These photos come from the historic "Johnson House", an 1875 farm house in McFarland. This property sold last month after receiving multiple offers and having 100 people attend the weekend open. You wouldn't know it from the pictures, but this was actually a staged, vacant home. The Cozy Home provided all of the staging and Beau Meyer shot all of the listing photos. The photos drove a huge amount of traffic to this listing and ensured a quick sale.

Photos of the Historic Johnson House in McFarland

Thanks to thoughtful staging and beautiful photography, all of these images convey a warm and cozy feel while capturing the rustic charm of the home. 

Photos of a Vacant Staged Condo

A different property, same concept. These

Yes, home staging really does work. According to a recent survey by the National Association of REALTORS, staging provides a great return on investment. Among the key findings:

• 96% of all buyer agents report their clients are positively impacted by home staging. 
• 81% of all buyer agents report home staging makes it easier for clients to visualize a property as their own. 
• 71% of all listing agents report staging increases a property's value by a minimum of 1%. 

In another report issued by the Real Estate Staging Association, properties staged prior to listing sell 90% faster than "un-staged" properties on the MLS. 

In our own experience, professional home staging is a huge reason why our sellers average a full-price offer within 15

One of our 12 team values is to partner with reputable service providers who help our clients achieve their goals. Our partnership with Justin Lackner is a great example of this team value at work. Justin is one of our favorite photographers because he captures some amazing images for our listings. Whenever we have a client with a beautiful kitchen or a unique landscape, Justin is the photographer we call. Here are some recent examples of his work. 

Recent Listing Photos by Justin Lackner

This photo captures the simple elegance and charm of this nearly 100-year-old home in the Greenbush neighborhood. 

In this photo, Justin displays a beautiful interior and panoramic views from this Weston Place high-rise condo. 

This picture was a big

When it comes to selling your home, there's no substitute for planning and preparation. Our initial consultation is all about putting a good plan in place for your sale. During our planning meeting we learn why and when you plan to move. Then we outline the key steps for making your move happen.

For example, let's say your goal is to sell your current home and move into your new condo by August 15th. Your move plan could look a lot like this example below. 

Example Move Plan: Sell and Buy by August 15th

• Meet with our stager on June 1st
• Stage your home's featured space (for example a great room, sun room or kitchen) with our stager's assistance by June 4th 
• Mad City Dream Homes obtains professional photos of your featured space by June

If we were to choose one word to describe the spring real estate market, it would be "over-heated". The spring selling season has been full of bidding wars and huge price increases. If you know anyone who's bought or sold this spring, no doubt you've heard a few interesting stories about our crazy market. 

But real estate is all about the seasons, and right now our over-heated spring market is giving way to a more balanced summer market. As the graph below shows, buyer activity decreases in June from the peak months of March, April and May. Plenty of real estate gets bought and sold in the summertime, but at a slower pace compared to the spring season. 

How does this shift affect buyers and sellers?

If you're still planning to buy or sell in

You’ve done your homework, worked with the stager, and made the improvements necessary to make your home attract buyers. You kept it perfect for showings, and generated great interest. Finally, you accept an offer, and believe you will soon move on to a new adventure. But then it happens. The buyer's home inspection report includes mold. What do you do?

We’ve walked many sellers through this predicament, and have found some excellent solutions. One of our favorite mold experts is Rapid Response Remediation. This company has effectively cleaned up several of our clients' properties, and has done it in a timely and affordable manner. Rob Mozgawa, managing partner of the company, says that people are more afraid of mold than they need to be.

“It's an

How often do Madison area real estate listings receive multiple offers? The South Central Wisconsin MLS actually started tracking this statistic in 2016. We like following this stat because it gives us some great insight into the market and the performance of our team.

Competing Offers Give us Insight into the Market

As we posted a few weeks ago, competing offers are most common during the springtime. If you're looking to time your sale just right, then right now is the perfect time to sell. Your odds of attracting multiple offers and getting a fantastic price are highest in the Spring. 

Competing Offers Help us Measure our Team's Performance

We design our marketing to attract multiple offers, because competing offers allow us to

There are some in the real estate industry who don't believe in holding an open house. However, our experiences with open houses have been very positive. In fact, they're an important part of our home-selling plan. Here are 3 reasons why holding an open house is a no-brainer in today's real estate market. 

Three Great Reasons to Hold an Open House

1) The mere act of scheduling an open house can cause some buyers to submit an immediate offer. A buyer's worst fear is losing out on their dream home to some other buyer who attends the upcoming open house. This "fear of loss" can motivate some buyers to write a very strong and immediate offer before the open house has a chance to take place. Pre-announcing an open house as part of a "coming soon listing"

We've covered how strong coming soon marketing can create pent up demand for your listing and have buyers lined up at your door when you're ready for showings to begin. So how do you leverage all of this interest to generate the best possible offer? 

When buyer interest is high, many of our clients choose to allow several days to a week of showings before responding to any offers. This strategy offers sellers a few key advantages. 

First, it creates the expectation that multiple offers are likely, and that the winning offer will need to be a very strong one. Therefore, buyers will need to write a nice a clean offer and for a very high price if they hope to have their offer accepted. 

Second, it allows time for all interested parties to schedule

We've officially entered the best time of the year for selling a home in the greater Madison area. Year in and year out, the months of March, April and May have more accepted offers than any other months throughout the year. Check out the graph below, which shows the number of accepted by month for the 2016 calendar year. 

Benefits of a Spring Listing

As a general rule the Spring market is the best market for selling a home in the Madison area. Your property will get more views on the web, more showings, and more competing offers when you list your home in the late Winter or early Spring. This is the time of year when your odds for a bidding war are the greatest. 

Of course the market can vary a lot by location and price point. Reach out to