When you list your home, you want to generate as much interest as possible. We're finding that featuring your home's strongest photo, inside or out, is an effective way to grab buyers' attention. The traditional curbside photo is fine, but it doesn't always tell the strongest story for your home. You might have a stunning kitchen - like our listing in Westmorland. We had photos taken of both the kitchen and the exterior. As you can see, the home is lovely inside and out. In this case, we've featured the kitchen as the first photo in the listing, because buyers will be more excited about this feature.

A home we recently sold in Faircrest is in a similar situation. The home has a gorgeous, modern kitchen. The exterior is very nice and well kept - but

Listing your home doesn't require an overwhelming amount of work up front. You can plan and prepare, with enough time to complete needed projects well. If you prepare well, you should be able to sell it quickly in the current market, and for a great price. In order to make a listing successful, our team puts this marketing plan together in bite-size pieces:

1. Work with a Professional Home Stager. Your listing agent may offer to pay for this service. We do this as part of our marketing plan for all of our clients. The home stager can go through your property, rearrange furniture, relocate decor and offer you good tips for maximizing the beauty and functionality of your home. The stager can also recommend paint colors, flooring changes or new light

Are you ready for Halloween? Ghouls and ghostly apparitions abound this time of year and if you need any help getting into the spirit Madison Ghost Tours has you covered.

For the last several years the group has organized tour groups around Capitol Square. From their website: "Discover the haunted history of Madison, Wisconsin with our 90-minute ghost walk around the state’s capitol. You can expect to meet the colorful characters, vengeful spirits, monsters, and stories of the people who love Madison so much that even death can’t stop them from staying in the city!"

The tour will take you from the Great Dane on Doty St., full of stories passed from former employees and management, past the Majestic Theatre where a strange figure has frequented the

Have you ever wanted a glimpse of what goes on in the science labs at the University of Wisconsin? This weekend, the UW is opening its doors to demonstrate what its faculty and students are doing everyday. And the best part? It's free and designed as a kid-friendly, hands-on experience.

The Wisconsin Science Festival kicks off with more than 89 locations offering science activities. At the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, visitors are told to bring their curiosity and enjoy more than 20 hands-on experiments. Schools from all over the region are attending Thursday and Friday. The weekend includes two days of activities open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to build working robots, collect, stain and view their

The Madison real estate market has changed from the fever pitch that characterized the months of March, April, May and June. The graph below shows how the market is changing. Each bar represents a snapshot of the single family home market taken mid-month. Each number reflects the percent of all Madison single family home listings that had an accepted offer at the time of the snapshot. 

What Does the Data Say about the Spring Market?

If you were searching for a home in March, April, May or June, over 50% of the listings you viewed online were already under contract and scheduled for closing. These were wild and crazy times. Many new listings sold in a matter of days or even hours - after receiving multiple competing offers. Some buyers put their

Let's face it. Winter in Wisconsin is long, cold, and, while often it is pretty, it's also messy. Trees are bare, landscaping is rarely visible, and your home can't have the same curb appeal that it has in warmer weather. Take this listing, for example. The home is in excellent condition and offers fabulous views. But the drab gray of winter keeps you from appreciating the rolling hills and beautiful views behind it.

In this case, we didn't have access to a previous season's photo. We posted interior photos first. The listing sold successfully, but it could have shown even better, with seasonal photos. That's why we recommend that you start a collection of exterior photos now. When you list your home, you'll be able to show it at its best, and create

As stores pull out their fall merchandise, Halloween costumes and decorations, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum is offering its own twist on the season. This week, the museum is hosting tours of historic Forest Hill Cemetery, complete with actors portraying the dead buried there. During the week, the tours are limited to school groups, accommodating more than 2,000 students with reserved spots. The rest of us can visit Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon.

Called "Talking Spirits," guests are sure to enjoy the professional actors they meet at selected grave sites. In between these visits, tour guides will point out cemetery art, prominent people buried in the cemetery and share the story of Madison's deep connection to Civil War history. The museum has