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Thursday, February 4. 2010
Wisconsin Rapids Office Builds Snow Sculpture for FundraiserThe Wisconsin Rapids office participated in the 5th Annual Snow Sculpture on Saturday, a First Weber Group Foundation-sponsored event benefiting the South Wood County Humane Society. Real estate snow-artists Keith Wilkes, Nate Weidman, Sherrie Hahn, Mike Spranger, Dawn Spranger and Brian Slinkman joined forces to build one of 15 sculptures in the event. Keith Wilkes organized this activity for the Rapids office, as he is involved with the Humane Society. Looks like it was fun! I've seen ice scultpures before but never a block of snow that big. Some snow sculpture participants probably struggled with "what should I carve?" The gang here sculpted what they know - houses. Good job to the Wisconsin Rapids office and the First Weber Foundation. This goes to show you can certainly have fun while doing a good deed.
Wednesday, December 16. 2009
How big does a house really need to be? Some of us are fortunate to live in spacious houses with 10 rooms, multiple bathrooms and closets that are large enough to be considered a room (I am not included in the "some" here). Others live in more modest homes under 2,000 square feet. Whatever your situation, Wisconsin has a huge variety of housing styles, sizes and price ranges to fit all needs. I am not sure if there are any "Tiny Houses" in Wisconsin, but I think they are excellent. Check out the pictures and floorplans of some Tiny Houses from the Tumbleweed Tiny House company. Could you ever live in one of these homes? Does anyone know anybody who has built one of these small homes in Wisconsin or elsewhere? I would love to put one of these on our land in Wisconsin Dells. I like them all - from the log cabins to the ultra modern. Check out this website and tell us your favorite. And please comment if you know of a tiny house in Wisconsin like these examples. Thanks for reading and appreciate your Wisconsin home, no matter what its size!
Wednesday, December 2. 2009
Do you decorate the outside of your house/your yard for the holidays? White lights or colored? Less is more - or the more glare the better? Are you one of theose people who plan ahead and put the lights up when it is actually warm(ish) out, or do you always end up in the cold? Our Wisconsin neighborhoods look so pretty lit up on a dark snowy night, in my opinion. Whatever your opinion, enjoy this holiday season and maybe enjoy a new house next year. Looking now and in January means closing before the April deadline should be no problem. There's more information on the extended tax credit here. It's not for first time buyers only anymore! But, that is a post in itself so stay tuned. Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, November 24. 2009
What's going on in Wisconsin during the holidays? Way too many to list on this First Weber Blog. If you are looking for things to do in December ALL ACROSS WISCONSIN, be sure to check out this December event calendar from WisTravel.com Have fun! Caroling at the Cave in Blue Mounds sounds interesting...
Friday, November 20. 2009
This has absolutely nothing to do with real estate! Just a post to show that First Weber is made up of of real people who also have talents beyond selling Wisconsin real estate. Oregon First Weber Office Samples Homemade Pickles Oregon had a contest for the people in the office who make home-made pickles. We had bread/butter pickles, sweet pickles, chili peppers, mustard peppers, and Jalepeño pickles and dill, of course. So we called it our pickle-off for November 10, 2009. The pickle makers are: John Norwell, Oscar Larson, Tom Jordan, Sharon Christensen and Beth Foss. I would have liked to have been there to taste. No information on the winner has been provided....
Wednesday, October 28. 2009
I read with anticipation a list of America's top 10 cool small towns, thinking Wisconsin surely would be included. Alas, no Wisconsin town in that list/slide show. I have not personally checked out all the towns on the list, though I would love to - they do look pretty great. ( The link to the slide show is here. Compliments of bing and msn.com) If they extended the list to top 11, which Wisconsin small town would you suggest be added and why? Don't forget the "why"! My vote would be for Mineral Point, Wisconsin and the why is because of the artist community and the history in the town. There are many more - waiting for your ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Thursday, October 22. 2009
There's a lot of fall happenings going on all across Wisconsin in the next week. If the weather is not frightful, check out some of these Wisconsin events, compliments of Wistravel.com. Anyone ever been to the UFO parade in Belleville? What about the Halloween Candlelight Cave Tour in Chilton?
Tuesday, September 29. 2009
Fall has arrived in Wisconsin. Do you have a favorite fall activity? Mine would have to be fall walks. I also love the sound of fall football games at the nearby high school. There are numerous activities to enjoy and a great website to see for events is Wistravel.com here. Please contribute your favorite things about fall in Wisconsin. It would be interesting to see the different favorite things across Wisconsin - from our urban areas to rural areas and "up north." Thanks for reading and participating!
