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Tuesday, June 30. 2009
The REALTORS Association of South Central Wisconsin reports an increase in sales activity in every county in its reporting area in May, 2009. Dane County saw an especially nice rise of 36.7%. A rise in sales is typical at this time of year - but this year's increase of over 36% beats the 23.3% increase Dane County saw in 2007 during the same time frame. Sales prices have declined, but much less than nationally. In 2007, Dane County's median sales price was $210,000. This year it is $202,000. With the current market attractive to the first time home buyer ($8,000 tax credit which expires by December 1, 2009) a decrease in average sales price may mean more activity in the lower end of the market. There are currently almost 11,000 single family homes for sale in The South Central Wisconsin MLS. The average list price is $255,000. There are just over 3,000 condos for sale in South Central MLS with an average list price of $215,000. Homes are selling in Wisconsin. During the month of May, 2009 131 0-2 Bedrooms homes sold; 554 3 bedrooms homes sold; 265 4+ bedrooms homes sold and 169 condos were sold. There is still a great amount of inventory available. If there are additional statistics you are looking for in another county or city, please send us a questions or a comment. First Weber and firstweber.com cover the vast majority of Wisconsin and certainly have access to a wide variety of information. We'd be happy to help. If you'd like to search real estate, naturally we'd suggest firstweber.com. Not only because it is our website - if you want the most Wisconsin listings, it is one of the Wisconsin real estate websites with the most. Hope you pay us a visit.
Wednesday, June 24. 2009
What's going on in the changing real estate business in Wisconsin? A lot. Several Wisconsin companies are merging, some are changing names. (Rountree Realty, Platteville, WI has recently joined First Weber Group, for example.) Some, like First Weber Group are developing and using new technologies to be more efficient and take new routes to market real estate. An article on the Wausau Daily Herald here outlines some of those changes, including the way of smart phones, mobility and texting have changed to meet the needs of the changing consumer. First Weber is mentioned in the Wausau Daily Times article for the Front Runner multi-media marketing program as well as the I Phone app for Wisconsin real estate: "Those who like to peruse real estate listings online might want to check out Front Runner, the new interactive multi-media marketing package adopted by First Weber Group. The system caters to tech-savvy consumers by taking advantage of popular social networking sites, YouTube and Web-enabled smart phones. It is designed to ensure maximum exposure for all listings, and allows potential buyers to instantly text with an agent. In addition, First Weber has incorporated iPhone technology, using GPS to instantly show users every available home in the area in which they are looking. First Weber can be found locally at 1818 Grand Ave. in Wausau, 2007 North Mountain Road in Rib Mountain, and 101 E. First St. in Merrill. Visit www.firstweber.com." First Weber Group has 50 locations across the state of Wisconsin and Front Runner is available automatically for every First Weber listing. We are pretty proud of it and would love to hear from those of you who have used our Front Runner real estate marketing system. Comments welcome.
Tuesday, June 23. 2009
Glad to see Lake Delton back to life! I imagine lake property owners on Lake Delton are thrilled to have their lake back, especially those with their home for sale. There are approximately 70 properties for sale on or near Lake Delton right now, priced from under $100,000 to more than $1 million. The Wisconsin Dells is a tricky area to search for real estate because it encompasses four counties in Wisconsin. (Adams, Juneau, Sauk and Columbia) If you have trouble locating vacation real estate options in the Wisconsin Dells, just let us know and we can help. You can search by map or by form here at firstweber.com. Some real estate webites only offer their own listings - firstweber.com offers 5 MLS systems and all the participating broker's listings. See the whole Wisconsin real estate market by visiting firstweber.com
Thursday, June 18. 2009
. Welcome Emmy Probst, Deb Jenny, Steve Hochhausen and Dan Lyne to the First Weber Team. We sincerely hope the past clients and customers of Rountree become satisfied customers and clients of First Weber Group as these 4 REALTORS sell real real estate in their new home.Roundtree Realty has merged with First Weber Group, Platteville
Thursday, June 18. 2009
Cool house of the day, compliments of Front Door.com. Working in the real estate business, I find it interesting to look at interesting houses. Hopefully, readers will find it interesting too. Front Door is one of the national real estate websites that First Weber pushes our listings to through our Front Runner Multi Media program. Have you searched for real estate on national websites like Front Door or Trulia before? What did you think of the experience there? Were listings easy or hard to find? Our experience is that some of those sites are heard to search, or hard to search for an individual property. We can tell people are searching these sites for Wisconsin real estate because everytime someone clicks through to a First Weber listing from a national real estate website we feed to, Front Runner records a hit. We have found it to be beneficial added exposure for First Weber listings. One difficulty of feeding to national websites is that we don't control the display nor the updating of the listings like we do on firstweber.com. However, each listing we push out, does always have a link back to the listing on firstweber.com for up-to-date information. We will be doing a redesign of firstweber.com in the near future. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see added, please tell us by making a comment.
