Real Estate Information

Ah, from snow to sunshine and warmth! I am watching the sky to the east just start to lighten up as the sun begins its ascent. It is light out now until past 8:30pm. I was riding my young horse last night after dinner. Love those kind of relaxing evenings on horseback. Peas and spinach are planted, starts in the green house are doing well.

I spent 3 very long days learning the ins and outs about being a food coach with Genesis Transformation. This healthy eating format helped me to get my health back and also lose a lot of weight. I am hoping to help others achieve the same results. Monday I worked out with my amazing personal trainer Courtney at Alternate Root in Kalispell. She introduced me to some gyrotonic body work that was fantastic to stretch the muscles out of the joints.

My Blue Sky Realty, LLC signs finally showed up. So, today I will be driving all over the Flathead hanging the new signs and bringing new flyers.  I wrote an offer on a house in Columbia Falls yesterday for a great young family. There is another offer also, hmmm, multiple offers, could the market be turning??

    Questions: Why does it want to snow the week AFTER Big Mountain closes for the season? Why do I need long underwear this week to ride my horse in a lesson? Why did I need to dig out my wool hat and gloves to do chores tonight? Why? Because we live in Montana where anything is possible! After a warm sunny, and balmy March, April has made us switch gears again. Easter weekend wasn't too bad, just chilly. Oh well, spring will return any day now.

    Attended an awesome Good Friday and Easter service (7am may I add) at Fresh Life Church in Kalispell. Took family along. Had dinner at North Bay Grill on Friday and breakfast at Bojangles on Easter. Fresh Life occupies 1 former movie theaters downtown Kalispell with a simulcast in whatever theater the band and preacher are not. A very young and techno savvy bunch the staff there. The simulcast was so life like I kept forgetting they were not really in the same venue with us.

    2 real estate deals together this week. The buyers that are out there are serious now while there are deals to be had.

    Attended my first Bee club in Columbia Falls last night. Learned a lot about how to manage my hives from my friend Veronica Honthaas. There were maybe 60 people in attendance. Learned how to trap swarms to start a new hive. Very cool.

    It has been staying light until 8:30pm lately, gotta love that!

   April Fools came 1 day early with some wet snow greeting us yesterday when the sun came up. It didn't last long but it was chilly all day. The Rocky Mountains were awesome all day as the sun shone on the snowy peaks. Spring gardening came into play last weekend. Moving overgrown lilacs so we can get to the bee hives in summer, trimming the Austrees lining the driveway and general garden clean up. Seeds have sprouted and are doing well in the green house. Now I need to plant my peas and get the rest of the seeds started.

   This is the first official day of my new company; Blue Sky Realty, LLC. Same Cary Jo, just on her own and working from home. I am amazingly more productive and feel less stress without the hustle and bustle of commuting and working in a conventional office. Canceled and re-listing all my listings today will keep me locked to the computer except for some flyer deliveries, etc. out and about.

   Many Easter blessings on this special weekend. We plan on attending the Good Friday service at Fresh Life Church in Kalispell. Could be rocking out for us older baby boomers, but the message is always straight from the Bible and excellent.

   Rain needed in NW Montana. With a low snow pack and less than normal rain, we need some precipitation. To avoid summer forest fires and water the crops, hope it starts falling soon. Our annual rainfall is only 16" a year and we are below normal so far. I'm not complaining about the warm spring days throughout March, BUT don't want fires for the summer.

   I took a CRS 111 class last Friday on Short Sales and Foreclosures. Very informative. I now have earned the SFR designation through the National Association of Realtors. I have previously worked on short sales on the listing side and currently have a bank owned home listed so any and all teaching was welcome. It is a changing area of real estate and important to keep current. I am a CRS: Council of Residential Specialists which means I have taken courses designed to help me do my job at the top of my field + had the production necessary to qualify, It was great to have a CRS class in Kalispell since years ago I had to travel all over the country to get the necessary courses.

   Debate continues on the expansion of the small city of Kalispell airport. Seems that some adjoining land owners are not interested in selling to the airport, so that may be the end of that.

   My career news is that Blue Sky Realty, LLC has been born! This is my firm and I am excited to be out on my own. It is an effort to simplify my life in this economy and concentrate on listing and selling real estate. April 1 is the official start date.

      I met an awesome woman last week, Rebecca Johns. She is a life coach. She enjoys coaching people into a rewarding "second half of life" as she calls it. We met at Colter Coffee in Kalispell to chat. Rebecca has great insights into the things that bring us pleasure and what our passions are. Look her up if you want assistance getting pointed in a direction that maybe you don't even know about yet!

     Flathead Community College is having an alternative energy seminar tonight. My husband is very into this subject and will be attending. He is making a windmill turbine to install on our property and looking for other ways to be self sufficient in that area. Part of the challenge in the Northwest is that our electricity is so inexpensive that alternatives are not always viable.

     Our daughter is starting a company called Revive Retreats that will offer fitness and healthy living retreats monthly. Her first test retreat is April 30th at the Gaynor Ranch in Whitefish. A chef will cook the meals, my personal trainer Courtney will teach a class, Rebecca Johns life coach will speak, Lashaun Dale will do yoga. A massage therapist, facials and other relaxing treatments will be available at the longer retreats. Look for the web site.

