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Away at College, but Not Quite Away From Home
By Lisa Kalis
New York Times
December 12, 2003

In July, Frank and Sharon Davis bought a $186,000 three-bedroom house in Bellingham, Wash., with hardwood floors, a big deck and a tree-lined backyard. ''I could move there in a heartbeat,'' said Ms. Davis, a wedding consultant in Yakima, Wash. But it's not for her. It's for her 20-year-old twins, Dachelle and Robbie, sophomores at Western Washington University.

So long, dorm room. These days, a growing number of parents around the country are buying property for their college-age children to live in. Real estate agents report that sales to parents of students are up as much as 25 percent over the last two years in college towns like Amherst, Mass.; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Ashland, Ore. And in many cases these are not basic student-level apartments but entire houses, high-end condos, even vacation properties for the whole family to share after Junior graduates. ''We've seen a lot more parents in the last couple of years, probably because the stock market is not so good and interest rates are so low,'' said Amy Hudson, a real estate broker in Blacksburg, Va., home of Virginia Tech university.

Parents and brokers say that with home prices rising nationally by 6 percent a year over the last five years, buying in a college town can be a good investment -- not to mention that renting out an extra room to another student can help cover the monthly expenses. And in many cases, it's cheaper than shelling out for the dorms: while students living on private college campuses pay an average $7,144 a year for room and board, those who live off campus (but not with their parents) average $668 less -- a gap that's been widening over the years.

Although no one tracks the number of campus-area sales, over all the number of second-home purchases identified as investments rose to 37 percent from 20 percent from 1999 to 2002, according to the National Association of Realtors. College-area real estate can be a particularly good value thanks to the relatively stable employment and economy that schools offer, said David Givens, an analyst with Economy.com. And many college towns are also popular with retirees attracted to the cultural life a university can offer.

Not surprisingly, many kids like the new off-campus housing. ''There's really no comparison,'' said Dachelle Davis, who lived in dorms last year. ''Living in a house is so much better.'' One big plus, she said, is the kitchen: ''You don't have to worry about all the extra calories of cafeteria food.''

Maurice Grant wasn't looking for anything too fancy when his daughter Ravonne, then a student at the University of North Carolina, wanted to move off campus two years ago. He knew that the Chapel Hill market was strong and agreed to buy her a place. After a few hours of looking at places with an agent, they bought a two-bedroom town house three miles from campus, then rented out the second bedroom. With his daughter now in graduate school elsewhere, Mr. Grant sold the property this year for $105,000, making a 17 percent profit.

A ND Mike and Linda Dalby's son, Marcel, a junior at Texas State University, keeps his $42,000 one-bedroom condo in San Marcos so neat that his parents actually stay with him when they visit. Of course, said Ms. Dalby, a secretary in Duncanville, Tex., ''I threatened him with his life'' to make him take care of it.

It is not always that easy. Maintaining a house is much more demanding than taking care of a dorm room, as Barbara Rice found. In 2001, Ms. Rice and her husband, David, paid $620,000 for a 50-year-old ranch-style house, seven blocks from the ocean, during their daughter Jocelyn's freshman year at the University of California at Santa Cruz. But the young woman was unprepared for the house's old wiring and plumbing. ''A few times she called and said, 'I can't deal with this right now.' We'd have to stop everything and go over,'' said Ms. Rice, a volunteer tutor in Palo Alto, Calif., 40 miles away. Once, a water pipe burst and flooded the master bedroom. ''We didn't think through how much we'd have to come in and fix things.''

A bigger unexpected turn: This year, their daughter transferred to Smith College in Northampton, Mass. The Rices decided against being landlords and are selling the three-bedroom house. ''We're hoping to break even,'' Ms. Rice said. ''We didn't expect to be selling so soon.''

But, of course, even students on the most leisurely academic track end up finishing school (or dropping out), leaving parents with an empty second nest. And in many cases, it's in a spot that may not have been at the top of their vacation-home list. Still, said Jennifer Hartsell, a real estate broker in Bozeman, Mont., home of Montana State University, ''most parents in my experience end up keeping them.''

''They come out here and enjoy it so much,'' she said. ''They use it as a recreational second home or keep it as an investment property.''