Thursday, June 18. 2009
Wausau Relay for LifeThe Wausau version of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life was held last Friday and Saturday at John Muir Middle School track. First Weber entered a team captained by Karen Harvey. Multiple First Weber agents walked throughout the night to raise funds. The First Weber Group Foundation was one of the sponsors for the event with a contribution of $2,500. That along with contributions and fund raisers allowed our local Grand Ave and Rib Mountain Office to raise more than $5,000 for the Relay. 
Thursday, June 18. 2009
You are reading this blog. What other blogs do you read? First Weber is a Wisconsin-wide broker and covering all the topics can be difficult and wide spread. What do you want to see here? More local content? Agent comments welcome. That is where the local Wisconsin real estate content would come from. Or are you interested in Wisconsin real estate statistics? We could get those for you also, if you find them interesting. We are interested in involving the consumer and their thoughts -- what are your thoughts and questions? This should be interest to first time home buyers for sure. We are here and are always ready to help you. That is the bottom line. And beyond that -- we know you always have questions. Ask away. This forum is for you.
Tuesday, June 16. 2009
Click for a Kipplinger Movie all about Madison, Wisconsin and why it made #7 for 2009 cities! A great honor and a really nice video! It's a short video that makes you want to go to Madison or be happy to live there already!
Tuesday, June 16. 2009
The race is on to buy a home in time to close and receive the $8000 first time home buyer credit. Buying a home is a big decision and there are many steps in the process which First Weber will guide you through. The point is, start now. It is not like buying a car when you apply for financing that same day and get approval that same day, or next day. It can be a very exciting process. Looking at homes is the fun part - you and your First Weber agent do other things after, and before, that are not so fun but necessary. Depending on your needs, you should start searching for homes now. Get pre-qualified on what you can spend. Define your needs and wants. Look online or choose and agent and let them do the looking for you. You should surely start an automatic email update of new listings via my firstweber. Before you begin looking, decide if you want a buyer agent or not. Your agent can tell you all about your choices in representation. Get the ball rolling and look at homes NOW, because changes in the real estate closing process (finalization of your purchase and loan) have changed. It can take up to 45 days to get a loan approval these days, thanks to changes in appraisal requirements. There will be a tremendous demand for closings in November when the deadline hits. Plan ahead. Depend on your agent. Start now. Good luck! We are excited for you! Let First Weber know how we can help.
Wednesday, June 10. 2009
Coming in at #4 for Cool is Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a comfortable climate and a vibrant city scene. Milwaukee, Wisconsin's winters are in the 20's on average (reasonable for midwest cities, you may even come to like it); comfortable in summers with 70's, 80's, 90's. We've got Summerfest, lakes, rivers and a variety of reallly real estate at affordable prices. More Milwaukee Cool (non temperature related) here such as the Calatrava and Riverwalk. View the complete list of top 10 cool cities here . All info compliments of FrontDoor.com. What do you think? Do you agree with the list?
