We’re excited to announce we’ve launched a new platform for our website, which makes the new Mad City Dream Homes easier to use and navigate. Here are a few of the new search features that are now available at MadCityDreamHomes.com.

Property search from any page

Now you can launch your Madison area property search from any page on our website. This search bar allows you to quickly launch a search based on the city, neighborhood, address, street, zip code, and MLS number.

The “more options” features gives you full access to all of our MLS search criteria.

Content search on a desktop computer

Our new “content search” feature makes it easy to locate the real estate guides, articles and blog posts that you’re looking for. If

Unfortunately, some sellers do misrepresent or "under-represent" property defects on their real estate condition report. And it happens more often than we'd like to see. Based on our experience, failures to disclose are most likely to happen with For Sale By Owner and Limited Service listings. 

One fairly common omission is a seller's failure to disclose previous water intrusions. We know this because some water problems can be easy to detect. Mildew, water stains, soft wood, and elevated moisture readings are all signs of previous problems. When a seller does fail to disclose a water issue, that's a tip-off to be on the look out for other issues, too. 

How to protect yourself from sellers who under-represent

One way you can protect yourself

Here's a quick look back at the December Dane County real estate market, for both single family homes and condos. Let's jump right into it...

Dane County Single Family Home Update - Dec 2018

New Dane County single family home listings were the lowest ever for the month of December. A total of 211 new listings entered the market, a decrease of 12% from the year before. 

A low influx of new listings is keeping the inventory of active listings low, too. As of January 11th, only 1.5 months of supply were available for sale on the open market. 

Last month, a total of 265 accepted offers were recorded in the MLS - a decrease of 17% from the 321 accepted offers recorded in December of 2017. 

This historical view of accepted offers

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) gets a lot of attention -- and deservedly so -- for the mid-century modern homes and buildings he's designed in the Madison area. But less than 8 years after he attended civil engineering classes at UW-Madison, so did another "Frank" who would also become a prominent 20th century architect in a much different style.

Perhaps best known for designing what is now the Governor's Mansion and several other Period Revival homes in Maple Bluff, Frank Morris Riley (1875-1949) helped shape the look and feel of many of Madison's premier neighborhoods, including University Heights, Nakoma, Shorewood Hills, and along Sherman Avenue and Wingra Park. He also designed the Brittingham House in the Highlands, which is now the official

You may have heard BMO Harris Bank recently eliminated all of its brick and mortar loan officers. BMO lenders, who once worked out of individual branches, now work out of a call center. Now all customer interactions with a loan officer take place online or over the phone. The face-to-face meeting has been eliminated at BMO.

BMO adopted this new customer service model because it costs less than the old model. It's also a response to evolving consumer preferences, which place a premium on speed and efficiency. Will BMO have a thriving mortgage business 5 years from now? We'll be watching to see how their new approach to service plays out. 

Our thoughts on face-to-face meetings

We understand why companies like BMO are eliminating the

For a little insight, check out our graph below, which shows the number of accepted offers during the first 11 months of 2018. As the numbers below show, buyer activity is strongest in March, April, and May. Year in and year out the best time to sell is late winter and early spring. If you're planning to sell in 2019, this means the time to start preparing for your sale is right now. 

How to prepare for your 2019 listing

Here are 4 steps you can take right now for a successful listing in 2019. 

1) Contact your favorite Mad City Dream Homes agent. Your agent will help you select the right price point, customize your marketing plan, and identify low-cost cosmetic updates that will improve your home’s value.

2) Schedule your professional

Thinking of buying a home or condo in the Madison area? We've got three online tools that will help you reach your goals. Learn how to research building permits, research schools, and discover local neighborhoods with these 3 handy tools. 

3 helpful tools for Madison area home buyers

City of Madison building permit database

Have you ever found yourself wondering whether or not a home improvement project was completed properly and up-to-code? The city of Madison has a database that allows you to view the permits pulled for any residential property in the city. When you have questions about an individual property, you can research its permit history by visiting this website:

https://elam.cityofmadison.com/CitizenAccess/

State of Wisconsin

Looking back on 2018, we're grateful for another year of growth at Mad City Dream Homes. Thank you to all of you who have referred us to your friends and family in the last year. Our families thank you! We genuinely appreciate the trust you place in us, and we promise we'll keep working to earn your trust in the years ahead.

Looking ahead to 2019, we're excited to share our team is growing in a number of positive ways. Here are a few of the exciting changes we're working on right now at Mad City Dream Homes. 

Positive changes at Mad City Dream Homes

1) We're growing with great people

We're very fortunate to have Maureen Moran, and Tracy Kapela join our team in 2018. Both, in their own way, are making us a better and more complete team.

Last year we predicted 2018 would be a clear seller's market in Madison and Dane County. This year we're predicting 2019 to be a more balanced market, characterized by rising inventory and moderate price growth. You can get all of the details by viewing our 10 predictions for the 2019 market below. 

Our 2019 Madison Real Estate Predictions

#1: Foreclosures will rise. 

Foreclosures have been quietly rising in 2018, and we expect more of the same in 2019. This means more distressed properties will become available for sale in the coming year, but not enough to appreciably impact inventory in the Madison area.

#2: New home and condo construction will plateau. 

Madison area housing starts have been flat in 2018, and this trend will continue

Who you hire as your buyer agent can make all the difference between success and failure in Madison's low inventory real estate market. Here are six ways a skilled buyer agent (or buyer agent team) can help you succeed in the months ahead. 

How a skilled buyer helps you succeed in a competitive market

1) Your buyer agent connects you with a reliable, local lender who goes the extra mile. For example, some local lenders will contact the listing agent and vouch for your financial stability when you're submitting a competing offer. Lenders who deliver personal service like this are worth their weight in gold. 

2) Your agent finds properties before they hit the market. A good buyer agent will identify "coming soon" listings before they hit the