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Wednesday, November 11. 2009October real estate sales soar in Milwaukee areaOctober was a fantastic month for Metro Milwaukee residential real estate! (November had good news too, but we'll get to that later) These statistics are courtesy of the Metro Milwaukee Multiple Listing Service. Sales soared 33% over October of last year. 1191 homes were sold MLS wide October, 2007. 1093 homes were sold October, 2008 1464 homes were sold this October, 2009. The First Time Homebuyer credit certainly had something to do with this. The credit, due to expire November 30, had many buyers scrambling to close by then. Thankfully, on November 7, 2009, the credit was extended until April 30, 2009 with extra time added to close. (That's November's good news so far) Normally, November's sales slow down - a simple seasonal thing. It will be very interesting to see November's sales this year. I am betting they will be strong! This is all great news for Wisconsin homeowners! If you have Wisconsin real estate market question, please send us a comment and let us know what you are looking for. Wednesday, November 11. 2009The Moderne condominiums in downtown Milwaukee moving forward
You can see individual units listed for sale through First Weber Group here, more on this condo project at this project page on firstweber.com, or at this Moderne website or at this article in BizTimes.com The development has a prime location at Juneau and Old World Third Street in downtown Milwaukee. First Weber Group has been marketing The Moderne for several years. We're thrilled to see the approval come through. Take a look at the links above and let us know your thoughts on The Moderne condos. Wednesday, November 11. 2009Tuesday, November 10. 2009Wednesday, November 4. 2009Thursday, October 29. 2009First Weber Group opens its doors to ten experienced agents!First Weber welcomes ten experienced agents from First Realty, GMAC!
We are thrilled to have these quality agents on the First Weber team! Welcome: Carla Corriveau, Brookfield office Darlene Guernsey, Metro West office Kathy Mitchell, Brookfield office Joan Pray, Brookfield office Michael Sadowski, Brookfield office Laurie Schubert, Waukesha office Judi Stier, Brookfield office Dan Weber, Brookfield office Jennifer Talsky-Wielgosh, Brookfield office Kathy Witt, Lake Country office (Names are listed to match the order of the pictures) We look forward to working with these outstanding agents and their clients and customers! Wednesday, October 28. 2009Great support of the United WayWisconsin Rapids Holds a Tasty United Way FundraiserOn Tuesday, Oct 20, the Wisco NICE WORK! Wednesday, October 28. 2009Wednesday, October 21. 2009Tuesday, October 13. 2009The good news about the bad news
JSOnline did an article on the statistics and you may read it in its entirety here. Some commentary from the article is as follows: "In the first-time buyer market there is price competition. Sellers are getting 98%, 100% of the asking price - multiple offers in some cases," said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. "But if you go up the ladder a little bit - over $300,000 - it's really slow." Also, REALTORS are hoping that Congress will extend or open up the first time home buyer tax credit. Doing so would continue to spur sales. "It absolutely needs to be extended and opened up," said Tammy Maddente, executive vice president of First Weber Group. The uncertainty of an extension may have some buyers still waiting. Bob Larson of First Weber's Waukesha office is quoted as saying: "They are trying to wait it out to see what will happen, so it's causing a little bit of a pause," Larson said. As of now, the tax credit does expire and homebuyers must close by December 1. Better get on it if you are serious about buying. Good luck from First Weber Group. We are here to help! Friday, October 9. 2009Age-in-place renovations may have wide appealHave you ever thought how long you'd stay in your current home? Could you "age-in-place" there? If you have made renovations such as walk-in showers, wide doors, or levers instead of doorknobs your home may be more appealing to the baby boomer generation (77 million people) if you decide to sell - and easier for you to live in as you age if you are staying put. There are not too many articles written on this subject. Here is a good one from Realty Times. Hope you find it interesting as well! This article was tweeted by First Weber on Twitter, too. We'd love to have you follow us. Friday, October 9. 20095 myths sellers believeIf you a In today’s uncertain real estate market, fear runs rampant. Many sellers are listening to the national media and coming to the conclusion that it is a bad time to sell their home. But like most myths, these need debunking. Here are five myths sellers tend to believe.
