A relationship between a painter and a photographer led to a short film about the nature of friendship. Audrey Hall, a Paradise Valley-based photographer,
created a 10-minute film called “Painting John.” The film follows Livingston artist Hugh Wilson as he paints a portrait of 84-year-old rancher John Hoiland at Hoiland’s Swingley Road ranch over several days in November 2010.
Bright Metropolitan Markets
There are bright spots in the real estate market! The National Association of Home Builders’ First American Improving Markets Index reveals that key metropolitan areas have shown recent improvement in housing permits, employment, and housing prices.
“Despite the challenging conditions in the national economy and housing sector, there are areas throughout the country where we are seeing pockets of improvement,” said Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Reno, Nev. “Housing conditions are local, and do not always reflect the national picture. We created this new index to shine a light on those housing markets across the country that have stabilized and have begun to show signs of recovery.”
This is a vast improvement over last year’s numbers, which showed no growth at all. Today, there are 12 areas seeing growth.
These growth markets are calculated by analyzing Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) growth numbers, house price data from Freddie Mac, and permit data from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the NAHB, “A metro area must see improvement in all three areas for at least six months following their respective troughs before being included on the improving markets list.” This index is designed to track housing across the country in order to identify areas of improving economic health.
“It’s not surprising that many of the states represented are energy rich areas,” says NAHB chief economist David Crowe. “Those are the regions still experiencing relatively strong employment, supporting housing demand.”
Louisiana had three markets on the list and Texas had two. Thanks to certain strong market segments, some Southern markets hit less hard by the ailing economy.
The improving metropolitan markets are found all across the country, though.
Alexandria, LA
Anchorage, AK
Bangor, ME
Bismarck, ND
Casper, WY
Fairbanks, AK
Fayetteville, NC
Houma, LA
Midland, TX
New Orleans, LA
Pittsburgh, PA
Waco, TX
These figures are welcome news after recent reports of stock market jitters, declines in consumer confidence, and weak housing prices. The United States has many diverse markets and micro-economies. Time will tell if more areas are added to this growing list.
Source: Realty Times, Carla Hill Author
Published: September 8, 2011
Food For All 2011 – a huge success!
With tremendous support and generosity from Jeff and Susan Bridges, and locals, The “Food for All 2011” event was the biggest and most successful fund raising effort ever accomplished by The Livingston Food Pantry of Park County.
Jeff Bridges and his band “The Abiders” gave a beautiful performance for 200 people at the Shane Lalani center for the performing arts in downtown Livingston. The venue was intimate…it was an evening not to be forgotten.
In addition to raising more $42,000 after expenses, we also did a great job of educating people about the issue of hunger – especially childhood hunger – in Park County and the nation as a whole.
Local Sponsors Included:
Jeff and Susan Bridges
Raich Montana Properties LLC
Audrey Hall Photography
Chico Hot Springs Resort
Gibson Guitar
Engine 8 Design
Montana’s Rib and Chop House
Battleridge Construction
Sax & Fryer
Vootie Productions
Mustang Catering
Insty Prints
The Frame Garden
B Bar Ranch
We appreciate all of the hard work that was done to make “Food for All 2011” such a success.
Livingston is a wonderful place to live!
Have we hit bottom? Economists: Housing industry looking much brighter in 2011
Source: Reported By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
The housing industry is poised to gain strength this year after coming off one of its worst years ever in 2010, economic forecasts and new data released Wednesday show.
One cause for optimism: Building permits for new single-family homes rose 5.5% last month, the third consecutive monthly increase and the strongest showing since March, the Commerce Department said.
That sets the stage for more home construction later this year as the economy improves, says Celia Chen, economist at Moody’s Analytics.
“The trend is up,” Chen says.
But it’ll be a slow slog. The previous two years have been the worst on record for home builders in at least 50 years. Nationwide, home prices are down almost 30% from their 2006 peak. A new USA TODAY survey of 44 top economists finds that 48% say average home prices won’t hit bottom until sometime this year, and 27% say it’ll take longer.
The housing market recovery “will be two baby steps forward and one backward,” says Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.
The theme of slow improvement is likely to be repeated in December’s existing home sales data, to be reported today. A small gain is expected over November, says IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport.
He also says that December’s permit numbers indicate that housing construction “may be set to grow again.” But some of December’s jump may have been driven by builders trying to get permits ahead of 2011 building code changes in California, New York and Pennsylvania, the Commerce Department said.
Newport also cautions that home-building numbers “are still really awful.” Housing starts, for example, fell 4.3% in December as cold weather and snow delayed construction. But Newport says other factors will continue to depress housing starts.
Those include low prices on foreclosed homes, which makes it hard for builders to turn profits on new homes, and tight financing for home builders and buyers. What’s more, the recession sharply reduced the rate of household formation, which means that more families are doubling up in homes vs. each getting their own, Newport says.
Moody’s doesn’t see home construction getting back to more historically normal levels until at least 2012, Chen says. USA TODAY’s economist survey indicates that 669,000 new home starts are likely this year, up 15% from 2010.
The key is job creation, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors. When more people are working, and earning higher incomes, home buying increases. IHS expects the economy to add 2.5 million jobs this year and 2.7 million next year.
“The (housing) market appears to have hit bottom, and now we’re trying to get back to normal,” Yun says.
Another Record Breaking Year for Yellowstone National Park
For a second year in a row, and for the third time in the last four years, Yellowstone National Park has set a new annual visitation record!
During this calendar year, 3,640,184 people visited Yellowstone. These visits were 10.5% higher than what was recorded in 2009, which was itself a record year.
This past year the park also set monthly visitation records in June, July, August, September, and October.
Swiss Billionaire Puts $35 Million into Montana Conservation
A Swiss billionaire enamored with the wild landscapes of the American West has donated $35 million toward one of the largest private conservation land purchases in U.S. history.
Philanthropist Hansjorg Wyss told The Associated Press that he wanted to build a natural legacy people still could enjoy in 100 years. His donations to the Trust for Public Land and Nature Conservancy helped fund the recent purchase of 310,000 acres of timber land in Montana. The land is being transferred to the U.S. Forest Service and Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.
Wyss’s fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $6.1 billion came largely from Synthes, the medical devices company he ran for three decades and still oversees as chairman.
He has donated to a large range of causes, with the largest single gift apparently a $125 million donation two years ago to create a bioengineering institute at Harvard University.
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Wyss 75, said he first became enamored of the Rocky mountains as a college student who toured the region in 1958. “Look at these beautiful landscapes,” Wyss said. “There was controversy when Yellowstone National Park was created and when they declared the Grand Canyon as a National Monument. But there are places in the US that must be protected”.
Many billionaires and megamillionaires have come to Montana and decided to claim a piece of it as their own – from media mogul Ted Turner and software entrepreneur Tom Siebel, to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who have all purchased ranches in the state.
Source: The Associated Press • December 12, 2010; Livingston Enterprise