Indeed, Mathew Evans's daughter graduated from the University of California at San Diego two years ago, but he and his wife, Carol, are holding on to the two-bedroom condo that they bought for her in Del Mar in 1999. It is in a gated residential complex three miles from campus and a mile from the beach. ''She had a great lifestyle,'' said Mr. Evans, a lawyer in Fair Oaks, Calif. For now they have it rented out, but they plan to use it themselves eventually. ''It's a wonderful place to live and visit,'' he said.

Still, not every 20-year-old living on his own for the first time can rise to the demands of home ownership. And the bigger the place, the more room there is for that killer kegger every Friday night. Another family (who declined to be named because, the father said, ''it was a disaster'') bought a five-bedroom house in the mid-1990's for their son, then a junior at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. (Similar properties now start around $450,000.) But the house quickly turned into the ''party capital of the world,'' the father said. The next-door neighbor ended up calling the police regularly, and students living in the house punched holes in the doors and put a $1,500 rip in the lining of the pool.

Their son was still living in the place after graduation when his parents decided to put it on the market. After five months and no offers -- ''there were kids hanging around smoking dope,'' the father said -- they kicked everyone out, including their son, and spent more than $20,000 redoing the place. They recently sold the house, and though they more than made their money back, ''it wasn't worth the grief,'' he said.

Mr. Grant said that his daughter's biggest problem was interviewing and picking roommates; she ended up with four over a two-year period. But in the end, he found that home ownership can be a good education in itself. He said that his daughter paid the utility bills and compared estimates from contractors for repairs. ''She's in the medical field, and business is not one of her fortes,'' said Mr. Grant, a securities broker in Charlotte, N.C. ''She played landlord and made sure the property was kept up. She's much better off two years later.'' She is now in graduate school for hospital administration and talks of opening her own clinic.

Houses With Names: Only the Mail Carrier Needs the Address
By Seth Kugel
The New York Times

WHERE -- Bozeman, Mont.
WHAT -- Bridger M House, a 4-bedroom house
HOW MUCH -- $1,049,000

Built in 2001 and named by its current owner, this 3,300-square-foot house is in the foothills of the Bridger Mountains. The M in the name refers to a large stone and cement M in the nearby mountains representing Montana State University, which is in Bozeman. The 20-acre property includes a horse barn and fenced pastures. The house has a stone fireplace, three bathrooms, a three-car heated garage and decks with valley and mountain views. Broker: Jennifer Hartsell, Absaroka Realty, (877) 269-3626 www.bozemanmove.com.

2003 another record year for Bozeman's real estate market
By Robyn Erlenbush
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Jan 20, 2004

It probably comes as no surprise to most readers that we have experienced another healthy year in real estate sales in the Gallatin Valley.

What continues to amaze me is the length of the positive real estate business cycle in our community. According to my figures, we have experienced 17 consecutive years of steady increases in both the average sales price and the annual number of units closed in the Gallatin Valley.

The tale was not always so ...

When I arrived in Bozeman in early 1981, fixed-interest rates were in the high teens with adjustable rate mortgages starting at 11.75 percent. The local economy was anchored mainly by agriculture and Montana State, with much smaller tourism, retail and service sectors than today. The real estate marketplace was significantly smaller and more fragile. In fact, the closure of Allen-Bradley in November of 1985 and Gallatin Homes in March of 1986 had a near-devastating impact on the real estate market. Our market was flooded with inventory, and many sellers had to come to closing with cash out of their pockets to complete the sale. Since 1987, our population and job diversity have advanced and grown, allowing our marketplace to not only become more stable and resilient, but to thrive.

So how did we fare in 2003? Overall, the local real estate market had a strong increase over the previous year. The latest figures from Southwest Montana Multiple Listing Service (MLS) indicate 946 residential properties representing $222.7 million were sold during 2003 in Bozeman and the surrounding area (an approximate 10-mile radius including the Springhill & Bridger Canyon areas), compared to 900 units and $197.3 million for 2002.

Within the Bozeman city limits, 636 residential units were sold in 2003 compared to 572 for 2002. The average sales price for residential property increased by 10 percent to $188,615 while the median price was $173,950. Of the residential sales, 409 units were single-family homes and 227 were condos and townhouses, an increase of 15 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Average and median prices for single family homes in the city limits were $210,292 and $188,500, respectively. Average price for in-town condos and townhouses was $149,558, while the median price was $133,900.

