FORT BENTON — Out in rural Montana, more people are looking to buy property to raise their families and livestock, and realtors say prices continue to go up and houses continue to come off the market as people continue to flock to the state.
One of this year’s trending topics is the housing market and how inflated prices have gotten. Property is being sold for more money and property continues to be bought up. The same goes for rural parts of the state as well, as more people are looking to get away from the big city life.
Corder & Associates LLC of Fort Benton sees this in their rural selling areas as well. They sell homes in several states, including Wyoming and Colorado.
Not only are more people continuing to move to more rural areas, but they also aren’t even seeing it before they move thanks to virtual tours. They say the virtual tools are becoming more popular, as well as the demand to move to rural areas.
Broker and owner Staci Corder says the virtual tours have become a lot more popular the last year and that they have also been able to keep up with business despite the high demand.
“People were bombarding us with five, ten, even the 20-acre places that we couldn’t keep on the market. After Covid hit, people wanted a little piece of heaven or a place to seclude and have their own privacy,” Corder said. “The inventory is so low because we’ve just had so many people come to Montana.”
With such an active market, Corder’s employees are staying busy as ever, and say they were fortunate to get through the last year with a lot of demand for people wanting to move to the state and adjusting to what the pandemic means for the housing market.
Licensed assistant Jennifer Birkeland says the virtual tours have helped with the workload and save time for everyone when it comes to the buying process.
“With such low inventory, we kind of expected to get hit as a company but we are still getting listings, we’re still making sales,” Birkeland said. “A lot of what I hear from potential buyers, especially out-of-state buyers is that their community is either exploding and they just want to just get back to like a small-town feel. Small town rural America, you know, smile and wave at your neighbor, and it’s safe and secure and we look out for each other. I think that’s what people are prioritizing especially during the pandemic. Priorities are becoming different for people.”
Corder says places like Bozeman and Red Lodge are popular destinations for buyers right now, but she expects the housing market around the state to stay active until at least next spring.
