If you take some time to browse a few local realtor websites you might come away with the impression that buying a home in this market is easy. For example, one local real estate website says they make buying "easy and comfortable". And another says "we make real estate easy". 

While every good realtor should work to simplify and streamline the real estate experience, we believe you should know that buying a home in this market can be a lot like embarking on a journey, too. And sometimes the journey is filled with a few twists and turns, obstacles, and challenges. 

Common buyer challenges in 2020

Buyers this year are facing a hyper-competitive real estate market, inspection surprises, difficult sellers, and logistical and safety concerns

The real estate market continues to be competitive for buyers in Dane County. With low inventory and low interest rates, there are plenty of buyers looking to buy their dream home. Our full time Real Estate Agents have time-tested strategies to help their clients stand out from the competition. Mad City Dream Homes REALTORs Ann Raschein and Maureen Moran share a few of their favorite tips and tricks to get their buyer clients into a new home.

Strategy 1: Personalized Outreach

Sometimes a well-crafted letter to the right potential seller can lead to a perfect real estate match. Maureen and Ann have both used this strategy, either to find a yet-to-be-listed property or to augment an offer.

Maureen: I have had buyers know exactly which condo

If you've been having a hard time finding your dream home, you may want to consider building your next house. There are plenty of builders in the Madison area who would love to work with you, and we can help you choose the one who's the right fit for your tastes and budget. We can also help you find and purchase the lot or land that your new dream home will be built on.

To learn more about the home-building process, please reach out to one of our real estate professionals. We'll help you understand how the process works and lay out a plan for building a beautiful home. 

If you'd like to learn more about locations with new construction properties in the Madison area, check out our blog for our list of emerging neighborhoods. Or, just reach out to

Home building is a major source of real estate in the Madison area, as many buyers are opting for a new construction home in one of the area's emerging neighborhoods. The appeal is two-fold - buyers get to choose their own customizations and finishes, and it's easier to purchase a brand new home because there's much less competition in the new construction market.

If you've been challenged by our low inventory market, evaluate your options and check out the properties available in some of the area's newest subdivisions. Who knows, you might find just what you're looking for in a new construction home.

Thinking of buying or building a new construction home? Here's our overview of over 50 emerging neighborhoods in the greater Madison area. Contact us

The home inspection is an important step in the process of buying and selling a home. It can also seem like a stressful event for buyers and sellers alike. Read below for tips from Al Gindt of BPG Inspections on having a smooth inspection. Al also shares how inspections have changed during the pandemic to keep both buyers and sellers safe.

What can buyers and sellers expect from an inspection?

A home inspection's first priority is to determine if there are any safety-related issues with a property. The second priority is to educate buyers on their new investment. “I try to emphasize to buyers that we’re not looking for specific issues as much as we're looking for what is going on in this home,” said Al. “Our goal with the inspection is to

You may be thinking it would be great to buy a new home. Perhaps you could use more space. Or, maybe it’s time to downsize from a two-story to a ranch-style home or condo. The catch is, you have to sell your current home first! Our team of full-time real estate agents helps clients with this scenario all the time. In this article, we'll share a few tips to consider that can help make the process less stressful. Coordination and some additional planning can go a long way to helping you sell and buy at the same time.

Tip 1: Focus on your home-selling plans first. It may be tempting to start looking for your dream home before you have prepared your home for sale. However, you risk finding the perfect home and being unable to write an offer because

If you're buying in 2020, your offer to purchase will likely be up against offers from other motivated buyers. Below are 25 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. 

25 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

Relocating across the country isn’t easy, but Jenn and her husband were committed to finding a place in Madison for their retirement. They worked with Shelley Lazzareschi and Tammy Steiner to find the perfect home, completing the entire home buying process virtually. They are moved in and loving their new place!

Jenn and her husband were planning to move out of California for their retirement. They decided they wanted to move somewhere in the midwest, and embarked on a year-long search. Then, Madison became their top destination.

“My daughter was accepted into a summer program at UW-Madison, and we fell in love with the area when we came to visit her,” said Jenn.

Jenn searched Google for “Madison Realtors” and really liked the Mad City Dream

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

"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