Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Gail Braatz and I live and work in Waukesha County. My home is located about twenty to twenty five miles from downtown Milwaukee, yet I have the peace and serenity that seems priceless that comes with living in the Lake country. I watch my son Spencer grow and everyday appears as another adventure. Being twelve years old he has developed quite the personality. I am so proud of the teachers that make up Waukesha County's schools. They are truly second to none. These blue ribbon schools turn out some of the brightest young minds and the faculty of these learning establishments instill good morals and values in the kids.

I love that this county has something to do or enjoy literally minutes away. We just don't have neighbors, we have friends. People genuinely look out for each other and care for one another. The beauty of the lakes, the beaches, nature and hiking trails, outstanding restaurants, libraries, bike trails, festivals, fairs, houses of worship; it is all right here in Waukesha County. The lake country where I live in is charming. The lakes are only minutes from each other. We can go from Lake Nagawicka and all its splendor in Delafield and Nashotah to Ottawa Lake which is in the Wales,Dousman.Ottawa area. How pristine are the waters.

Often in the Delafield/Wales/Hartland/Oconomowoc regions we have art shows, dances, festivals, and endless gala events designed for the young as well as the young at heart, and charming outings and events for all ages.

I approach my profession with enthusiasm, and I do what I do best with passion. I love Real Estate and I make so many new friends, as well as enjoy the group I have made from 13 years of selling Real Estate. Even my son gets involved putting information and doing computer work with me. Spencer's dad Tom is a well known Commercial and Investment Broker, and he makes comments quite often how happy I am, and how deeply involved I am in making sure that my customers and clients are  always taken care of. This extends far past any closing, and I enjoy watching their kids grow and enjoying the area. A lot of these kids go to the same school that my son goes to.

I have  a large base of knowledge of e-commerce, websites, blogging, and just about any technical means of doing work in cyberspace, yet my approach of enjoyment lends to never having to replace that warm smile I see everytime I am shaking a new friends hand at closing. I enjoy helping people find that perfect home, and it gives me a feeling like no other when the newly married couple sheds a tear of joy walking into thier first home.

I would very much enjoy selling your home and seeing it to a successful closing. I have a simple yet common sense approach for my home marketing program. It is selling the property for the highest dollar, in the least amount of time, and with the fewest possible objections or difficulties. Of course, with each property comes a unique game plan and sales approach for marketing. It may involve video or audio tours which I can have at someones fingertips anywhere in the free World in minutes, response generated marketing ( ask me about this and find out what others should know, but don't ) state of the art marketing and tracking abilities, consistent and highly professional communication and follow up. I love selling homes.

I just as much as selling love finding people homes. My business partner Tom Braatz has developed highly sophisicated avenues of finding and obtaining homes for our customers. Some may never even get on the market but only for a one party listing.

I take pride in the MLS, but I have an amazing ability to find the perfect home, and I never lose track of any task also involved in a transaction. These may be special needs, proximately to highways, financing, and everything that goes with the make up of such an important investment.

With thirteen wonderful and enjoying years of Residential Real Estate I have closed many properties; Farms, Lake properties, townhouses, duplexes, condominiums, and more.

I am fortunate to have been surrounded by highly knowledgable and successful Realtors. My business partner Tom has twenty two years of experience under his belt. I personally have a great desire to help people start their investment portfolios with an extra property. Take for an example a duplex. An individual may accumulate a little money and they tend to think of only one avenue of owning a second investment; they think cash flow. Although this is very important, one needs to take a step back and take a look at the whole picture. Get out of the box if you would. I am very good at selling and buying single family homes, as well as duplexes. However, I have learned an awful lot from being married to a driven broker that works in Investment/Commercial/Industrial properties. These could be businesses to factories to 30 unit apartment buildings and higher.

Although the cash flow sustains the property and makes sure the mortgage gets paid we need to think of the other connections of the transaction.

We are always on the watch to make sure that we get the best possible return from out initial investment. Often, people tend to forget about the appreciation of the property. This is not to be confused with the depreciation that an accountant may put you on to capture and write off your debt service. It may be scheduled on a 10, 13 or other depreciation schedule.

The appreciation in a property is what makes it worth more in the future, The hidden bank account if you will. If your cash flow is paying the mortgage wouldn't it be nice knowing that your property is going up in value while you are sleeping? Variables such as location, shape of the property, and make up and history of the property can effect this. It is important to note that this applies to the same single family and duplex I sell to a new friend. The difference here is whether the title states that the property is "homestead" or "non homestead" property. Different rules do apply. In investment properties you may be able to avoid paying the capital gains for the transaction and wait until down the road a bit. This is done by means of a Starker exchange in reference to IRS code 1031.

Appreciation; so if you have a four family that you paid $187,000 for in 1998. In an area, lets take Hartland for example, we could take a 6% appreciation rate or similar to such growth. Taking into consideration your basis, it simply involves taking your purchase price and dividing it by .94 or .95 and adding this to the original. Do this every year and you would be amazed at how much this has went up in value. You can add your return after your scheduled mortgage payments and bills on the investment property and add this to your appreciation to strengthen your rate of return. I would be glad to explain this more in person.

Another factor that should be taken into consideration is becoming an entity, or better known as incorporating. Why you ask? One example that immediately comes to mind is you can protect your assets. If someone slips and falls on some ice and decides that they want  to sue you some distance between your LLC ( limited liability corporation ) and your non-entity life ( your personal life ) you have shielded yourself. Your personal assets (home) could be protected. But did you know that you can pay yourselves for watching the property, taking care of it, driving,management, and more. So you see, there are ways to get a bigger pay check. I recently sold 2 four families in Manitowoc county.The buyer negotiated a great deal. $140,000 for one and $146,100 for the other. I know what you are thinking. Surprisingly, they were in very good shape. After the mortgage, vacancy allowance, sewer and water,lawn mowing and the other monthly expenses, they will put $1700 dollars a month back in their pocket, and have their down payment payed down and back in about two years. Buildings being payed off after that in about eight years. This is real money.

Obviously, I have Tom to articulate these, but every day talk of these types of deals sheds light of a different nature on selling and buying single families and how my customers and clients benefit from different approachs in thinking, as well as they can pocket more money short term, long term, and at sales time. I look forward to seeing you at closing!

I am proud of our accomplishments. For the many testimonials and Thank You cards we receive we never forget, or will forget, how we arrived at  each closing. It was not just putting a sign in the front yard, but rather hard work and effort with a very well planned means of action. Followed with great communication and effort until we shake your hand at closing. Please feel free to log on to www.buyingvip.com and on the upper left side of the front page find out what people are saying. Sincerely yours, Gail Braatz