Real Estate

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is something most mortgage loan programs require unless the borrower has more than 20% equity of in the property. PMI insures the lender against default by the borrower and it generally costs 1/2 – 1% of the loan amount per year. This is incorporated into the monthly mortgage payments. Essentially, the Read More

There are still many conflicting reports out in the media on the future of the real estate market . Although, we are starting to hearing more positive stories on the national economic and real estate outlook. The question is, what is our local market doing? According to this chart based on statistics from the Wisconsin Read More

Last week Zillow posted a blog  with the views of our presidential candidates on housing and real estate issues. I thought it was good information, so I thought I’d share the chart from Zillow. I’m not going to take a political stance here, because I don’t completely agree with any one of the candidates. However, Read More

It’s that time of year again… Tax time. I know, I cringe when I think about it too. Real estate is one of the most tax favored assets in the United States. If you’re a home owner or rental property owner, don’t forget to take advantage of all the tax deductions available to you. The Read More

In the Madison area the cost of renting is very comparable to the cost of buying when you look at monthly payments on a mortgage versus the monthly rental amount of a similar property. Many renters have said to me things like: “Why would I buy when the real estate market is in such turmoil?” Read More

Most people think the winter is a horrible time to sell a home. I’ll be the first to admit, sales are typically down in the Madison area through the winter months. Usually not much happens between Thanksgiving and New Years. Although, this recent holiday season was unusual. We had lots of activity and put several properties Read More

We’ve come to the end of 2011. What was your biggest accomplishment in the last year? Did you achieve everything you wanted?  Many of us set New Year’s resolutions and have ideas of things we’d like to accomplish in the coming year, but how many of us stick to a plan and follow through with Read More

If you are paying any attention to real estate news, there’s no doubt you may be confused on the current state of the housing market. All the headlines listed below are from the past 6 weeks. Can you say “conflicting information”!?!? Home Resales Rise 4% It’s Official: Housing Market Was Sicker than We Thought Mortgage Read More

Yesterday we closed our final scheduled house sale of 2011. So, it’s time to look at our year end statistics.  While there is still doom and gloom all over the news about the real estate market, we were blessed with a great year. Through November, the total number of home sales in Dane County was Read More

I know you’re probably thinking, “multiple offers”? Really? In this real estate market? It’s not as rare as you may think. In this market there are many bank owned foreclosures and motivated sellers who have priced homes to sell. In some cases pricing is so low, the property generates multiple offers and parties negotiating up. Read More