Madison Home Blog

RealEstateGuy comment

Would you leave the sale of you largest asset to your neighbor?  family member who is part time in the business.  Friend who just got their real estate license?   Worse still, try to sell by yourself? 

Well these may have worked aback in 2006.  But in 2009 it is asking for trouble. 

In this tough market selling a home is tough and the difference between a good agent and a mediocre one is called a sale!   Actually it is increasing your chance of a sale.  It is like choosing the best doctor or the best attorney to fight your case.   The best Realtor fights to get your home sold (or if you are buying, to get you the home you want)  and to get you to closing.

Too many agents get caught up in the sale like it is their own home and the sale never happens.  We make sure it happens. 

Real Estate Guy Statistics Released.

Look at our newly released record for 2009!    48 sales!    For listings, 2 expireds,   a ratio of over 90% of listings to successful closing, compared to 50% MLS average.   And for days on market, it took us 70 days average to get a sale, Vs 124 for the whole MLS. 

If you select RealEstateGuy to help you sell your home, you have a 90% chance of selling, twice the chance of another agent.  And in half the time!  But that is not the end of it.  We are finding the really serious clients, the ones who listen to us, have ALL sold. 

So we can virtually guarantee to sell your home.    Why would you choose anyone else.  Or why would you let a friend go anywhere else, Ask them if you can have us call THEM.

Yes  your agent can make the difference.   And I hear you asking, “There must be a reason?”, funny you asked, there is, and it is very complex.  It boils down to:- 

·         Leadership:  National company providing uptodate education and technology.  Locally to inspire us to be better.

·         Education, We are equipped to deal with this market.  There are many top agents from 2006 who don’t have a clue now!

·         Technology,  THE best technology means better exposure and better sales. 

·         Experience:  over 1,000 lifetime sales for the team.  50 years of experience.

·         Persistence:  to get the job done

·         Top negotiating:  needs no explanation.

·         Team: to specialize and get better at what we each love.

If you are serious about selling a home, let’s sit down over a coffee and discuss your plans.   

And NOW is the time to do it!!  Before interest rates go up and the tax credit expires.  Ask us about the “move up” tax credit. 

We also are well versed in Short sale situations to help you if an owner needs to sell but owes too much to the bank.  Again we can help.

Real Estate Guy helps homeowners in the Madison Wi. area.  search for homes in Madison Wi

Real Estate Guy Update. February 2010

Real Estate guy is happy to announce the year has started with a bang. The team has been very busy, doing what it does best.  helping buyers to buy and sellers to sell.  In the month of January along, we got 16 homes under contract.

We see the market is starting early this year and it is a strange year.  It happens to be a great time to both buy a home or to sell a home and so it is a great time, right now to do a sell/buy. 

Home Sales in Dane County,     December         2009     250    2008     295     2007      354

Sales were down in December 2009 compared to 2008 and 7, but inventory was down too to create balance.  (source SCWMLS)

This is because of the perfect storm of tax credits, low interest rates and good supply of inventory.  Read our blog for articles about how this is affecting the market.  www.MadisonHomeBlog.com

My advice to anyone thinking of a move, unless we see a dramatic improivement in the economy, the market will dramatically change April 30th as tax credits go away and interest rates rise. 

Are homes selling?  We hear of some people whose homes are not selling.  Well i can tell you they are.  Funny, i notice that the people who are following our advice the best.  The ones who are taking our stager’s words seriously, are the ones who are selling.  They are the seroius ones. An example, we had a client call us because their home was on the market for 8 months.  We met and they were impressed and asked us to represent them.  We took great pictures, did some tidying up and had an offer in 3 days!!   If you know someone seriously wanting to sell, please let us know, i am sure we can help them.

I get it.  The cost of selling a home is not cheap!!  I get it, you may be able to sell yourself.  I get it, you have the best home on the block and/or the best neighborhood.   Maybe you feel you can’t afford to use a Realtor, will be better off selling on your own, or you have too much into it. 

If you are thinking of selling unrepresented, then I know you are

thinking some of these things.  You are certainly not alone.   

Have you ever tried to do a fix it project of some sort because you thought it would be cheaper and it actually cost you more?   

And it totally bewiilders me that they feel they could do as well as a professional who has sold 1000 homes and been in business 18 years as RealEstateGuy has.  I see it as trying to do brain surgery on yourself.

It really doesn’t matter your circumstance.  I know you could possibly sell on your own. But could you protect yourself and your family, are you certainly restricting your market. It is easy, too easy to see the single cost of a professional.  But not so easy to calculate the costs of selling on your own.   here are a few:

There are so many costs i can not possilbly list them all here,  Here are a few: i will start with one which will be big in the next 4 months. 

TIMING:  If you waste time because you think you can sell you can lose a market. Many a time has someone called me to help them when the season is passed.  This spring season is one such time.  We forsee a dramatic change in the market in May. 

Not selling on time can cost you thousands!

