You may or may not like the song or even the band (seriously though, who doesn't like R.E.M.?), but we're sure you're gonna love our new MLS data feed!

Starting today, instead of new property listings hitting our site every 24 hours, they're going to hit our site every three hours. That's right, LakeandCityHomes.com now receives data (new listings, photos, price updates, etc) from the South Central WI MLS every three hours rather than once a day! How do you like that frequency?!

Why is that important, you might be asking yourself? Simply put, if you're looking to buy a property in a popular neighborhood or sought-after area, you're going to have some stiff competition, even in a buyer's market. But now that the listings on our website are updated…

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executive-style ranch on Madison's West SideAt Lake & City Homes Realty we're all about finding homes that fit your lifestyle. So if you're looking for executive-style living, you should check out our newest listing at 3510 Field Crest Way located just off McKee Rd on Madison's beautiful West Side.

What's executive-style living? While it can mean different things to different people, here's a brief compilation of some of the descriptives we've been hearing:

"A newer, single-family home with an open floor plan layout that includes a Master suite and plenty of living space on the main floor for entertaining, coupled with a beautifully landscaped yard in a unique setting within a mature, established neighborhood with convenient access to shops, entertainment, dining, and recreational activities."…

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I'm pleased to announce that after two weeks of enduring a steep learning curve for video editing, a variety of technical issues and glitches, and a fair degree of performance anxiety, I'm finally ready to kick off our new monthly housing update! It's dubbed The Madison Market Update because it's focused on the residential Madison WI real estate market.

In today's premier edition of the Madison Market Update you'll find highlights of the Madison housing market year-to-date with comparisons to last year using measures such as sales volume, average prices, average days on market and more. The Madison Market Update will be updated monthly and you'll have access to all the charts and graphs discussed in each edition via our Madison Market Statistics page…

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On November 6, 2009, President Obama signed a bill to extend the tax credit for first-time homebuyers (FTHBs) through June 30, 2010. The bill also opens up opportunities for others who are not buying a home for the first time. In response to the many questions I've been getting, I've put together the tax credit overview below so you can bring the new tax credit into focus and learn what may mean to you.

Who Gets What?

First-Time Homebuyers (FTHBs): First-time homebuyers (that is, people who have not owned a homewithin the last three years) may be eligible for the tax credit. The credit forFTHBs is 10% of the purchase price of the home, with a maximum available creditof $8,000.

Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may…

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It's official! President Obama signed a bill on 11/6/09 extending the $8K tax credit for first-time home buyers and offering a new credit of up to $6,500 for some existing homeowners. Please see our Tax Credit Overview to find out what it means to you.

This week the Senate reached a tentative deal to extend the $8K tax creditfor first-time home buyers which expires November 30th, 2009. It will be votedon in a cloture vote (ie it has been added to a bill currently on the Senatefloor to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits) which is scheduled forMonday, November 2nd at 5pm. Its passage remains uncertain.

Theagreement would extend the existing credit for first-time home buyers, worth upto $8,000, while offering a new credit of up to $6,500…

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Happy Halloween from Lake & City Homes Realty! Check out this amazing pumpkin carving website and choose your favorite from the pumpkin carving gallery. Then comment on anything you see in my blog (including this post) and you'll be eligible to win a $10 sign-up promo code from Alice.com (no affiliation). The drawing will take place at Lake & City Homes Realty on Friday, November 6th, 2009.

When I realized that the creator of these amazing pumpkin carvings, Scott Cummins, only spends 1-2 hours on each carving, I was inspired to figure out how I too might start working smarter, not harder! So, whether you're buying or selling, here's some tips (as opposed to dirty tricks!) for working smarter in today's real estate market to get the kind of results you…

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The Dane County Waterbody Classification Project (aka "Shoreland Zoning") is a county effort that could impact approximately 57,000 properties located throughout Dane County. It would impose new regulations, higher costs to property owners, and possible negative impacts on property values for all properties located within a defined area known as "the shoreland zone". The shoreland zone in Dane County's villages and cities would be extended from 75’ from the water to 1000’ from lakes and ponds and 300’ from rivers and streams. This initiative would also impact the way Realtors represent properties and provide proper disclosure. The County is continuing with this effort despite the lack of good data that it will have a significant benefit to the lakes and…

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Madison WI schoolsLake and City Homes Realty is proud to announce the addition of demographics to its flagship Madison WI real estate website! Three new batches of neighborhood-specific information now appears under a new tab, "Get Local", conveniently located on all our Property Details pages. As a result, we think our Madison real estate site truely qualifies as a one-stop shopping destination for those interested in buying Madison area real estate!

As you can see in the screenshot to the right, our new Get Local tab has three distinct information groupings:

  1. Nearby Amenities
  2. Nearby Schools
  3. Neighborhood Information

Under the Nearby Amenities tab, the names of businesses are shown along with the relevant business category and approximate distances from the subject…

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CNNMoney.com has once again put Madison WI on one of its Best Places lists, this time for the 20th best place to launch a small business startup. Madison, with its population of around 561,505 has an estimated 14,654 small businesses, defined as businesses with between 1-49 employees. Madison usually fares well in such rankings due to its relatively low unemployment and highly educated population and this time Madison's well-developed transportation system and moderate weather were also cited as pluses (note: some might beg to differ on the latter!).

Other reasons that Madison WI was chosen one of the best places in the nation to launch a small business startup:

  • The UW-Madison runs a Small Business Development Center and has a ready supply of…

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The countdown to the November 30th deadline for the first-time homebuyer's tax credit is underway and the debate rages on as to whether the $8K tax credit should be extended and even expanded. In a recent poll of 1000 real estate agents conducted by Weichert, 97% favored extending the tax credit (the majority want to extend it until 12/31/10). Below we share other illuminating statistics from the Weichert study and two other recent polls about the first-time homebuyer's tax credit:

  1. proof positive of the degree of success the tax credit has had thus far

  2. the positive impact on sales that extending the credit is projected to have

  3. the perceived negative effect on the housing market that not extending the credit is likely to have

    4. …

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