Revised plan for snow lot likely makes affordable housing project viable

BY HEIDI DESCH// WHITEFISH PILOT // FEB 19, 2020

Constructing roughly 24 homes on the city’s snow lot to provide affordable workforce housing would likely make the project financially feasible, according to an updated analysis of the proposed project.

The City of Whitefish has for many years targeted its snow lot, at the corner of Railway Street and Columbia Avenue, as a potential site for an affordable housing project.

A first analysis of the project designed with both single family homes and rental apartments completed in December, however, showed that the project would have a large funding gap to make up in order to make the project feasible. The city’s Whitefish Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee deemed that option financially unfeasible and asked Homeword, a Missoula-based nonprofit taped to help design the project, to return with another option.

Read more in the Whitefish Pilot.

Outlook 2020: Another Year of Job Growth

A low unemployment rate in the expanding Flathead Valley keeps industries short-handed

BY MAGGIE DRESSER // FLATHEAD BEACON // JAN 2, 2020

As the economy booms in the Flathead Valley, along with the rest of the nation, Montana continues to struggle filling job openings as 2020 arrives.

Job vacancies remain open in the valley while unemployment continues its low trend, contributing to the workforce shortage. Montana’s unemployment rate has hovered between 3 and 4 percent over the last year, with 3.4 percent in November 2019 and 3.7 percent in November 2018. Montana’s unemployment rate is slightly lower than the national average of 3.5 percent.

But a low unemployment rate means employers can’t find workers.

Read more in the Flathead Beacon.

Looking for a beautiful Montana home, land and commercial property for sale near Whitefish? Call Kerrie Cardon, your RE/MAX real estate agent in Whitefish at 406.270.2614 today!

Glacier National Park Chalet Reopens for Business

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS // JAN 13, 2020 FLATHEAD BEACON

A chalet in Glacier National Park is ready to begin taking reservations for the first time since a wildfire gutted the structure, officials said

The Sperry Chalet is expected to begin taking reservations online Monday at 8 a.m., KECI-TV reports.

The chalet dormitory fell prey to a wildfire in August 2017 and required a reconstruction of the facility, National Park Service officials said.

The park service authorized at least $12 million to rebuild the chalet, which is located at the end of a 6.7-mile (11-kilometer) hike in the park.

The chalet will be available for stays from July 18 to Sept. 13.

Sperry Chalet is a national historic landmark hotel, reachable only by trail.

Make your reservations by going on-line to:

www.sperrychalet.com

Using the website and the on-line form is the best, fastest, easiest way to request a chalet reservation. Reservations are not available by phone.

Attached Garages Sell Homes

BY RICHARD DEWS // JAN 22, 2020 FLATHEAD BEACON

It’s winter, and many in the Flathead have their vehicles (or stuff) snuggly inside a weather-tight garage. Do the greatest quantity of single-family residence homes (sold for $150,000 to $600,000) sell with garages (and if so, attached or detached)? Across the county, and within all major cities within it, more homes sell with attached (AT) garages than those with detached (DE) garages or without a garage (NN means none). What have been the trends, these past 5 years?

The bars represent annual quantities sold by type; the lines of same color depict the median days they were on the market before going under final contract. For the county and Kalispell, homes with attached garages sell in triple the quantity of those with detached (other cities it’s about double). Which sell faster? Read between the lines in the animated GIF below.

Read more…

© Copyright 2019 by Richard Garrett Dews. All rights reserved. Research based, in part, upon information from the Montana Regional MLS, LLC.

Flathead Snowpack Above Normal

BY MYERS REECE // JAN 8, 2020 FLATHEAD BEACON

A dry spell in November and December decreased some of the autumn snowfall gains from September and October, but the early-season storms were still enough to provide a decent year-end snowpack in most mountains across Montana, even as many valley bottoms remained brown.

Early January snowfall is further boosting that base to above average in certain areas, with the Flathead River Basin’s snow-water equivalent registering 114 percent of normal as of Jan. 8 and most other basins in Central and Western Montana near or above normal as well, although a few are lagging considerably, especially the Lower Clark Fork and Madison, which sit at 86 and 85 percent of normal, respectively.

Snow-water equivalent, rather than snow depth, is the measurement used to gauge the amount of liquid water contained within snowpack, meaning the amount of water that will be released when the snowpack melts, which can play a key role in agriculture, hydropower production, water storage, aquatic ecosystem health and recreation such as boating and fishing, as well as flood and drought forecasting.

Read more…

Looking for a beautiful Montana home, land and commercial property for sale near Whitefish? Call Kerrie Cardon, your RE/MAX real estate agent in Whitefish at 406.270.2614 today!