Housing Market

One Monday, a few weeks ago, an older house on eight acres was listed for sale.

By Tuesday, a constant cloud of dust rose up from the gravel road in front of that house, raised by the steady stream of potential buyers.

The house sold for more than the asking price within a week.

Last summer, when I hauled steers and lambs to my processor in Kalispell, more trucks with Texas plates passed me than ever before.

A meat customer in Great Falls who manages rental houses said she used to receive one or two applications when a rental came open. Now, she struggles to choose from six or seven really good applicants.

A parent helping an adult son try to buy his first house made an offer within six hours of the listing, only to be outbid within eight hours.

The current housing boom is crazy.

All over Montana, -- and every beautiful, rural place – families pour in, running from Covid and empowered by the ability to work from home.

So I guess I should not have been surprised to receive a phone call from a man who wanted to build a house on some property I have.

This land doesn’t adjoin the main ranch. It is up on a hill, set back from a county road.

The rickety rotten fence around it sits on a ledge about two feet above the current soil surface. Obviously, someone farmed this ground many years ago and most of the sandy topsoil blew away.

I cut hay from it, leaving stubble to catch blowing soil.

I’m not in love with this piece of land like I am in love with other portions of the ranch. Like a bratty step-child, I try to love it, but it just isn’t in me.

What is in me is that I don’t sell land.

The caller explained that he grew up in Conrad, moved away and wants to bring his family back home.

He wants to enroll his kids in school and bring another business to town.

He wants to build a home and barn, raise a couple of steers, maybe a few chickens, and teach his kids what it is like to appreciate the country.

I share his values.

I told him I don’t sell land, but I would consider his proposal.

As an exercise for my principles.

I make better decisions if I ponder them for a while.

I pondered what would make it worthwhile for me to cut off a chunk of land I don’t really like.

I could use the money to pay down debt on different land I purchased a couple of years ago.

I would still have some hay ground, or pasture, just a bit less.

Really, I would rather trade that land for property that joins the main ranch.

I called my neighbor who lives between the property on the hill and the main ranch.

No, he was not interested in trading.

He was not averse to having a neighbor, but he wondered if a new well would drop his water level. He was pretty sure that the last new well drilled up there dropped it.

But if I could make some money by selling a portion of that place, he would understand.

Time is short.

The latest federal stimulus package will keep the fur flying for a while, but at some point, this will end.

Likely, it will end abruptly.

History will repeat itself.

Again.

Do I take the fast cash and dump a problem on my neighbor?

In the end, my decision is easy.

In my heart, I’m not a subdivider.

I’ll keep my hay ground.