The July 4th holiday marks the midpoint of the selling season, which makes this a good time to review a few key trends through the first half of the year. Here's how our home and condo selling clients are faring compared to the average seller in Dane County. Note all of the numbers below are sourced from the South Central Wisconsin MLS database. 

Competing offers

Our Mad City Dream Home sellers are receiving multiple offers at more than double the rate of the average seller in Dane County. Seventy-four percent of our closings through the month of June involved multiple offers, compared to the MLS average of 35 percent. 

Sales price as a percent of the ORIGINAL list price

More competition means MCDH sellers are receiving higher prices,

This summer we're hearing from a lot of you who need help estimating your home or condo's current value, along with some recommendations on how you can best prepare for your future sale. Of course we're more than happy to help you with both of these goals. 

Remember, Madison area home and condo inventory is gradually increasing, so the fundamentals of pricing, preparation, and presentation are essential for the seller who wants to maximize their return on investment. Call us when you need some professional guidance and support. We'd love to help you. 

Our office on Monroe Street is always open for buying or selling consultations. However, we often hold these consultations at our clients' favorite coffee shop or a nearby public venue, too. If having a meeting at a familiar spot feels more comfortable to you, or fits better into your schedule, we are happy to accommodate. 

Our consultations are never meant to feel stressful: we don't bring a contract, and we don't charge a fee. We are here to listen to your goals and give you our honest, professional advice on how to reach them. 

Reach out if you're ready to take this first step.

When we recommend a list price for your home, we want you to see how we came to our recommendation: So we show you the recent trends in your neighborhood and in the broader market. We share what's happening right now with inventory, pending sales, and market momentum. Is the market slowing down or speeding up? 

The market is always changing, so a good price recommendation is less about knowing the market and more about showing you the market. It's about doing our due diligence and showing our work. 

Congrats to our client, Logan, who received multiple offers this past weekend for his home in the county. Our team provided a professional market analysis, hands-on staging, a 3D tour, a custom floor plan, aerial photos, and a touch of virtual staging to make this listing top-notch. All with no extra fees for Logan.

Do you know someone who needs our help? 

Thank you Step Inside Media for your stellar photos and customer service. It is always a pleasure to partner with you.

At Mad City Dream Homes, our goal is to make you feel that your fee is fair for the service you receive. Not only that, when you look back on your experience, we want you to feel that you received a tremendous return on your investment. 

This means we give you our best throughout your entire buying or selling journey. It also means we don't add any extra charges on top of our fee:

So no transaction charge. No charge for a buying, selling, or cosmetics consultation. No charge for a market analysis. And no charge for our complementary staging support. We're here to help you, without any surprise fees. 

Kudos to Lane and his client Margaret, for the multiple offers and quick contract on Margaret's sweet downtown condo. Lane's marketing plan included staging by Amber Kluge, who made sure Margaret's condo was looking sharp. Our condo sellers continue to reap the benefits of professional staging, which is now an absolute must as inventory rises and buyers have more condos to choose from. 

Thank you as always to Step Inside Media for your stellar listing photos. 

We feel fortunate to be affiliated with the most productive real estate office in South Central Wisconsin: A brokerage of professionals who work by relationship, referral, and reputation. Agents who collaborate by openly sharing their ideas and best practices.

This is a great example of how everyone wins when each individual contributes to a generous and professional work ethic. And when you work with Mad City Dream Homes, this collaborative approach means you get the collective expertise of dozens of real estate professionals, not just one. 

It's Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial kick-off to the summer season in Wisconsin. It's the season for family gatherings, outdoor barbeques, camping trips, Saturday mornings at the Farmers Market -- and yardwork. 

It's a special time of year here in Wisconsin, one that will be over before we know it. Soon the fall season will be upon us, with the arrival of cooler temps and autumn colors dotting the hillsides. 

Just like the seasons, our local real estate market is always changing, too. And right now our market is mellowing. This is the time of year when the competition for listings begins to subside, when prices become a little more "rational", and when some homes take a little longer to sell. 

For buyers, this means a window of opportunity

But is your realtor present with you? 

• Does you realtor spend as much time marketing your home as they do marketing their brand? 
• Do they respond to all of your questions with care and concern, with prompt and thorough answers? 
• Do they love their job? Are they dedicated to their craft?
• In your heart of hearts, do you trust that your agent will always have your back?

Pay close attention to your realtor's words and actions, and you'll have your answers to these questions.