Wednesday, August 26. 2009
Could you live in a house that was just 9.5 feet wide? Would you be willing to pay almost 3 million for it? Um... don't think so. See the AP article on msnbc.com and nydailynews.com here.  This is the kind of Wisconsin real estate $2.7 million could buy. Quite the difference!
100+ acres with a river running through it in Marathon County, Wisconsin for $2 million 14 acres with 700 feet of lake frontage in Forest County, Wisconsin for $2.1 million 6500 sq ft home with 500+ feet chain of lake frontage in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin for $2.2 million A 48 unit Multi-Family building in Winnebago County for $2.7 million 41 acres in Dane County Wisconsin for $2.5 million 55 acres in Dane County, Wisconsin for $2.6 million 40 acres near Wisconsin Dells waterparks and Lake Delton for $2.8 million 48 acre business/commercial opportunity in Delton, Wisconsin for $2.8 million 160 acres with views of Holy Hill in Erin, Wisconsin for $2.5 million Almost 6000 sq ft penthouse condo with water views in Downtown Milwaukee for 2.5 million 143 acres with log home, river frontage and pond with island, Washington County, Wisconsin for $2.5 million Which would you buy?
Wednesday, August 5. 2009
Wisconsin State Fair = good family fun, great food (including 38 kinds on a stick), people watching (interesting!) and the ability to see up close (REAL close, as in watch where you step) farm animals raised by the hardworking 4H children of Wisconsin. Read a very nice tribute to the Wisconsin State Fair here. Have you ever seen the price of some of the award winning cheese wheels? What's your favorite part of the Wisconsin State Fair? Have you ever been to state fair in another state? If so, how do they compare? The Fair runs from August 6-16th. Attend to see the many sides of life in Wisconsin!
Wednesday, July 15. 2009
Cookout/Bake Sale Fundraiser by First Weber Group Corporate benefits Second Harvest Food BankThe corporate staff raised $800 at last Wednesday’s cookout and bake sale. Since the First Weber Foundation sponsored the event by providing the food, 100% of the proceeds will go to Second Harvest Food Bank. A big “thank you” goes to our grillers (who stood over hot grills for 3+ hours in 90° heat), our bakers, food handlers, and all the guests that included many First Weber Group agents and staffers from other offices. Great job, and it looked like fun, too. 
Friday, July 10. 2009
Did you know Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Big Bang fireworks are rated in the top 20 in the nation? The big fireworks are fantastic and perfect for some -while others prefer to attend local celebrations. A recent poll at jsonline showed 51% of the poll respondents preferred a small town or park. A private pier was my view point this year and I highly recommend it! Local parades are always a favorite and a way for local businesses to interact with the community. The Wautoma office of First Weber participated in the parade this year and staff members chipped in to buy a $100 gift certificate to a local supermarket. Patrons at the parade were given First Weber cards with a place to write in their name, phone number and instructions to bring their card in to the First Weber office before July 11th to enter the $100 gift certificate drawing. Balloons and Candy were also given out to by-standers. Following are some pictures. Wherever you were in Wisconsin, we hope you had fun! 
Thursday, July 9. 2009
Now this is creative real estate marketing...buy a $1.45 million Madison condo listed by First Weber Group and get brand new wheels to go with it: a Corvette and a Harley! First Weber agent Sheridan Glen specializes in luxury home marketing and says "I believe this is truly a unique offering. I know of no other downtown condominium home anywhere that satifies so admirably one's desire for elegant luxury and $102,000 worth of wind-in-your-hair transportation...." The Nolan Shore condo has 2,900 square feet, 2.5 underground parking stalls (for the new rides that come with this condo), a stunning views of Lake Monona, Frank Llyod Wright designed Monona Terrace, the Capitol Dome and bustling downtown Madison. The interior of this Madison luxury condo for sale is designed and furnished by Madison's Dream Kitchens/Dream Rooms. The 2009 Z-06 Corvette is from Ballweg Chevrolet and the 2009 Harley Road King is from Capitol City Harley Davidson. See the custom website here. What do think of that? Sounds like quite the package for the right buyer. The condo looks fantastic by itself! Interested?
Thursday, July 2. 2009
 Happy Independence Day to our blog readers, Facebook fans and friends! Have a safe and enjoyable weekend.