Seller Myth No. 1: “Now is the worst time to sell your home.” Real estate is local. It depends on where you live. Many of the worst hit markets, like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Miami, are already turning around and are experiencing huge sales increases. Here in Fond du Lac County, we saw home prices drop only 2.6% last year. If you are a homeowner who wants to trade up to a new home, the lower price you might get on your current home will be more than offset by the bargain you’ll receive on the next one. Don’t measure your financial status by what your home sells for, but by the net gain or loss of the sale of your existing home PLUS the purchase of your next home. It almost always works out in your favor. Seller Myth No. 2: “Never respond to a low ball bid.” Right now, it’s true that you are going to see more low ball offers than we did a few years ago. And today, with all the stories in the media, buyers today almost feel obligated to put in a low ball offer to see if the seller will bite. But if you respond with a reasonable counter offer, most buyers can be convinced to come up in price and make the deal. I have a philosophy at our office with all our real estate professionals, “As much as it depends on you, don’t let the offer die in your client’s lap.” Always come back with a counter offer. You will be surprised at how many times they other party stays in the negotiation and you finally come to common ground and a deal can be made. Never let it die in your lap. Seller Myth No. 3: “The first offer is never the best offer.” While the first offer may not be the best offer, what is really true, 4 times out of 5, is the first buyer is the best buyer. A lot of sellers believe that it’s smart to hold out for someone better. But the first buyer is most likely going to finally agree to the highest price you’ll ever get for your home. That’s because 75% of the prospective buyers are going to come to your house in the first 30 days you listed it. After you walk away from that buyer who actually made an offer hoping you’ll get something better, the other prospects have walked away too and gone on to another home…and probably written an offer on it. Seller Myth No. 4: “I can always reduce my price later.” Sellers often want to price their home high for a few weeks just to test the market. But buyers shop by price bracket and if your house is in the wrong one, you’ll just help sell everyone else’s home while yours sits there…overpriced. Reducing your price later in small increments puts you in the position of chasing the tide as it goes out. We can spend a million dollars to advertise a home, but if it’s not priced right, it will not sell. We need to wake up that this is a buyer’s market. Unless you are willing to wait a year or so to sell your house, price your home to sell within the next 4 months or less. Because if you price it too high, the only house that will sell is your neighbors’. Sellers Myth No. 5: “I have to have my home sold before I can buy or build a new one.” The fact is that you as soon as you have your home on the market, you should be either making an offer on an existing home, or selecting a builder to build a new one. You can always structure your offer to be contingent on the sale of your existing home if you prefer. If you decide to build, there are a few builders who have financing programs such as a “no payments during construction loan,” or a “commission rebate program,” or a “trade up program” where they will buy your existing home if it hasn’t sold by the time they are finished building your new home. Building has become incredibly attractive this last year. A local lumber company told me last week that lumber prices are the same level we had back in 1977, a 32 year low. With the lower prices we are seeing from subcontractors and suppliers, building a new home is an incredible deal right now. The buyer’s market window is closing in 2009. Don’t miss out on your chance to move up by buying into someone else’s myth. By Scott Swick, General Manager, Fond du Lac First Weber Group Thursday, October 8. 2009Newberry Boulevard named one of America's "Great Streets"
There are just 4 homes for sale right now on E. Newberry Boulevard. (Please note once the homes linked to below have sold or are off the market, the links won't work anymore. We can always provide updated data should you run across this article 6 months from now when it is likely that the homes may have sold. Just send an email or ask a question.)
