Recently we shared these important questions to ask before buying a condo. Here are 3 more questions you should explore before you submit your offer. 

(photo courtesy of Step Inside Media) 

3 questions to ask before buying a condo

1) What does the monthly condo fee cover? You can count on the fee covering lawn care, snow removal, and common area maintenance. Some condo fees also cover utilities, internet service, and a healthy contribution to the association reserve fund. 

2) Which repair and maintenance items are your responsibility? You will be responsible for repairs and maintenance inside the walls of your unit. Reviewing the condo documents will help you understand who is responsible for your roof, your deck/patio, and your windows. 

You're ready to buy a condo, and you believe you may have found the one. But wait, before you go ahead and ask your agent to draft your offer, you would be wise to pause and ask these 3 important questions. 

(photo courtesy of Step Inside Media)

Three questions to ask before buying a condo

1) How long will the condo meet your needs? When it comes to the size of your household, your commute, and your entertainment and recreational activities -- will the condo meet your lifestyle needs three years from now, too? We recommend planning to stay in your condo for at least 3 years, so you'll have an opportunity to earn a nice return on your investment when it's time to sell. 

2) Are there any large projects or pending assessments planned for the

We are seeing more national headlines about real estate agents using AI to edit their sellers' listing photos, sometimes in a misleading fashion.

Our commitment to you is that we will always be transparent when we edit our photos with a "Virtually Staged" label in the corner. If we crop the photo, we'll add a new disclaimer back in. Buyers should feel inspired, not deceived, when looking through one of our listings. 

Virtual staging is a powerful marketing tool Mad City Dream Homes uses with the help of Step Inside Media. It is beneficial for buyers, so they can imagine what their belongings and lifestyle would look like in a vacant room, and beneficial for sellers who prefer to move out before getting photos taken.

Shelley's beautiful listing at

When we begin the listing process with each seller, we customize a marketing plan for their home. One of the most exciting tools we have is creating a virtual “dollhouse” tour with the help of Step Inside Media.

Click on the “Virtual Tour” link when you browse our listings at madcitydreamhomes.com/listings.php

This type of virtual tour allows you to “walk through” the home as if you were touring in person, room by room. You can turn around and view your surroundings in 360 degrees. This is a useful tool for buyers who are out of town or for serious buyers who want to look through the property again before making an offer.

Check out one of these virtual tours, in collaboration with Maverick Homes, with some spooky

If you're in the market to buy a condo, it's important to know that much of our condo inventory in the Madison area was built in the last 20 to 30 years. Over the last few decades, many of the local associations have done an excellent job of budgeting for and addressing ongoing maintenance. The most common example is replacing a roof. 

(photo courtesy of Step Inside Media)

However, each condo association is unique

Some condo associations have not been as proactive with budgeting for and addressing their maintenance needs. Over time, some of these associations have accrued a sizable amount of deferred maintenance. Now they're in fundraising mode to address future projects, either by increasing the monthly condo fee or by levying a large

It was only two years ago when Dane County had roughly 100 condos available for sale. As of today, we have 297 Madison area condos available. That's the equivalent of 2.5 months of supply, the highest inventory level we've seen since before COVID. 

If you've been thinking of buying a condo in the Madison area, right now is an excellent time to talk to your realtor about your needs and goals. Selection is improving, and many sellers are eager to strike a deal.

In the meantime you can start learning more about your options by checking out our guides to Madison and suburban Madison associations. We think you'll find them helpful. 

For the first time in a long time, Dane County has 250 condos available for purchase. Many popular communities, which once had very scarce supply, now have condos for sale on the open market. Here's a quick glimpse at a few Madison condo communities that have availability right now. 

(Shelley's new 4th Ward Lofts Condo; photo courtesy of Step Inside Media)

Madison condos available right now

In Downtown Madison: 4th Ward Lofts, Bedford Court, Metropolitan Place, The Loraine, and the Barracuda Condos all have availability right now. 

On the near west side: Weston Place, Hilldale Row, Monroe Commons, and Sequoya Commons have availability. 

On the west side: Wexford Crossing and Tamarack Trails. 

On the far west side: Bentley Green,

We've been sharing how condo inventory has been quietly improving in Dane County, and the same goes for Downtown Madison. As of this post, there are 19 condos available for sale (without an accepted offer) near the Capitol Square, with 14 of these condos available for less than $500,000. 

You can learn a lot more about the available opportunities in our Downtown Condo Guide, where we profile over 20 different associations for you. Or, reach out to your favorite Mad City Dream Homes realtor for a helpful consultation. We're here to help you learn about our local condo market and find the right community for you. 

A slew of development projects are in the works for the city of Madison, including a number of proposals that will add thousands of new apartments to the downtown area. The Department of Planning, Community & Economic Development publishes all of the current proposals on its website and this interactive map. 

No doubt, Madison's population will continue to grow, and we'll continue to see more large-scale projects and urban infill in the years ahead. The vast majority of these projects will be for apartments, not condos, leading to condo values continuing to appreciate.  

(click for interactive map)

Do you have a preferred condo association that you would love to live in? You and your buyer agent can find the right condo by sending an authentic letter to all of the owners in the association. In our experience, the more low-tech the approach, the better. 

Here's our simple 3-step approach: 

1) Hand address each envelope and write your return mailing address on each envelope, too. 

2) Make the letter from you, the buyer, not your buyer agent. A letter written by the buyer will receive a much better response than one that is written by the buyer agent. 

3) Make it easy for the reader of each letter to contact either you or your buyer agent. Your letter should include your phone number and email address, and the number and email address