Johnson talks housing market, business history at chamber meeting

The real estate market in Big Horn County is strong and stable, broker/owner Sarah Johnson reported at the Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon last week.

Johnson, owner and operator of Johnson Home and Land, was the featured speaker at the chamber luncheon on June 15, providing both a history of her business – now celebrating 25 years in operation – and a review of the real estate outlook in the area.

Johnson said she obtained her real estate license in 1995 and at age 21 and, fittingly, went to work for Century 21 Sunlight Agency just as co-founder Charlie Monk was retiring. She recalled Donna Monk taping her card to her telephone book for easy reference so that when people called Charlie she could refer them to Johnson.

Two years later, she affiliated with the Wyoming Real Estate Network, running a branch office in Lovell, then started Johnson Home and Land in April of 2001, operating at 235 East Main for around 10 years, then moving across the street to 226 East Main, where her office is located to this day.

She recently welcomed Cowboy State Financial into her office, realizing that she had space to provide as the company, having recently acquired Ram’s Head Insurance, was looking for space to rent in town.

“He (Cowboy State Financial owner Trevor Nelson) was looking for space,” Johnson said, “and I remember telling him, ‘I just don’t know.’ I was looking up and down Main Street, trying to think of where there might be some space available, and at the same time I was thinking to myself, ‘Boy, I don’t use very much of this space very often,’ and so it finally dawned on me: call Trevor and say, ‘I do have an idea.’ So we ended up sharing space, and I’m really excited to be able to offer that to him and to be able to share space with him and his staff.

“So we’re still in business at 226 East Main, and for any of you that have been doing the math, that’s 31 years in real estate, 25 of those as owner of Johnson Home and Land.”

Johnson said she added property management to her portfolio several years ago, working with a number of rentals in the area. She also started teaching real estate classes around 2006 and now owns and operates the Wyoming Real Estate Institute.

“I found that teaching classes to other real estate professionals has been something that I’ve really enjoyed, and in 2024 I acquired the ownership of the Wyoming Real Estate Institute when the former owner retired,” she said. “The two businesses, Johnson Home and Land and the Wyoming Real Estate Institute, dovetail very well together.

“I think still being in practice and still actively listing and selling and doing property management brings up relevance to the classes, because I’m in the trenches with the students dealing with what they’re dealing with.”

The real estate industry has changed dramatically over time, especially since the COVID-19 years, when virtual showings and closings and more became the norm.

“Virtual showings started with COVID, but they never really went away,” she said. “We just did a Facetime showing this last weekend, so there are some things that, once they started, this is what the consumer was now preferring: long distance closings. We all used to sit around the closing table, and every time people had to take a day off work to close.

“I was a little slow, a little resistant, to coming around to moving away from the traditional 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, but I’ve been doing it for a long time now. We were finally listening to the consumer, who said really real estate doesn’t happen 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. It’s a lot in the evenings; it’s a lot on the weekends.”

Maintaining the office downtown does allow customers to engage in a private, confidential conversation with Johnson, however, she noted.

“We feel like real estate conversations, financial conversations, necessitate a closed door where we can talk about things that are sensitive that you don’t want to have a conversation about in a local restaurant or something like that,” Johnson said. “So we will maintain the office space; we have no plans to change that. So, we will still have a Main Street presence. So, while our building front is going to look a little bit different, we are not going to go anywhere.”

Market update

Turning to real estate market conditions, Johnson termed the real estate market in the area “strong and stable.” She said the market isn’t as hot as it was during COVID but has reached a level of “healthy consistency.”

“I believe that that eases the minds of consumers no matter which side of the transaction you’re on,” she said. “Buyers and sellers like the idea of a little bit more predictability and consistency.”

She said there are some 40 to 50 residential “transaction sides” reported to the Multiple Listing Service annually in North Big Horn County.

“The market is trending stable,” Johnson said, “meaning year over year we’re not seeing any big dips, appreciation or depreciation. What we are seeing is days on market trending lower, and that’s a good thing in that properties are turning over a little more quickly. There has also been a strong decrease in that rapid fire appreciation that we were seeing in 2020/2021, so while we’re not seeing depreciation necessarily, we’re seeing a drop in the crazy appreciation. So that’s actually a very healthy thing for the market, too.”

Over the previous year – June 15, 2025, to June 15, 2026 – there were 40 transaction sides in the area and an average “days on market” figure of 91, Johnson said.

“That’s a pretty good spot to be for a 12-month period, but I also like to throw in median, because you’ve seen those properties that have been on the market for a really, really long time, and that skews the averages,” she said, “so the median days on market is 35 for the last 12 months, and that’s from the day of list to the day the contract was pending; it doesn’t count the escrow period.”

The average list price for that time period was $290,000, with an average sales price of $280,000. In the previous year, ’24 to ’25, there were 42 transaction sides with an average days on market of 66 and a median of 32, but the average list price was $334,000 and the average sales price was $320,000.

“Now, that might make some people panic and say that’s rapid depreciation, but it’s not, because we’re not selling the same house twice,” Johnson said, “It’s just different houses that are coming on the market. So again, small sampling. You can’t pull out those kinds of conclusions from that small of a sample.”

The average list and sales price in 2023-24 was similar to the past year, Johnson said.

Currently, there are 42 homes on the market in the immediate area listed through the Wyoming Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, with 19 under contract.

“I can honestly say that it feels like the market has settled, and even though affordability is still an issue, that’s probably a longer, bigger picture process that will hopefully get better in time,” Johnson said.

Taking questions, Johnson said the rental market is tight. She said Johnson Home and Land manages 35 to 40 rentals and there are rarely any vacancies.

“We can usually fill our vacancies before they go on the open market,” she continued. “We have essentially a waiting list of people that have been pre-approved. We’ll call our list when something comes available, and in most cases we can fill them before they actually are one day vacant.”

Rents range from $600 to $2,500 a month, Johnson said, and she agreed that building rental properties would be a good investment in Lovell.

As for demographics, she said she’s seeing more young, retired people moving to town and people who may look at perhaps Cody first, then find a better price in Lovell. Of course, there are also those looking at recreation, lifestyle or taxation levels, have taken a local job or wish to move closer to family.

Shumway thanks

Chamber president Cameron Miller began the meeting by noting the many years of service to the chamber by longtime board member and former president Joseph Shumway, who has moved to Cody to continue his career with Big Horn Federal, with Miller noting that Shumway was a “great member of the board and volunteered in many areas.”