What sellers want from today's RealtorToday’s housing market is a buyer’s market. Although home values are rising, it is a very slow ascent and experts predict it will take years for the housing market to fully recover. Therefore sellers face a very challenging market when it comes to listing their home. It is crucial for a seller to have a capable Realtor who can weather a difficult and volatile market. What are sellers looking for in today’s Realtor? It turns out that the fundamentals of service are still the most important traits, combined with a healthy knowledge of their local market and the latest technology.
    
With technology changing so rapidly and new avenues of media becoming a powerful presence, a seller must hire a Realtor who can effectively market their home. Within just a few…

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Happy Valentine's Day! Not to be a Debbie Downer on this fun and fanciful occasion but recently a home inspector told me that work-related stress is now so bad that you have a better chance of living a long life with heart problems or diabetes than you have with job-related stress. Is this really true?? According to an article last fall in the Montreal Gazette, stress is literally depressing all types of workers. Here's an excerpt from the article:
 
“In the next 10 years, depression will rank second only to heart disease as the leading cause of disability globally. In Canada, the majority of absenteeism in the workplace is stress-related. Twenty percent of Canadian workers experience stress-related illness each year. High stress levels in the workplace can…

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Madison Market Snaphot reportsIn case you missed it, this week we announced on Lake & City Homes Facebook Fan Page our new Market Snapshot reports. What's a market snapshot? It's a personalized report that charts current up-to-the-minute market activity about homes in your neighborhood (or any area you specify within a 3-5 mile radius of a given property address). The report includes data such as sold homes and condos, homes and condos currently for sale, inventory counts and even days-on-market. These reports are a fantastic resource if you've been asking yourself any of these burning questions:

  • How do my neighborhood's home values stack up?
  • What are homes worth in my target area?
  • What's my current home worth?
  • Is now a good time to sell?
  • Has the market stabilized?

To get…

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First it was smoke alarms, now it's carbon monoxide alarms. All single-family and two-family homes in Wisconsin are required to have carbon monoxide detectors by today, Feb. 1st, according to a recent news release from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.

This comes on the heels of Madison's smoke alarm ordinance that went into effect in 2010 requiring hard-wired or 10-year battery-powered smoke alarms in bedrooms, as well as on all floors of any type of residence.

Carbon monoxide, also known as CO, is a byproduct of combustion that is colorless, odorless and tasteless and considered the leading cause of accidental poisoning in the United States, according to the American Medical Association.

"CO alarms have shown their effectiveness in alerting occupants…

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