Blog Archives

In my last post about building our home, I talked about making modifications to the builder’s plans. Since then, we have received a revised set of plans and made a few more changes. Kinsey & I are to the point where most of the changes being made are very minor. We added two windows to Read More

Now that we have a lot under contract, we have tons of planning and decision making to get us to the end result of a new home. Prior to offering on the lot we had met with a builder, talked about ballpark pricing, and looked at some plans. We walked into the initial meeting with Read More

We’ve made a decision; we are building a house… maybe. I’ll start at the beginning of our housing story for those of you that don’t know it. Kinsey was in the process of searching for a condo when we met, and she bought one shortly after**. I (Keith) already had a house that was pretty Read More

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

If your in the market for a condo in Verona or on the west side of Madison, stop by and see these two great properties Sunday. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlWSC7ICgo] 3186 S High Point Rd. Madison, WI 53711 $174,900 Awesome 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car condo with a fireplace, vaulted ceilings, and a screened porch! Open Sunday 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

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