These are challenging times, and our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. To all of our past clients, please know we're here for you. We'll be checking in with you to see how you're doing, and we encourage you to reach out to us whenever you need someone to talk to. We'd love to hear from you. 

We also want you to know we're working very hard right now to assist all of our clients who need to sell their home, as we incorporate social distancing into the home-selling process. Here are a few examples from the last week that show how we're working creatively and getting our listings under contract in our new era of social distancing.  

Seller success stories during coronavirus/COVID-19

Our sellers on the

In early 2019 our real estate team made one of the smartest decisions we've ever made: We hired Tracy Kapela as a photographer and visual media specialist for our team. Then we set her loose and let her go to work. Her work over the last year has exceeded all of our expectations. Among her many contributions, she's taken our marketing materials for our home-sellers to the next level, in a way that makes our sellers feel proud of their listing. 

In early 2020, Tracy has upped her game by re-designing our listing photo process. First, by helping us select and invest in the latest, state-of-the-art equipment. And then by implementing a whole new photography and photo editing system. The results have been amazing. Here are just a few examples of Tracy's

Real estate practices are evolving quickly as we all adjust to a world with coronavirus/COVID-19. One new practice that is coming soon is the digital closing. In a digital closing, the parties to a transaction sign their paperwork via e-signature from the comfort and safety of home. To learn more about how a digital closing works for buyers and sellers, please check out this article from the Homestead Title real estate blog. Thank you Peter Zarov for being a leader in the real estate field and for helping to spread the word about this important development.

We're all adjusting to new ways of living, and for our clients and team, new ways of buying and selling real estate. During this period of social distancing, here are a few of the measures that we're evaluating and implementing in order to protect the health of our clients, staff, and the larger community. We understand we'll need to continually evolve our practices as we adjust to the events around us. 

How we're practicing real estate and social distancing

Working remotely and meeting virtually

Our agents and staff are now working from home and using conference calls and Zoom to conduct our team meetings. We're also carrying out buyer and seller consultations with conference calls and Zoom. 

Using technology to conduct staging consultations

We understand these are anxious times for many people, so we'll be doing our best to keep you updated on how the Madison area real estate market is evolving over time. Below we provide a brief look at what we see happening right now, as well as what we expect to happen in the future. 

What is our experience with the market right now? 

Right now we're actively assisting many people who are motivated to buy. We're also listing new properties and our listings are receiving strong traffic. We have noticed some relocating buyers are canceling their plans to fly into Madison and tour properties. We're also beginning to see changes in the way real estate is practiced (more on this below). Up to this point, this has been a pretty typical March for our

We've all seen stories in the media and social media about how hot the real estate market is in Madison. But when is the market the hottest, and when are bidding wars most common? Here's a quick look at the numbers which offer some good insight into our local market. 

Bidding wars are most common in March, April, May and June. 

Take a look at these numbers from 2019, which show the percent of listings that had competing offers for each month of the year. These numbers are consistent with our own experience: The spring months are the busiest months of the year, and these are the months when multiple offers and bidding wars are most common.

Bidding wars are also very common for properties priced under $300,000. 

Competing offers are also

A staged home sells much faster than a vacant home, because it helps buyers imagine their belongings and lifestyle there. Sometimes, staging a home is not possible when the home has been vacant for some time. That was the case with a recent condo listing. The sellers were not living in the area, and their daughter had been living in the condo. After she moved out, they were ready to put the condo on the market.

Maureen Moran met with the sellers to see the unit. The unit was nicely maintained, but had the risk of presenting as bland or too small because it was empty. Based on the price point, it wasn’t financially feasible to furnish the unit before putting it on the market. Maureen suggested virtually staging the condo. Our team took photos of each of

Imagine a new property has just hit the market and you know as soon as you view it online it's the perfect house for you. It has the dream kitchen you've been waiting for, a beautiful and private yard, and the perfect location in your ideal neighborhood. The only problem is you know there are dozens of other buyers out there who are fawning over this house just like you. So how do you get your offer accepted when there are so many other buyers in love with the same property? Read on for our 5 tips that will help you successfully buy your dream home in 2020. 

5 tips that will help you buy your dream home in 2020

1) Be the first to visit the property and the first to write an offer. 

Sometimes getting your offer accepted is all about being the

It's only Valentines Day but the market is already heating up, especially for some of the more affordably-priced properties in the Dane County area. For example, in the last week, one of our clients received 3 competing offers on their new listing, while another client received an amazing 13! Here's a quick look at the price points that are receiving the most interest from buyers in early 2020. 

The hottest homes in the Madison area

Right now the hottest homes in the Madison area are those priced under $300,000. As you can see from the data below, well over 50% of these more affordably-priced listings are under contract with an accepted offer. If you think of this another way, it's like browsing for properties on a website like Zillow and

January was another strong month for the Dane County single family home market. Here's our latest update from the South Central Wisconsin MLS:

Dane County single family home sales

January home sales reached the second highest total on record and were up 14% from the sales levels in January of 2019. 

Dane County home prices

The price per square foot reached a record high in January, setting the stage for more strong price growth in 2020. Prices were up 5% year-over-year in January. 

Dane County accepted offers

Accepted offers were down from each of the last 2 years, but were still strong compared to most other years dating back to the year 2000. 

New MLS listings

New listings continue to enter the market at a slow pace.