OPPORTUNITY:  If you don’t sell you can lose a home of your dream.  If you can not sell a home in time you stand to lose the one you want.

COST: Read more detail here. Cost of owning 2 properties.  Holding costs can be severe.

Marketability: Most serious buyers are busy, in a time crunch, possibly in town for a short time.  Generally they work with a Realtor. 

Acessibility to Realtors: It is no surprise that Realtors generally do not choose to show unrepresented homes,  many reasons.  I personally don’t show them as a first resort, because have not proved they are serious and showing times are difficult to schedule. 

Lower price: Buyers who are looking at For Sale By Owner, are thinking they want to share the “savings in commission”.

Contractual difficulties:  I recently helped someone who got into trouble because they accepted an offer contingent a home that was not going to sell.   Others who had non qualified buyers.

 With all these difficulties, restricted traffic rate of buyers, is it surprising the liklihood of a successful sale results. 

I’ve helped dozens of previously unrepresented sellers who haven’t sold, lost time and money.

This is just for an average Realtor.  However in this market, you don’t just want average.  My next article will be the difference a seasoned professional, with the correct training to keep up with the market.  This will give the unrepresented seller more reasons to reconsider   Read MORE

Find out more on our website about short sales 

The Real Estate Guy Sells Homes in Madison Wi and can be found on the web at www.RealEstateGuy.Net, on twitter, as RealEstateGuyWi, Facebook as RealEstateGuy and on Linked-in.

Have you heard of anyone who is stressed because for no fault of their own, they are unable to pay their mortgage.  Furthermore, they can not refinance, and they can not sell because the home is not worth what it was and they can not pay off the bank?

That was a long question!!   Anyway, this situation is not uncommon.  If you are one of these, or you know someone who is in this situation, here are some helpful pointers:

1. Don’t beat your self up.  Realize this is not just you.
2. Don’t just wait, it will only get worse till you have no options.
3. Get Advice ASAP.  This will give you information. 
4. Create a plan.
5. Follow the plan

We can not help everyone, but we have become very good with the practice commonly known as Short sales.  Basically we sell the home and negotiate with the bank/mortgage holder to reduce the amount owed so the home owner can get on with their life and partially save their credit from foreclosure. 

Find out more on our website about short sales 

The Real Estate Guy Sells Homes in Madison Wi and can be found on the web at www.RealEstateGuy.Net, on twitter, as RealEstateGuyWi, Facebook as RealEstateGuy and on Linked-in.

Have you heard the traditional advice to get your home on the market to sell in the spring? 

Well, traditionally that is good advice, but this is no traditional year.  Real Estate Guy Team believes -and this is the general consensus in the industry- that this could be a mistake.   That this year you to stand the best chance, you need to be on the market just as soon as possible.  This applies to Madison Wisconsin.

What is different about this year?

Well there is a tri-fecta of things positively affecting the market, making it a great time to buy a home.  The Home buyer Tax credit, watch a short video explaining the tax credit,  all time low interest rates and great inventory because of sluggish sales, meaning generally lower prices for buyers.

These things are making home buyers brace the snow and start shopping.  And if you wait till the customary April time, you could miss the boat. 

Why what will happen? 

The tax credit is going away April 30th. (close by June 30th)

This will mean there will be large buying activity up till this date.  After this date, even if the credit is extended, (and industry sentiment is it will not.)  there will be less interest after that time. 

Interest rates are artificially low because the government is running an interference play, (too complex to get into now)  But it has plans to phase out the interference early this year.  New York Times article stated that could lead to interest rates up to 11% from the current 5%.  I can’t see this happen, but even 1-2% could have a dramatic effect on the market and hence home prices.

Can you imagine what that could do to buyer activity, and hence prices?

So what is the message.  Start getting serious NOW.  Get your home prepared to be a model home and hire a top agent to get you top dollar now. 

RealEstateGuy Team is a top team of Realtors helping buyers and sellers in the Madison Wisconsin area. 

Search all homes for sale in Madison Wi

Forbes article on why sooner is better

Homes in southern Wisconsin including the Madison area market.   Were really strong in November, especially in the price range up to 250,000, even up to $300,000 were relatively good. 

Much of the increase, if not all, was due to the first time home buyer’s tax credit sunsetting. 

With the extension of the credit now in place, it leaves us wondering what the winter, spring and beyond will look like.

Here is a more detailed summary of the stats and what they mean by the South Central Wisconsin MLS.

Guy Lofts search for homes in Madison wi

November MLS Statistics – By Patty Stuard, MLS Director
 

November home sales in Dane County were more than double the number reported last November. To be more precise, this November posted sales 111.6% higher than last November! This unusual increase can be attributed to buyers pushing to make the original first-time home buyer tax credit deadline of November 30, which has been extended and expanded to include some existing homeowners. Buyers now have until April 30 to secure an accepted offer, and then until June 30 to close.

