Welcome to Bigfork Montana, the Flathead Valley and Partners West Realty! We are located in northwestern Montana less than 100 miles south of Canada. We specialize in Real Estate in Bigfork Montana, as well as the rest of Northwest Montana.

The Flathead Valley in Montana is roughly 1,000 square miles of farming, ranching, forest and residential land in the Rocky Mountain Trench, rimmed by 6,000 to 7,000-foot mountains and bounded on the north by Glacier National Park and on the south by Flathead Lake (elevation 2,893 feet above sea level). Population is about 75,000 and principal towns are Kalispell, the Flathead County seat; the ski resort town of Whitefish; and the timber and industrial town of Columbia Falls, and the lake resort village of Bigfork.

Bigfork, an unincorporated resort village at the south end of the valley, is located on the Swan River at the northeast corner of Flathead Lake, which at 195 square miles is very slightly larger than Lake Tahoe. Founded 100 years ago as an apple orcharding center and landing for lake steamboats, Bigfork has increasingly become an arts center, a gateway to outdoor recreation, a retirement community and a hideaway for the rich and famous.

The village is home to the Bigfork Summer Playhouse (featuring Broadway musicals); the Whitewater Festival (June kayak races on the Wild Mile of the Swan River); the Bigfork Festival of the Arts (first weekend in August); the renowned Eagle Bend Golf Course; and the Christmas festival of lights, among other local attractions. More than a dozen restaurants offer fine dining. Sweet cherry orchards have replaced apples around Flathead Lake and are harvested at the end of July. Fishing guides take visitors in search of lake trout (mackinaw) on Flathead Lake or on flyfishing trips to surrounding lakes and streams.

Surrounding the Flathead Valley are the forests and mountains of million-acre Glacier National Park and 2.3-million-acre Flathead National Forest. Just east of Bigfork is the alpine lake-studded Jewel Basin Hiking Area atop the Swan Range. Northeast of Bigfork is Echo Lake at the foot of the Swan Range, and southeast is 12-mile-long Swan Lake and the Swan Valley, bordered on the west by the Mission Mountain Wilderness and on the east by the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, a wilderness as large as Delaware. West of Bigfork just across Flathead Lake is the Blacktail Ski Area above Lakeside, and an hour north is the Big Mountain Ski Area above Whitefish.

Partners West Realty is located at the south entrance to Bigfork, on Highway 35 at the corner of Bridge Street, the street that leads into Bigfork Village via the old single-lane bridge over the Swan River. We are a small office emphasizing personalized service. We are members of the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors, with access to a multiple-listing service that typically has around 3,000 homes and property listings for sale throughout northwestern Montana. Our agents Rose and Don Schwennesen and Emily Esch have more than 30 years of combined experience. Please use this web site to look for properties, and call or e-mail us for no-obligation answers to all your real estate questions!