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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OK – it’s official.  We are back into multiple offers when it comes to homes for sale in Bozeman at certain price points.  Along with multiple offer situations, come bidding wars, stress, and some emotions you may not have visited for a while.

Usually, when we hit this stage, our home sellers take the “talk to the hand” approach because it is all about the dollars.  This is not an unexpected, unreasonable or ill-advised approach – and it can be a natural reaction.  It is then our job to help gain the highest dollar for our clients, with the fewest hassles, in the most desirable amount of time.

When we represent a buyer in this situation, there is then the “write a letter” approach that we advise and have great success with.  What if, all offers being…

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…good money for brokerage services – and with a good and professional Realtor, you’ll get more than you pay for.

This is a point of conversation for many savvy home sellers…as it should be.  It is not one a good Realtor will shy away from either.  While brokerage fees are not cast in stone (nor is it legal to do so), there are customary amounts/percentages a home seller pays for the services rendered from a broker. The hard part is delivering more than you expect - and that is what we expect of ourselves at Montana 406 and other professional Realtors.

There are clients who would happily pay more for what we do, if they only believed that in fact, our dealings would turn out to be a bargain and worth more than the cost.  One reason people “price…

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It’s official – this is a busy industry, and if one is proficient at it, it’s even busier today.  The Bozeman real estate market has turned for the better this past year and professional Realtors are searching for inventory to meet demand.

When decided to jump back into the residential and developer real estate sales business in Bozeman, I thought I would activate my license, hit the office a few days each week, and ease back in – well, think again PollyAnna.

Last Tuesday I had a schedule that included:

  • Office meeting
  • New listings tour
  • Meet potential Seller and hear about his goals
  • Show potential Buyer 5-6 homes, based on her goals
  • Buyer home inspection
  • Meet potential Buyer at a listing

It is all well and good, and yes…

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It can be difficult to discuss this with people sometimes, and I consider myself a person with a relatively good degree of confront willing to talk about most subjects in a candid manner.  However, in the current market condition of real estate, especially with homes for sale in Bozeman and the surrounding area, talking about when to buy or sell a home can be tricky. 

If I go to the end of the report here and give you the answer, you may have to put your thinking cap on and put some pencils to paper.  The answer about when to buy or sell a home always lies in the goals of the potential home Buyer or Seller.  Why would you, need to, or have to move?

Today’s real estate market is far different than the environement/market of my parents and…

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It has been fabulous these past few months re-opening a real estate business here in Bozeman, and getting everything set up and gaining momentum once again.  And just so I don’t fool myself, it is still very much a work in progress.

We have been serving multiple clients at any given time these past few weeks and while that is a blessing, it also reminds me of the crazy-busy days many years ago.

One of the big and similar things I see is the discomfort of clients at certain points throughout “the process”, and then the transformation to comfortable as transactions move along and close.

It is uncomfortable to put yourself out on a limb (especially financially) and take a relatively large loan out and obligate yourself to pay it back.  It is…

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After brokering real estate and especially people’s homes and dreams for over a decade, it has always hit me hard that the process is as important as the desired end-result we all seek – a smooth and uneventful  transaction.

Inside of that, most consumers and people looking for a new home for sale or who are looking to sell their residence, look to a Realtor®.

As you start choosing what you want in a Realtor®, focus on the process.  That process should include a degree of education that allows you to follow along in the transaction with comfort.  It is not necessary to know everything it has taken your Realtor years to learn - experience is a good teacher – and yet I would encourage you to still have a sense of “Real Estate 101”, so that you are at…

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1.       Fiscal Responsibility

Selling and/or purchasing a home or an investment property will probably be one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) purchase of your life.  Many moons ago, I was taught to look at the process of finding and inspecting a new home, its escrow process and closing, as if it were my own money.  Every detail must be administered to - every “i” dotted and “t” crossed, so to speak.  No one deserves less than what I would expect with my own money and expectations.  Demand that your Realtor® look after your purchase and interests as if they were his/her own.

2.       Professional Distinction and Discretion

Let’s face it…not everyone needs to know everything about your interests, position and transaction.  As a professional,…

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It seems so long ago - in a galaxy far, far away – that day when my husband and I chose to enter the real estate profession.  We had been married earlier that year and had decided to buy our first new home just as we became pregnant. 

We were on the hunt for that perfect “fixer-upper”, worst-house-in-the-best-neighborhood we could find along the south Orange County coast in southern California.  The hunting process was fun and we saw a lot of houses over a month or so and finally decided on something that would fit our modest budget.  Then lightning struck, and I have to say that I know why members of our industry can get a bad rap.  The escrow and closing processes were just horrible, and never did we know what we were in for.  Our agent was referred…

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