ski photo Jan '15

Whether you hike for the "steep and deep", cruise the groomers, or just plain enjoy the quiet peacefulness of a great day of cross-country skiing, this is the place to be.  Surrounded by beautiful mountain ranges and only minutes from some of the nation's best ski resorts, it's no wonder that Fox News recently named Bozeman, MT as the number three "Best Ski Town to invest in".  Click here to see what Fox's own Cheryl Casone has to say about our wonderful town, then contact us to let us know how we can help you find your dream winter vacation home.  Whether it's a home for sale in Bozeman, a ski-in, ski-out condo for sale in Big Sky or that big sky country ranch for sale, we have you covered in one of the most beautiful and livable places in the…

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Winter’s doldrums got you down? Grab a screwdriver and a hammer and fight back with easy home repairs that’ll raise spirits and get your house ready for spring.

Accomplishments — even little ones — go a long way toward a sunny outlook. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy, quick home repair chores you can do when you’re mired in the thick of winter. For max efficiency, make a to-do list ahead of time and shop for all the tools and supplies in one trip. On your work days, put the basics in a caddy and carry it from room to room, checking off completed tasks as you speed through them.

What to Look (and Listen) For

In each room, look around and take stock of what needs fixing or improving. Focus on small, quick-hit changes, not major redos. Here…

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You’re about to be shut in for the season — here’s how to make sure your home is free of dust and dirt before you hunker down.

The heck with spring cleaning. 

Our national obsession should be fall cleaning.

Why? We’re about to shut ourselves inside for months with all the dirt and grime our houses have gathered during those hot, dusty, open-window days of summer and fall. We’ll be living with indoor air quality that the EPA estimates could be five times more polluted than outdoor air.

But you can breathe easy — we’ve made up a checklist of must-do cleaning jobs that’ll get the dust out, spruce up your interiors for the coming holidays, and make those wintry days healthier — and safer — for you and your family.

Vacuum Dryer Vent
This little chore…

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When I first got in to the business of real estate and selling anything I could get my hands on – because that is what put food on the table – I was taught and mentored by one of the best in the business….John Veytia of Veytia Group in Orange County, CA.

John is still a good friend, mentor (we talk often, even after 14 years) and teacher to me and my husband.  One thing that John taught us to do was to NEVER give up on you – that is, to never give up on a transaction or possible transaction when there are so many different ways to put them together.

We had done All Inclusive Trust Deeds (AITDs), “wraps”, lease-to-own transactions, seller financing transactions, hard money transactions and more by our third year in the business.  John knew how to do…

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1. Accepting the highest offer without regard to the other contractual terms

2. Not properly handling multiple offer situations with multiple Buyers

3. Not properly handling back-up offers

4. Entering into an agreement/contract with little or no earnest money from the Buyer

5. Entering into an agreement/contract without verifying the Buyer’s financial ability to close the escrow/contract

6. Not disclosing known material facts affecting the value or desirability of the property

7. Not providing the Buyer with legally required disclosures

8. Not obtaining the Buyer’s written acknowledgement of disclosures

9. Not considering whether and when to require the Buyer to remove contingencies

10. Not excluding items from the sale that…

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When you start to think (and act?) on buying a new home, maybe something like this has happened to you.  Here’s a bit of a graphed “look” at what buying a new home for our clients may feel like.  100 is elation and 0 being despair.  

A)      Dare to dream – this is the fanatical joy of dreaming and hoping.  The idea and ream are borne, it’s just perfect and new.  You can’t wait to start shopping. 

B)      Reality hits as you start thinking “home loan” – this is where your Realtor (who you’ve called to share your hope with) coaches you to consult a lender and see how much house you can afford.  Thoughts of monthly check writing and mortgages payments creep in.

 

C)      The pause of reality happens – you find out you can actually afford a new…

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We’ve had many people tell us how good we are at this “real estate thing” lately – thank you and we are definitely humbled and grateful for the props. 

Montana 406 Real Estate also seems to take on some new project almost every week – we feel we get towards doing something well that serves our home buyers and home sellers here in Bozeman and then we tweak to add something new that we feel will make our service even better – so when it's Bozeman 406 real estate and homes for sale in Bozeman, if we are good at this thing, why do more?

Because it’s personal – a personal bent to deliver the best to our clients.

Because the work and outcomes belong to us, by choice…and we cannot relax if we intend to always be living and working into our purpose and…

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One of the reasons Montana 406 exists to broker real estate in Bozeman is that every home sale and real estate transaction is a little different – that’s one of the things that attracted me, as the Founder, to first jump into this great business back in 1999.

What I’ve found out over the years is that we get the opportunity to learn more and something new on each transaction and our combined experience is more than 300 transaction sides at this point.

The other BIG factor to point out for any and all home buyers, in any trending market (up or down) is that Mr. Right may not exist.  We always coach our clients to look at where they want to be versus the house they choose – you can always remodel a house and you cannot move its location.

We’ve had…

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I waffle a bit on this “totally, 100% professional” look quite a bit.  I grew up along the east coast, went to college in Virginia, and then after graduation I worked as a lobbyist in Washington, DC.  I was always “dressed up” for work and I truly enjoyed it.

As I moved out west, have grown older and am a mother of two, I also started to see the fun in being a bit more casual in my dress and manner.

The bottom line is whether we dress it up or down, if we are not ourselves yet think we can sell ourselves through our dress or manner, we are not staying true and human.

At Montana 406 Real Estate one of my goals is to allow you to know me and to truly humanize your experience of what good and professional real estate representation is like.  That…

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When I was a young girl I used to love going over to my grandparents’ house.  Everything was fun and I was treated so special as the only granddaughter.

I was always in awe as to how much my grandmother knew – to me she was the most connected and informed woman on the planet.  She had an answer for everything and it was really amazing how she knew, and frequently referred to “Them”.  They were doing this to give us a better life, or They were going about something in a way my grandmother didn’t approve of, or They were saying this or that.  Do you have similar memories of people in your life with those connections?

I always used to keep quiet about Them and the fact that my grandmother knew who They were – I did not want to give away her secrets…

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