The Dane County Real Estate Blog has moved

The Dane County Real Estate Blog has moved.

Due to technical issues with this blogging platform, we've moved our blog to Madison.com. You will find it here:
http://my.madison.com/MadisonRealEstate/blog

Please add our Madison.com blog to your list of internet favorites, or use our RSS feed:
http://my.madison.com/MadisonRealEstate/blog/nf/rss.xml

Thanks and have a great day!

Dan

3 home energy improvements with good returns on investment

Lee Schwartz, a home energy efficiency expert from Piping Plover Home Energy Solutions, has contributed some great articles about home energy conservation to our web site.

In this article, Lee covers the 3 home energy improvements that provide the best return on investment. You might be surprised by the results. Installing energy efficient windows did not make the list.
You can find all of Lee's articles on the buying real estate page at DaneCountyMarket.com.
Have a great day,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Choosing the right loan program for you

UW Credit Union has contributed a new article to our web site. In this article UWCU lists 5 questions you should ask yourself as you consider your mortgage options. UWCU also provides a high level overview of different loan programs, including FHA-insured mortgages, VA home loans, rural housing loans, and the new WHEDA Fannie Mae Advantage program that will be available March 1st. (The new WHEDA program offers up to 100% financing for first-time home buyers).

You can read the full article on the buying real estate page at DaneCountyMarket.com

Have a great Friday,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

More foreclosures around the corner?

We recently reported Dane County foreclosures decreased in January - the first time foreclosures have fallen in 34 months. Is this the beginning of a new trend? Barry Ritholz from http://www.ritholz.com/ does not think so. Ritholz and others predict a huge wave of new foreclosures is just around the corner. You can read more here.

Dan Miller, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Dane County home and condo sales higher in January

Dane County home and condo sales recorded via the South Central Wisconsin MLS totaled 182 in January, up 29% from last January's 141 sales. The median home and condo price was lower by 6.4%.

We are seeing very robust buyer activity right now. The extended and enhanced tax credit is certainly spurring sales - even during this cold Wisconsin winter. If you have been planning to sell but have been waiting for warmer weather, you may want to reconsider your plan. The weather may be cold but the market is heating up.

You can view our full report on the January home and condo market here. All of our statistics for the 2009 sales year have been updated, too. You will find them on the real estate trends page at www.DaneCountyMarket.com.

Have a great week,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Signs of a changing market?

Recently two different people with interesting profiles have asked us to assist them with their real estate purchase. These buyers are different from each other in that one is purchasing a home and the other a condo.
However they are very similar in a few different ways.

Both buyers are analytical people. They have been planning to buy for the last two years but up until this point in time they didn't feel the market had fallen enough to their liking. In the meantime they have been tracking the market and researching properties on our web site. And now we are actively assisting them with their purchase.

Neither person would have thought of buying a year or two years ago, but they've decided now is the right time to jump in.

Are stories like these signs of a new market? Time well tell, but I view it as good news for the market when analytical consumers with an investor's mentality decide now is the time to buy.

Have a good Friday,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Dane County foreclosures down 18% in January

For the first time in 34 months, Dane County foreclosures have decreased. A total of 127 foreclosures were filed in January, compared to 154 a year ago.

For our full foreclosure report, you can check out the economic trends page at DaneCountyMarket.com .

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

The buying season is here

We've noticed a large uptick in buyer activity over the last two weeks. Our real estate search tools are receiving a ton of page hits. Our listings are receiving a lot of showings. Our buyers are out in large numbers, viewing properties and making offers. The market feels much warmer than it did at the same time last year.

If you're planning to buy, don't be surprised if other buyers are getting ready to write an offer on the same home as you. Make sure you have your mortgage pre-approval in order, and be prepared to act quickly.

If you're planning to sell, and you haven't listed your home yet, now is a great time to get your home on the market. From our perspective, the buying season has already begun.

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Madison's Downtown Condo Event is Sunday, February 28th

If you're interested in buying a condo in Downtown Madison, mark Sunday, February 28th on your calendar. That's the day every Realtor with a Downtown Madison condo listing will be invited to participate in a coordinated open house event.





