Where in Montana to Live Near Whitefish

[Doc Holliday]

Is Kalispell the "city" where folks around Whitefish go to grocery shop, Wal-Mart, etc..... Looking at areas to live in the future......like to ski/snowboard, but not as much as I like to hunt......from what I hear it is being overrun with liberals from California anyway. I'd like to live on a parcel somewhere in the general area where Whitefish/Kalispell is in range, but also would like to be able to get away from folks pretty easily as well and be near hunting/fishing opportunities. I see some of the other names on the map around Kalispell.....any recommendations on general areas or counties? Any places to avoid?

 

[137buck]

You have Colombia Falls which isn't too bad.

 

[bobr1]

Where are you wanting to move from? Do you know the area well? NW Montana is not the best area for hunting honestly, especially elk, lots of bears though. PM me if you want to chat.

 

[100percent]

Can’t remember (imagine) but, there is a hell of a bar at Noxon or Libby which isn’t terribly far from whitefish. I remember thinking this would be my hangout if I lived around here. The walls were covered with autographed dollar bills and booners!!!

 

[Ross]

Beautiful country hunted it for 20 yrs from Thompson falls north to Idaho border in-laws lived in plains and now
polson for 30 yrs...Hunting was incredible a decade ago...every day there is a chance at a booner or incredible animal and you can get away from99.9% of hunters but your opps will be limited weather can be a bugger and if you want to hear no machines of any kind you can find that. good luck on your decision.

 

[Okhotnik]

Ill be over fly fishing the Kootenai next week. Great area to live for a sportsmen

 

[hobbes]

Can’t remember (imagine) but, there is a hell of a bar at Noxon or Libby which isn’t terribly far from whitefish. I remember thinking this would be my hangout if I lived around here. The walls were covered with autographed dollar bills and booners!!!

I'm guessing that's Libby. Seems like I ate lunch there once on my way through. I think Noxon has a bar, so I could be wrong, but it wouldn't be my choice of places to live. Libby is still a fairly good haul to whitefish skiing. Noxon is farther.

I'm sure Kalispell is where the majority of shopping takes place. Columbia Falls, Lakeside, and Bigfork are all close by. The cost of living is relatively high in the region.

I think MT is seeing an increase in folks wanting to move here due to this virus crap. Kalispell seems to be one of the favorites. I can't really complain, I moved here. My concern is that folks move here and want to change Montana. They want the views, but want to bring along their west coast or east coast life. I don't want to see MT turn into the front range in CO.

 

[Doc Holliday]

.... My concern is that folks move here and want to change Montana. They want the views, but want to bring along their west coast or east coast life. I don't want to see MT turn into the front range in CO.

Yeah, I'm from Georgia but live in Florida now in a suburb that is basically in the city. All I want to do is build a place on 20-40 acres and mind my own business. Reload, split wood, build fires, sit on my back deck and not see or hear anyone else. My wife likes to go out to eat once in awhile....but other than that I am all about the outdoors, and peace and quiet. Don't give a rip about sports, concerts, coffee shops, flatbills, or other trendy things.

 

[rustneversleeps]

My concern is that folks move here and want to change Montana. They want the views, but want to bring along their west coast or east coast life. I don't want to see MT turn into the front range in CO.

This x1000

 

[Peaks&Creeks]

I think MT is seeing an increase in folks wanting to move here due to this virus crap. Kalispell seems to be one of the favorites. I can't really complain, I moved here. My concern is that folks move here and want to change Montana. They want the views, but want to bring along their west coast or east coast life. I don't want to see MT turn into the front range in CO.

Too late. Well on its way.


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[AK Troutbum]

Yeah, I'm from Georgia but live in Florida now in a suburb that is basically in the city. All I want to do is build a place on 20-40 acres and mind my own business. Reload, split wood, build fires, sit on my back deck and not see or hear anyone else. My wife likes to go out to eat once in awhile....but other than that I am all about the outdoors, and peace and quiet. Don't give a rip about sports, concerts, coffee shops, flatbills, or other trendy things.

Purchase 20-40 acres in NW Montana, who are you Ted Turner?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Purchase 20-40 acres in NW Montana, who are you Ted Turner?

These look pretty reasonable:

40 acres w power: https://www.landwatch.com/Flathead-County-Montana-Land-for-sale/pid/335686003

20 acres:

No power: https://www.landwatch.com/Flathead-County-Montana-Farms-and-Ranches-for-sale/pid/338257903

Power: https://www.landwatch.com/Flathead-County-Montana-Land-for-sale/pid/338183947

 

[Dustin the wind]

We moved from Oregon to N. Idaho 4 years ago, not because of virus crap, liberal puke crap. We now are in Helena for work but that area from Plains to Noxon is my favorite part of Montana, if you can find a job there.

