Thinking of selling your Madison home or condo? It's a seller's market this year and prices are rising. With lower inventories and increased demand, many Madison area sellers are learning they can win back much of their equity that was lost during the real estate downturn.

So how can you knock your sale out of the park? Below are 5 ways you can maximize your selling price in this year's market. The first two tips focus on market analysis. The last three tips involve specific marketing strategies.

5 Tips for Selling at a High Market Price

1. Know the months of inventory in your neighborhood. Your listing agent can assist you with this when he performs your market analysis for you. Neighborhoods with low months of inventory are prime locations for

We posted earlier this year how Downtown Madison condo prices were set to rise in 2013. As we make our way into the Spring buying season, we are in fact seeing prices rise in many areas of Madison, and especially downtown. The inventory of condos for sale in Downtown Madison is much lower than in previous years, and sales are up significantly. Consider these numbers for the first 3 months of 2013 which come from our review of data from the South Central Wisconsin MLS:

Dane County condo sales were up by a whopping 59% from the first 3 months of 2012, but even more startling downtown sales were up by 89%.  That's right, during the January through March time period, downtown condo sales totaled 34 purchases versus 18 the year before. We expect this pace

Thinking of selling your Madison home or condo? Keep this in mind as you prepare for your sale: When buyers view online listings, first and foremost they are drawn to the visual elements of each home. The listing photos and the video create the first impression and the lasting impression for each listing. They evoke the emotions that will either help or hinder a sale.

A well-staged home with eye-popping photos and a professionally-narrated video will receive immediate and strong interest from motivated buyers. A poorly staged home with a poor visual presentation will receive a lackluster response.

The good news for you is you can control the outcome of your sale. With the help of our interior designer, you can get your home in prime showing shape.

"March Madness" has descended upon Madison, Wisconsin. That means plenty of hoops action at the Kohl Center. The boys state basketball tournament begins this Thursday at the Kohl Center, followed by the girls state tournament next week at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Bucky will also be playing his heart out, hopefully into the later rounds of the NCAA tournament.

The term "March Madness" also applies to our local real estate market. With more demand and less supply, many sellers are benefiting from a feeding frenzy for homes. As one client commented to me this weekend, "this market is crazy!". Her first 3 showings resulted in 3 offers (all of them above the list price), and we had her house sold in 4 days.

This is the kind of market we expect

If you've been searching the internet for Madison real estate, you've seen plenty of listings for vacant homes and condos. Yes, some of these units are foreclosures. The problem with many vacant home listings is they often present as a foreclosure, even if they are not! Bland photos with no color. And no online video tours. What it is that makes these homes special? That can be hard to discern from the listings themselves.

The good news for the vacant home owner is that great staging requires only a small investment, and the results are worth every penny and more. The goal of staging a vacant home is to give the home some color and life so the listing photos capture the attention of online buyers. Great photos generate more showings; more showings

Getting ready to sell your Madison area home or condo? There are many different factors that will influence the success of your real estate marketing plan. One of the most important of factors is how your home presents online. Remember, over 90% of all buyers first learn about a listing by viewing it on the internet, and the number one reason buyers use the internet is to evaluate a listing's aesthetic appeal.

This means your staging and your professional photos are two critical elements that will play a huge role in the overall success of your sale. They'll greatly influence the number of showings that your listing receives, the amount of time that your home is on the market, and the price at which your home sells.

Below are some examples of high

You're not alone. Verona real estate is in high demand. Home sales are off to a good start in 2013 after increasing by more than 25% in 2012. With just over 5 months of inventory, many homes in Verona are selling quickly. Verona building contracts are on the rise, too.

What makes Verona WI homes so popular?

Many buyers appreciate the city's small town charm and convenient location just outside of Madison. Verona is also home to Epic Systems, one of South Central Wisconsin's largest employers. Many of the employees from this fast-growing company choose to lay down their roots in Verona, where there's a diverse selection of mid-century and new construction homes.

We expect 2013 to  be a good year for Verona home sellers. With lower inventories and

This weekend I came across this sign at the intersection of Midvale Blvd and Mineral Point Rd on Madison's near west side. This intersection is surrounded by the Westmorland, Sunset Village, Hill Farms and Midvale Heights neighborhoods. It's an interesting place to post a sign targeting distressed sellers. The near west side is Madison's most stable real estate market, where the home values have held up amazingly well, even through the worst of the real estate downturn.

Most sellers on the near west side are far from distressed. Sellers on this side of town benefit from a strong demand for a limited supply of homes. With the Spring market right around the corner, the buyers will be out in full force very soon, and many of them will be targeting

Downtown Madison condos are on the rebound. Prices in Madison's Downtown dropped by 20% from 2006 to 2011. In 2012, Madison buyers responded to lower prices and returned to the downtown condo market in a big way. As you'll see from the graph at the bottom of this post, the price per square foot actually increased in 2012, as the market settled into a much better balance between supply and demand.

This is welcome news for buyers and sellers alike. Sellers have been waiting for a bottom to the condo market, while buyers have been seeking some reassurance that their investment will hold its value over time.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about condos in Downtown Madison, Wisconsin. We can help you better understand the