2008 video, finally, here it is!




Unlike my other videos, this one is not entirely about Billings. This is a wide-ranging look at real estate all around south-central Montana, with some bits about the national crisis. It's all related. Running time: 30 minutes. Enjoy! Let me know what you think.

Move your mouse over the video screen, and you will see options for viewing full screen and embedding this video on your own page.

Factual accuracy is very important to me, and I tried to make this video as true and correct as possible. Click here for the transcript of the video with over 100 references to sources I used. Please let me know if you find any inaccuracies.

Note: The above video is hosted on the Vimeo service, and it is very good quality for internet video. If your browser or computer are not able to handle it, you can try the Google Video version, but note that the quality is much lower.

Kenmark Construction held the first mass real-estate auction in Billings in recent memory. The auction was on Tuesday, September 9. I attended.



This auction was well publicized, and approximately 350 people showed up! The large room in the new College of Technology building was filled up, standing room only.

So how was it? You can read the Gazette write up, but that doesn't tell you much in terms of what actually went on and what it means for the market. That's what I'm here for.

First off, all 13 properties actually sold! That's pretty amazing; I've watched other auctions around the country, and usually few if any properties sell. Kenmark's success was in part due to fairly low reserves on the properties, and in part due to reasonably strong bidding in a Billings market that has not entirely gone bust yet.



Second of all, Kenmark let these properties go for pretty low prices. Bids came in at around 70% of the original asking price. I checked asking prices on comparable non-Kenmark properties. Kenmark's original asking prices were high, but the final bids were still a good 20% off of current asking prices for similar properties.

Also, according to a cursory glance at county records, some properties sold at near or below Kenmark's original construction loans. And that doesn't include land prices.

I've put together a spreadsheet showing the hard data for all of these properties. Please note that this is a rough take, and all data are preliminary.

The $/sf fields indicate the dollar amount per square foot, either for the original asking price or the sale price. I also included Comps $/sf list, which means the current asking price in dollars per square foot for similar properties for comparison.



I also took some video. But, of course, you're going to have to wait a few more weeks to see that in my full next installment of Housing Boom in Billings!