Last week’s massive dip in mortgage rates apparently pushed homeowners into action. According to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, refinancing was up 39% last week, hitting its highest point since January 2016.

Overall refinances accounted for nearly half of all mortgage applications: 47.4%, specifically. For mortgage lender Better.com, the refi surge was even bigger. The company saw refinance loans make up 56% of its total loan activity last month. In total, Better.com has seen a 500% increase in refinance applications since March 2018.

Last week’s dip into low-4% mortgage rates is the big driver of this uptick in activity. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan as of March 28 was 4.06%. On 15-year

The real estate and construction industry will increasingly have to grapple with an older population and consumers who want homes that can house extended families

United States is currently experiencing a sustained, decades-long growth in multigenerational households, according to recent research, though nearly a century of focus on single family housing means this transition also raises challenges.

Today, up to 41 percent of Americans who are buying a home are also considering accommodating a family member from another generation, such as an elderly parent or adult child, according to research first reported by Fast Company from John Burns Real Estate Consulting. That figure stands in stark contrast to the middle decades of the 20th Century, when only

In Montana, high school students must complete at least one credit in career and technical education to graduate. High school juniors in the state take the ACT college entrance exam for free, according to the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

There are 104 Montana schools honored in the 2019 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings.

Top Ranked Montana Schools

• #1 Lone Peak High School 45465 Gallatin Rd-30, Gallatin Gateway, Montana 59730   #2 Gardiner High School 510 Stone Street, Gardiner, Montana 59030   #3 Bozeman High School 205 N 11th Avenue, Bozeman, Montana 59715   #4 Sentinel High School 901 South Avenue West, Missoula, Montana 59801   #5 Frenchtown High School 17620

The U.S. Median home listing price recently hit a historic high of $300,000 according to realtor.com’s March housing data. That’s up 7 % from last March. Despite a slowing housing market, prices in a number of metros are still increasing, many at lower rates than a year ago. “This is the first time we’ve seen that number hit the $300,000 point nationally,” explained Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com. With the spring buying season kick-off, Hale expects “steady price growth to continue in 2019, with the exception of areas like San Jose.”

This happened despite that inventories kept increasing, though at a slower pace. Realtor.com saw national inventory grow 4 % this March compared to March 2018. That number jumped to a 9% increase when you

A teenager helps her family save newborn calves during a snowy spring.

Montana’s harsh winter persists into April. That’s bleak by most metrics, but especially so if you’re a cattle rancher — the snows continue straight into calving season. When I spent a winter there to make this short film, I was astonished by the conditions: Pregnant cows would wander off alone to give birth and drop their babies into freezing ice, and calves would shiver as they struggled to survive their first night. To save the newest members of their herd, ranching families work through the snowy nights in rotating shifts, searching for newborn calves with their flashlights and pulling them into the warming shed.

I met this ranching family after visiting the nearby town of

*Rates below are as of 4/5/2019

As a Realtor, quite often we are asked what schools clients children would attend if they bought a home in a certain area. The boundaries change regularly, so it can be a difficult question to answer. 

Here is the current boundary map as of February 7, 2018 due to the imbalance of enrollment increases in several of our elementary schools and two middle schools, recent changes were made.

Bozeman School Boundary Map  Click on the map to find your particular address in question to find you elementary school.

A teenager helps her family save newborn calves during a snowy spring.

Montana’s harsh winter persists into April. That’s bleak by most metrics, but especially so if you’re a cattle rancher — the snows continue straight into calving season. When I spent a winter there to make this short film, I was astonished by the conditions: Pregnant cows would wander off alone to give birth and drop their babies into freezing ice, and calves would shiver as they struggled to survive their first night. To save the newest members of their herd, ranching families work through the snowy nights in rotating shifts, searching for newborn calves with their flashlights and pulling them into the warming shed.

I met this ranching family after visiting the nearby town of

Land purchased by The Nature Conservancy near Malta will be sold back to surrounding landowners over three years in a unique partnership. 

North-central Montana ranchers and an international conservation group have collaborated to acquire a neighbor’s 5,000 acres in a unique partnership.

“There was a ranch next to us we wanted to buy and didn’t have the funding to do so … without becoming a financial casualty,” said Dale Veseth, a Malta-area rancher. “So we enlisted The Nature Conservancy, and we’re going to put a conservation easement on the property we bought and our home place as well.”

Veseth said his family has been on their ranch since 1943, although family members have been “running around the community” since 1886. 

One of our very own, Courtney Merritt King is the featured Realtor on HGTV's What You Get for the Money!

The show will air on 4/19 at 9:30pm EST on HGTV!