If you follow conventional thinking the best time to buy a home in Madison is in the springtime, when many new listings traditionally enter the market. Times have changed, however. The Madison area has evolved into a perpetual seller's market, one that is especially challenging for buyers during the spring season.

To illustrate this point, take a look at our 2017 market data below. It shows multiple offers are most common in the months of March, April and May - which is a typical pattern for the Madison area. In our market more offers are rejected in the springtime than in any other season of the year. 

Is the springtime really the best time to buy a home?  

According to our data, the answer is "no". Your odds of having your offer accepted

Although there are many good reasons to sign a buyer agency agreement, we generally advise buyers to take their time before they commit to an agent and sign a contract. Instead, we encourage customers to "test-drive" their agent before committing to a buyer agency relationship. 

Why you shouldn't rush into signing a buyer agency contract

The last thing you want is to be locked into working with an agent who's the wrong fit for your needs. As an example, two different buyers recently contacted us saying they wanted to hire our team as their buyer representative. Both buyers said they were unhappy with their current agent and wanted to work with us instead. Unfortunately, we couldn't help either buyer. They had already signed a buyer agency

As we approach the warmer summer months the Madison real estate market shifts from "over-heated" to "balanced". The graph below, which shows accepted offers by month, puts this shift into perspective. As the graph shows, buyer activity decreases in June, a typical pattern for our market.  

Opportunities for summertime buyers

Because the market shifts in June, the summertime is a good market for opportunistic buyers. A decent supply of new listings will hit the market in June, but competing offers and bidding wars will moderate. So right now is the time for buyers to stay engaged with their search and to act quickly when an appealing property is listed for sale. With a good supply of new listings, and fewer competing buyers, the summer market

We just put the finishing touches on our latest single family home and condo reports, and as expected, rising prices and low inventory continue to be the two major themes in this year's real estate market. But how long can this sellers market in Madison last? We expect the market to favor sellers for a long time, and we explain why below. 

Why Madison is a long-term sellers market

The short and simple answer is the Madison area has many more people wanting to buy than owners willing to sell. We know this from our day-to-day work in the field, and our review of local market data confirms this is much more than a hunch. Here are 3 reasons why we know the city of Madison has many more buyers than sellers.

#1: Competing offers are at an all-time

At Mad City Dream Homes, we customize each marketing plan in order to deliver the best value for each home-selling client. This is one reason why we love selling luxury real estate; there are so many creative touches we can add for the truly special property.

Luxury real estate marketing examples

Below we share a few examples of the marketing tools we make available to our clients with high-end and luxury properties.

Staging with rented furniture

Sometimes it makes perfect sense to replace an owner's existing furniture with rented furniture individually selected by our stager. Such was the case with our recent Lake Monona condo listing in Downtown Madison. Notice how the low profile furniture adds a modern touch while allowing for an

This year's real estate market is the most challenging market we've seen for Madison area buyers. And yet we're helping more clients successfully buy in 2018 compared to any other year. Below we share a few reasons why so many of our clients are getting their offers accepted in this year's low inventory market. 

How our buyers are getting their offers accepted in 2018

#1: They're educating themselves on the market.

Our most successful buyers are meeting with us before they begin their search and asking questions about the home-buying process. They're learning up-front what it takes to successfully buy a home in this year's low inventory market.   

#2: They're submitting a personal letter with their offer. 

As listing agents we see only

The spring market is the best market for sellers in Madison. Specifically the months of March, April and May are the three months when buyer activity is strongest. Take a look below at our MLS data from calendar year 2017, which shows the number of accepted offers for every month of the year. Accepted offers peaked in the month of May, which is a typical pattern for our market.  

How does this seasonal pattern impact the sale of your home? 

If your house is listed for sale right now, you need to know your home is worth more in the month of May than it will be in the months of June or July. That's because the spring market is an overheated market that gives sellers the clear advantage. In June, the market will shift, and buyers and sellers will

This year is proving to be another hot seller's market for owners of single family homes and condos in the Madison area. Here's our latest update on how inventory, prices, and other key measures are performing though March and April of 2018. 

April 2018 Inventory

Condo supply continues to run lower and lower in the city of Madison. This graph shows inventory is now at a new low, having decreased from 2.4 months in April of 2016, to 1.3 months if April of 2017, to only 1 month in April of 2018. 

Single family home supply is even lower, having decreased from 1.3 months to only .8 months over the last two years. 

March New Listings

We expect persistently low inventory throughout all of 2018. New condo listings were a scarce

So far this year we've had clients receive offers for $13,000 above, $14,000 above, $23,000 above, and an amazing $31,000 above the list price. This is in addition to several other sellers who've received offers for between $5,000 and $10,000 above the list. 

These offers didn't happen by accident

All were the result of marketing plans designed to attract multiple offers. As we shared in these two success stories, a key part of our strategy is to allow 4 to 5 days of showings before responding to any written offers. This timeline gives all interested buyers enough time to schedule their showings, research the neighborhood, and submit their offer to purchase.

Allowing 4 to 5 days of showings gives sellers the psychological advantage, too. When

We're excited to see our team earning so many rave reviews on Zillow and our Google Business Page. At a time when so many web reviews are crafted for marketing purposes, we appreciate so many of you (our clients) taking time to share your genuine feedback. Thanks to all of you who have shared your real experiences online. It motivates us to keep doing what we're doing and to to keep getting better. We're extremely grateful and we thank you for your support!

Recent reviews of Mad City Dream Homes

Here are just a few of the recent reviews we've received in 2018. 

For Chris Venden

"This is the second time we’ve used Chris as our realtor & we couldn’t be happier!! She’s an awesome lady, hard worker, and good friend. We will continue to use her