OT: Whitefish MT Update

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Not sure if anyone else was following the thread besides myself and maroonmadman when we started discussing the housing crisis locals are facing. Well there was a big development with 300+ homes of which 10% would be allocated to locals at an affordable rate.

Like I figured, they shot it down because of... traffic. I have seen neighborhoods with 5 times that number of homes with only one exit and people make it work. In a town like Whitefish, more than half those homes would be vacation rentals or second homes. It's not like 300 homeowners are leaving the house at 7:30 every morning to get to work.


It's a tough pill to swallow. I understand that people don't want it to change, but when it comes to towns/cities... You are either growing or dying. I did a pretty deep dive on that development and they were doing it right. Local guy, not out of towners. The big money will continue to come in and buy out existing homes to remodel or level. The costs will continue to rise and locals will have nowhere to live.

You have to accept and even embrace growth in a capitalist society. By forcing scarcity, the locals are doing more harm than good when it comes to making housing affordable. Unless of course they're willing to cash out and leave.

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2021/11/21/whitefish-planning-board-votes-against-mountain-gateway-development/

 

[aTotal360]

See Blue Ridge, GA.

 

[maroonmadman]

My friend tells me the locals felt only 10% dedicated to affordable housing wasn't enough. She made her decision and left as others are doing. Pretty soon only the well heeled will be left with few to tend to their needs.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

The well heeled bring in there own people. The swank lodge in my town has housing for 500 people. The restaurants at the lodge are open year around 7 days a week. A lot of the local restaurants are 4 days a week and take several months off in the winter when all their employees go up to work at the ski resorts.

The only way to slow or drive down housing costs is to build more homes. Supply and demand. You are not going to slow demand anytime soon. So everytime they shoot down a development it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

My neighbor tried to put together an affordable housing project a few years ago. 60 multi family units in a HDH zone. They looked wonderful in the drawings. The entire town fought him on it. So he had it rezoned r4 and is now building 5 homes that will sell for around $1.3 million each.

They just want someone to come in and waive a magic wand I guess and say here, housing is now affordable. The only way that happens is supply and demand. If you keep torpedoing supply, demand is going to drive costs through the roof.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

That sucks. But I kind of expected it just based on what I’ve seen while visiting a family member’s vacation house in Truckee.

Maybe I should be really glad I didn’t get that job in Park City almost 25 years ago.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

High dollar housing markets are like a carousel. If you are already on, you can safely move from horse to horse. If you are watching from the sidelines and try to jump on, you will probably get hurt.

So honestly, if you bought a house in Park City 25 years ago and sat on that sucker, or just kept upgrading to what you could afford after cashing in the previous (moving from horse to horse) you would have a whole lot of equity in multi million dollar house.

 

[Dawgbyte]

For those that have gone to Whitefish, what is the most reasonable way to fly there? I checked airfare and it was really expensive. But based on where it is I’m assuming it’s just gonna be expensive to get there.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Fly into Spokane WA and it's a 4.5 hour drive or so. Bozeman is about 6 hours from Whitefish and is a much smaller airport. Lots of cheap flights into Spokane with directs from DFW and ATL.

 

[ZombieKissinger]

If you’re not flying into Glacier, Spokane is pretty easy. I live in Spokane. You cross mountains to get to Glacier from here but it’s not too bad, and they keep the roads pretty clean in the winter. Anyone doing the Spokane to Glacier trip should let me know. Can get food and/or a drink in town once you fly in.

 

[fieldcorporal]

We flew there at the end of august. Jan-atl-msp-kalispel. Seems like it was about $650, but a crappy all day trip. Return was Kalispel-slc-atl-jan. Another crappy trip.

Glacier is worth it.

 

[JungRebel]

FCA but you'll likely be routed through SEA or DEN.

 

[Shmuley]

The last time I fly it out of Jackson, the route was JAN to DFW to DEN to Kalispell.

 

[ZombieKissinger]

The direct Atlanta to Spokane just started last year. There’s a pretty easy Jackson to Dallas to Spokane too. The drive would let you stop/stay in Coeur D’Alene on the way to Glacier. I think flying straight to Glacier is good too though