an $8,000 tax credit to first time homebuyers right now.
By James on 03-29-09
UITM, I think your missing blood gulches point. Even a 160k home is out of reach for someone on wages of most jobs in this area. And besides, what 160k buys here (almost nothing unless you live by yourself) can buy a decent home in most other locations.
By Can't Afford a Home on 03-29-09
James, good comments. $160k homes are still overpriced for what you get. Not to be rude, but most of those homes need serious rehabilitation. Who (local workers) has the money after dropping $160k on a home to pour in another $40k to get it in good shape. Yes, there are homes priced in the mid-100’s, but let’s be real, they are aren’t worth it given their current conditions. My guess is that economic factors prevent homeowners from doing maintenance and upkeep on their homes.
By blood gulch on 03-29-09
Thanks for your support guy’s- The bottom line is that my money will go a lot further in Minnesota, than here in the flathead. Of course, the downside is living in Minnesota, and not here. A quick search for real estate in and around the St.Cloud area, and not to mention most other parts of Mn, you will see the nice homes that are affordable, with good schools for my kids. We have family there as well, so thats a plus. When it comes down to it, I can buy a really nice home there, where here, I can get into a fixer upper. I’d rather raise my kids somewhere they can have a nice home to come to after school. We will miss the great people here! We will miss the last best place. Mabey someday we can come back.
By upinthemorning on 03-29-09
I’m sorry you are leaving. We chose to move here from Minnesota although i would have gotten twice the pay in Minnesota.
There are new homes out there for 160-180k that don’t need any fixing up. I’ve been looking. I think the prices are lower because of our local and national economy lately. It is a good time to buy a house if you have a job.
By litlehawk12 on 03-29-09
whats this we #### tony?i did not here anybody rooting for you!
By littlehawk12 on 03-30-09
what?you got frog in your pocket tony?
By BH on 03-30-09
I have to support Tony. I think it’s time for littlehawk12 to be blocked. The blogs are getting very offensive.
By Tony on 03-30-09
Thank you BH, your wise words are appreciated.
By Myers Reece on 03-30-09
This comment thread is being shut down because people are making personal attacks on each other.