We've been working to create a website that provides you with the very best view of the Madison real estate market at the local and neighborhood level. We've added many improvements to MadCityDreamHomes.com over the last few weeks, including many enhancements to our detailed property views. Our newest feature is the addition of neighborhood market information, which includes a summary of recent sales, active listings, and active listings with accepted offers. 

Take a look at the example below which shows a neighborhood market summary for a home in the Hill Farms neighborhood on Madison's near west side.

• The blue home icons represent current listings in the area with an accepted offer (this status is assigned by the listing brokerage within the

One of our team goals for 2013 has been to create a second real estate website that you will value for years to come. Our first website, DaneCountyMarket.com, is recognized as a great local resource for no-spin information on the Madison area home and condo markets. Our focus for MadCityDreamHomes.com has been to create a Madison real estate resource with the best available view of the properties for sale at the local and neighborhood levels. We have more work to do, but we're well on our way toward achieving our goal. Here's a quick update on our plans for building you a better website for Madison Wisconsin real estate.  

5 Steps to a Better Real Estate Website

1. Create Madison property guides that provide an in-depth view of homes and condos at

In a world where "The Big Three" dominate much of the online real estate, can the local agent compete with the likes of Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com? The answer is a clear YES. The "local guy" can compete with the internet giants while growing a thriving business that is built for the long term. How can the local agent do it? By developing the right focus, providing the right services, and investing the necessary time and money to build a solid foundation for long-term success. In this post I share a few thoughts on developing the right focus.

Developing the Right Focus in the Era of The Big Three

1. Assess how you invest your time and your money. Take stock of how you spend your time and your money and ask yourself this question: Are you

Search by Condo Development

Let's say you're in the market to buy a condo in the Madison, WI area, we have some great property search tools to offer you. One of them is our tool that allows you to search all condos for sale by condo development.

As an example, let's suppose you are a buyer who is interested in the Coventry Condos near Hilldale Mall on the near west side of Madison. Simply select the appropriate boxes in our Condo Development search feature (see the example to the right). Our search tool will then display all of the condos for sale within the Coventry Condo community.

Search by Condo Project

Our Condo Project search filter offers an easier way to focus your search on a particular development. Simply enter a key word into

Let's suppose you and your agent have just listed your home on the MLS. You've followed these 5 tips for a strong listing, and you're off to a tremendous start. You've received 10 immediate showing requests and the early feedback is very positive. Buyers are loving your home; several are thinking of writing an offer. You like your odds for receiving a full-price offer, but can you leverage what you have into an accepted offer that is far, far above the list? Can your agent shoot for a price that is 3 percent above the list, 5 percent, or even more? The answer is yes, and here is how you agent can do it.

6 Tips for Negotiating the Highest Possible Selling Price

1. Be helpful and easy to work with. Buyers are generally open to negotiating with someone

School's almost out, and the temperatures are one the rise. It's starting to feel like summer in Madison, WI. That means it's pool season once again in Madtown.

Wisconsin's Capitol City is home to a great number of neighborhood pools. They're a summertime tradition in this town, and one of the many things that make living in Madison unique. The city's many pools provide a social anchor for a number of different neighborhoods on the near west, west, far west, and southwest sides of town. They're a place where kids learn how to swim and learn how to compete. Most of all they're a place where neighbors gather to relax during the warm days of summer. 

Want to learn more about the neighborhood pools in Madison? Visit www.AllCitySwimDive.org for a

If you've been thinking of selling your Madison area luxury or historic property, you've probably been wondering how your real estate agent can begin to tell the full story of your home through a standard MLS listing. After all your home has many more amenities and features than can possibly be communicated through the MLS. The MLS allows for only 512 characters of descriptive text, so how can your agent even begin to tell your home's story with this limitation in place?

This is both the challenge and fun of selling high-end and historic real estate. There are actually many strategies a good agent can employ to tell the full story of your home. A few of these tools are covered below.

Six Tools for Telling the Full Story of your Historic or Luxury

Are you the type of person that prefers vintage, old-school homes? Then you'll be very interested to learn about our new historic home listing at 2809 Columbia Rd in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin. This authentic, prairie style home was built in 1916 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The photo to the right shows this home in an early promotional brochure for Shorewood Hills real estate (see photo center left). This home offers a combination of features that is unique in Shorewood Hills. The house resides on a double lot with mature trees and gardens and features a separate cottage in the back yard. The cottage can be used for a variety of different purposes - as a studio, as a guest house or mother-in-law suite, or as rental income.

Thinking of selling your Madison home or condo? It's a seller's market this year and prices are rising. With lower inventories and increased demand, many Madison area sellers are learning they can win back much of their equity that was lost during the real estate downturn.

So how can you knock your sale out of the park? Below are 5 ways you can maximize your selling price in this year's market. The first two tips focus on market analysis. The last three tips involve specific marketing strategies.

5 Tips for Selling at a High Market Price

1. Know the months of inventory in your neighborhood. Your listing agent can assist you with this when he performs your market analysis for you. Neighborhoods with low months of inventory are prime locations for

The pendulum has swung for Madison real estate. It's a seller's market this year. Many Madison listings are receiving multiple competing offers. Homes and condos are selling quickly. And they're selling for higher prices.

So what's a buyer to do? Below are ten tips to help you land your dream home in 2013.

Ten Home Buyer Tips

1. Don't rely on open houses as your method for finding a home. Buyers this year are learning many new Madison listings are selling within days of going on the market, even before the first open house!
2. Don't limit your search to distressed properties. The inventory of bank owned-properties and short sales is shrinking, and many other buyers and investors are already combing over these listings.
3. Don't assume the condo