Real Estate Information Archive

Interesting "winter". The other day the weatherman said that Kalispell has had no below 0 temperature days this entire winter. The average is 11. Bozeman on the other hand has had 17 below 0 days. We went skiing 2x this week. The second time was so spring like. The lifties didn't have coats on, I got very warm with minimal layers. The snow was soft, visibility great. Hoping for some more snow this weekend! Tuesday we stayed on chair 2 and had some excellent runs. It was snowing and the clouds made for lack of visibility higher up. 

In the valley it is the season of thaw and mud. My gravel road is frozen in the morning and sloppy in the afternoon. I might actually have to wash my car before showing houses this morning. Most days it hardly seems worth it with all the mud around. 

An offer came in this week on another listing, still in negotiations. It is crazy with setting up showings, buyer calls, feels good to be busy again.

Horse riding is around the corner and I can hardly wait to start working with the horses again! My garden seeds arrived this week, soon to be started in preparation of a great garden.

Last weekend was a children's ministry training at Fresh Life Church. I will be substituting in the nursery and have my first scheduled time this weekend. I am very impressed with the training and application process involved with helping in that area. So good to know that precautions are in place for the safety of our children. I workout at Crossfit Libertas with the head of Whitefish security for the church. Lots of former military young men doing that job.

Our Pastor, Levi Lusko and his wife Jenny, held their 5 year old daughter, Lenya as she died in their arms 4 days prior to this message. She died of a severe asthma attack. A grieving young father carries out his daughter's wishes and preaches what Christmas is really about.

Is it REALLY December already? Can hardly believe that November just sped past me.

Raining in the valley today and snowing in the mountains. I can see snow in the foot hills fairly close to the valley floor. Big Mountain is getting dumped on at the summit but need more snow in the village. Opening day: Dec. 8. I am ready with pass in hand! http://skiwhitefish.com/webcams.php for the live view. My poor horses are wading through mud. Reminds me of the years I lived in the Seattle area. I much prefer the ground to be frozen and covered with white.

Was a busy week in my house last week. Seattle son/daughter-in-law/10 mo grandson flew over for Thanksgiving and my husband's birthday, it was a big one, not saying which decade he entered. So, had 2 grandsons under a year crawling, climbing and getting into all the drawers. What a blessing these little boys are. So different in personalities and only 5 weeks apart. Exhausting, but great. We all tried out Brannigan's Pub in Kalispell Sunday night. Very Irish in a quaint brick building. Great atmosphere. Most of us have spent time in Ireland and agree it is very authentic. Hard to get a table, very popular already after only a month of business.

Found out that http://www.naturalgrocers.com/ is the grocery store taking over the old Borders retail space at Hutton Ranch. Was hoping for a Good Foods Store that is in Missoula, but Natural Grocers will be great to have at the north end of Kalispell.

Glacier Symphony will be performing Handel's Messiah next weekend at 3 valley locations; Kalispell, Whitefish, Bigfork. We plan on attending.

Spent our anniversary at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake this week. Nice dinner, incredible atmosphere. We own a condo in the Lodge so spent the night. View of Whitefish Lake, fireplace, big soaking tub, peace and quiet after a busy week with family. Give the lodge a try, it is a superior lodging facility right on the lake.

Showed homes to 2 different buyers last weekend. Both listings ended up in multiple offer situations. One of my buyers in the backup offer on a great listing. Keeping our fingers crossed that they get it.

On this day before Thanksgiving, we step back and count our blessings for living in such an amazing corner of the country. While it rained yesterday, promises for a LOT of snow are in the forecast starting tonight. Ski season is a mere 2 weeks away and we are praying for lots of big dumps at Whitefish Mountain Resort!

There is a feeling of economic resurgence in the Flathead Valley. We stopped in at Brennigan's Irish Pub Friday and it was packed at 5:30pm. Obviously we weren't going to get a table for dinner, so headed down the street to Split Rock at the historic KM Building. It too was very busy for so early. We had a wonderful meal and were treated to fiddle music while we enjoyed the great old building's atmosphere. We had coffee at the new Forge restaurant. Very cool place in an actual historic forge building, complete with horseshoes hanging on the rafters and the forge fire pit.

