Foreclosure prevention workshop is Saturday from 9 AM to Noon

Don't forget, the "fix your loan, keep your home" workshop is this Saturday from 9 AM to Noon at the MATC Truax campus located at 3550 Anderson Street in Madison.

Plenty of volunteers will be on hand to assist those who are in need of help, so please feel free to share this link with anyone you know that may be having problems keeping up with their mortgage.

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Pricing your home

When we help our clients set a list price, we prefer it to be a group exercise with all of us sitting around a table and sharing in the process.

We start by taking a look at local market conditions (for example, months of inventory by location and months of inventory by price range). Then we review a list of comparable listings in the area. The list includes recent sales, current listings with accepted offers, and current listings without offers. Together we review each of the listings in detail and then place each listing into one of two categories - "a strong match" or "not a strong match". By the time we've completed this review all of us at the table understand which listings provide the best comparisons for setting a price.

Upon meeting new sellers, most want us to tell them right away what we feel their home is worth. And most are surprised when we respond by saying we prefer to use a group approach.

We've learned our clients respond very positively to this approach. It establishes a sense of teamwork, and it enhances everyone's understanding of the neighborhood market.

Have a good day,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Dane County home and condo sales - in perspective

Now that we have 6 months of the year under our belt, it's a good time to review the first half of the sales year.

Check out the graph below. It shows January through June Dane County home and condo sales over the last 13 years. All data comes from the South Central Wisconsin MLS.

Sales volume this year is at its lowest point since 1997 - and 42% off the peak year of 2005. What the graph doesn't show is the drop in sales this year has come at the expense of higher priced real estate.

Overall, home and condo sales are down 16% from last year. For homes and condos selling between $400K and $499,999 the decrease is 42%. At $500K and up the drop is a whopping 57%.

Clear implications for both buyers and sellers in the higher price categories.

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Fix your loan, keep your home - workshop is Saturday, August 1st

Please share this post with anyone you feel may benefit from this program.

The city of Madison, Dane County, and the Dane County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce are sponsoring a free workshop for home owners who are experiencing financial hardship and having a hard time keeping up with their mortgage. Attendees will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a trained counselor to submit an application for a loan modification.

The workshop will take place Saturday, August 1st from 9:00 AM to noon at the MATC Truax campus located at 3550 Anderson Street in Madison.

Important: In order to be considered for a loan modification, all borrowers listed on the mortgage must bring a few key pieces of paperwork. Please visit DaneForeclosureHelp.org for a list of required documents.

Assistance will be available in English, Spanish, and Hmong. For more info, please feel free to call 2-1-1 or email info@daneforeclosurehelp.org.

Have a good day,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Dane County lenders participating in the Wisconsin Neighborhood Advantage Program

Several local lenders have signed up for the Wisconsin Neighborhood Advantage Program, a program designed to help buyers get into vacant and foreclosed homes. Check out this link for a list of participating lenders. If you're interested in learning more about how this program could work for you, a good first step would be to contact one of the Dane County lenders on the list.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Moving up in this market

We noted in our last post sales of Dane County homes priced under $200,000 were up 25% last month from June of 2008. On the flip side, sales of higher priced homes were down significantly from last year. We're assisting several clients right now who are taking advantage of these two trends to move up from their starter home to a home that offers more space.

One of our clients, a couple with a starter home on the north side, recently put their house on the market. While we marketed their home we assisted them by taking them to several dozen properties that fit their criteria for location, size, style and price.

This couple received and accepted an offer for their own home within the first several weeks of their listing. Once they had that accepted offer in hand, they made their own offer on the move-up home that best fit their needs. The home they made their offer on was priced above $400,000

At this point this couple was in the driver's seat. They had a solid offer on their own home, and they knew the demand for homes priced over $400,000 was weak. They submitted their offer for $50,000 less than the list price, and the sellers accepted the offer as written.

