Real Estate in Montana can be a interesting discussion due to the complexities of our market! From the first time home buyer to the sophisticated vacation home invester, Montana has a wide variety of housing choices. For the average Montana family now is the time to buy in one fo the most beautiful places left in the Western, USA. The market has been a buyers market since 2008 and only provided more affodable housing opportunities than have been available for many years for the average family.

The flood of buyers that dominted the market from other states has slowed to a trickle and now the market is more reliant upon ordinary working Montana families to define valuation in the real estate markets. Integrity Mortgage expects this trend to continue for years to come and it will be a long time again before the market flips back to a seller dominated market. On the bright side of things, we have seen that the trend for the housing market (that is 250k or less) has been to hold its value with a small percentage of  correction to the downside of 3% to 20% from the 2008 peak, depending if the house is a forclosure sale or not.

As of the third quarter of 2009, forclosures have more than doubled over last year bringing a lot of distressed housing to market. Short sales are becoming more common and banks are more willing to unload properties for less than what is owed. This has opened many doors for the first time home buyer and the savvy investor who has patience and is willing to do their homework.

Real Estate can no longer be looked upon as an investment, but a place to live. Rentals can be another choice for a cash flow financial instrument if properly anylized. Many people who invested towards the top of the real estate market for retirement will never see that investment pay them back.Stories abound of those who are now working at Wal Mart or other low paying jobs for the rest of their life in order to make ends meet. This happened due to unrealistic expectations that the majority of people were caught up in during the real estate frenzy  boom time of 2001 to 2006.  Yes, many became wealthy through luck or market timing, but even more lost everything when there became more sellers than buyers.

Cash flow managment and realistic future value models should be used when buying rentals or considering building large square foot homes. The biggest factor that has affected the mortgage lending process is, that in 2008 most of the Stated Income loans and Jumbo lending products dissapeared leaving many people with houses they could not refinance out of their ARM option loans. In most cases they were stuck with unsellable houses as the market tanked and their payments did nothing but go up. Now sanity has returned to the housing process and slowly over the years we will come out of this back into a more normal market.

Despite all of this real estate history, owning your home is one of the most secure ways to build wealth! Your investment is something you actually can hold on to versis the paper value in the stock market. When considering buying versis renting, you should look into some factors that will enhance your life.

• An owned house truly gives a feeling of security and allows you to express your character and personality.
• You as the owner can say if you want to build on your property, how many cars or trucks you own, what and if you want to paint it, and you as an owner can take care of it as you wish. Rentals you cannot.
• You retain more value and increase your equity as time goes along.
• You can pay it off and retire with no monthly obligations, where as if you rent you will pay that rent payment to the day you die with nothing in return.
• You own!! No rent increases or lease terminations!!

Apply Now

Return to Loan Options