Heard yesterday that a building permit has been applied for to remodel the vacant Borders store north of Kalispell. A "natural or specialty" food store will be the new use. Very exciting! Might not be Whole Foods or Trader Joes, but possibly Good Foods who has a similar store in Missoula?? We will have to wait for the final word.

Canadians are already in town. Motels are reporting great occupancy as shoppers wait for Black Friday. Many groups of Canadians make a shopping trip to the Flathead an annual event.

Genesis Kitchen has opened in Whitefish with some unique and amazing infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  I have tried the blueberry balsamic and lemon olive oil, very tasty and different.

Christmas parade scheduled for Friday at 6pm in Kalispell. The season begins!

First from last weekend; I went with my daughter to the Flathead CrossFit gym last Saturday morning to participate in a breast cancer fund raiser. The organizer is a CrossFit lady who battled and won breast cancer. Client and friend Dr. Mellissa Hulvat was present to lift weights. Melissa is the breast surgeon in NW Montana. We got a quick how-to on the clean and jerk methodology. Then there were 6 heats of 8 people each trying to do 30 clean and jerks as quickly as possible but within 8 minutes. I needed heavier weights so completed very quickly. There were some awesome exhibits of strength in both the men and women. Last year the goal was to raise enough $ to cover 5 free mammograms, instead they raised enough for 12! I don't know who they did this year. I saw a lot of familiar faces and it was fun!!

This weekend: http://www.alpinetheatreproject.org/ has all the information on the Alpine theatre project production for and by kids of "The Little Mermaid Jr." musical. 2 shows on both Saturday and Sunday. We attended a production by the kids last year and it was tremendous fun! Professional organizers guarantee a great experience for all involved.

Saturday at the Majestic Arena between Kalispell and Whitefish, the World Class Bucking Horse Assoc.  presents Battle of the Broncs. 7pm, see you there!  http://worldclassbuckinghorseassociation.com/

Speaking of horse events, Buck Brannaman has a 3 day clinic coming up in Whitefish Nov. 11-13. The clinic is full but you can still audit. Gamble Ranch is the host. Great facility. http://brannaman.com/

A building I drive by frequently in downtown Kalispell has caught my eye for years. It used to operate as a blacksmith shop. Judy and Ken Sederdahl have purchased the building and slowly made it over and it will be opening soon as a coffeehouse diner and place to go and listen to music. Ken has been in a few bands over the years and is an incredible guitarist. So exciting to see such a historic building be re-purposed into a business for all to enjoy! Opening October 29, 2012. http://www.theforgeinc.com/

Pretty exciting and a vote for an improving economy in the Flathead Valley. Cabelas tracks catalog orders and it looks like this valley deserves an actual store. Cabelas to begin construction next spring targeting a fall opening, hmm maybe timed for hunting season??

The Daily Interlake had a very interesting article on beer breweries in NW Montana. It seems we are 2nd per capita in the nation for micro breweries. Flathead Lake Brewery in Bigfork is opening in the former large building of the bowling alley in town. Their business is expanding and they needed more room. Desert Mountain Brewing is getting ready to open in Columbia Falls. State Sen. Ryan Zinke and former Navy Seal, is opening the Double Tap in a yet to built building in Whitefish. Tamarack Brewing in Lakeside has opened an additional facility in Missoula. Kalispell Brewing is opening in Kalispell in a not yet disclosed location. Great Northern Brewery in Whitefish is still going strong. With all these breweries, maybe a new avenue for tourism?

Blue Sky Realty, LLC had an exciting announcement. Hilary Jo Anderson (Cary Jo's daughter) has officially moved her sales associate license to Blue Sky. Hilary brings many years of sales experience and is always a top producer in the Flathead Valley. Hilary got into real estate right after graduating from MSU in Bozeman and has been working hard ever since. 

Schools are under way in the Flathead Valley. Traffic is slowly returning to our less congested "normal" as tourism subsides for the summer. Things are dry, dry, dry, outside. The valley has been fortunate to not get involved in any fires so far this year. We had a couple of days with smoke in the valley from some Idaho fires, but that is the extent of our fire season experience. Avalanche Creek trail in Glacier National Park has been close due to a fire there. It is not having much activity but being watched carefully. Most of the Montana fires this season have been in SW and SE parts of the state. High winds and weeks with no rain have added to the danger of fires.

