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        <title>Lake &amp; City Views</title>
        <link>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/tags/madison-wi-real-estate/</link>
        <description>Madison WI real estate news, opinions, &amp; MLS statistics. Read about featured Madison WI homes for sale, the overall Madison real estate market, mortgage news, &amp; local real estate events.</description>
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            <guid>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/folks-we-have-liftoff.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/folks-we-have-liftoff.html</link>
            <author>jolenta@lakeandcityhomes.com (Jolenta Averill)</author>
            <title>Madison WI MLS Search Tool: Folks, We Have Liftoff!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Yippee! The South Central Wisconsin MLS board completed its compliance on our new site yesterday (in very short order, I might add) and Real Estate Webmasters' development server login prompt was removed from our site this morning. So as of today, we have liftoff my friends and it is official: www.LakeAndCityHomes.com is now live!Over the past few days we've added over one hundred popular searches and almost 150 pages of unique content relating to Dane County homes and the Greater Madison Area real estate market (with much more content to come!). We're anticipating that many of the popular searches we've created will become favorites with site visitors. We want to make it a snap for you to find the homes that fit your lifestyle in the areas you're targeting. That's why we've tried to create quick searches by lifestyle, by community, by neighborhood and other specialized searches. Examples include &quot;Homes Under 200K&quot;, a daily updated list of all homes in the Madison area under 200K. Or &quot;Downtown Madison&quot; which links to all downtown Madison residential property currently on the market. And then there's &quot;Lakefront Property&quot; and &quot;Golf Communities&quot;, just to name a few. 

We've also created shortcuts for some of Madison's most popular neighborhoods such as Nakoma, Sunset Village and Shorewood Hills on the West Side of Madison and Monona, Maple Bluff and Lake Waubesa area homes on the East Side. And we've created loads of shortcuts for popular communities such as Middleton, Verona, Westport, Waunakee, Fitchburg, Cottage Grove, DeForest and McFarland. Just click on our homepage and you'll find these searches and more under the headings &quot;Popular Searches&quot; and &quot;Popular Neighborhoods&quot; in the right sidebar. Also check out the &quot;Communities&quot; tab or &quot;Local Area Index&quot; drop-down near the top of your screen. Once you've done a test run or two, by all means please let us know what you think. And if you don't see a shortcut you want, feel free to suggest it or try searching another way. We've got oodles of options for searching! You can search by City, Subdivision, School, Zip Code, MLS number, or even using our interactive Map Search. We think you're gonna love it! What's more: if you register on the site you can set up and save your own searches, save your favorite listings, and even exchange messages to us via your personal message system - all without leaving the site!We're excited about all the new tools we're delivering in our first release of lakeandcityhomes.com! We hope you'll take the time to blast off with us and send us your feedback. We aim to please and like to think we're aiming high, but we know we can't be the very best real estate website in Dane County without your comments, feedback and suggestions! Feel free to comment on our blog or contact us directly. We look forward to hearing from you! 
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:44:26 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/just-say-no-to-kludgy-workarounds.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/just-say-no-to-kludgy-workarounds.html</link>
            <author>jolenta@lakeandcityhomes.com (Jolenta Averill)</author>
            <title>Just say no to kludgy workarounds!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 


According to Wikipedia, a kludge, also referred to sometimes as a kluge or cluft, is &quot;a clumsy or inelegant solution to a
problem or difficulty&quot;. In engineering, a kludge is considered a &quot;workaround&quot;,
typically using unrelated parts cobbled together. And in computer
programs, a kludge is often used to fix unexpected
problems usually caused by earlier kludges.

Last night, in response to my nine year-old not taking the time to thoroughly search his pajama drawer - and therefore incorrectly, and rather impatiently, concluding that there were no long pajama bottoms available - decided on this novel, yet decidedly kludgy, way of addressing the problem. Simply wear three pairs of short pajama bottoms to create the necessary coverage! Although not fully commited to the idea of wearing clothing appropriate for the weather, I have managed to drive home the point that he could be responsible for the doctor bill if he gets sick as a result of not dressing appropriately for the weather. And so, while I have to give him credit for trying to dress warmly, I wasn't a fan of the rather kludgy solution he devised as I could easily envision a host of problems that might ensue, particularly at inopportune times such as the middle of the night!

And so that leads to my apology for not updating my new blog these last couple of days, but I've been working fast and furiously (literally 'round the clock) to flesh out the remaining tools and content needed to really hit the ground running with my new website in 2009 - with solutions that are useful and robust and which will really benefit my clients. So please bear with me: I'm making good progress and promise it will be worth the wait (sans awkward kluges!). In the meantime, if you think of something I don't have&nbsp; that you'd like to see, feel free to contact me with your questions, concerns and suggestions. I welcome your input and look forward to hearing from you! 

&nbsp;
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:54:53 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/welcome-to-my-new-website-lake-city-homes.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.lakeandcityhomes.com/blog/welcome-to-my-new-website-lake-city-homes.html</link>
            <author>jolenta@lakeandcityhomes.com (Jolenta Averill)</author>
            <title>Welcome to Madison WI's Newest Real Estate Website</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Happy New Year and Welcome to the launch of my new &amp; improved real estate website, Lake &amp; City Homes!

After five years in the industry, I can't think of a better way to confront uncertain times in the real estate market than by meeting them head on. While some may duck for cover or exit the industry altogether, I believe the way forward is to demonstrate a renewed commitment to serving my clients by:


&diams; investing in my own brokerage

&diams; developing new ideas

&diams; developing better tools

&diams; developing superior strategies


Thanks to the incredible talent at Real Estate Webmasters, I've evolved my web presence from what was essentially stale brochureware (built by your's truly with outdated and unsupported tools such as Microsoft Frontpage) to an elegant, yet powerful, site built with the latest customizable technology. The ease of use, robustness and sheer wow factor of this site, along with its transparent access to all the available inventory and tools in the local market, creates an online experience we're confident is so impressive - we think you'll bookmark it and use it exclusively to meet all your real estate search needs. 

Stay tuned, there's lots more to come. In the meantime, all the best for a peaceful, prosperous 2009!
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:40:12 -0600</pubDate>
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