National Real Estate Road To Recovery

Sally Hickey of ERA Landmark Real Estate joined approximately 8,000 Realtors^® who gathered in Washington, DC, to inspire action on Capitol Hill that will help stabilize the real estate market and encourage economic recovery as part of the National Association of Realtors^® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo. The meetings took place May 11-16.

During the week,Hickey participated in NAR’s “Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy,” an all-day program of sessions to address and meet head-on the challenges facing today’s residential and commercial real estate markets. Realtors^® were joined by a number of policy leaders and industry experts, including U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan; Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Director Sheila Bair; former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan; and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.

 

“As the leading advocate for housing issues and homeownership, Realtors^® urge the federal government to make stabilizing the real estate market a priority,” Hickey said. “We will continue to press the Obama administration and Congress to keep taking meaningful action toward this goal.”

 

Hickey met with Senators Max Baccus and Jon Tester and Congressman Denny Rehberg to reiterate the importance of this issue and discuss other subjects, as well, including protecting the mortgage interest deduction, facilitating short sales, easing limitations on mortgage availability and encouraging mortgage reform, ensuring affordable insurance through small business health care plans, and initiating effective energy efficiency legislation.

 

“Moving the real estate market forward is imperative,” said Hickey. “The goal of this year’s meetings is to develop a series of ‘next steps’ that will serve as a blueprint for comprehensive progress.” 

Sally Hickey
CRS, GRI, e-PRO Sales Associate
Phone: (406) 556-5026
Send me an email

New Boom in Northern Rockies

The dramatic downturn in the real estate market is likely to end sooner rather than later in the Northern Rockies, according to new research from Arthur C. Nelson, Presidential Professor and Director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah – and the I-90 corridor in Montana and the Snake River Valley in Idaho are especially well-positioned for renewed growth.

Nelson’s research shows that surplus housing supply in Montana is likely to be absorbed by the end of this year, and by 2011 in Idaho. Further, the need to replace aging building inventory – especially in commercial real estate – will drive demand above and beyond what population growth trends alone would suggest…

To read more, click here.

This article written by By Jonathan Weber April 14th, 2009. Special Thanks to New West Bozeman website http://www.newwest.net/city/main/C396/L396/

Homestead Declaration, Protect your home from creditors

By signing a legal document known as a homestead declaration, Montanans can protect up to $250,000 in value of a home against most creditors’ claims. For example, if a person incurs an overwhelming gambling debt, up to $250,000 in value of his/her home would still be sheltered.

The purpose of this MontGuide is to provide Montanans with information about establishing a homestead declaration. Also included are homestead declaration and declaration of homestead abandonment forms.

What is a homestead?
A homestead is the house or mobile home that a person lives in and land on which it sits. The property must be a person’s primary residence for it to be eligible for a homestead declaration. The term homestead also includes any improvements legally defined as “appurtenances” to the land, such as a fence. However, home furnishings and appliances are not eligible for the homestead declaration.
Limit on dollar value.

Please visit our website for the full article: http://www.eralandmark.com/stories/bozeman/homestead-declaration-protect-your-home-creditors

Life is Downtown!

In light of the recent tragic explosion on March 5^th that destroyed nearly one half of the 200 block of East Main in Bozeman, I thought it appropriate to dedicate this issue to an in-depth look at downtown and its place in our community and local economy.

How does one begin to put into perspective what downtown Bozeman means to its citizens? For each of us, it is a different set of special memories, usually involving family and friends…it is the ideal destination for a Saturday morning coffee, a warm evening walk or the perfect place to entertain out-of-area guests. Whether it is to enjoy a top notch meal, view stunning artwork, shop in any of the numerous specialty stores, or just be a part of the vibrant hub of Bozeman, Main Street is considered “the” place to be. The Downtown Business Association’s slogan of “Life is Downtown” seems highly appropriate. The energy of this distinct area is felt through numerous special events including the Christmas Stroll, the Art Walk series, Music on Main, and the Sweet Pea Festival, among countless others. While towns and cities all over speak of the demise of their downtown districts and the dominance of strip malls and big box stores, Bozeman has stood apart as a crown jewel by evoking community pride and setting the bar high for other areas. I think we can all agree that spending time downtown is the premiere shopping experience in Bozeman, and perhaps Montana and beyond. But I would like to look a little deeper than the “experiential aspects” of the downtown shopping district and examine its progress, economic importance and future significance. 

 

Of course, staying vibrant and retaining “destination” status does not occur without a large amount of work and forward thinking. Downtown Bozeman’s current look and feel did not happen by accident. Dedicated business owners and city and state officials have worked over the past decade to preserve and enhance the “street face of downtown”.  With the creation of a downtown “tax increment financing” district, the City of Bozeman, Montana Department of Transportation highway funds, the federal government and other public funding sources have injected over $15,000,000 in improvements to historic downtown, including the significant construction projects over the past several summers. The water and sewer project was successfully completed. The Main Street streetscape project was completed last year, which resulted in upgrades including universal access, new sidewalks, historic street lamps, trash receptacles, pedestrian benches, bike racks and cobble stone cross walks. State of the art traffic lights and road improvements are now in place. Soroptomist Park located at Rouse and Main received a beautiful and timely upgrade. And after nearly 10 years of planning and construction, Bozeman’s first multi-level parking garage will soon open, located one block north of Main Street between Black and Tracy streets. The Downtown Parking Garage will contain both leased and hourly parking options for a total of 435 parking spaces. Retail and restaurant spaces will line the Garage along Mendenhall Street and Tracy Avenue. The Garage will also serve as the downtown transit station for the Streamline bus system.

Please visit our website to read the article: http://www.eralandmark.com/stories/bozeman/life-downtown 

ERA Landmark Real Estate Ranks #1 in the Nation

Robyn Erlenbush, Broker/Owner of ERA Landmark Real Estate, is pleased to announce that ERA Landmark Real Estate is ranked #1 in Total Closed Production Volume for 2008 for Division 1 by global residential real estate leader ERA Franchise Systems, Inc. The national franchise ranks affiliate companies based on size and ERA Landmark was #1 in production for companies with 50 or less associates.

ERA Landmark was also a Gene Francis Memorial Award Finalist, which honors the top 5 all-around companies in the nation. This is the 3rd time ERA Landmark has been honored for the Gene Francis Memorial achievement, winning the award in 1998 and named a finalist in 1994. Erlenbush and the company were recognized for these outstanding achievements at the 2009 ERA International Business Conference, held March 5-8 in San Antonio, Texas.

Please visit our website for full article: http://www.eralandmark.com/stories/bozeman/era-landmark-real-estate-ranks-1-nation