I will no longer be selling real estate in the Madison, Wisconsin area.

I have been offered and accepted a position being a Keller Williams Team Leader in Everett, Washington, which is just north of Seattle. KW Everett is a 106 agent real estate office and we have some aggressive goals to grow to 300 agents. My role as KW Team Leader is to inspire our agent partners, lead the company to growth and market dominance, serve our agent partners in the growth of their business and succeed with them by sharing our profits.

So the last couple of weeks I have been chatting with some real estate bloggers about what to do with The Gardyn. I got their input, now I would like yours.

What would you like to see happen to the Gardyn? Leave a comment or email me darin@edynrealestate.com

This is the view from your new home. No kidding. That really would be your view!

Now, I normally don’t promote listings in my blog posts on The Gardyn, but we have discovered a new marketing platform that we are really excited about and thought we would test it out on ourselves first.

We start by creating a website for the home that we marketing

For example  www.5410Tonyawatha.com

Now through this website you have all sorts of cool tools and gadgets for marketing.

We upload a marketing flyer to craigslist http://madison.craigslist.org/rfs/597980854.html , now this isn’t just any craigslist posting, it has clickable links and takes the prospective buyer right back to the listing website we created.

The listing also gets sent to trulia, google base, oodle, propsmart, homescape, vast and local.

The next step in the marketing plan is to promote the home and domain address www.5410Tonyawatha.com through the use of GoogleAdwords.

Now you’ll notice if you visit the website that we created for 5410 Tonyawatha that it is not just about the home. A home buyer can find info about the area schools and all local amenties.

That’s not all. The website is set up to track data such as site activity, page activity, key word searches, website referrers and all raw stat info. And we can send a daily email to our seller’s, if they so wish with all this info. Now, as a seller you don’t have to wait for info just on how many showings or feedback after showings, you can have instant feedback about the marketing of your home.

There are so many other cool things that we can do with the website and tools, and we will be happy to show you at your listing presentation. Contact us at edynrealestate@gmail.com or call us 608-333-5915

Dane County had 127 foreclosure filings in January, 45.9 percent more than the 87 in December, 122.8 percent more than the 57 last January, and 746.6 percent more than the 15 in January 2006.

Wisconsin had 2,102 foreclosure filings in January, 20.5 percent more than the 1,744 in December, 58.4 percent more than the 1,327 last January, and 428.1 percent more than the 398 in January 2006.

Homeowners ARM’s are increasing, heat costs are rising, gas is eating into people’s budgets. I don’t think we are going to see Madison foreclosures going away anytime soon.

Keep in mind that builders, developers and investors can also be foreclosed on. Their inventory adds to these numbers. Like the Metro Place downtown Madison foreclosure.

If you are facing foreclosure TALK with your lender. They are not your enemy. Believe it or not, they don’t want to foreclose on your home. The process costs them money, money they already invested in you and your home. Start the conversation to see what you can do to keep your home.

Some where along the way we stopped selling homes and started selling houses. There is a big difference. I think we need to go back to selling homes.

Sincerly,

Darin Persinger

Yeah, I know. I read this article from the Cap Times, Jeff Richgels and was left more confused. Here is part of the article,

Such is life in a housing market gone stagnant: After a long boom that peaked in 2005, sales of homes and condominiums in Dane County fell 10.4 percent in 2006 and another 6.3 percent last year to their lowest level since 2002, while after years of strong appreciation, sales prices edged up at a rate below inflation.

Wendorf doesn’t feel the market “tanked” until last summer and believes that if they had initially listed the home at $294,900 it would have sold.

They took the home off the market last month to have it painted and the carpets professionally cleaned and plan to put it back on the market this month as a FSBO (for sale by owner) at $273,000.

The comments at the article page are a good read also. I am starting to believe that ultimately the consumers are getting it. There are still a few buyers that think they can low ball everything, but most buyers understand a good deal when they see it. And most sellers understand that they can’t get whatever price they feel they NEED or DESERVE out of the home, but there are still some sellers that saw their neighbors make huge profits and want that easy money also.

If you have to sell and want help determining market conditions contact me Darin@EdynRealEstate.com

Actually they asked a simple question,

Has the value of homes in Waunakee, WI gone down since 2005?

The simple answer to that is NO. Home prices in Waunakee have not gone down. Home prices have actually gone up. By almost 10% since 2005. Go figure?  Here’s the data:

2007 actually looks like a nice rebound for the Waunakee single family real estate market.  Days on Market dropped, the number of homes sold increased and home prices continue to increase.

I will bring back something I wrote in May of ’06,

Real estate is local, like the weather. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like in Austin, Texas if you are planning a picnic in Madison, Wisconsin.

If you are thinking about buying or selling, good for you. Don’t listen to the local media. Especially don’t listen to the national media. Don’t listen to me. Contact a local Realtor and ask great, tough questions. If you don’t feel like you are getting an honest, candid response, contact another Realtor. Do some research, ask for data, trends. Read blogs. Then decide based on the information you have gathered what is best for you.

If you have questions about your real estate market you can contact me at Darin@EdynRealEstate.com

Related Posts:

In A Buyers Market You Still Can’t Wait To Buy

Things that a Madison Home Seller Can Do

Is your home for sale helping other homes get sold?

Wow! I’m so amazed! I have not written here in almost two months and yet The Gardyn has been averaging still almost 100 visits a day.

