It's a common misconception that you have to show your home to generate interest from buyers.  We're finding that there are ways to attract buyers in the early stages of preparing a listing, even before your home is ready to show. Take, for example, a listing we have at 2 Thornhill Circle, in Wexford Village. Before the home was even officially ready to show, the sellers had eight showing appointments lined up.

How did this happen? We used an effective selling strategy:
1. Have a Professional Staging Consultation
2. Finish Staging the First Floor
3. Professionally Photograph the First Floor
4. Make the Listing Available on the MLS and Online
5. Continue Staging the Rest of the House
6. Have the Rest of the Home Photographed and Filmed
7. Open the Home for

You've heard the saying, "location, location, location" when it comes to real estate. Where your home is located matters, and highlighting the neighboring perks can go a long way when you're ready to sell.

When we work with sellers, we help them prepare their home for listing. This includes staging it, photographing it professionally, and highlighting the home's best features. But marketing the home doesn't end there. We also focus on the neighborhood. What parks or trails are nearby? Are there key restaurants, shopping or a library within walking distance? These features are important to buyers. They often won't even visit a home unless they are sold on the location.

 We recently listed a home in the Midvale Heights neighborhood. The home is

If you're like many of us, you're probably thinking about your holiday shopping already, and preparing gift ideas for loved ones. This weekend, before the busy-ness of Thanksgiving takes over, Madison shoppers can head downtown and peruse a wide variety of beautiful and interesting artwork, available for purchase. Overture Center for the Arts and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), are co-hosting the annual Holiday Art Fair. Shoppers can enter for a $6 fee ($5 if ordered in advance, children 12 and under are free). Artists from all over the nation will be showing their work, and selling items for gifting or personal enjoyment. More than 70 artists are included in this year's fair, and offer a broad selection of fine art. Booths will feature

Have you ever watched those HGTV programs and wished your home could be updated? Do you look around your home and wonder how to transform it for greater appeal? If you know that your current home is temporary, you could benefit from services to improve your current property- and prepare it for a future sale. All the while, you can enjoy the decor and staging that was prepared for the future listing.

One of our clients chose to approach their home this way. Two years ago they had us in to walk through their property in Midvale Heights. We offered suggestions for improvements and helped them stage it to show its best features. They completed the updates, and we captured photographs of this home, well in advance of it ever listing. Now, two years later,

Have you tried the Mad City Dream Homes app yet? It's available for both iPhone and Android, and can be downloaded at no cost. The app simplifies your property search and comes with some key functions to make targeting the right properties simple.

In this case, we're looking at how to search for homes by school district. You start by hitting the search button on the home screen (lower left). This takes you to a map (lower right). Click on the magnifying glass at the top to define your search.

Since school district boundaries don't always match the home address, it is convenient to search for the specific school district you are targeting in your search.  The app allows you to enter your preferred district, along with other information that is