Our Team Blog

Now is the best time to list a lake property. Spring is when the buyers of lakeshore property start to look and the longer you wait the more potential buyers you are missing.

If you have some projects to complete before putting your property on the market, get them done immediately.  I recommend sprucing up the property and getting those projects done first, as long as it doesn't delay your listing too much.  Otherwise, it is more important to get the property on the market when the buyers are buying. 

In my opinion, too many sellers wait to list their property until summer is here and by that time some buyers have already bought.  Sellers also need to consider marketing time and materials.  We can get a property listed and on the internet within a day or two, but print marketing (especially magazines) run by the month and their due dates are usually 3 weeks ahead of the publication.  So, if you list your property at the end of March, it may not get in a Homes magazine until May.  If you know you want to sell this year, then call today and get your property on the market.

It doesn't matter what you are hearing in the media.  Now is a great time to get in the real estate market.  Interest rates are still at historically low rates and there is more selection of properties available.  This allows you, as a buyer, to be more selective about what you purchase.  I would also recommend that you get in the market before everyone else decides to buy.  If you wait too long you will be joined by a lot more buyers and that will drive the prices back up and the selection will be more limited.

If you are looking for a lake home or cabin in our area, spring is the time that all the new listings hit the market.  Plus, if you want to be on the lake by the time the weather gets nice, you have to start looking now.  If you contact us we can set you up with some automatic email updates, so you will see all the new listings as they hit the market.  This way you are sure not to miss out on a great buy. 

Let us know if we can help.

Governor Doyle has proposed doubling the current real estate transfer tax in his state budget – a proposal that would increase taxes on homes in Wisconsin by over $140 million. This idea is unfair, unnecessary and unwise. Lawmakers of both parties should reject this plan now.

The transfer tax is like a sales tax on selling a home. It also applies to all real estate sales so it’s applied to the sale of a farm, or a small corner grocery store, or on a major commercial property, as well as homes.

The current real estate transfer tax is $3 per $1,000 of value. On a median priced home in Wisconsin of $166,000, the tax would total nearly $500. Under the Governor’s plan, the tax would double to $6 per $1,000 of value, bringing the total tax on the average home to nearly $1,000. While the seller is responsible for paying this cost, it must be paid in full, at closing, at a time when both buyers and sellers must incur numerous closing costs. And if the sellers can’t afford that loss of equity, the price of the house will increase and buyers will be negatively impacted through higher prices. And since most sellers are usually buyers too, sellers who don’t pass the t! ax along will have a harder time affording their next home.

Regardless of who pays, this proposal is a tax on housing, pure and simple. If it becomes law, this whopping tax increase will move Wisconsin from having the 22^nd highest real estate transfer tax in the county, to the 12^th highest tax. Combine this with the fact that we have the 8^th highest property taxes in the nation, and going up every year, this is one tax increase we certainly can’t afford.

This real estate tax – or “home tax” – is unfair, unnecessary and unwise. The legislature ought to throw it out and throw it out now.