Dane County Real Estate Blog - Expert Advice - Video Blogs

Your Offer Got Accepted. Now What?

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What happens once your offer is accepted on your new house? Before you start celebrating, there are a few steps you have to take prior to sitting at the closing table.

Typically, transactions in our market are financed by a lender or bank. As a result, most transactions close in about 45 days.

After your offer is accepted, one of the first things you need to do is to make sure that you apply for a mortgage. If you were previously pre-approved before your homesearch, then we have probably already had contact with your lender, so we can send your documentation directly to them.

Normally, it will take 30 to 35 days…

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4 Simple Upgrades to Completely Transform Your Bathroom

Today, I’ll be sharing four simple, inexpensive bathroom upgrades that can add a lot of value before you list.

If you're planning to sell you home in the next year, I have some simple and inexpensive upgrades you may want to make before you list.

1. Flooring and color schemes. There are plenty of options out there for vinyl flooring today. Between wood plank patterns, tile patterns, and many more, there’s a lot to choose from. Additionally, this project is one you can easily do yourself. When it comes to color schemes, I highly recommend keeping things toned down. Tan or light blue are great, soothing…

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What Will the Market Be Like in 2018?

2018 is almost here. Do you want to know how our market is expected to change?
  Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.  

What’s happening in our market right now? What can we expect from the market in 2018?

First, let’s start off with the number of homes that are currently available in the Madison area. Currently, there's less than 1.5 months of supply in terms of both condos and single-family homes.  What does this mean you may ask? This means we’re in a seller’s market at the moment (brief explanation: a balanced market is about 6 months of available homes at the rate of sale using the average of the past 12 months. In a "balanced" market supply and…

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7 Tips to Prepare Your Home for Sale in the Winter

I'd love to share seven tips that you can use to prepare your home for sale in the winter months.

 Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Today, let's chat about seven things you can use to make sure you're ready for your wintertime sale.

1. Make sure your home is well-lit in the evening. Days are getting shorter and buyers will still likely be out looking after dark, so having good lighting will keep your home from looking gloomy and dingy. Turn your inside and outside lights on before a showing; if you won't be home, ask your realtor to do it for you. A lot of sellers use compact fluorescent lighting; these require a warm-up period before they…

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5 Tips for a Safe and Happy Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner. To make sure your night is full of treats and not tricks, I’ve got five key tips to prepare yourself and your home.   Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

Today I’d like to share five quick tips on how to prepare yourself and your home for the holiday right around the corner: Halloween.

1. Decorate the front of your home for trick-or-treaters. Decorating your porch or door will help let kids and their parents know that you’re giving out treats.

2. Make sure your property is well lit. Optimizing your lighting will make sure that people remain safe when they're approaching and on your property. You don’t…

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7 Advantages of Buying Over Renting

Here are seven reasons why buying a home is a smarter idea than you might think it is. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

Several people have been asking me about the benefits of being a homeowner lately. If you’re currently paying rent and have been for a while now, I'd like to make you aware of the specific benefits that home buying offers. Here are seven of them:

1. You're paying your own mortgage—not somebody else’s. When you pay rent, you're helping your landlord line his/her pockets and paying off his/her mortgage. When you buy your own home, you’re paying your own mortgage and benefiting from any equity it receives.

2. It isn't as…

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6 Rookie Home Selling Mistakes

Some home selling mistakes are more common than others. Here's how to avoid six of the most common of those mistakes.

There are plenty of potential mistakes you can make when selling your home. We see sellers make these rookie mistakes over and over. We don’t want that to happen to you. Here are six of the most common mistakes we see home sellers make and how you can avoid them when it's time to sell your home.

1. Overpricing the home. Even in a market like we’re in right now where properties are moving quickly, properties that are priced at market value are the ones that are selling over list price and over…

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These 5 Steps Will Help You Find the Perfect Neighborhood

Finding the right neighborhood for you can be overwhelming, so we’ve put together a list of five steps that will make the process fun and stress-free. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

When the time comes to move, it can be a difficult and overwhelming process choosing a new neighborhood, especially if you are relocating to a brand-new area. These five simple steps will make that process simpler and stress-free.

1. Google is your friend: Simply searching what is important to you like “best places to live in Madison, Wisconsin” or "Best neighborhoods in..." will give you plenty of lists that point out the different features of any…

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An Update for the Real Estate Market in Dane County

If you're currently interested in buying or selling a home, you're probably wondering: what's going on in the real estate market right now? Inventory is tight and prices are on the rise, but all hope is not lost for buying a home. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

What's going on in the market here in Dane County?

Interest rates are still bouncing around near historic lows and we're still short on inventory, so sellers continue to have a big advantage with median home prices skyrocketing. The number of sales has decreased due to the low inventory; April and May saw the fewest same-month home sales we've seen since 2014 and was also…

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How to Make Your Offer Stand out to a Seller

Try these methods to make your offer to purchase a home stand out.

If you want to buy a home in this highly competitive market, how can you make your offer stand out? You need to cater to what's important to the seller. Here are three things that can help you do that:

1. Limiting your contingencies: A lot of contingencies don't actually cost that much. For example, you might want to have a radon test (and you probably should at some point), but even if radon levels are high in a home you want to buy, it most likely won’t cost very much to fix later on. Don't let contingencies that you can test for later…

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