Have you ever thought about launching your own business? Would you like to live your life more intentionally by giving back to your community? Perhaps you’d like to build more health and wellness into your daily living? Or maybe you’d like to tap into your creative side? 

The American Family DreamBank

The American Family DreamBank will help you explore all of these areas of life and much more. The DreamBank offers free, live events that are designed to help you lead a better life. Plus, dozens of recorded events are available on-demand. You can even join a larger community of like-minded people and receive coaching that’s focused on helping you reach your goals. 

The DreamBank is a great example of a company using its resources to benefit the

As we officially close the books on 2021, we’d like to share with you a few of the key lessons we’ve learned in the last year. Here are 5 of our biggest lessons from 2021 that will shape how we serve you in 2022. 

Our 5 big lessons from 2021

We’re all craving connection. As our society opened up again in 2021, it became crystal clear to us just how much we missed our personal interactions with our friends and clients. The pandemic has been such an eye-opener for us. No matter what happens with the pandemic in the years ahead, we’ll always be focused on serving you and connecting with you on a personal level. 

It’s okay to fail. Failures can help us grow when we choose to reflect on our missteps and use them as teaching moments. We’ve

Do you have a favorite realtor that you'd love to tell the world about? Now we have a simple video testimonial tool that helps you share a quick story about your Mad City Dream Homes agent and how they went above and beyond to serve you. If you'd like to create a short testimonial, just reach out to your preferred agent to get started.

Your referrals and reviews mean the world to us

Of course, they help us connect with people who are in need of a trusted agent. In the bigger picture your referrals and reviews are a validation of our contribution mindset. They're proof that we don't need to default to traditional marketing tactics in order to grow our business. Instead, we can choose to grow more intentionally by focusing on community and

Earlier this year, CBS Morning News aired a feature story on how some people are choosing to move away from their hometowns that are impacted by heat, drought, wildfires, hurricanes, or rising sea levels.  

The story referred to people who relocate for climate reasons as "climate refugees" who are in search of their own "climate haven". According to one source in this story, the climate havens in the United States are located in the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes Region.

The city of Madison was specifically mentioned as a climate haven because it is relatively free from natural disasters. It was also noted as a desirable place to live due to its reputation for having good schools, good healthcare, an abundance of outdoor and recreational

This is a question we've been asking ourselves a lot over the last few years. And the answer we keep coming back to, time after time, is community.

As realtors, we are out in the field each day, serving our clients, meeting new people, and interacting with other business owners. We've come to realize that simply by doing our jobs each day we have the potential to exert a tremendous amount of influence in our community.

In the big picture, we believe we can use our influence to help thousands of neighbors and business owners invest in making Dane County a better place to live, work, and recreate. If we can accomplish this, then our influence will be far-reaching. 

Our focus on community

Our focus on community continues to evolve, but we'd

We recently shared with you our recommendations for Kristi Bertelson and Cody Helmer -- two local business owners we know and trust. Luis Rios is another local contractor we've grown to appreciate over the last few years. He's helped many of us on the team -- and many of our clients -- with valuable work that many other contractors aren't interested in providing. For example, Luis has helped us with lawn mowing, gutter cleaning, leaf raking, mulch spreading, weeding, brush removal, and the removal of fallen tree limbs.

In addition to his yard care services, Luis also helps his customers with painting and light handyman projects inside the home, too. 

We've learned over time that Luis is a friendly, hard-working and reliable person. In many cases

We recently shared with you our highest recommendation for Cody Helmer, a local home construction and renovation contractor we know and trust. Another local business owner we've grown to appreciate is Kristi Bertelson, owner of the Inspired Design Team in Monona. 

Our experience working with Kristi

Kristi recently worked with our team to help us design our office space on Monroe Street. When we started our project, our office suite was filled with pink carpet, dark paneled wood, and a choppy floor plan which limited the functionality and desirability of the space. Thanks to Kristi, our office suite is now an open, functional, warm, and inviting space -- which makes showing up for work each day a pleasure on Monroe Street!

We enjoyed working

Connecting you with trusted local business owners is one of the ways we strive to always be of service to you, your friends, and family. And one person we never hesitate to refer is Cody Helmer, owner of Helmer Construction. 

Cody and his team are the type of people you can do business with on a handshake. They specialize in roofing, siding, home additions (including 3-season porches), and a variety of large home renovation projects. When you hire Cody and his crew you can count on them to perform their work with skill, follow through on all of their commitments, and identify creative solutions when problems pop up. 

If you try googling Helmer Construction you won't find much information online, because Cody doesn't have a sales team or a website.

In our November nonprofit spotlight, we highlighted the beautiful and thought-provoking work of Madison artist Lilada Gee, who created several murals downtown and launched the Defending Black Girlhood podcast in 2020. You can view photos and articles about her State Street artwork in the pdf of this book, "Let's Talk About It," published by American Family Insurance. 

We are thrilled to share that Lilada joined State Rep. Shelia Stubbs and Shyra Adams in receiving the 2021 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award, presented to those who have demonstrated incredible leadership and volunteerism in the Madison area and reflect the values, beliefs, and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. Lilada said in her January 18th acceptance speech (around

The world is a crazy place under the best of circumstances. And this past year has taken crazy and put it on steroids. Life can be fast-paced, stressful, unpredictable, and leave you feeling out of control. So how do we deal with this? How can we control stress in our lives? How do we cope with a pandemic? Our children have lots of questions. We have lots of questions. Sometimes there are no good answers. And eventually this can leave us quite stressed, which in turn can lead to sleepless nights, poor dietary habits, and even depression. 

So what is a person to do? How can we tackle these problems? Or at least how do we learn to cope with them? Here are a few things I’ve learned during my time as a certified health coach that can help improve your