selling real estate: July is a critical month for Dane County home sellers
- 06/27/12 10:40 PM
We are just getting started with the summer, but for this year's real estate market we are already well into the second half of buying season. This graph paints a good picture of how buyer activity changes from month-to-month. As the graph shows, the number of accepted offers decreases in July - well below the levels from the peak months of March, April, May and June.
(A note for sellers: Now is the time to ensure your pricing and your marketing are on the mark. The month of July sill offers a good window of opportunity with a large … (0 comments)
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selling real estate: Why you don't want an average listing...
- 01/28/12 12:07 AM
Last year, the average Dane County single family home listing resulted in a total days on market experience of 270 days (nine months). Here's how the total days on market experience for Dane County homes has been trending since the year 2000. These numbers cover homes only (excluding condos):
These numbers show the importance of your pricing and your marketing. If either are off the mark, you risk seeing your home sit on the market for a long time as the market continues to erode the value of your home.
Dan Miller, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty and www.DaneCountyMarket.com
www.HowWeHelpYouSell.com
www.HowWeHelpYouBuy.com
www.OurRecentSales.com
www.SearchDaneCounty.com
… (4 comments)
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selling real estate: REALTORS, thank you for your listing referrals!
- 01/10/12 11:53 PM
Thank you ActiveRainers! My real estate team has two closings this month that come directly from out-of-state REALTOR referrals.
Both listings are quick sales.
Both listings previously expired under another brokerage.
Both listings are selling without any price reductions.
We appreciate your trust!
Dan Miller, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com
www.HowWeHelpYouSell.com
www.HowWeHelpYouBuy.com
www.OurRecentSales.com
www.SearchDaneCounty.com
www.DaneCountyForeclosureSearch.com
… (1 comments)
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selling real estate: Using Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to market your home
- 10/08/11 02:41 AM
Google is the most popular web application on the planet, and many home buyers use it during their home search. That's why we put a lot of time and effort into making our properties highly visible on Google. For example, if you google the term "Shorewood Hills Luxury Home", you will see the following results. As you can see from this screen shot, 4 of the top 5 entries in the list of results are advertisements for our new listing in Shorewood Hills. Our content consists of two blog posts, one YouTube video, and a page from our web site. This is a … (8 comments)
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selling real estate: Sellers, don't fall for the spin
- 04/30/11 10:31 AM
Lately we're seeing a lot of articles and blog posts suggesting real estate values are about to rise. The pattern is familiar. Authors are using data published by another source to support their position the market has bottomed and prices will be rising soon. The general premise seems to be if we have evidence that one aspect of the market is "less bad", this means prices will rise.
For example, because there are fewer active listings this year than last year, this means prices will rise soon. Or because we have fewer foreclosure filings this year than last year, this means … (0 comments)
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selling real estate: One big reason starter homes are a tougher sell
- 04/20/11 12:26 AM
Selling a starter home is not as easy as it used to be. One big reason is buyer demand is lower than demand from last year and many years prior.
Another big reason is foreclosures. Our new tool that searches foreclosures for sale by price range makes this abundantly clear.
A quick look at Madison single family home foreclosures shows 11 foreclosures for sale for homes priced at $100,000 or lower, 16 foreclosures for sale for homes priced between $100,000 and $200,000, and 15 foreclosures for sale for homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000.
A quick look at Madison condo foreclosures shows a … (1 comments)
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selling real estate: This Madison neighborhood has weathered the real estate downturn very well
- 03/07/11 10:41 PM
The best way to measure price trends is to measure the selling price of the same properties over time.
This property at 309 N Owen Drive in Madison's Sunset Village neighborhood just sold for $204,900 on February 25th. In February of 2009, this same property sold for an even $200,000.
How did this home's value increase over the last 2 years at a time when most home values in Dane County decreased? The answer is all about supply and demand.
Sunset Village is located in the W13 MLS location. Month in and month out this location has one of the lowest months of … (1 comments)
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selling real estate: Dane County inventory levels down significantly from last year
- 03/01/11 11:17 PM
We measure the Dane County active MLS listings at the end of each month. Our most recent snapshot was on February 28th, and the numbers show a sizeable decrease in inventory from the year before for both homes and condos.
The inventory for Dane County homes decreased from 2,926 listings on February 28th of 2010 to 2,730 active listings on February 28th of this year, a decrease of 6.7%. Inventory has dropped for most price categories above $225,000, but increased in many of the more affordable price segments.
Dane County condo inventory has decreased by 22.7 percent, from 1,819 … (2 comments)
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selling real estate: Cash buyers a seller's best friend?
- 02/08/11 11:49 PM
The blog Calculated Risk reports a large increase in the percentage of cash buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, 28% of the transactions in 2010 were all cash transactions.
We don't think the percentage is that high in our market, but we definitely concur that there are more cash buyers in our market right now than there were two years ago. Our real estate team is working with several cash buyers right now.
A cash buyer can be a seller's best friend, especially for the seller who owns a condo. On the other hand cash buyers as a group tend … (1 comments)
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selling real estate: Dane County home sales rising
- 02/06/11 01:25 AM
We'll be releasing our Dane County January homes sales report in the next few days. The report will show sales of single family homes (not condos) increased on a year-over-year basis for the second month in a row.
In fact Dane County home sales in January of 2011 were higher than the sales totals from the 3 previous Januarys.
It is still very much a buyer's market, but we're seeing real signs that the market is moving in a more balanced direction.
Dan Miller, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty and www.DaneCountyMarket.com
www.HowWeHelpYouSell.com
www.HowWeHelpYouBuy.com
www.OurRecentSales.com
www.SearchDaneCounty.com
… (2 comments)
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selling real estate: Seller resolution #5: stay on top of the market
- 01/20/11 03:27 PM
Our first seller resolution for the new year is stage your home.