 I want to thank Blake and also give him due credit fo this great article.   Advice on what to do (smart) with the tax credit.  Blake Bench 

Suffice it to say that I love Tax Credits. Similar to the way that I like donuts, pizza and peanut M&Ms. They are oh so tasty right now and honestly who cares about the lifetime that they spend as a spare tire around my belly.

These tax credits are great for home buyers now but may have negative results on the economy as a whole in the future.

Since I am not an economist I am not going to go there and I am simply going to say, “enjoy it while you’ve got it.”

Now lets take a moment and talk about my recommendations (do’s and don’ts) for buyers that get it.

Do start a Rainy Day Fund. Lets face it, most first time home buyers are broke after down payment and closing costs. Repay yourself and stick that whole thing in the bank.

Do pay off consumer debt. If this doesn’t get the whole thing then pay off what you can and apply those monthly payments to the others until all are gone (Snow ball).

Don’t use it to pay down your mortgage UNLESS you are debt free (except mortgage) and already have a rainy day fund. Then make sure your lender will RE-AMORTIZE (lower) your payment. This give you cash flow flexibility in the future but DO continue to pay the same amount so you can pay off early.

Don’t buy toy’s, TVs, designer clothes or other non necessities

Do contribute to your IRA or other retirement plan IF you are free from consumer debt and have a rainy day fund.
Do payback that relative you borrowed $8,000 from to make a down payment. Shame on you, you should have saved that yourself so that you could now have a rainy day fund. Too late now.

Do use it to buy furniture if you need it but don’t fool yourself into thinking that you need everything leather and new. Don’t worry, your furniture store has been going out of business for 6 years. Those sales aren’t really that great. Hit up craigslist and score some deals so that you can start that thing I mentioned earlier A RAINY DAY FUND.

I could go on but won’t. You’re about to get a bunch of free money. Don’t be an idiot! Don’t do something that you will regret in the future. Be smart with it and it could change you life. We live amongst a generation of spenders. Who do you think will REALLY have money to spend in the future….. those who are SAVERS today.

Real Estate Guy sells homes in Madison wi

The home buyer tax credit is no longer just for first timers.  I am fortunate to be associated with a great company which provides materials to share.  Watch this short video, very helpful.

Yet another reason to make a move this fall.  Besides the move up advantages!! Read our post about why now is the time to move up and add:- $6,500!!

Real Estate Guy  sells homes in Madison Wi.  search all Madison area homes

So you heard the market is bad?   Not a good time to move?   Yet your family is growing!  you could really do with a larger place. 

Believe it or not, this could be the best ever time for you to move up.  (when i say best time ever i mean in 15 years anyway).

Interest rates are low, home choice is plentiful, you have a good choice of move up homes available at a best time in years.

So what about your current home?  Depending on location. Whether down town Madison or Isthmus, West, East, Monona, Middleton or Verona etc, your home will be priced 5-15% less than it could have sold at the peak.   But if it is priced correctly, (and that is where you need a dedicated professional, - not some part timer) - your home will sell. 

Moving up to a larger home, you will achieve a larger discount on the higher price and so your “buy up” price will be less than in a better market.  And low interest rates will make your step up even more affordable!!

 see the simple illustration below.

Now is a great time to buy up!!

View our VIRTUAL TOUR INVENTORY of these listings and our other offerings in the Madison area

Check out our free mapping search function.   to find more homes for sale

Homes Marketed by Real Estate Guy, Madison Wisconsin, Homes for sale Madison Wisconsin 

Email RealEstateGuy@kw.com   Real Estate Guy is affiliated with Keller Williams Realty, Madison Crossroads, Wisconsin.

Hurry and take advantage of the First time buyer Tax credit when you purchase one of these exceptionally well priced homes in the Madison Wi area.

Madison, by lake Monona and the popular bike path, a super convenient location for commutes both East, 5-10 minutes and 15 minutes anywhere west.

This home has been home to a wonderful detail orientated couple for 40 years.  It has been lovingly upgrades with newer mechanicals and also remodelled bathrooms. 

Yet the original hardwood floors are wonderful.  Rooms are light and spacious.  The kitchen large with pantry and a large breakfast bar. 

Downstairs there is a huge bedroom with legal egress and a wonderful family room. 

5526 Ethelwyn Rd Madison Wi 53716 more details photos and virtual tour.  Priced $209,900. 

But YOU NEED TO ACT NOW!!!!!   The tax break ends Dec 1, which means you need to have an offer before Oct 25th LATEST to be safe!!!!

View our VIRTUAL TOUR INVENTORY of these listings and our other offerings in the Madison area

Check out our free mapping search function.   to find more homes for sale

Homes Marketed by Real Estate Guy, Madison Wisconsin, Homes for sale Madison Wisconsin 

Email RealEstateGuy@kw.com   Real Estate Guy is affiliated with Keller Williams Realty, Madison Crossroads, Wisconsin.