If you snooze, you lose. Remember these words if you're serious about buying in 2018. 

Competition for Madison area real estate is fierce this year. Inventory is extremely tight right now, and it will become even tighter in April and May. 

When a promising new listing comes along you and your buyer agent should be first in line to see it. Don't wait until the next day or the Sunday open house to view it in person. Schedule your showing immediately.

If you delay your showing you run the risk of missing out on your dream home. Ask the many buyers out in the market right now who are learning the hard way: Open houses are being canceled left and right because properties are selling in a flash. 

It Helps to Work with a Team in a Hot Market

We

The springtime is the best time to knock it out of the park with your real estate listing, and market conditions in Madison are ideal for sellers right now. Here are 2 recent success stories which show how smart marketing and a hot market can help you net more than you ever imagined on the sale of your home.

Client Success Story #1 

Our clients with two young children were outgrowing their starter home on the east side of Madison. They listed their home with Shelley Lazzareschi and received an amazing 14 offers for their home. One of the offers was for $13,000 above the list and stood out among all of the others as the clear winner. In addition to a great price, this offer included a few other terms which were very appealing to the sellers. 

These days we're using technology to get just about anything we want. When we feel the need to buy, we shop online at Amazon and have our purchase shipped directly to our door. When we have a question, we turn to Google where the world of information is at our finger tips. And when we feel the need to connect, we use social media to reach out to our friends online.

But when it comes to the world of real estate, can we expect to buy a home in the same way?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. The truth is there is no easy button for buying in this market. As many consumers are learning, there's a lot more that goes into buying a home than casually searching for properties online. Shopping with your Zillow app just isn't good enough - because half of

Your property could be worth much more than you ever imagined. Even though interest rates have changed, Madison home and condo prices keep rising in 2018. Here's our summary of the latest trends in the Madison area real estate market.

Prices

Madison home prices rose to $154 per square foot through the month of February. This was a record high for our market and a 9% increase from last year. 

Madison condo prices also rose to record highs through the month of February.  

Inventory

Prices are rising because demand is strong and housing is in short supply. In February and March, there were only .7 months of single family home inventory in Madison - a rock bottom low for our market. 

Condo supply is also very low. Right now there is

Statistics show that the average American household has "300,000 things." And as more baby boomers downsize, move to assisted living facilities, or pass away, "the volume of unwanted keepsakes and family heirlooms is poised to grow -- along with the number of delicate conversations about what to do with them," the New York Times reports.

From your great aunt's rocking chair to that unopened box of hand-me-down china, the weight of what we own and what we no longer use could easily be lifted off of our shoulders. Wouldn't it be nice to ditch the guilt and declutter your life by finding a new home for some of your belongings?

While some trinkets should just go in the garbage bin, many other items don't need to be relegated to the curb. You might not

We recently had an opportunity to do 2 market analyses which showed how dramatically market conditions can differ from one location to the next. One property was located in a clear seller's market in Madison's Westmorland neighborhood. The other property was a higher priced listing located in a more rural buyer's market. Below we share a few examples from both market analyses which demonstrate how buyer's markets and seller's markets differ.  

Seller's markets typically have low inventory levels and a high percentage of listings with accepted offers. These two traits run very strong in the Westmorland neighborhood. At the time of our analysis the Westmorland market had only .6 months of supply available for sale on the MLS. In addition, 50% of

One aspect of our job that we really enjoy is helping home owners whose previous listing expired without selling. When we meet with owners we start by getting to know the property and the marketing used during the previous listing. Usually we find out there's a lot we can do to help each client.

Such was the case with our recent sale of this upscale listing which we sold this February. When we first met with the sellers we were struck by the beauty of the property and setting. It was a truly special home, but the home's beauty wasn't fully exposed by the previous marketing. 

For example, we saw an immediate opportunity to upgrade the pictures and produce showcase listing photos like this one below. This was one of several ideas we had for generating

As of this writing, the rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is at about 4.5% (for a real-time update on mortgage rates, click this link). This is a jump up from where the rate has been over the last several years, but still very low by historical standards.

How will higher mortgage rates impact the Madison real estate market? 

In the short-term, higher mortgage rates are creating some uncertainty, especially for buyers whose financing budget is tight. In the long-term, we believe higher rates will prove to have a positive impact on the market. Madison area real estate prices have been rising at an unsustainable pace, and higher rates are needed to temper that growth.  

Do you have questions about how higher rates will affect your purchase

A few days ago a prospective out-of-town buyer contacted our team about buying a home in the Madison area. He had been researching properties online and created a list of 20 homes he wanted to visit in person. We quickly checked on the status of each property and determined 18 of the listings already had an accepted offer. In other words, 90% of the properties on this buyer's list were already under contract and scheduled to close with another party.  

Mr Buyer was surprised to learn that so many of the properties on his list would be selling to other people. It was tough news for him to swallow, but a good example for others on how competitive the Madison real estate market has become.

Our advice for buyers in 2018

If you'd like to avoid the

It's a jungle out there for buyers in this year's real estate market. Madison area home and condo listings are at historically low levels, and we fully expect this to be the "new normal" for the next several years. Consequently some buyers are struggling in 2018 because they don't have the right tools, the right mindset, or the right agent to effectively compete. If you're planning to buy this year, here are 4 steps you should take right now to effectively compete in our low inventory market. 

4 steps for buying in a low inventory market

#1: Write down your goal and commit to it. For example, "By June 30th, purchase a 4-bedroom home for under $500,000 in the Middleton School District." Then re-visit your goal and work on it everyday. You're much