Woman Snaps Up Entire Montana Town With Working Post Office and Charming Historic Store for $2.25 Million

An entire Montana town was snapped up by one person for the price tag of $2.25 million.

The city of Pray—just 45 minutes from Yellowstone National Park—was recently purchased by a local woman. The town comes with its own post office (leased by the U.S. Postal Service), a duplex, and three log cabins used as short-term rentals. It also features a charming 100-year-old general store.

In addition, the sale came with plans and approvals to build eight more dwellings.

"In August, the town sold to a local lady who's really cool," Michael Rutkowski of eXp Realty tells Realtor.com® . "I think she's going to preserve the town historically and reopen the store."

The history of Pray

Pray—population: 1,018—was founded in 1907 and has always been privately owned.

Until 2018, the 5-acre town had been owned and managed by a single family for over 100 years.

The last family member to inherit the town was Barbara Walker, who sold it in 2018 for $480,000.

Rutkowski represented Walker in that sale, too.

"At that time, there was a lot of deferred maintenance, and the town had a lot of trailers that needed to be hauled to the dump," Rutkowski says. "Montana wasn't really on the radar like it is now."

That was the year the wildly popular show "Yellowstone" debuted.

Since then, celebrity residents like Tom Brady, John Mayer, and Dennis Quaid have flocked to the area, and prices in Big Sky Country have skyrocketed.

Rutkowski said the man who bought the town from Walker originally had visions of being its mayor, and ultimately started a business there.

He built some cabins, then launched a thriving short-term rental venture that generated $300,000-plus in 2023 alone.

But after six years, it was time to move on.

"He wanted to sell the town and develop other properties elsewhere," says Rutkowski. "He thought this was a good time to cash out."

That had been his vision all along.

"He didn't plan on living out there forever," says Rutkowski. "His whole plan was to buy it and sell it eventually."

Selling the dream

The idyllic town was put on the market in September 2024.

Rutkowski promptly rented out the general store from the owner, and spent thousands of dollars staging it as a bookstore and antique shop.

"I did it to show people what it could be," he says. "I'm not sure if it would have sold otherwise."

In the spring, an article about the town went viral.

"It got millions of hits, and was syndicated around the world," says Rutkowski. "HGTV even contacted us about doing a show. The interest was absolutely insane."

He welcomed hundreds of prospective buyers and investors, each with big ambitions.

"The town definitely captured people's imagination," says Rutkowski.

It took a few months, but eventually, one buyer made her "Yellowstone" dreams a reality.

He says Paradise Valley, where Pray is located, is growing fast.

"You go out there and you think there's not much going on, but there are billionaires everywhere," says Rutkowski. "The Home Depot founder lives there."

That's why Rutkowski believes the new owner got in at the right time.

"Plus, who else can say they own a town?" he adds. "It's really a once-in-a-lifetime thing."