A company called Dylan Energy is negotiating on the vacant former WalMart building in Evergreen. They manufacture systems for off the grid heat and power. The company is located in Maryland and will be a welcome addition to our valley with many added jobs.

​Sportsman Haus - sporting good retailer - has plans to expand it's Kalispell store by 25k sq. feet. 20-30% of the customers are Canadian and there is a need for expanding all departments of the store.

​So nice to have so many positive things happening in the valley, especially job and construction related, after a few very quiet years!

​The yearly average visitor numbers in Glacier National Park are around 2 million. I think they all decided to make this the week they visited our valley! Now, keep in mind we really don't deal with traffic in this valley except for in the summer, but there were unbelievable backups going through Kalispell and to the major shopping area on Hwy 93 this week. I was not excited to be part of a record day for shoppers at Costco on July 3rd - and that was at 3pm! I have NEVER seen so many people in that store and it stands to reason since they set a record.

In contrast, driving down to Dayton on Flathead Lake on the 4th, the traffic was incredibly light. The lake was rough at the north end but calm in Dayton at the sailboat marina. I guess most drivers had gotten to where they wanted to be over the holiday and were not on the roads until much later in the day. We passed through Kalispell after the parade had finished up. On the way back home, saw the barge for the firework display in Lakeside, being launched into the lake.

​Last night we attended Alpine Theater Project's "Little Shop of Horrors", what fun! Profession actors from around the country were a part of this production including 2 of our favorites, Rebecca and Nick Spears who demonstrated great versatility in their roles.

​Weather has been excellent with the misc. passing thunder storms. A heat wave with temps around 90 (not bad compared to other parts of the country) is in the forecast for the next few days. Whitefish has and art festival going on this weekend, a Glacier Symphony Pops concert outdoors at Rebecca Farms on the 7th, and plenty of other activities to choose from.

​It is great to drive around the Flathead Valley and see homes under construction and commercial projects happening. Construction has been the hardest industry hit by the economic slow down the past 5 years. Kalispell Regional Hospital is continuing it's expansion project. There are $12.4m in commercial projects on the slate besides the hospital. Hilton Homewood Suites has broken ground near the theaters in Hutton Ranch Plaza - where all the new retail is located in Kalispell. A 40 unit senior apartment complex comprised of 3 levels is projected on property downtown Kalispell. 

​Some excellent news about Kalispell Regional Hospital from Health Grades: the hospital is in the top 5% for patient safety and clinical excellence. #1 in MT for cardiac and #1 in Mt for general surgery. Having had personal experience with 2 surgeries, and knowing a few of the docs, I have to agree that we have top notch medical in this valley. North Valley Hospital in Whitefish is also a great choice.

Wow! Lots of Alberta plates with some B.C. plates in the valley this weekend. Glad it was a nice weekend for all the travelers from up north.

We had a nice breakfast Saturday morning at Split Rock Cafe in Kalispell, then home to do chores and yard work. Today, we set out to discover all the trail heads for the Whitefish Trail, http://whitefishlegacy.org/. We were scouting out if we could get to the various trail access points with our horse trailer. We started at the Lupfer trail head and ended up hiking to the lookout, 2.5 miles round trip. Why are lookouts always UP?? We were the only people there and it was a beautiful trail with a very nice view to the south and west when we go to the top. Next was Beaver Lake access to the trail. You can actually drive to Beaver Lake but taking the trail connects you to the Lion Mountain part of the trail and you can end up very close to Whitefish. The Lion Mtn part of the trail is the only place there is not room for the horse trailer, and it seemed to be the most popular section. Trail map link: http://whitefishlegacy.org/2011WT_TrailMap.pdf. After that, a stop at Montana Coffee Traders in Whitefish for an iced Americano. Whitefish was humming even on a Sunday. People everywhere. Cars with bikes, kayaks, fishing gear, everything you can imagine on such a nice weekend.