New construction is still a large segment of the in-town Bozeman market place. During 2003, the number of newly constructed units sold was approximately the same as 2002 at 214 units compared to 211 in 2002. And although the total new construction was comparable, construction of single family homes was 11 percent higher at 138 units, while the number of newly constructed condos and townhomes decreased 13 percent to 76. The average price for a newly constructed, single-family home in the city limits increased 16 percent to $222,189, with a median price of $198,200. The average and median prices for newly constructed condos and townhouses in Bozeman was $150,721 and $138,020, respectively, a 5 percent and 14 percent increase from the prior year.

Looking past the Bozeman city limits, the most significant increases occurred in the Belgrade area where an estimated $27.3 million in single-family homes on one acre or less were sold in 2003 compared to $14.2 million for 2002. This is the result of a 74 percent increase in units from 107 in 2002 to 186 in 2003. The average price increased from $132,931 to $146,687, with a median price of $142,400 for 2003.

On a national level, home sales continued to break historical records and carry the U.S. economy. With interest rates averaging about 5.8 percent -- the lowest in four decades -- it is an appealing market, and the statistics reflect it. Existing home sales for the nation are estimated to total over 6 million in 2003, an estimated 9 percent increase from the record number in 2002. The national median price for homes is also expected to reach a record level at $170,800, an 8 percent increase from the prior year and the strongest increase since 1980.

What's in the forecast for 2004? Though a cautious conservative, I am optimistic that record low interest rates, coupled with the continued popularity of the Rocky Mountain region, especially Montana and Bozeman, bode well for the continuation of the positive upward trend into the new year.

Robyn Erlenbush is the owner of ERA Landmark Real Estate and Intermountain Property Management.

Hey, Dude
Lured by cowboy dreams, newly wealthy city dwellers buy ready-made ranches
By Kitty Bean Yancey
USA Today
Sep 1, 2000

Destinations & Diversions

A new breed of cowboy is chanting an old refrain.

Give us land, lots of land, they're instructing Western real estate brokers and developers. Don't fence us in.

Joel Leonard of Chicago is one of the new dudes.

During 12-hour workdays in a high-rise in downtown Chicago, the 40- year-old options trader dreams of the home on the range he's planning to build in Colorado. Money's no object: He is putting down $2.6 million for a 70-acre lot in a private ranch development outside Steamboat Springs. He plans to hone his riding skills and maybe even live there six months and telecommute.

"When you're working your butt off, getting well remunerated for it, you say, 'Why am I doing this? Am I doing this just to stack more money up?' " Leonard says. At the ranch, he and wife Shelly feel "soulful, peaceful, it's just kind of neat."

"Oh, my gosh, it's incredible," Shelly agrees.

Stressed from the urban grind, flush with new millions and filled with visions of the pristine West, Leonard and other achievers are seeking out places a river runs through, where you can whisper to a horse or hear the call of the lonesome dove.

"I had a gentleman in his 20s who saw The Horse Whisperer and wanted to buy property here in Montana," says Todd Wirthlin of TLC Ranch Realty in Kalispell. "I sold him 25 acres with two trout ponds and a beautiful home surrounded by Forest Service land."

The raging fires in Montana this summer have put a temporary damper on ranch sales, Wirthlin says, "but I still have people interested in buying."

Real estate broker Jennifer Hartsell (Absaroka Realty) of Bozeman, Montana, says that these days, "about 93% of my client base is out of state. That wide- open-space thing has become popular, given the crime rate in the cities." Because of demand from the money crowd, ranches are going for more than their worth as agricultural producers. A spread that cost $750,000 to $900,000 a few years ago can sell for $1.5 million to $2 million, she says.

Young stock market maestros are "taking their paper profits and putting it into land," says Dave Adamson of Montana Property Consultants. "Over 100,000 acres has become a trophy. They've got bragging rights: They can go home and say, 'I own 150,000 acres in Montana.' Rarely do we sell land to the actual working ranchers anymore. They don't have the money."

But actually running a ranch retreat is too much for many tenderfoots, unless they have the range smarts and deep pockets of Ted Turner, who owns what seems like a quarter of Montana.