 

[Trevor73402]

Yeah, I'm from Georgia but live in Florida now in a suburb that is basically in the city. All I want to do is build a place on 20-40 acres and mind my own business. Reload, split wood, build fires, sit on my back deck and not see or hear anyone else. My wife likes to go out to eat once in awhile....but other than that I am all about the outdoors, and peace and quiet. Don't give a rip about sports, concerts, coffee shops, flatbills, or other trendy things.

What you said is exactly how I feel and what I’d love to do. Find 80 acres and I’ll split it 40/40 with ya. We can make sure nobody gets too close to us that way. We can use flat bills for fire starters.
Kalispell is one of my favorite places in the US. I absolutely loved it there. While I was there, I met a family that had moved there from Florida. They were very much “prepper” type people. Very anti-gov. Very self sufficient. They had their own milk cow, chickens, Pigs, goats, etc. They would trade milk and eggs to their neighbors for other things they needed. They had a simple cabin. Not huge. But they had a deck on the back that had an amazing view of the mountains looking out across a huge meadow. It was truly captivating. I sat back there looking at the mountains and drank an ice cold glass of raw milk that his wife had milked from the cow earlier that morning. A memory I won’t ever forget. In a place like that, you realize how very little you need materially in order to be truly happy. A decent piece of land. A solid cabin. A good woman. A loyal dog. A nice fire. Forget about all the other shit.

 

[hobbes]

These look pretty reasonable:

40 acres w power: https://www.landwatch.com/Flathead-County-Montana-Land-for-sale/pid/335686003

20 acres:

No power: https://www.landwatch.com/Flathead-County-Montana-Farms-and-Ranches-for-sale/pid/338257903

Power: https://www.landwatch.com/Flathead-County-Montana-Land-for-sale/pid/338183947

Power probably means year round access, but confirm that. Winter access to lots of those kind of properties is questionable. It may well require your own plow. "Recreational" unlikely has year round access without a snowmobile. Its just something to be aware of.

 

[hobbes]

What you said is exactly how I feel and what I’d love to do. Find 80 acres and I’ll split it 40/40 with ya. We can make sure nobody gets too close to us that way. We can use flat bills for fire starters.
Kalispell is one of my favorite places in the US. I absolutely loved it there. While I was there, I met a family that had moved there from Florida. They were very much “prepper” type people. Very anti-gov. Very self sufficient. They had their own milk cow, chickens, Pigs, goats, etc. They would trade milk and eggs to their neighbors for other things they needed. They had a simple cabin. Not huge. But they had a deck on the back that had an amazing view of the mountains looking out across a huge meadow. It was truly captivating. I sat back there looking at the mountains and drank an ice cold glass of raw milk that his wife had milked from the cow earlier that morning. A memory I won’t ever forget. In a place like that, you realize how very little you need materially in order to be truly happy. A decent piece of land. A solid cabin. A good woman. A loyal dog. A nice fire. Forget about all the other shit.

Sounds like another Unabomber in the making. Your name isn't Kaczynski is it?

 

[mwf008]

I moved to Kalispell in October (no, not from Kalifornia). I share everyone’s sentiments about change. Unfortunately, the secret is out and the population is booming. My wife and I have been visiting for years, and since I first came here I knew it was where I wanted to live. Now that I’m here, I absolutely love it. I travel for work, and when I leave home I always miss my family, but I have this strange new feeling that I miss Montana too. I’ve lived in lots of places and never had that before. Montana does this to people, it’s an incredibly special place.

Anyway, we chose to live in a neighborhood in north Kalispell. It’s a good compromise for us. Because we’re between Kalispell and Whitefish, we have the convenience of both. I can be at the parking lot at big mountain in 25 minutes, even when I get stuck behind the SNOW bus. Even though we live near the city, you can find remote pretty remote wilderness in an hours drive or less.

 

[bsnedeker]

Power probably means year round access, but confirm that. Winter access to lots of those kind of properties is questionable. It may well require your own plow. "Recreational" unlikely has year round access without a snowmobile. Its just something to be aware of.

Yeah, that third property you might be able to get to in the winter, but the other I would really be questioning.

The other thing to bear in mind out here is that the cost to build is very high due to the demand. Quality builders are working on multi-million dollar properties pretty much year round so they are not really too interested in working with a guy on a budget. When we moved out here we were looking at the same route: buy land and build, and we quickly changed our tune once we realized how long it would take to get the home completed, and what the total cost would be. That said, we do have some amazing builders out here so if you aren't in a hurry and have money to spend you can get some incredible work done.

I live outside of Columbia Falls and think it's pretty much the perfect spot to be. 20 minutes to Kalispell, 10 minutes to Whitefish, and 20 minutes to Glacier. I'd also look into the Kila area if you were looking for something a bit further out for a bit less money from what I've seen. If you REALLY want to get some value you should look north towards Eureka...some really good values on some of those properties if you don't mind driving a bit to get into Kalispell.