Every situation is different, but the above example shows how move-up buyers can play the market to get a great deal on a larger home. These buyers had an accepted offer on their own home, as well as a loan pre-approval. The accepted offer and the loan pre-approval gave the sellers the security they needed from their buyers - and so the sellers became very flexible with price. We'll be sharing more examples of recent transactions later in the year.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

A tale of two markets

We've mentioned how the $8,000 tax credit is moving the market, and the statistics for the month of June make this abundantly clear.

Sales of Dane County single family homes in the under $200,000 price category increased by 25% from June of 2008. The flip side is sales for homes priced $200,000 and above decreased by 23%.

This table shows how the number of single family home sales has changed for more specific price categories.

The change in sales for homes $400,000 and up show how competitive the market has become in the higher price ranges, where buyers are relatively scarce. If you're selling such a home, and you absolutely need to get your home sold, now is the time to review your marketing and pricing with your Realtor to make sure everything about your plan is where it needs to be.

Have a good weekend,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Dane County median home and condo price down 9.1% in June

The latest numbers from the South Central Wisconsin MLS are in.

Dane County home and condo sales totaled 666 in June, down 8% from the 722 sales a year ago. The median price was $200,000, down 9.1% from the June 2008 median price of $220,000. Fifty percent of the home and condos sold last month went for under $200,000, compared to just 41% a year ago.

You'll find our full report on the month of June, including a breakdown of the home and condo markets, at DaneCountyMarket.com.

Soon we'll be providing additional data that presents a clear picture of how the market has shifted over the last year.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Foreclosures and housing starts higher in June

Dane County foreclosure filings totaled 121 in June, up 36% from the 89 filings in June of 2008.

Housing starts totaled 76 in June, an increase of 22.6% from the 62 starts from a year ago. The 76 housing starts in June were the highest monthly total since April of 2008, when there were 90 housing starts.

For more info on the latest foreclosure trends, you can view our full foreclosure report on the economic trends page at DaneCountyMarket.com.

You'll find our full housing start report on the real estate trends page at DaneCountyMarket.com.

Thanks to Dominic Collar from MTD Marketing Services of Wisconsin for sharing his housing start data. For more information about his statistics, feel free to contact Dominic directly at 920/993-8435.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Promotions for the Fitchburg Open House Event, this Sunday, July 12th

It looks like the weather will cooperate for this Sunday's Fitchburg Open House Event. And we have new listings signing up every day, which could leave us with about 40 participating listings.

Two of the participating listings are offering special promotions. Linda Zivney from Stark Company Realtors will be holding a builder open house from 1 to 4 at 5643 Old Oak Drive. She'll be joined by a builder, who will be available to answer your questions about building a home in today's market.

Les Hynum from Coldwell Banker Success will be holding an open from 1 to 3 at 2635 Targhee Street. The builder of this home, Kegonsa Builders, is offering $10,000 toward the buyer's down payment. For more information on this incentive, please contact Les at 438-5169.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

July home buyer seminars

Both the UW Credit Union and the Dane County Housing Authority offer home buyer seminars during the month of July - and a good opportunity to learn about the home buying process before the first-time home buyer tax credit expires on November 30th.

The next UW Credit Union Seminar is Tuesday, July 14th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.

The next Dane County Housing Authority seminar is a two-part series with sessions on both Tuesday, July 21st and Tuesday, July 28th. Both sessions run from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Click here for more course details and registration info.

Have a good night,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

The latest in commercial real estate

It's been a few months since we covered the Dane County commercial market.

Sales via the South Central Wisconsin MLS have been light, with one property selling in the month of May for $168,000. Meanwhile inventory continues to trend at over 100 months.

Have a good day,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Page hits and the market

We've commented in the past how year in and year out June is always the highest month for closings, which means the hottest months for sellers tend to be March, April and May. These are the months when the most people are out searching for homes and making their offers.

The page hit statistics for our MLS map search tool show the seasonality of the market. You'll see from the graph below our search tool received at least 23,000 map hits during March, April and May. Web activity dipped to 19,000 map hits in June. That's still a lot of activity, but a sign that leverage is shifting away from sellers and toward buyers as we enter the second half of the year.

Have a good day,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com