Elvis Presley, who had a fling with a 160-acre ranch in northern Mississippi in his post-Army days, was just one in a long line of flashy folks who have sunk money into fences, horses, ranch hands -- and confronted the grim economic realities of ranching in the process.

Thus, a strain of Western homesteads without hassles is emerging.

At Storm Mountain Ranch, Leonard's chosen piece of paradise, 11 of 14 homesites have been sold on a spectacular 1,063-acre spread described in promotional literature as "your private national park." There won't be the drudgery of hiring wranglers, baling hay or caring for horses: That will be done by the ranch manager and staff, with owners paying a yearly maintenance fee of about $30,000.

"Essentially, this is like a condo," Leonard says. "There's a wrangler who takes care of the horses, fishing cabins, a community lodge" and eventually "a wired home so I can trade" on the Internet.

Buyers "want their kids to see fish and tractors" in a place where "you don't have to lock your car or house," Storm Mountain president Jeff Temple says. "Yesterday I saw three bald eagles, six moose and lots of elk."

A similar project was co-founded by Charles Schwab of discount brokerage fame. Buyers at The Stock Farm in Hamilton, Mont., pay $250,000 to $1.2 million for parcels ranging from three-quarters of an acre to 37 acres and share a championship golf course, equestrian center and clubhouse. Hiking, riding and trout fishing in clear streams on the 2,600-acre spread are "a wonderful change from the fast pace of the business world," Schwab says.

Sixty percent of the 95 lots and 30 cabins are sold, says The Stock Farm co-founder Jim Schueler, many to high-tech whizzes from Northern California. The lure, he says, is "the Montana ranch experience without the headaches of management. And you don't have to wait to get on the golf course."

At the new Iron Horse development in Whitefish, Mont., more than 200 of 325 homesites on 820 acres are spoken for (cost: $160,000 to $1.75 million). There's a private golf club with a Tom Fazio- designed course ($50,000 to join) and an affiliation with stables. The leather-bound brochure promises "casual, yet gracious living for a favored few." Homes will be wired for high-speed Internet access. "We have people in their 20s out of Silicon Valley. They're after quality of life," Iron Horse president Pat Donovan says.

Low-maintenance dudedom

A newer concept is the upscale ranch as private club.

The prospectus for the 1,920-acre Piano Creek Ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colo., offers the chance to stay a minimum of 10 weeks yearly at what's billed as the world's sole members-only guest ranch. The lifetime fee, transferable to future generations, is $685,000 a family. There are plans for that status-symbol Fazio-designed golf course and a private ski area.

Piano Creek chairman Jerry Sanders says the project's selling points include "a chance to co-own a gorgeous piece of wilderness" surrounded by 2.4 million acres of government land and shared among 295 families. Since August 1999, more than half the memberships have been snapped up.

Twenty-nine-year-old John Hanlon, who hails from Boston's elite Beacon Hill neighborhood, is splitting a membership with his father, sister and brother-in-law.

"The idea of no hassles appealed to me," says the investment manager, who visited the property and was awed by the "waterfalls, big mountain peaks and fields with mountain flowers."

As for the family sinking more than a half-million dollars into an untested entity, "I ran some numbers, and it should be fine," he says.

The Piano Creek project, however, is not fine by a rancher neighbor and some environmental activists.

Betty Feazel, 84, allowed a sign opposing the development to be placed on her adjoining At Last Ranch. She worries about what the proposed golf course and ski area would do to the stomping grounds of elk, about the disposal of sewage and other issues. She says the Piano Creek people "think of themselves as environmentalists," but the project "eats the heart out of an essential piece of pristine, undeveloped land. Everybody hates to see it mutilated."

Her concerns are echoed by Mark Pearson, chairman of the Sierra Club's National Wildlands Campaign Committee. He says the project lacks essential permits, and he has warned Piano Creek investors of possible damage to wildlife habitats. "It's a tremendously controversial development," Pearson says. "This is not an appropriate location for a resort. It's probably the last undeveloped mountain valley in the San Juan mountains."

He says one potential Piano Creek investor, a candy-company heiress, wrote him to say "she no longer had a financial interest in the development. She enclosed a check of $1,000 to the Sierra Club."

