Vacant lots hold no influence on local economics

Editor’s note: The following article was written by Somers Middle School seventh grade student Jay Harrison for a journalism project in Sarah Walter’s class.

In the town of Rollins not much happens that’s important to most people, however people in and around the community show a great interest in their communities.

This sparsely populated community on the outskirts of Lakeside has had a new group of 13 housing lots come up. These lots were subdivided so that the owner would make a profit selling them, but during 2007 the economy went wrong.

This was the owner’s first experience in buying lots, and he bought them at the wrong time. The properties became upside-down properties, which are properties that the owner owes more than he could make selling it. He didn’t expect the economy to go wrong, which is how the properties became upside-down properties.

Now the properties are still owned by the original owner but the price is too high for most of the people to buy the properties, however that is a debatable topic.

Most people in Rollins won’t buy the properties because their yearly income is too low and house prices in Rollins are at an extreme high for the state of Montana.

The average home in Rollins costs $260,263 and an average citizen’s income is $37,924 a year. The average home in Montana costs $176,300 and the average income is $42,322 a year.

These incomes and prices are incompatible.

Dale Crosby Newman, a Kalispell real estate agent, explained that the man who purchased these properties had turned the whole subdivision into a paradise neighborhood with paved roads and a sewer system in progress.

“If people moved there the economy would probably be affected positively, but right now it probably has no effect,” Crosby said.

When asked if the vacant lots affect the local economy, Shirley Harrison of Rollins held a similar opinion.

“The economy wasn’t affected at all by the lots, and that they’re just popular hiking spots were people go to spend their weekends hiking, biking, and hunting,” Harrison said.

Perhaps these lots could be an area for outdoor sports until the prices go down to a price that more people can afford.

No matter what these lots are used for, or how much they cost, they are for sale, even though most buyers won’t bother to purchase them because of price issues.