Flying high in Big Sky Country

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

BELGRADE – When Gallatin Field General Manager Ted Mathis began working at the airport in 1981, there were 29 hangars for private planes.

ERIK PETERSEN/Chronicle Jets line the tarmac as Yellowstone Jet Center workers tend to them over President’s Day weekend, an especially busy time for the Jet Center. Today, there are 165, including the 17 new ones built last year.

When it comes to expensive toys, private planes are right up there. A modest model costs about the same as a new diesel pickup, around $50,000, and renting one of those new hangar spaces can cost hundreds of dollars a month. And then there’s the insurance and fuel.

Clearly, a lot of people in the Gallatin Valley have a lot of disposable income.

Most of the local planes run on propellers, but 27 private jets are registered here, too, Mathis said. And they comprise only a fraction of the private jet traffic.

 

Read More…

 

Food Across America – Bozeman, Montana

Chocolate Truffles + Rare Wines in Elk Country
 

By Kristin Donnelly from Food & Wine Magazine – Published July 2008
 

On a recent trip to Bozeman, Montana, I was eager to try elk—but that turned out to be trickier than it sounds. Many Montanans hunt game and eat it at home, but restaurants are allowed to serve only farm-raised meat. All the same, I had deliciously rare pan-roasted farmed-elk tenderloin at the wine bar Plonk, along with a Midnight Manhattan, a killer cocktail made with fresh cherry–infused bourbon. I got to taste some local beer too, when I dropped in for a late-night snack at the year-old Over the Tapas. I drank amber ale from the Bozeman Brewing Company with a juicy flank-steak sandwich, which chef Jeff Merlau tops with Manchego cheese and a garlicky chimichurri sauce on a mini ciabatta-like roll.For my next carnivorous adventure, I drove just outside Bozeman to the nearby town of Gallatin Gateway. At the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn, chef Ray Rutzen often works with ingredients grown and raised around the state, and I loved his Montana Mountain Bison rib eye topped with chile-spiked butter. Even though I’m not a hunter, eating Rutzen’s bison made me feel almost like a local.

Read More Here.

So sad, the trickle down finally gets to Montana…

“A national slump in housing starts and the shaky health of the home mortgage industry are key factors in RY Timber’s decision last week to temporarily shut down its mills in Townsend and Livingston.”

Read More: Click here!

By MARGA LINCOLN
Independent Record

Published 1/20/2008

Yes, it’s finally happened. It finally came and is effecting us here in Bozeman/Livingston area. Because of the slow in the housing market in the rest of the U.S., our timber community has been negatively effected. Read the article to learn more about how this happened.

 

U.S. & Montana Economic Outlook – 2007

Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley have experienced steady, solid growth in both population growth and real estate values over the past decade.

Non-resident ownership of land in Montana was reported at 11% of property sales in the Gallatin
Valley in 2005. According to recently published U.S. Census Bureau figures, Gallatin Valley is the fastest-growing county in Montana, clocking a 19.3% growth rate between 2000 and 2006.
Economic predictions are that—if anything—Gallatin Valley will continue to grow at an even healthier pace.

• Economic Profile 2007 -
  Click here to download Prospera Business Network’s Economic Profile 2007

• Big Sky Market Report -
  
  Click here to download the Big Sky Market Report provided by ERA Landmark   
  (for Fall 2007)

 

U.S. & Montana Economic Outlook

 

This “U.S. & Montana Economic
Outlook” presentation has been brought to you by First Interstate Bank
& Stuart and Sally Platinum Properties. Please feel free to contact us if
you have any questions. 

click here to view slide show

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• 
  
  2006 – 2007 Single Family Sales Information
• 
  
  2006-2007 Vacant Land Sales Information

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This
graph shows Residential Single Family Homes in Gallatin County as of February
2008

 amount
of inventory, average price, median price, and number of days on the market.

 

 

This
graph shows Vacant Land in Gallatin County as of February
2008

 amount
of inventory, average price, median price, and number of days on the market.

 

Updated 2/2008

So what is driving the fantastic growth of the Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley real estate market?

• The distinctive Montana lifestyle
• The limited quantity of available land
• The dynamic community of Bozeman

Bozeman has been named the #1 ‘Dreamtown’ by Bizjournals.com for its quality of life and business growth, edging out Jackson Hole and Durango, Colorado. Bozeman is a small college town with a sophisticated and cultured atmosphere. Despite its size, Bozeman boasts amenities that larger urban cities would envy. No matter what the season, there are a full range of activities to
enjoy, from world-class fly fishing to the thrill of skiing to attending a wonderful symphonic concert. Whether you are starting up a business, relocating a family, or just wishing to retire
or own a second home here: an investment in Bozeman real estate is a sound decision.

Surrounded by 5 mountain ranges, with national and state land edging right up to the city and county lines, land is finite, while the sense of space is vast. Land values reflect the
precious, limited nature of available acreage, while quality homes are in short supply. Bozeman real estate continues to appreciate as more people desire to live in a place relatively free
from crime, embraced by nature, unpolluted and stress-free, in which they can create and enjoy the benefits of a lifestyle unlike any other in America.

• 
  
  2006 – 2007 Single Family Sales Information
• 
  
  2006-2007 Vacant Land Sales Information