Living in Montana -Things They Don't Tell You

This is one of the best promotional videos I have ever seen by a realtor. A sincerely genuine and heartfelt appraisal of their beautiful state, along with a blunt, honest and realistic description of the realities of living there. In other words, "enjoy Montana but don't think you can change it". Take note, city dwellers (especially millennials and boomers). Well done, Montana Life Realty Team.👏

I love the fact that more people have watched this video than live in Montana.

In Montana you can stand in the road talking for 7 minutes and not a single cars comes by. I love it

As a fellow Montanan I think the best way to show how winter life here is to show them. Sometimes visual is better than words. Some people don’t understand we actually prep before winter starts i.e. checking maintenance on snowplows, generators , making sure wood ready if wood fireplace or stove. Plenty flashlights/candles , and of course food and water supply. This is not the place where winter rolls in and you think everything will be the same as fall. Don’t bet on it. We live 4 miles from town and every winter our driveway has about 3 inches of ice. 2 years ago no one could come in and no one could get out. So sand is highly recommended. Yes winters can be rough but I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I’m a baby boomer and this is home.

Australian here, an hour is a very close neighbour in our rural areas, I’ve lived places where it was over an hour drive to the front gate of the property and over 2 hours to the nearest neighbour with a 4 hour drive to the closest shop/store, most people own at least one aircraft and many have multiple aircraft in the family, both rotary and fixed wing.

"Don't push where you came from onto the place you're moving to." Perfectly said and should apply universally everywhere.

If you want to move to Montana, and change it. Don’t! We like it here!

I lived in Montana years ago, and returned many times to visit family and friends. The people are great. And the scenery is wonderful. He's right: don't expect urban conveniences in rural areas (in any part of the world). With some self reliance, life is good in Montana.

I love how he’s just standing in the road and no one is driving by. Makes me miss Nebraska ❤️ you’re awesome dude

I pray Montana stays wild.

I live in California and I'm all for places like Montana staying the way they are. For as they say" Come, visit, have a good time. But please go home and leave us the way you found us. Happy"

I was told by a Missouri river boat guide that out of over a million people living in Montana, only about 300,000 are "real Montanans". He took us up the Missouri river from Upper Holter Lake to Mann Gulch in his skiff so we could hike the trail where the Mann Gulch Fire claimed the lives of 13 out of 15 smoke jumpers in 1949. This is the country that Lewis and Clark named "Gates of the Mountains" because it''s where the Missouri goes into the mountains from the flat lands. Mann Gulch was really amazing with a wonderful trail, and the crosses and the plaques on and near the trail on the hillside the firefighters were running up to try to escape the fire. Also there were burned trees still evident, which was amazing after 60 years. It was kind of spooky because it was so isolated and you knew it was a place where you didn't want to get stuck at night with the temperatures plummeting. We paid him 100 dollars each way which was well worth it, seeing how the only other way into the gulch was beating through a very bushy trail from north of the gulch, navigating cross country, a pretty sketchy option. I trusted the guide but of course paid him the second hundred when he picked us up and took us back to the harbor. We've RVed in Montana a lot and know that the winters are nothing to fool with. Even in the summer you can get adverse weather, rain, snow and hail. One year in June Yellowstone Lake was still frozen, west and south Yellowstone were clear, but north and east Yellowstone still had 5 feet of snow on the road shoulders. And 4 wheeling, some of the worst most cement like mud I've ever encountered is in Montana, almost impossible to get off your truck. And of course you have to be aware of the wildlife. We've seen a lot of elk, deer and wolves, beavers, badgers, snakes and others in and out of the park, and bear and bison in the park. Gotta say, you have to have a satellite phone up there.

I met this guy in Montana once, who was moving out of the state with his wife and children. He told me he and his new bride move there and one night it started snowing. And it kept snowing. And yet more snow. Finally the snow storm let up, so he packed up his wife and three children and fled the state.

City folks tried to do that out here in NE PA. They wanted curbs and street lights in miles of rural farm country because its too dark. Our twp told them they should go back to the city where they have those things. Gotta love it.

As a Native of Montana I’ve seen many people come and go- first thing they do fence and post NO TRESPASSING! Growing up here you could pretty much pull off the Hwy, walk across a field to the river and fish anywhere. The landowners would wave to you, ask how the fishing was, chat then go on their way. Those days are gone..but feel incredibly blessed to have been raised here.

I love how honest and well intended Montana realtors are with videos like this. Was in a 9 year relationship with a man who’s family owned a 500 acre dairy farm. I can’t wait to get back to living this way. That being said many a friend who visited over the years were shocked by the rural life.

I lived in Montana for 5 years. The last two years I lived in a town with a population of 85 people. We did have a very small grocery store but they didn’t have most of what people normally buy. One hour and 45 min away from any big town, near a ski resort and I miss it so much! Had to put antifreeze in the toilet, when pipes freeze I’ve had to wait for them to thaw or the only local with a welding machine. I experienced 2 days of near 60 below, and was snowed in for 5 days. Only way I finally got out was one of the neighbors had a tractor but I was close to last in the list. Also, another thing people aren’t familiar with is a block heater. You literally have to plug your vehicle in even when you go shopping because it gets so cold it probably won’t start when you come back out. There’s white outs so if you don’t know the road you’ll wind up in the ditch or off the side of a cliff. And I’ve had to hitchhike many times when my truck broke down. Just a few more things to think about! But, if my wife would move, I’d go back in a second!

He’s right. About everything. We’re 45 minutes from the nearest store and 15 miles from the nearest gas station. We learned. You will too. Just don’t bring the madness you’re leaving with you and you’ll be just fine.

I come from a wilderness region in Sweden and when we move somewhere else, the rule is that you go and stay for a short visit and "listen to the wilderness". It means find out what nature is telling you; water, wildlife, roads, etc., because it will determine much of your future. Also, make the smallest "foot print" you can and let nature give you what it has so when you leave, nobody knows you were there...and if you move, the first thing you do is bring a gift to your neighbors, saying: "thanks for letting me come and stay" as sign of respect for them...

That was a refreshing dose of reality. Montana can be a beautiful place to live and raise a family, but it is not easy once you are away from the cities, i.e. Billings, Bozeman, Missoula. Almost everywhere else you will find that you must be everything. If you want or need something you will have to figure it out. If you are not an independent self starter with abillities in various fields from mechanics, plumbing, agriculture, carpentry, medicine, electricity, hunting, self defense, irrigation, vetenary, first aid, canning and freezing, butchering, etc., etc., YOU WON'T MAKE IT. Nobody has a 8hr job. It is 24hrs every day and you are not always in control of your schedule. You may be snowed in or burned out at any time. And guess who the fireman is? That's right, YOU. You are also the truck driver, Snow plow operator, Ambulance driver, animal control, exterminator and garbage man. You are the first responder, police, search and rescue, school board, councilman, and wildlife officer. You are the volunteer, librarian, accountant, entertainment and welcome wagon. Want some baked goods or fine dining? Put on your chef's hat, because that's you, too. In short you had better be ready to "Cowboy Up" for everything at anytime or Montana will chew you up and spit you out. Honestly, most people are not capable or tough enough to manage life out here. Period. That's the truth. But if you can take all that in stride, this is still the best place to live free. Period.