      I attended a free talk on S. Korea last week at the college. Learned a lot about the culture and got to taste some very good food. Our son is teaching law at an English speaking university in that country so fun to know more about what it may be like to live there.

     It is almost the middle of March already! Not much snow sitting in my yard anymore. Temps have been approaching 60 degrees lately and sun, sun, sun. Heading to Hoopers Nursery for a seed starting seminar this afternoon. I have a greenhouse and sometimes my seeds fail to sprout, find out what I am doing wrong and get those seeds started.

     Pretty sure my Nubian goat is pregnant now. She has been hiding her pregnancy until just the last few days. Due date the beginning of May, then we can look forward to fresh goat milk and experimenting with making our own cheese.

     Hauled my 5 year old gelding of to the trainer this week for a tune up. I am attending a Mark Rashid clinic in Washington next month and need to get Bentley ready for that exciting time. Have to get myself ready as well, courage may be a requirement to ride him.

     Much music around the valley if you are looking for something to do this weekend. My source for what is going on is the Intertainer in the Daily Interlake newspaper on Fridays.

     I met with a life coach, Rebecca Johns yesterday at Colter Coffee. What an amazing woman to help me with my business and personal life goals! She works out of Bigfork and besides coaching individuals, teaches for businesses and schools.

     Speaking of Colter Coffee, they have opened up their basement for acoustic concerts and more space for visiting. Very nice. Beware however of Friday afternoons after school.Flathead High school seems to empty out into the coffee shop and it can get a little noisy downstairs. Great atmosphere though the rest of the time.

Is it Spring?? All week it has been sunny and in the 50's, it could be a trick and a good old March storm could happen, but who knows. The down side is the snow pack is VERY low. Let's hope the forest fires do not come back this year. A lot of rain could offset the whole issue and is needed for the crops, including our hay crop.

Hoopers Nursery was packed out this afternoon for their free seminar, everyone is getting ready to think of starting those seeds and getting ready for summer. I want to get my seeds started this week in the greenhouse.

Horses are frolicking and shedding big time. I am attending 2 horse clinics this spring so need to get riding. Still snow in my outdoor arena so wait until the footing is a little safer. Plan to do more horse camping this year so need to get working on those horses of mine.

     SNOW: It is sometimes entertaining to talk to clients around the country. The prevailing thought seems to be that we live in Siberia. While the east and midwest of our country regularly get more severe winter weather, the thinking is always that we have it worse. This winter has been so mild. I do not remember in my 15 winters here, having so much melt and warmth as we have had. At my house, we have maybe seen a total snowfall of 12" or so. The mountain has had more but even on the drive up to ski on Sunday, there was much bare ground on the side of the road. It is a credit to Whitefish Mountain Resort groomers that the slopes have stayed in such good shape. At last, there is some new snow the end of this week.  I have surpassed 60k vertical feet - which pales in comparison to some fellow skiers - but I am impressed since I have to fit in sking around working. These vertical feet are logged in 2-3 hour stints of skiing. I have skiied more down the front side than usual so that adds up quickly. On Super Bowl Sunday, there was a party atmosphere with music playing loudly at the lifts. Lifties are from all over the world: Brazil, England, and many states.   

    We watched the Whitefish Carnival Parade last weekend. What a crowded event! Very popular with locals and tourists alike. Lots of Canadians in town for winter fun.

One of the fun activities in winter, when it isn't a good skiing day, is to go through ski catalogs and order seeds. I have ordered some newvarieties to try. Plan on starting some seeds next month in my greenhouse.

There are some great horse clinics on offer this coming Spring and Summer. I will be attending one in April with my 5 year old gelding. Mark Rashid is teaching and I am a fan of his methods.

Whitefish Winter Carnival continues this weekend with a ball, penguin plunge, artwalk. The North Valley School of Music is having a concert tonight that we have tickets for. The instructors will be the performers, should be fun.

There are 4 new listings on my web site this week. I will be driving around taking new photos as the mountains appear out of the clouds today. Showed homes in Bigfork this week and the mountain view was incredible from Swan Hill Drive.

Temperatures have been so mild it feels strange. Taking care of goats, horses, chickens is my way of getting outside after a day at the desk and in the car. Days are getting longer so it is nice after a workday to get outside and be with the critters. Yesterday the horses were quite playful, they feel spring coming as well.

Big weekend in the Flathead Valley coming up:

Whitefish Carnival: Skijoring takes place all weekend. Horses and riders towing skiers/snowboarders through a course for prizes.

Alpine Theater Project and Glacier Symphony collaboration on South Pacific, performances in Whitefish and Kalispell.

Thursday night concert in Whitefish by the International Guitarists, brought into town by the Whitefish Theater Co.

Why I live here: Thursday morning skiing hard for 2 hours in the sun on Big Mountain, then heading to work meeting with some great clients. Outstanding view of all the mountain peaks into Canada from the summit yesterday, wish I had brought my camera so I could share! It is fun in the parking lot with everyone greeting each other while getting geared up to ski. Lots of us head up the hill for a few runs then head off to work.

City of Kalispell debate continues about what to do with the City airport. Choices are to expand it or close it. It has slowly become surrounded by development and may have lived out it's useful life. If it is closed, traffic would come and go from Glacier International Airport exclusively. The city council had a work session on Monday night with 45 members of the public speaking out with their opinions.