If you've researched listing agents in the Madison area, you've probably come across a few realtors who heavily promote their own coming soon website. These websites can be great marketing tools for listing agents. By bypassing MLS syndication and restricting the marketing to their own website, some of these agents are able to increase their client base by funneling "buyer leads" to their teams. Unfortunately, this type of marketing is less helpful to the seller, because it exposes their listing to only a very small percentage of the market.  

There is a better approach for coming soon marketing

There is a better approach for sellers and that is to use coming soon marketing which exposes their listing to the entire market. This approach serves

It came later than expected this year, but the hot spring real estate market has officially arrived to Madison. Right now over 50% of the home and condo listings in Madison have an accepted offer, which is one of our key indicators of a fast-moving market. Last year, the market hit this milestone in the month of February. This year, the market didn't reach this mark until the month of April. 

Why was the spring market delayed in 2019? 

Certainly, weather was a big factor. This year's long and unusually harsh winter caused both buyers and sellers to delay their plans for this year's market. Higher interest rates in early 2019 were also a factor, but then rates dropped at the end of March and the market responded positively. 

What to expect in

At the turn of the 20th century, many new house styles emerged in America in opposition to the ornate, Victorian influences from Europe. Through the Arts and Crafts movement, Craftsman style homes were built to be more simplistic and to incorporate quality, natural materials like stone and wood. Frank Lloyd Wright also created the Prairie style of “organic architecture” during this time, with lower profile buildings that blended into the landscape and utilized sunlight. This movement made its way to Madison in the early 1900s, and Craftsman-progressive-prairie styles account for a third of the houses in the Sherman Avenue and Orton Park historic districts, for example.

Nearly 100 years later, Craftsman homes have edged out ranch homes for the most

One of the unique traits of our real estate team is our true commitment to helping our clients achieve their home-selling goals. Here are a few examples from the last few months which show how our listing agents routinely go above and beyond to serve our clients. 

Home selling success stories

Shelley Lazzareschi: Shelley recently assisted a new client who was undergoing challenging family circumstances and whose listing had expired with another real estate brokerage. When Shelley toured the property she identified several inexpensive cosmetic improvements that would greatly benefit the sale of the home. Our client had already moved out-of-state, so Shelley secured a reliable and affordable contractor for our client and oversaw the completion of

Mortgage rates have plunged to their lowest levels in over a year. Check out this chart courtesy of Freddie Mac, which shows the average rate for a 15-year fixed rate loan dropped to 3.75%, while the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped to almost 4% at the end of March. 

Rates are very attractive right now as many buyers are gearing up to purchase a new home during the spring buying season. This is great news for sellers, too. Here are a few timely tips that will help sellers take advantage of lower rates in 2019. 

5 Tips for Sellers in 2019

1) Take advantage of the spring selling season while rates are attractive. Remember, the best months for sellers are typically March, April, May and June. Strong seasonal demand and low

This year is shaping up to be a great year for people who wish to sell their starter home and buy a larger, more expensive property. The reason is the market for starter homes is very hot and very favorable for sellers right now, while the market for higher priced properties is more balanced and a little easier on buyers. 

How the Madison real estate market varies by price range

Take a look at this market data for Madison single family homes. Right now, 60% of all listings priced under $300,000 are under contract with an accepted offer. Above $300,000, only 30% of the listings are under contract. The market clearly favors sellers under the $300,000 price point. Above $300,000, there's less competition for listings, and buyers are having a much

The Madison area real estate market is super competitive right now, especially for buyers seeking an affordable property in a popular location. For example, we were recently involved with one local sale which received over 20 offers to purchase. Below we share a few highlights from this sale which show just how competitive the market can be during the spring real estate season. 

Signs of a competitive real estate market

Here are a few more highlights from this ultra-competitive listing:

• Every offer (except one) was for at or above the full list price. 
• One buyer submitted their earnest money with their offer. 
• Over half of the buyers who wrote an offer also wrote a personal letter to the seller. 
• One-third of the buyers specified

What are the hottest price points for Madison area real estate listings? We've taken a close look at the latest MLS statistics and there are 2 clear trends standing out in this year's market.

Madison single family home listings priced under $300,000 are super hot

Take a look at our snapshot below of the Madison single family home market. It shows properties priced under $300,000 have a very high percentage of listings with an accepted offer. Listings priced under $250,000 are especially hot, with over 60% of these properties currently under contract and scheduled to close soon.

What does this data mean for sellers and buyers in 2019? If you're selling a home for under $300,000 in the city of Madison, you have a great opportunity to leverage

Many of our Madison area sellers are concerned about proper etiquette when they open their door for showings. Our sellers want to be respectful of the buyers who are visiting their home, and they wonder if they should allow each buyer the opportunity to view their home privately, without any other buyers in the house. We get this question a lot, especially during the hot spring market, when buyers are out in droves. 

Should you allow for double-booked showings?

Our short answer to this question is "yes", you should allow for overlapping showings, and for two main reasons. The first reason is you'll expose your home to more buyers when you allow each buyer to tour your home at their requested time. Although it would be nice to grant each buyer a

Late last year we predicted the Dane County real estate market would be more balanced in 2019, based on the belief that interest rates would rise above 5%. In December, the market did cool as cautious buyers waited out a rocky stock market. The month of January was a different story, however. The stock market stabilized last month and mortgage rates moved lower rather than higher. Local home and condo buyers responded very favorably in January and are very active in the market right now.

Single family home buyers were very active in January

Single family home accepted offers increased in the month of January after decreasing by 19% the month before. As the graph below shows, accepted offers reached the 4th highest total ever for the month of