My family and I have had a difficult past couple of months. Thank you to all those that have sent their support. In early December I lost my 17 year old nephew in a car accident. Just recently my uncle passed away. Real estate has not been my focus but, I can tell that there is a need out there for Madison Real Estate info and it feels good that so many people are still turning here for their info. I am humbled and thankful that The Gardyn has found a place in the Madison real estate seller’s and buyer’s mind.

I still have a lot of emotional healing to do, as well as the real estate market has a lot of healing to do, but it’s time to get back to work.

I would like to take this oppurtunity to share with you a bit about my nephew. I had mentioned him in the past in The Gardyn, in Taking The Day Off

I’m going to be taking the day off today to hang out at the lake with my girfriend, her brother and my nephew and do some wakeboarding.

My nephew is going to be a senior this year in high school and will soon be leaving for college. I might not be able to spend as much time with him if he leaves to go to a college far away. He thinks he might want to go into real estate though, so perhaps during his summers he could come back and work for EDYN Real Estate and get a taste of Real Estate.

I’m glad I took that day off.

This was an article in the Journal Sentinel, the day after Chris was killed. They got him spot on. You had to know him.

Chris Persinger was one of a kind, tennis coach Audra Rothwell said.

“He was one of those people who managed to bring humor to any situation,” she said.

He was a determined and focused athlete, but even when he lost he would walk off the court and find the good in the situation, she said. He was looking at being in one of the top varsity spots in doubles this spring.

“He’s leaving a huge void on our team,” Rothwell said. The team is already talking about doing something in the upcoming season to honor Persinger and Hazenfield.

Persinger was planning to study business at Arizona State University.

Even though this was her first year at Mukwonago High School, guidance counselor Paige Patenaude said she got to know Persinger well because he was so outgoing and because he would come to her office about three times a week to talk and eat the chocolates she kept at her desk.

“He would come down to talk about what he was doing that weekend,” she said. “We would even have to tell him to stop coming down here so often.”

Persinger “could give lessons on how to enjoy life,” English teacher Stacy O’Brien said.

Business teacher Emily Iverson said Persinger tried to charm teachers and fellow students alike. He taught himself how to play the guitar and delighted in serenading girlfriends.

Iverson called him “probably the most charismatic student I’ve ever had.”

- Jacqueline Seibel and Amy Hetzner

Here is a video that my niece made in memory of her brother.

If you would like to donate to the Christpher Lloyd Persinger Memorial Fund you can contact any of these banks. Johnson Bank, M & I, Continental Savings, Citizens, Associated, Pyramax and Waukesha State Bank. Donations can be made at any branch, with a reference to the Mukwonago Branch of that bank.

My Sustainable House is a game, but super educational about the building a greener home process. Have a little fun, learn a little bit and if you are up to it, come back and post your score. I got a 742.

h/t- www.treehugger.com

We are inspired by NBC going green last week, so The Gardyn will go green this week. We might recycle some posts and all our font will be green.

Recycled Post from Is now a good time to buy real estate?

That depends. That question would be equivalent to walking into a doctor’s office and asking “Is now a good time to have a surgery?” The doctor  would want to know if you are sick, injured, or ill. She would want to do tests, exams, and scans. She would not do a surgery if you are healthy. Your health and body are unique to you. So is your position for buying real estate. Like the doctor, I would have lots of questions. I would do a needs analysis with you. I would refer you to talk with a mortgage lender. I would find out about your situation. The truth is, now is a great time to buy for some people and an awful time to buy for some people.

Suze Orman, famous financial expert author and talk show host, gives a great exercise in her book, Suze Orman – For the Young, Fabulous & Broke. She calls it “Play House Before You Buy A House”.

Given all the extra costs of owning, you need to be plenty sure you can handle the bills before you take the housing plunge. Put yourself through my six month “play house” test.

• Figure out the cost of homes. Use a mortgage calculator to estimate your basic mortgage costs.
• Add 40% to that sum. That is your home ownership cost.
• Subtract your current monthly rent from your home ownership cost.
• Set up a new bank account and deposit that difference in the account on the first day of every month for six months.

If you pay $1000 in rent but your home ownership cost (including all the extras, taxes, maintenance, etc.) is $1,271, you need to deposit $271 a month into your test account. If you miss one payment, or if you are consistently late in making the payments, you are not ready to buy a home. If you can handle the extra payments, then you’ve got the thumbs-up to start looking for a home to buy. By the way, in playing house, you’ve also beefed up your down-payment fund. In the previous example, you would have saved up $1,626. in six months.

By the way Madison real estate buyers,

• interest rates are still low-that means low montly payments
• housing inventory is up-that means more selection and choices

Related Posts:

Real Estate searches for pet friendly propety

Bassett Area Home Buyer Progrom

In a Buyer’s Real Estate Market you still can’t wait to buy

Real Estate Buyer’s Agent: Should you have one?

Mortgage Interest Rates

We are inspired by NBC going green last week, so The Gardyn will go green this week. We might recycle some posts and all our font will be green.

One Laptop Per Child

From Laptopgiving.org:

The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.

This seems like a great cause with some great benefits for all involved. Give a laptop and get one for your child, or give it to a local school, or an after school program.

Visit the site, LaptopGiving.org for their mission, details on the computer, country’s that are involved and how to donate.