For a little insight, check out our graph below, which shows the number of accepted offers during the first 11 months of 2018. As the numbers below show, buyer activity is strongest in March, April, and May. Year in and year out the best time to sell is late winter and early spring. If you're planning to sell in 2019, this means the time to start preparing for your sale is right now. 

How to prepare for your 2019 listing

Here are 4 steps you can take right now for a successful listing in 2019. 

1) Contact your favorite Mad City Dream Homes agent. Your agent will help you select the right price point, customize your marketing plan, and identify low-cost cosmetic updates that will improve your home’s value.

2) Schedule your professional

Recently a Madison-area home owner contacted us and asked us to assist her with her sale. Her previous listing with another brokerage had expired without selling, and she was looking for some new ideas, more showings, and a quick offer.

When we visited with her at her home, we saw some opportunities to improve her listing and help her accomplish her goals. The "before and after" photos below demonstrate why we were able to help our client move forward with a successful sale. 

Master bedroom: before and after photos

This listing photo shows the master bedroom after we helped our client prepare her home for showings. 

This photo shows the master bedroom before we began the staging process. 

The results

We spent two weeks preparing

Unlike many 12 year olds who spent their summers watching cartoons and playing sports, Stephen Meyer helped his dad clean carpets. In the years since then, he's worked for other companies and started his own, picking up tons of tricks and techniques -- not to mention stains -- along the way.

Stephen's enthusiasm for his craft and care for his clients is embedded into every fiber of his being. When his father was in the hospital and realized he could no longer continue Affordable Carpet Care in Sun Prairie, it was the relationships he built with customers that came to mind. Stephen recalls him saying, "It's not the carpet -- it's always the people."

To ensure clients received the very best service, Stephen launched his own business six years ago,

At Mad City Dream Homes we create a customized marketing plan for each home-selling client. A key part of our marketing is the staging plan that we develop for each new listing. As you'll see from the 5 recent listings below, we customize our approach according to the needs of each individual property. 

Success story #1: staging an occupied home by Debbie Lea

This listing was prepped for sale by home staging extraordinaire, Debbie Lea. Debbie's staging plan helped our seller receive multiple offers and a record sales price for this condo association. 

Success story #2: staging a luxury property with rented furniture

For this luxury listing, Debbie Lea collaborated with Brook Furniture Rental by selecting the furniture, artwork and

Sometimes it takes a turn of events for you to find your passion. For Grant Priehs, a move to Madison was the impetus to explore new opportunities and do what he loves.

Priehs left work as an Art Director at a fast-paced marketing agency and began a successful career as a handyman in Madison. His company, Honey Do Handyman Services, has provided a rewarding way to help others. “Every homeowner has a list of things they notice every day - small tasks or updates that they just never get to; their ‘Honey-do’ list. But when you’re selling your home, you don’t want to have potential buyers leaving a showing with a dozen things they’ve noticed,” he says.

Priehs enjoys helping people complete projects they may not have the time or ability to complete on

When you think about home improvements, it's common to think of the aesthetic work. Many times, the first upgrades are adding solid surface counter tops, wood flooring, or updated paint colors. These changes are all significant, and add value to your home. But while they make a beautiful impact, they will not save you money. Your monthly bills will see the greatest reduction by making changes to the energy efficiency of your home. 

Focus on Energy partners with 108 participating statewide utilities to make these cost savings possible. Their programs include simple things like swapping out old light bulbs for energy efficient models, providing incentives for the purchase of a Smart Thermostat, and they also include more significant projects, like adding

Whether you just bought a home or are getting ready to sell, there are many ways you can improve the look and functionality of your front yard. Landscape architect Paul Ganshert shares the following tips for adding plantings, lighting, and other outdoor elements to enhance your home.

Keep it clean and simple

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so don't just install an expensive pond or retaining wall because you think you should -- it may end up being a maintenance headache for you and future homeowners. For starters, focus on the basics that appeal to a broader audience, like making sure your plants are manicured and the beds and lawn are free of weeds.

Adjust plant material

Begin by pruning existing plant material correctly and

One of the biggest concerns people have when downsizing is figuring out what to do with all of their stuff. That’s why decluttering, organizing, and making other preparations for selling your house can go much more smoothly with the right help.

To empower people to begin this process, Capitol Lakes retirement community in downtown Madison recently hosted an educational event with representatives from local businesses, followed by a question and answer session and building tour. Presenters included Kathy Rounds of Trusted reLocation Consultants (TLC), a full-service moving and organization company; Marianne Gariti of Moving Forward, which specializes in senior move management; and Chris Venden, an experienced Realtor with Mad City Dream Homes.

At Mad City Dream Homes, we customize each marketing plan in order to deliver the best value for each home-selling client. This is one reason why we love selling luxury real estate; there are so many creative touches we can add for the truly special property.

Luxury real estate marketing examples

Below we share a few examples of the marketing tools we make available to our clients with high-end and luxury properties.

Staging with rented furniture

Sometimes it makes perfect sense to replace an owner's existing furniture with rented furniture individually selected by our stager. Such was the case with our recent Lake Monona condo listing in Downtown Madison. Notice how the low profile furniture adds a modern touch while allowing for an

The spring market is the best market for sellers in Madison. Specifically the months of March, April and May are the three months when buyer activity is strongest. Take a look below at our MLS data from calendar year 2017, which shows the number of accepted offers for every month of the year. Accepted offers peaked in the month of May, which is a typical pattern for our market.  

How does this seasonal pattern impact the sale of your home? 

If your house is listed for sale right now, you need to know your home is worth more in the month of May than it will be in the months of June or July. That's because the spring market is an overheated market that gives sellers the clear advantage. In June, the market will shift, and buyers and sellers will