Our industry has a tendency to obsess about more. 

As in we should always be pumping out more marketing. We should always be generating more leads. And of course, we should always be pushing for more sales. 

But there is another way to go about our work and that is to stop obsessing about more and start focusing on better. For example, we can dedicate our work to serving a better purpose. We can invest our time into nurturing better relationships. And we can invest our creativity into offering a better experience for those we serve. 

When we choose better over more, we give ourselves the freedom to pursue more meaningful work. But this freedom also comes at a cost. That's because freedom requires intentionality, discipline and effort on our

Each new client we meet is an opportunity to serve, and our recent sale in Middleton was the perfect example. 

Our clients, who lived two hours away, needed guidance and support as they prepared their condo for the market. So Mad City Dream Homes stepped in as project managers and oversaw the entire process.

Our list of projects included plumbing work, painting, flooring, lighting, carpet cleaning, HVAC replacement, window repair, and various small repairs throughout the condo. And in the end, all of the preparation and attention to detail was worth it. Our clients were elated to accept an offer for $11,000 above the list. 

We're glad we were there to serve our clients in their time of need, and we're here to serve you and yours when you need

We recently posted about scarcity in the Madison area real estate market, and right now there is no better example of this than the number of homes and condos being sold. To put it plainly, home sales are at their lowest levels since the Great Recession. 

And the same goes for condos.

And yet, prices are off the charts.

The implications

In a complex market like ours, buyers and sellers will want to hire an agent they can count on when the stakes are high. And the realtor who hopes to thrive in this market will want to stand out as a trusted and caring professional.

That trust, in our opinion, will be earned through a daily dedication to craft. It won't be earned through social media and promotion. Customers will want more and need

Single family home listings increased year-over-year in August, but in the big picture the number of new listings entering the Madison area real estate market remained very low. This was only the second August this century with fewer than 500 homes being listed for sale in Dane County.

Condo listings continued to enter the market at a slow pace, too. Only 126 Dane County condos were listed for sale in August, which was the lowest August total in 21 years.

What's next for the Madison area areal estate market? 

We're expecting high prices and low supply for the foreseeable future. Stay tuned for our August Dane County home and condo market updates, which we'll be publishing to our blog real soon. 

Keeping your living space organized can be a challenging task but once you decide to meet the challenge and get organized you will reap the benefits of doing so. Some of those benefits include quality of life, peace of mind and financial savings.

Quality of life and peace of mind

Improve your quality of life and gain peace of mind by spending less time trying to locate items and more time doing the things you enjoy. You may desire an inviting space in which to visit with your family and friends. Visiting in a cluttered space can be unpleasant and stressful for you and your visitors.

Financial savings

Having an organized pantry or storage closet will help you see immediately how many of each item you have before you head to the store. You may

We’re excited to announce that Lane Manning has joined Mad City Dream Homes! 

Lane has been a realtor for 8 years and brings a ton of professionalism and positivity to our team. He and his wife and two kids live in Verona. He enjoys boating, coaching Wildcat Youth Football, watching Badger sports, and volunteering for several local groups.

"The Madison area is not only the place I call home, but it’s also my family’s playground," Lane says. "I look forward to bringing my passion, service, and advocacy to help you find your dream home, too!" 

You can learn much more about Lane here. 

It's a time of scarcity for Dane County real estate. 

A scarcity of land to build on. A scarcity of materials and supplies to build new homes. And a scarcity of labor to do the work. 

One thing that is not in short supply is the number of people moving to Dane County. Our population continues to grow, and the options for homeownership aren’t keeping pace. Given this, we expect home and condo inventory will remain low and prices will remain high for the foreseeable future.

So when will it be a good time to buy real estate? We believe the best time to buy is right now. Not a year or two from now. And not when interest rates fall. Hoping and waiting for a better time to buy when both rates and prices are lower is likely to end in disappointment.

For all of us who are homeowners, we are fortunate.

Fortunate to have a place of our own and to experience pride of homeownership. Fortunate to live with prosperity built through home equity. Fortunate to have the privilege of passing our prosperity on to the next generation. And fortunate for all of the help we have received along the way. 

Prices will continue to rise. 

So why not do everything we can to help others become homeowners, too? 

Here are 5 things we can do to help others achieve their dream of homeownership:

• Support and get involved with homeownership initiatives like Own It: Building Black Wealth.
• Help an individual or a family that is struggling to buy a home by offering our financial assistance.
• Promote the wisdom

There are plenty of initiatives in the world that need our financial contributions in order to move the cause forward. So donating our money is one important way that we can support positive change in the world around us. 

But there is another type of contribution that is equally important, if not more, and that is our in-kind contribution. By in-kind contribution, we mean donating our time, skills, and unique gifts to an initiative that's making a positive impact in the community. 

Here are just a few examples. 

• donating our physical labor toward conservation projects at a beloved park
• giving our time and attention to youth as part of a mentoring program like Big Brothers/Big Sisters 
• offering our artistic, marketing or social media

You may have heard that mortgage rates recently jumped above 7 percent, which is more than double the rate from less than 2 years ago. 

And if you're like many other people, today's higher rates may have you thinking about putting your home-buying plans on-hold. And understandably so. 

But it's very possible you could be missing out on a real opportunity by deferring your goals. Because now that rates are higher, you have fewer competing buyers to contend with. And the competition and bidding wars will surely increase once rates fall again. 

So, if you're an aspiring buyer, here are two key questions we have for you: 

If you could find a nice home this year and if you could afford it by living within your means...And if you could picture