Last February we coordinated a similar event for West Side homes and condos. Last year's event featured 73 listings and was very well attended. We're expecting another great day for our Downtown Condo Event on February 28th.

Stay tuned for a list of participating listings.


Have a great day,


Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Changes in the commercial market?

Nine commercial properties totaling almost $2.7 million were sold in Dane County in December. That's almost 3 times the sold dollar amount from the 3 previous months combined. (All numbers come from the South Central Wisconsin MLS).

However, commercial sales in 2009 ended the year at just over $13 million. That's the lowest sales total of the decade.



Let's hope we see more encouraging months like the month of December in the near future. There is reason to believe so, as Dane County foreclosures decreased for the first time in 34 months in January (more on these numbers coming soon).

For more on the latest commercial real estate trends, you can check out our commercial real estate update on the economic trends page at DaneCountyMarket.com .

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

On the market: bank-owned Northern Bay Condos

The Northern Bay Condos on Castle Rock Lake have a number of bank-owned units on the market, and by and large these units are priced hundreds of thousands of dollars below prices from just a few years ago. Recent re-sales at Northern Bay have gone for more than $200,000 below the original selling price.

This link includes a list of bank-owned Northern Bay condos. Buyers are reacting positively to current price points, as several Northern Bay units have accepted offers right now.

Have a great day,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Did the market improve in 2009?

Sales of Dane County single family homes (excluding condos) increased in 2009, but did the market for single family homes really improve? To answer this question we turn to one of our favorite statistics - total days on market experience.

For those who want the details, the total days on market experience approximates the time required to sell a home by taking into account the average days on market for listings that sell, the average days on market for listings that expire, and the overall listing success rate for homes in Dane County. In other words the total days on market experience is a measure of the effort required to sell the average Dane County home.

When we look back at the last two years, we see the total days on market experience for the average Dane County home decreased from 258 days in 2008 to 225 days in 2009.

The time required to sell the average Dane County home improved; however, the real story becomes clear when we look at this statistic by price range. Here's how the total days on market experience changed by price range from 2008 to 2009.

Last year was a tale of two markets. Low interest rates and the home buyer tax credit boosted the market in many of the lower price categories, but the market for homes priced at $500,000 and above took a clear hit.

This year several of our higher priced listings have been receiving good showing activity and good offers - thanks in large part to our clients who have embraced proper pricing, home staging, and aggressive marketing that leverages our clients' efforts to make their homes show their best.

In this market a listing's success depends a lot on how well the seller and the agent are able to work together on an aggressive, well-conceived plan. And in the highest price categories, a strong collaboration between client and agent is a requirement, not an option.

Have a good week,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and http://www.danecountymarket.com/

25 bank-owned condos in Sun Prairie

As of this post, our quick search of Sun Prairie foreclosures shows 25 bank-owned condos for sale in Sun Prairie - all of them listed for less than $200,000.

Now our quick search tools on the property search menu at DaneCountyMarket.com make it easy to find bank-owned and short sale properties in 13 different Dane County communities.

Have a good weekend,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Madison home buyer seminars in February

UW Credit Union is offering a free home buying seminar on Tuesday, February 9th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. For more information about this seminar, click here.

The Dane County Housing Authority is sponsoring a two-part series with sessions on both Tuesday, February 16th and Tuesday, February 23rd. Both sessions run from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. For course details and registration info, click here.

Both seminars are good sources of information. You will find there is no sales pressure whatsoever at either event. Both seminars also provide plenty of opportunities for you to ask the questions that matter most to you.

Have a great day,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Quick search for bank-owned and short sale properties now at DaneCountyMarket.com

You can create your own custom foreclosure search at DaneCountyMarket.com.

And now you can run foreclosure quick searches by city for single family home, condo and multifamily real estate. The searches cover both bank-owned and short sale properties.

For example, the city of Madison has 6 different foreclosure quick searches:



So far our foreclosure quick search includes the cities of Madison, Cottage Grove, DeForest, Fitchburg, McFarland, Middleton and Monona. Soon we'll be adding quick searches for Mount Horeb, Oregon, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona and Waunakee.

You'll find our foreclosure quick search on the property search menu at DaneCountyMarket.com.

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com