4BR, 1.5 BA Newberry Boulevard 3 BR, 1 BA E Newberry Boulevard 4 BR, 1 BA E Newberry Boulevard 4 BR, 1.5 BA E Newberry Boulevard
If any reader has comments or observations about this street on the east side of Milwaukee, feel free to comment! This association had their criteria... do you have a street that stands out in your mind? Continue reading "Newberry Boulevard named one of America's "Great Streets""Wednesday, September 30. 2009Tuesday, September 29. 2009Your favorite fall activity in Wisconsin is? Flickr photo by Mickey 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! Thursday, September 24. 2009Wednesday, September 16. 2009Tuesday, September 15. 2009First Weber lands large condo project and it's a beauty!
Avian at Tuckaway Condominiums in Franklin, Wisconsin are now being marketed by First Weber Group and Carol Becker Samsa. This is a large condominium project with 70 units in 35 side by side buildings located on 21 acres. 3 different styles of condos are available. Here's a Front Runner tour of one style. And another one here. Check out the interactive google maps on those tours! There's floor plans and more here. Built by Mark Carstensen Construction. These condos look very nice to me. Love the use of stone. They hardly look like condos at all but really nice single family homes. What do you think? Monday, September 14. 2009Wednesday, September 9. 2009Feature on Wauwatosa, WisconsinWauwatosa, Wisconsin is a great little village with a lot of history situated on the west side of Milwaukee county. For those you not of the metro Milwaukee area, that is pronounced "Wa-wa-toe-suh". See, that wasn't so hard! The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has begun profiling some of the communities in an effort to revamp their real estate section. And we'll link to them from the First Weber blog from time to time.
And here's a sampling of First Weber listings in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin in different price ranges: 3 bedroom, 1 bath ranch in Wauwatosa 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath tudor in Wauwatosa 3 bedroom, 2 bath bungalow in Wauwatosa 4 bedroom, 3 bath historic home in Wauwatosa (note: the links won't work if the property is no longer active on the market but they were active at time of posting.) We hope that was a short & sweet introduction to Wauwatosa, WI. Thanks for visting the First Weber blog. Wednesday, September 9. 2009Friday, September 4. 2009Wisconsin lake property - Choosing the right lake for you.
How do you know which lake is for you? Your local First Weber Group Realtor should be able to give you valuable insight into lakes in the area you're looking at. Like peace and quiet? Like to sail? To fish? Like a very active lake with lots of boating activity? We can help point you to the lake that matches such interests. Contact us if you're looking to buy lake property in Wisconsin - First Weber has a lot of knowledge to share. If you want to search by map, please do so here. There's a special Northwoods Wisconsin search here as well. Pictured is Lake Mildred and here is a previous post about that lake. Photo courtesy of Sandy Ebben. Friday, September 4. 2009Tuesday, September 1. 2009Try m.firstweber.com and have 85,000 property listings in the palm of your hand.
First Weber's mobile website is now live. Give it a test drive and let us know how you like it or if you have any suggestions to make it even better! There's 85,000 properties to chose from. And you can find them all on your smart phone at m.firstweber.com We look forward to your feedback. Monday, August 31. 2009 |
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The Moderne condominiums in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin is approved and expected to break ground in December. 
nsin Rapids office held a taco lunch to benefit the United Way. Annette Schmidt was the coordinator of this event and did a great job, others from the office donated to the event and worked at the event! $454 was donated to the United Way from this event. Many hands make light work!
The Metro Milwaukee MLS stats reports included some good news and some bad news. The number of homes sold is up more than 7% over last September. That's the good news. The bad news is the average sales price has dropped to 2002 or 2003 levels. The good news about the bad news is that local REALTORS say the average sales price decrease is a result of more sales in the $200,000 and under starter home price range. Sellers of those homes are now free to buy-up. So that is more good news.
re a home seller in Wisconsin, this article may be of interest to you. Let us know what you think. Scott Swick of First Weber writes about myths and opinions below:
Newberry Boulevard, on Milwaukee's east side, was named one of 10 "Great Streets" by the American Planning Association. Do you have a "favorite" street? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 
Here's a story on 
Lakes vary widely in obvious ways - shallow, deep, murky, clear, spring fed etc, but many also have what you could call "personalities." 