In our last post we covered how the MLS limits the listing description to 512 characters of text. The MLS has a similar limitation in place for photos: all listings are limited to a max of 25 pictures.

For many properties, 25 photos is more than sufficient to show the entire home. But for some properties, 25 is not enough. For example, consider the home that sits on a wonderfully-landscaped lot with a variety of perennials in bloom throughout the seasons. One great way to market this home is to show buyers the beauty of the yard in the Spring, Summer and Fall. A proactive listing agent will hire a photographer to produce dozens of high-quality exterior photos, so when the home is ready to list all of the exterior photos are ready for publication.

There is an old joke in the real estate business about the "three P's of selling a home". The first P is put a sign in the yard. The second P is place the listing on the MLS. The third P is pray another agent sells it.

Praying can't hurt, but a yard sign and the MLS are proven tools for marketing a home. A yard sign lets all passersby know your home is for sale. The MLS syndicates your listing to thousands of websites across the globe. However, a solid home-selling plan does much more than rely on a yard sign and MLS syndication. A solid marketing plan takes a much more comprehensive approach by selling the many benefits of your home.

One Big Drawback of the MLS

One big drawback of MLS syndication is the limit placed on descriptive text. The MLS

You can have a luxury listing without having a luxury home. All you need is the right team of professionals and a solid marketing plan backing you every step of the way. At Mad City Dream Homes, we offer you the expertise of our professional stager. Our stager guides you through your home preparations until your property is camera-ready. When your staging is complete, we bring in our professional photographer to shoot your listing photos. The end result is magazine-quality photos like the ones below.

The pictures below come from a variety of listings we've sold over the last few years. These photos represent properties that sold for less than $100,000 to well over $1,000,000. Whether you're selling a small condo, a luxury home on the lake, or a

Staging your home is the single best investment you can make prior to putting your property up for sale. Professional staging enhances your listing photos, your listing video, and your showing activity. It leads to better first impressions - both online and in-person. All of this leads to more offers, a quicker sale, and a higher selling price for your home. 

We hire a professional stager to consult with each client well before each listing hits the open market. As you will see from the "before" and "after" photos below, the results are truly amazing. These real-life examples come courtesy of home stager extraordinaire, Ronna Nyman.

Ronna met with our clients and developed a detailed staging plan for their home. Our clients took Ronna's advice to

How can you get an accurate market value for your home? We use a six-step market analysis approach, which includes a close look at all of these market dynamics:

• the recent sales in your neighborhood
• the current listings with accepted offers
• the current listings without accepted offers
• the recently expired listings in your area
• the months of supply in your neighborhood
• the impact of seasonality on pricing

The sample market analysis below shows how we bring all of this information together to help you accurately price your home. This particular analysis is for a home in the Westmorland neighborhood on Madison's near west side. Note: we've removed the property address from the analysis in order to preserve the owner's

A good market analysis can help you discover your home's value with a high degree of accuracy. We begin every market analysis with a visit to your home. During our visit we tour your house with you in order to gain a good understanding of your property's features and finishes. We take a lot of notes, and we may even take a few pictures (for our eyes only).

We also use our visit as an opportunity to discuss staging and low cost cosmetic improvements. At this stage in the process, we often call on our home stager, who will help you put a game plan in place for preparing your home for sale.

After our visit we head back to our office and complete your market analysis for you. Our analysis covers 6 key areas. These 6 areas are summarized below.

Selling a vacant home can present some challenges, which unless managed properly, can negatively impact your sale. You've probably seen some vacant home listings which were not managed correctly. These are the unoccupied homes you've seen online with cold and lifeless photos. You may have looked at some of these listings and jumped to the conclusion that they were rentals in need of maintenance and repair. You might have assumed that the owners of these homes had relocated and were motivated to sell at a discount. Or perhaps your brain jumped immediately to "foreclosure". Whatever the case, all of these are negative first impressions which can seriously hinder a sale.

There is a much better way to manage a vacant home listing and that is to hire a

Do you want to sell your home quickly and for the highest possible price? Be sure you consult with a professional home stager who has the expertise to make your home look its very best. Ronna Nyman, from Sugar Maple Home Staging, provides every one of our home selling clients with an in depth consultation. As you can see from the sample staging report below, Ronna guides you through your home preparations in a step-by-step fashion. In fact, the report below offers over 100 specific staging recommendations.

Ronna's invaluable advice is one of the most important elements in our marketing plan. With Ronna's help our clients are able to sell their homes more quickly and for thousands of dollars more than would otherwise be possible. Even better, Ronna's

Our weather may be cold and snowy right now, but the Madison real estate market is heating up. Right now a huge window of opportunity is opening up for local home sellers. In fact, this spring promises to be one of the best sellers markets we've seen in many years. Sellers who take advantage of this opportunity and who also do the right things will be rewarded with a quick sale and a high market price. Below we cover why the time is right for home sellers. We also cover a few things sellers can do to properly prepare for a successful listing. 

A Time of Opportunity for Home Sellers

In real estate timing can be everything, and right now a perfect storm is forming to the benefit of many Madison area home sellers. Here are 4 key reasons why this spring

Getting ready to sell your home? If you're like many home owners, you want to hire a real estate agent who has the experience that comes with selling many properties. Experience is important. Results are important, too. When it comes to results there are three key questions you can ask during the interview process:

1. What are the odds your home will sell?
2. How long will it take to sell your home?
3. How close will your selling price be to your list price? 

We recently dug into these questions by reviewing listing data from the South Central Wisconsin MLS. We focused our review on the top 26 listing agents in South Central Wisconsin (based on 2014 sold listing volume). Our analysis covered listings for single family homes. To keep the data