Still, Piano Creek's Sanders plans to break ground in October. "We have been very concerned about the environment," he says, adding that only a small percentage of the ranch will have any development.

Piano Creek member Hanlon says he and his family "love to be part of nature. That's why we're doing this. We're not going to go in there and destroy it. We're going to protect it."

What's best for the West?

There are two sides to the issue of whether the faux dudes and their multimillion-dollar developments are harming what's left of the Old West.

Some say low-density ranch communities that try to respect the habitats of moose, elk and lynx are better than the "ranchette" developments that are scarring the land with high-density housing.

As large private ranches get more costly to run, "I think it's inevitable that some of these ranches are going to be sold and as a result, some will be developed," says Bruce Runnels, director of the Rocky Mountain Division of the Nature Conservancy. "The more sensitivity (to the environment), the better. To the degree that people of wealth buy acreage and have an interest in conservation, that's a plus."

Storm Mountain Ranch developers donated 793 acres to the Yampa Valley Land Trust, guaranteeing they will be free of development. The project has earned a "Smart Growth" award from the governor of Colorado.

Kirk Thompson, ex-chairman of the Ravalli County (Mont.) Planning Commission, says the panel unanimously recommended approval for the Stock Farm project.

"It went above and beyond the call" of environmental preservation, Thompson says, with low-density housing and attention to elk habitats. "The project is helping the local economy. Even though the wealthy people are resented, they're helping protect open space in the valley."

People are flocking to "live in a West that's open and fits their image of the West, "says environmental champion Runnels. "But ironically, by their very movement, they are adversely impacting the West. This is a defining moment."

Rustle up a ranch vacation, dude, by phone or by Web site

For more information on these guest ranches and new-dude developments:

* The Alisal, Solvang, Calif. Ranch resort. 800-425-4725.

* Iron Mountain Ranch, Whitefish, Mont. Private ranch community. 800-473-2755.

* Paradise Guest Ranch, Buffalo, Wyo. Guest ranch. 307-684-7876.

* Piano Creek Ranch, Pagosa Springs, Colo. Private guest ranch/ club. 970-264-6000.

* The Stock Farm, Hamilton, Mont. Private ranch community. 406- 375-1888.

* Storm Mountain Ranch, Steamboat Springs, Colo. Private ranch community. 970-871-1556.

For a listing of dude ranches, contact The Dude Ranchers' Association at 970-223-8440 or www.duderanch.org. Or visit www.guestranches.com, run by Guest Ranches of North America. Another Web site, www.ranch web.com, has descriptions of ranches, along with commentary and ratings by guests. It's run by Gene Kilgore, author of Gene Kilgore's Ranch Vacations (John Muir Publications, $22.95).

Just a week on the ranch can help city folks get things in perspective

It doesn't have to take big bucks to be one of the buckaroos.

If you can't buy your own ranch, you can book a dude ranch vacation for $700 to $2,500 or so weekly, says Jim Futterer, co- executive director of The Dude Ranchers' Association in LaPorte, Colo. Rates usually include meals and riding.

The summer of '99 brought 69,000 guests to the association's 108 member ranches, up from 57,000 in 1998. Numbers will be down this year because Western fires have closed some ranches.

Futterer estimates that about 350 U.S. ranches take guests. Upscale ones can be like resorts, with spa services and golf. The Alisal in Solvang, Calif., charges $2,625 weekly for its smallest double, including two meals daily but not riding or golf. Off-season rates can include activities.

But be warned: Whether you're bedding down in a luxury cabin or sleeping in a bunkhouse, the experience is addictive.

After taking their two young sons to the Paradise Guest Ranch in Buffalo, Wyo., ($1,575 weekly for adults in high season; $500 to $1,475 for children) for two years in a row, Michealene and Eric Risley of Palo Alto, Calif., are hooked.

Buying a ranch has "crossed our minds," says Eric, 36, an investment banker who finds "majesty and beauty in the wide open spaces."

Michealene, 40, who works in the dot-com field, loves that her kids get to ride ponies and participate in chicken-chasing contests. The Risleys already have booked Paradise Ranch for a third year.

In the workaday world, "it's very hard to maintain perspective," Michaelene says. "It's not what car you drive or how many stock options you own."

Going out West, she says, "keeps you grounded and reminds you of what's important."


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