During this COVID-19 market many Madison area home and condo buyers are placing a huge amount of trust in their agent to help them find their dream home, negotiate their offer, and close on their purchase. As you go through the process of selecting your own buyer agent, here are a few questions about trust that will help you hire the right professional. 

7 questions about trust

1) In this low inventory market, do you trust your buyer agent to be focused on all available sources of properties? MLS listings, coming soon listings, for sale by owner listings, and unlisted properties?

2) In this fast-moving market, do you trust your buyer agent has the grit you need to make your move happen? Does he or she have the work ethic, persistence, and

If you're buying in 2020, your offer to purchase will likely be up against offers from other motivated buyers. Below are 23 ways you can make your offer stand out from the competition and be the one that gets accepted. Of course the strategies you use will depend a lot on the type and condition of the property, your level of motivation, and how much competition you have from other parties. 

23 Ways to Write a Winning Offer

#1: Submit your mortgage pre-approval from a reputable, local lender. A pre-approval from an out-of-town or big box lender can create doubt in the mind of a seller. For example, we've seen sellers disregard offers from buyers who are pre-approved by an internet lender. Give your seller every reason to believe your pre-approval is

"Yesterday, from the window overlooking the woods, I saw two Baltimore orioles and many other birds. We are very happy with this new home."

These are the words from our client, Mary, who just purchased her dream condo. It's a nice condo with an open floor plan and a main level master suite. Most important to Mary, it's close to nature and located within a peaceful, wooded setting. It's exactly the type of condo she was looking for. 

How we found Mary's dream condo

When we began our search, there weren't any properties listed for sale within Mary's favorite condo community (which is a pretty common scenario in our low inventory market). So we decided to send out a few letters. We sent out 22 letters to the owners in Mary's preferred

Judith and Robert purchased a home in 2018 with the help of Shelley Lazzareschi. Since they were relocating from Seattle, they relied on virtual showings with Shelley to find their new home. Thanks to technology and Shelley's persistence, they were able to buy their lovely house without stepping inside first!

Robert and Judith were planning a move from Seattle to Madison to be closer to their aging parents so they could help care for them. They were planning to rent an apartment downtown and take their time to look for a home to buy on the west side. They figured this plan would be the easiest way to buy a home in the area without a lot of travel back and forth from Washington to Wisconsin.

Still, Judith wanted to get a sense of the Madison real

Michaella and Gabi worked with Maureen Moran as they were getting ready to buy their first home. Due to the pandemic, there were some additional challenges for them to navigate, but Maureen helped them purchase their condo, safely! Read on for the story of how Maureen’s persistence helped them buy their first home during this unique time.

Michaella and Gabi were relocating to Madison from Baltimore, MD, as Michaella is about to begin her residency at the UW. They had been talking about buying a house for some time, and this seemed like the perfect “life transition” time to do so.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic set in. At first, they heard conflicting advice. Some said the pandemic would be the best time to buy, while others cautioned that it was the

We're two months into the COVID-19 pandemic now, and we have some important trends we'd like to share with anyone who's thinking of buying or selling in the Madison area. Buyers and sellers who understand these trends will be in a position to make smart decisions and make the most of this year's unique market. 

Dane County single family home trends for April and early May, 2020

Here are the latest trends in the single family home market, with fresh data from the months of April and May. 

Fewer owners are listing their home for sale. 

Single family home listings were in short supply before the pandemic began, and we expect this to be the trend for the foreseeable future. As you can see from the graph below, many home owners postponed their

For most buyers, financing is the first thing to think about when buying a home. A changing economic climate due to COVID-19 has begun to affect financing for some loan programs. Plus, the financing process has moved entirely virtual. Dave Leeder and the team at Inlanta Mortgage are helping many of our clients navigate these changes. Below are some of their top suggestions for buyers based on the current circumstances.

As always, you should start the mortgage pre-approval process early. Ideally, you should have your pre-approval before you begin your search. This will help you understand which loan programs may be available to you, and how much you may be able to borrow for your new home.

Then, be sure to keep your lender up to date with any

We're more than a month into this pandemic and we're learning many of you are still moving forward with your plans to buy your dream home. You have important, personal reasons for buying at this time, and you're committed to buying in a manner that respects social distancing. As we continue to assist many of you during the pandemic, we thought it would be interesting to share why some of you are choosing to buy right now, at a time when others are putting their plans (or being forced to put their plans) on hold.

Why you're buying a home or condo during the pandemic

Here are some of the main reasons why many of you are choosing to buy right now, even though there's so much uncertainty in the world around us. 

1) You want your own safe haven

When you think of closing on your home, you might envision yourself signing paperwork around a big conference table, followed by getting the keys to your new home. Just like most parts of the real estate buying and selling process, the closing process has been adjusted to keep you safe. Read below for the many options Homestead Title is giving our clients for closings. They also have shared tips for buyers and sellers who will be closing soon.

A new venue for closing - your car!

Some title companies have made minor adjustments to the closing process by offering clean pens, scrubbed tables, more distance between parties, and limiting the number of people attending closings. Homestead Title has gone a step further to protect clients, offering

When it comes to saving money, reviewing your insurance may not be the first thing that comes to mind. Dennis Cliff of Cliff Insurance Agency thinks differently. Insurance is one of those things that most people set and forget. But, there are often opportunities to save, or increase coverage if your situation has changed. Even during this time of social distancing, Dennis and his team can help you evaluate your options.

Dennis got into insurance after a family member had worked in the industry. He felt it could be a good fit for himself. Dennis purchased the former Wilson-Boylan Agency in 2003, after working for a decade at MetLife.

When it comes to insurance, the sweet spot is finding the best coverage at a reasonable cost. Cliff Insurance