Our second is use professional photos.
Our third is use professional video.
Our fourth is price your home right.
Our fifth seller resolution for the new year is stay on top of the market.
Many sellers list their home and then quickly lose touch of the new listings, price changes and selling prices in their neighborhood. The best way to stay in touch with the competition is by implementing automated market updates. If you're listing your home with a Realtor, he should implement these updates for you.
The first thing your Realtor can do … (1 comments)
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selling real estate: Seller resolution #4
- 01/16/11 11:56 PM
Our first seller resolution for the new year is stage your home.
Our second seller resolution is use professional photos.
Our third seller resolution for the new year is use professional video.
Our fourth seller resolution is price your home right.
We've covered the dangers of over-pricing in a buyer's market. Here's one real-life example.
The risk of over-pricing far outweighs the risk of "under-pricing" in our market. The longer an over-priced home sits on the market, the more likely it is that a competing listing will do what it takes from a pricing perspective to generate a sale. When … (2 comments)
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selling real estate: Seller resolution #3: use professional video
- 01/13/11 10:08 PM
Our first seller resolution for the new year is stage your home.
Our second seller resolution is use professional photos.
Our third seller resolution for the new year is use professional video.
Professionally narrated video tours offer four key advantages:
1) Video tours provide buyers with an excellent introduction to a home. There is no better way to preview a home online than to view a professionally produced video.
2) For those sellers who have a wonderfully staged home, video allows sellers to "show off" online. A picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth ten thousand.
3) Video … (1 comments)
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selling real estate: Seller resolution #2: use professional photos
- 01/11/11 11:28 PM
Our first seller resolution for the new year was stage your home.
Our second seller resolution is use professional photos.
The number one reason buyers go online is to look at listing photos. The internet is the window to your home, so it's imperative that your home is staged and that the listing photos are of the highest quality. If your home does not look good online, there's a good chance it will be eliminated from contention before a buyer even sees it in person.
We've displayed a few professional photos from some of our recent listings on the selling real estate … (0 comments)
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selling real estate: Seller resolution #1: stage your home
- 01/09/11 01:07 AM
A seller's odds for success are improving greatly as we round the corner of the holidays and make our way into the Spring buying season. Even so, there are plenty of homes and condos that won't sell this year.
Some sellers will hope the Spring season brings a successful sale. Others will plan for it by bringing their best effort to the peak buying season. With this in mind we'll be covering a few different resolutions successful sellers will undertake in this new year.
Our first resolution is "stage your home".
Staging helps ensure a home looks its very best online. A home that … (3 comments)
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selling real estate: Dane County inventory trends
- 01/04/11 10:57 PM
We've been reporting Dane County home sales will surprise on the upside when our December data is released. This is a positive development, because single family home inventory has been increasing.
The inventory increase has been confined for the most part to homes priced under $250,000.
The affordable home market has become more challenging for sellers since the expiration of the tax credit. Home sellers this Spring will need to price their homes more competitively than the sellers from last Spring.
For more information on how inventory varies by price range, visit either our buying real estate or selling real … (0 comments)
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selling real estate: How prices fall
- 01/03/11 11:53 PM
Prices fall one listing at a time. Either a new listing will enter the market at a very competitive price, or an existing listing will lower its price to the leading edge, giving it the pricing it needs to sell.
The danger of over-pricing in this market is there is always another seller who is willing to do what it takes from a pricing standpoint to guaranty a sale. When this happens the bar is suddenly set lower, and an over-priced home suddenly becomes very over-priced. Pricing is like a game of leap frog, and it is a game you don't want … (0 comments)
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selling real estate: Delinquencies still high, but trending lower
- 12/28/10 11:21 PM
Calculated Risk reports the Freddie Mac serious delinquency rate was up slightly in November, but has been on an overall downward trend the past several months. (Serious delinquencies represent loans that are 3 or more monthly payments past due or in foreclosure).
This graph from Calculated Risk shows the serious delinquency rate trend.
The delinquency rate is moving in the right direction but is still very high from a historical perspective. Foreclosures will continue to be a significant part of the housing market in the coming year. That means we'll see an upward pressure on inventory and a downward … (4 comments)
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selling real estate: More Madison homes are selling for under the assessed value. Are you pricing it right?
- 12/20/10 10:46 PM
This year sixty-three percent of Madison homes sold for under the 2010 assessed value. That's up from 12 percent in the year 2000.
Only 35% of Madison homes sold within $10,000 (plus or minus) of the 2010 assessed value.
And although we don't have an article detailing the specifics, 74% of Madison condos sold for under the 2010 assessed value.
We've been saying it for a long time: assessed values have no bearing on true market value. What matters is how buyers view a property relative to the competition. Many buyers view dozens of properties before they decide … (0 comments)
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selling real estate: A creative way to sell a vacant home
- 12/16/10 10:39 PM
We've written before why renting a home that needs to be sold is usually not a good idea. However, when the tenant is an interior designer, a rental arrangement can prove to be a great addition to a home's marketing plan.
We've placed an interior designer into several of our vacant home listings, including one of our current listings. The seller benefits in many ways from this arrangement:
1) An otherwise vacant home is occupied by a live-in stager who outfits the home with her own furniture and accessories. The vacant home receives more than a new look. It takes on a whole new … (5 comments)
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We are just getting started with the summer, but for this year's real estate market we are already well into the second half of buying season. This graph paints a good picture of how buyer activity changes from month-to-month. As the graph shows, the number of accepted offers decreases in July - well below the levels from the peak months of March, April, May and June.
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