A community tradition that spans more than 50 years returns this weekend in Middleton. The Good Neighbor Festival runs from Aug. 25-27 at Fireman's Park, featuring plenty of food, fun and music for the whole family to enjoy.

"The Year of the Volunteer" is meant to honor and appreciate all individuals and volunteer groups who dedicate their time, talents and resources to give back to their community. The theme is fitting for an event that's the biggest fundraiser for many of Middleton's nonprofits and charities, which rely and thrive on volunteers.

Some of the groups that will be represented include Boy Scouts, Kiwanis, Lions, Optimists and local VFW Posts. They are working together to provide a food court in the park shelter featuring

This week from sunrise to sunset, The Friends of Pope Farm Conservancy in the Town of Middleton invites the public to attend its annual Sunflower Days. 

Bring the whole family and your camera to the free event, which runs from Aug. 12-20. Just be sure to leave your dog at home and refrain from touching the flowers.

Hundreds of thousands of sunflowers grew on the 9-acre field between Old Sauk and Blackhawk roads on a hill that overlooks Lake Mendota in the distance.

While most people pick a direction and walk around the field, this year there is also a trail that carves into one of the corners so they can get a closer look.

From a distance it may seem like all the sunflowers are alike, but as you walk the perimeter you'll notice

It's only February 1st but it's already beginning to feel like a Spring market. So far this year 4 of our transactions have involved cash offers. One of our listing clients just received 4 cash offers - all of them for above the list price. 

Single family homes are in short supply, and buyers are adjusting their tactics accordingly. Here's a quick overview of the competitive real estate market in Dane County.  

Madison Single Family Homes

The real estate market in Madison is hot under $400,000. Overall there are only 1.1 months of inventory available for sale. Almost one-third of all single family home listings have an accepted offer (a high percentage for this time of year).

Fitchburg Single Family Homes

The Fitchburg real estate

We recently posted about 10 of the hottest neighborhoods in the city of Madison. That article was well-received, so we decided to build upon this topic by taking a look at the hottest neighborhoods in suburban Madison. For our suburban review we analyzed neighborhoods in the communities of Fitchburg, Middleton, Monona, Sun Prairie, Verona, and Waunakee. 

We identified 13 hot suburban markets in all. All of these markets met our criteria for low months of inventory, low days on market, and high selling prices relative to the original list. We used statistics from the South Central Wisconsin MLS to determine each neighborhood's inclusion in our list. The specific criteria are laid out in more detail toward the bottom of this article.

The results of

Searching for real estate by school or school district is easy with our suite of property search tools. We show you how with two simple examples below.

Example 1: Homes in the Middleton-Cross Plains School District

Let's suppose you're interested in homes in the Middleton-Cross Plains school district. Here's how you can focus your search in 4 quick steps:

1. Go to our property Search page.
2. Scroll to the School District filter and select Middleton-Cross Plains
3. Customize your search according to your preferred property type, size, price, and number of bedrooms/bathrooms.
4. Click Refine Search.

Our search tool then presents all of the properties in the Middleton-Cross Plains school district that meet all of our your defined criteria.

Searching for open houses in Madison and the surrounding area is easy with our property search tools. Let's suppose you're interested in Middleton real estate, and you want an up-to-date view of the open houses planned for today. Here's how you can find all scheduled Middleton open houses in 5 quick steps.

5 Steps to all Middleton Open Houses

1. Go to our property Search page clicking the MORE OPTIONS toggle button in the search bar.
2. Click the Middleton checkbox under City.
3. Select Search Open House under the Open House search filter.
4. Enter your begin and end Dates in the Open House Date Range filter.
5. Click FIND YOUR HOME.

Our search tool then presents all of the scheduled open houses to you. Each listing is identified with an