What are your plans?
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.
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!
Friday, April 17. 2009
By Sandy Ebben, Rhinelander, Wisconsin First Weber Group 
I moved to Rhinelander in 1976. I was the hesitant spouse and it was a common story. My husband had vacationed in the Northwood’s and the minute he found a job we moved ‘upnorth’. I had always lived in a larger city and felt that I was moving to the end of the world. I was close. We rented a house outside of Sugar Camp on a road that was only plowed to our driveway in the winter. It was March, I had no neighbors and it just kept snowing. I was terrified the first night a raccoon got into the garbage. I thought it was a bear and he would break into our house and eat me. Over time I grew to love the North. The winters are long and harsh and economy can be challenging. But the quality of life is unique and the people are real. The animals outnumber people up here. You learn when to remove your bird feeders to avoid the bear invasions. Defensive driving means knowing what to do when a herd of deer run out onto the road. People move here to slow down, blend in and learn what it really means to live in a community. If you have car trouble you know that no one will pass you by. They all stop and it becomes a community project to get you back on the road. I don’t lock my house or my car and I can leave my purse in the shopping cart as I wander the local Wal-Mart After awhile you begin to look like everyone else. That guy in a flannel shirt and baseball cap might be a logger or the local judge. Either way the conversation is the same. Weather, hunting, fishing and those “dam tourists”. If you move up north you can be yourself and no one cares what’s in your bank account or what kind of car you drive. They are more interested in how the fish are biting and how you prepare your venison I have never gotten over the sights and sounds of this area. Swimming in a cold clear lake on a crisp fogging morning is an experience you can not put a price on. . Our towns are small, but we have everything we need and more. The air is clean, the forests are vast and the lakes are pristine. We truly live in a paradise. The loons came back this week. Even though it was 29 degrees last night I left my bedroom window open so I could wake up to the sounds of their haunting cries. This is why I live here.
Saturday, March 21. 2009
First Weber Group did not create it nor have anything to do with it- but since this blog is about living in Wisconsin, what do YOU think about Wisconsin's new slogan?
Wednesday, March 18. 2009
Home improvement projects... some people love them, and some hate them. More often than not, home improvement project does just that - improve the home. (if done well!) Do you have a home improvement story to share? Like quick makeover ideas, a project gone wrong or a "why didn't I do this sooner" type project? I'll start... We filled in an inground swimming pool. Might seem odd to many people. Some people view a pool as a plus and some view it as a detriment. And things change over time too. It was time for the pool to go. Now we have a yard. Much more to my liking! Hope you'll share a story or two!
Friday, March 13. 2009
We will be looking to do an overhaul on firstweber.com this year. Is there anything you would like to see... or would hate to see? Let us know - we like feedback from our customers and clients. If it is good feedback- we are happy of course. If it is bad feedback, it gives us the chance to address the problem and prevent it from happening again. We want people spreading good news about us. Oh, and by the way, if you like working with First Weber or just are thrilled with your First Weber agent, leave a review here by becoming a Fan of First Weber on facebook (account required)
Wednesday, February 11. 2009
Are you on facebook? A ton of First Weber agents are. Social Networking fits very nicely into real estate because real estate is all about relationships. If you are a customer or client and are on facebook, please become a fan of First Weber by checking out our Fan page. There's a link to it on the home page of firstweber.com. Ask your agent to be your friend too! We recently had a situation in which an agent looked up his past buyers, befriended them on facebook. When he noticed one of them was having trouble with the house because of what they wrote on their wall, he was able to remind them their home warranty was still in effect and would probably cover the repair. It's an interesting way to keep in touch.
Wednesday, November 26. 2008
Happy Thanksgiving to our readers from all of us at First Weber Group. Market up, market down, it does not matter. We all have something to be thankful for. Our homes, our jobs, our families, our health, our friends. Enjoy and be thankful!
Tuesday, November 4. 2008
Today you can vote for your choice of President of the United States. Please take the time to cast your vote! Voting is serious business. On the lighter side, you can also cast your vote here for the Ugliest House, the second annual contest run by HomeVestors. There's a chance to win a $10,000 debit card. You have until November 15 to cast this vote. I am not sure if "ulgiest house" is the right title. I thought maybe the pictures would show bad architecture, ugly decorating, but the house are just in serious disrepair. The first one I looked at was just disgusting. Unfortunately, one house is in Milwaukee...
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