The Last Best Real Estate Value!

By Rusty Squire on March 12, 2009

People that purchased real estate in Jackson, Wyoming during the 1970s and 1980s are dancing a jig today. That is because this southern entry community to Yellowstone National Park has seen real estate prices rise twenty-fold, or more, as some of the nations wealthiest individuals purchased real estate in the area. The same is true of Aspen, Vail, Park City, and many other Rocky Mountain resort locations.

This begs the question: Where is the next undiscovered gem in the Rockies that might become the type of real estate investment that Jackson, Vail, Aspen and Park City once were? In todays deepening recession it is likely that lower cost alternatives will move to the forefront as Americans take a more conservative approach to investing.

Now let’s venture all the way up to south central Montana and the tallest peaks in the State. We arrive in the authentic Victorian era mining town of Red Lodge that is steeped in western history. A ski resort and 18 hole golf course bless the town, along with endless quantities of recreation right out your door. New owners of the ski hill recently invested millions in upgrades and the resort is experiencing more traffic than anytime in the past five years, if you can call just over 100,000 skiers per year traffic. Vail does over 1.5 million, more than every ski hill in Montana combined.

The town itself is in a major real estate renaissance when most other resorts nationally are struggling to get over a post-real estate boom hangover. Consider this: A new $25 million hospital begins construction in 2008, a new $9 million high school is nearly finished, a new Red Lodge Ales brewery and Sams Tap Room is nearly finished, and numerous other commercial and residential developments are well under way.

The town itself borders on the one million acre Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness which contains all 32 of Montanas 12,000-foot plus peaks and it is a Mecca for backpacking, rock climbing, skiing, mountain biking, kite skiing, snowmobiling, and high mountain lake fishing.

Why then does Red Lodge still have the least expensive resort real estate in the entire Rocky Mountain region? That is a good question and a question that we dont feel will be asked for many more years as we expect to see prices rise, say architect Don McLaughlin a member of the Spires at Red Lodges development team. Mr. McLaughlin was also helped create Red Lodges National Historic District in the early 1980s by chronicling all of Red Lodges historic structures with his wife Betsy.

The Spires at Red Lodge is the areas newest, and largest, development and borders the new Hospital and the golf course. The Spires doubled the City of Red Lodges park space, created over 3 miles of trails, and has clear views of several 12,000 foot peaks. You can visit their website by Googling Spires at Red Lodge.

There are no fewer than 25-plus annual events held in the area, most occurring during the summer months. Last summer Willie Nelson showed up for a small concert in front of 7,000 fans at the rodeo grounds. Other events include one of the oldest triathlons in the nation called the Peaks to Praries.

The town hosts the annual 4th of July rodeo, a Harley Rodeo rally every mid-July, the U.S. National Ski Joring Championships, the Festival of Nations (a multi-cultural event), Shakespeare in the Parks, the Peaks-to-Prairies triathlon, a very popular Christmas stroll, the annual Fat Tire Frenzy and a long list of events, so there is always something to do here.

Perhaps the real ace in the hole for the town is the close proximity to Montanas largest city Billings. Billings with its population of over 100,000 has the northern Rockies best medical center, largest regional shopping center, and the States largest airport, which helps explain why Billings too is growing.

The whole south-central region of Montana has been seeing some really good job growth with Cabela’s opening a superstore in Billings and G.E. adding up to 300 jobs in a newly completed facility.

The amount of homes under $200k in this region and the amount of land well under $100k is enough to make even the most fervant fans of a “blue light special” salivate with anticipation.

Adventure whitewater serves up great rafting trips on the Stillwater and you can’t beat a quick stop at the Grizzly Bar and Steakhouse in Roscoe on the way back home from a day on the river.

Yellowstone Park is about one hour away and the famed Beartooth Pass is just 12 miles south of town and climbs from 5,800 feet in elevation to just over 11,000 feet. This highway was called the most scenic highway in America by journalist Charles Kuralt.

The oldest national park and the highest paved pass originating in the State also exist here and the Beartooth was called the most beautiful highway in America.

Fly fishing on the Stillwater River, the Clarks Fork, Rock Creek, Willow Creek and the Shoshone are always guaranteed to please. The world famous Bighorn River is just a 90 minute drive away and provides some of the best tail water dam trout fishing anywhere in the United States.

For folks that like to chase little white balls and hang around the 19th hole, Red Lodge Mountain Country Club has a nice challenging course right in town with awesome mountain views.

The Spires is a beautiful new development with miles of trails and acres of Parks on all city services. It even has grreat views of the 12,000 foot peaks.

Time to take a visit to the last best place in the Rockies? Mount up and trot on down.

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