Friday, June 5. 2009
First Weber Group kicks off Summer in Sun Prairie Wisconsin with Annual Community Kick Off PartyThe Sun Prairie office hosted its annual Summer Kick Off Party. This year the Sun Prairie Cardinal (Cody Freidel – Rose Freidel’s son) and Maynard G. Mallard from the Madison Mallards attended along with current and past clients. Everyone enjoyed hot dogs, desserts and soda. There was even a bouncy house for the kids. It was a big hit. We had our own Andy Lindgren DJ the event and had a hula hoop contest. 
 Looks like a nice event for the community. Let's hope for a great summer for Wisconsin real estate!
Friday, June 5. 2009
The house in the 1980's movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is for sale. Some very interesting architecture. Has anyone ever seen a garage like that before? Where do they put all the junk that normal people have in their garages? Check out the house and some clips from the movie here from Today Show on msnbc.com Don't know about you, but this writer is going to try Ferris Bueller tonight - and pay special attention to the house. "Anyone? Anyone?"
Friday, June 5. 2009
Tomah office of First Weber Group Holds Fundraiser for Food Bank
Barbara Clinard of First Weber Group reports, “We had a casino night and raised $1,000, plus 182 pounds of food for our local pantry. Mary Grunow of our The First Weber Foundation told me that she thinks that the pantry will be receiving another $1,000 as matching funds.” In this photo: Three pantry volunteers with Darlene Wahls, Amanda Konsitzke, Treasa Graham, Demberly McDonald, Diana Gerke, Tammy Nevin, Molly Parrish and Barbara. There are more and more people who need help like this these days. Keep up the good work, Tomah!
Thursday, June 4. 2009
There's a really good article here from Realty Times about neighborhoods and what to think about when you are looking for a home. Wisconsin, of course, has a wide variety of neighborhoods in large and small towns across the state. What do you look for in a neighborhood? Quiet and suburban? Busy and bustling? Rural farmland? Lake living? Big city convenience? Wisconsin has it all!
Thursday, June 4. 2009
To rent or to buy? Do you know of someone who could be wondering about this situation? Check out some good information and resources to help weigh the question and pass it along to people you may know who would find it helpful. There is a lot of opportunity out there for the first time home buyer. First Weber Group has connections all across Wisconsin and can help first time home buyers in Wisconsin!
Tuesday, June 2. 2009
In response to a reader question "Has the average price of homes in Greenfield,WI decreased in the last 2-years and by what percentage?" These averages are taken from properties listed and sold thru the Metro Multiple Listing Service and may alter mildly when homes sold privately are included. In 2007 - 221 SINGLE FAMILY homes sold - The average sales price was $197,972. (Low 79,900 and high was $484,900). In 2008 - 196 SINGLE FAMILY homes sold - the average sales price was $197,124 (low was 74,900 and high was $525,000). So far in 2009 (thru 6/1/2009) - 50 SINGLE FAMILY homes sold - The average sales price is currently $179,577 (low $40,000 and high $300,000) So to answer your question - 2007-2008 did not see much of a deviation - but 2009 has seen approximately a 10% DECREASE Much thanks to Patti Jastroch of our Metro South office for providing the data in this post.
Do you have a specific question? Let us know and First Weber Group will find the answer.
Monday, June 1. 2009
One of Oneida County’s premier lakes - Alva Lake - is located northwest of Rhinelander in both Cassian and Lake Tomahawk townships. Alva Lake is a crystal clear lake with 201 acres and a maximum depth of 36 feet. Walleye, Musky, and Bass are present in this lake with Panfish being abundant. Alva Lake is a beautiful lake for all your recreational needs and does provide a public boat landing. Not too often are there properties available for sale on this lake, as neighbors and relatives buy them up. There is a very nice property available now @ www.firstweber.com/101254. Thanks to Sandy Ebben of First Weber Rhinelander for this post
Monday, June 1. 2009
Home foreclosures are down for the second month in a row in the metro Milwaukee area. Entire article here from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Foreclosures are still higher than they were in 2008, however, this kind of downward trend is a welcome statistic.
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