Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.  Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Recently, we had some sellers who went on Zillow and got a Zestimate of $400K. When we did our market analysis, their home value actually came in at $355K. On average, Zillow's Zestimates are off between 5% and 15%. The best way to find your home's true value is to call a Realtor. The Realtor will do a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, where the Realtor compares your property to similar homes in the area to determine what buyers will pay for your property in today's market. Zillow is a great tool to get an idea of your home's value, but only a real estate professional can give you an accurate home value. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Problem with Zillow and Your Home Value

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We’re in Hudson, Wisconsin with Chris Kost, director of the YMCA, to talk about this year’s Hoopla event! Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.  Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. The time has come for the Hudson YMCA Holiday Hoopla event! We’re here in Hudson, Wisconsin so Chris Kost, director of the YMCA, can tell you all about it. The Hudson YMCA has been here for 21 years and has 9,000 members. Although we do a lot of good things for our branch, it’s important to reach out to the community as well. One of the ways we do this is by hosting the Hoopla event. It’s free for the community and is a fantastic way to meet and partner with other organizations. Along with the annual gingerbread making event hosted by the McNamee Real Estate Team, people can look forward to all sorts of fun activities. Santa will be here with real reindeer! And the best part? Santa will be here with real reindeer! He and his flight companions will be set up in the gym, so make sure to stop in and say hi. Here’s all the information you’ll need to make it down to this year’s Hoopla event! What: Holiday Hoopla Where: Hudson YMCA, 2211 Vine St. Hudson, WI 54016 When: Sunday, December 18th, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. More questions? No problem. Give Chris at the Hudson YMCA a call at 612-230-9622 or visit the website www.ymcamn.org. You are also more than welcome to stop in to find out how the YMCA can work with you on a membership. Walk-ins are always welcome. Happy holidays and hope to see you there!

What You Need to Know About The Hoopla Event

Before you take out a homeowners insurance policy, there are three things you should know about that will determine your rate. Jeremy Werner is here to tell us what to look for. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.  Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Taking out a homeowners insurance policy an important step for homeowners, but there are a few things that you should know about homeowners insurance rates before doing so. Today I’m joined by Jeremy Werner from Apex Insurance Group to discuss the top three factors that will help determine your rate: How much coverage is necessary on the home. This includes how much it would cost to replace the entire dwelling as well as any additional endorsements that you would like to add on. Where the property is located. Your property’s proximity to emergency services can affect your rates. For example, the further your property is from a fire department or even a fire hydrant, the higher your rate will be. Your insurance score. Your insurance score is affected by your credit characteristics, so it’s important to keep your credit in line. In the same way that opening up new lines of credit can affect your ability to obtain a home loan, homeowners should also be aware that the better their credit scores are, the lower their homeowners insurance premiums will be. Your rate may be affected by your credit score. Jeremy suggests keeping these three components in mind before taking out a homeowners insurance policy so that you know what to expect from your rate. If you have any other questions about homeowners, auto, home, life, business, or farm insurance for Jeremy, give him a call at 715-377-4774. In the meantime, if you have questions about anything else related to real estate in the St. Croix area, give us a call or send me an email and we’d be happy to help you!

3 Things to Know Before Buying Homeowners Insurance

A lot of people think selling a home during the holidays is a bad idea. However, there are six reasons why that is not true. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.  Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. A lot of home sellers who have had their home on the market the last few months will get it in their heads that they should take it off the market during the holiday season for one reason or another. A lot of people think homes don’t sell during this time of year, but that is not the case. There are six different reasons why you should keep your home on the market during the holidays: 1. Inventory is much lower. Since a lot of people do think it’s a bad time to sell, they take their homes off the market. This lowers the inventory, which means less competition for your home if you do decide to list. 2. Serious buyers. If a buyer is out there trudging in 30-below weather just to see a home, you know they are serious about purchasing a home. 3. The supply will increase in the new year. Every year, our inventory shoots up at the beginning of the new year. That is when you will have the most competition for your home. That level of competition is much lower right now. Homes show better when decorated for the holidays. 4. Homes show better when decorated for the holidays. 5. Buyers tend to be more emotional during the holidays. This draws their attention to the home more than it would during the summer. 6. Buyers have more time to look at homes during the holidays. Why not be on the market if those buyers have the time? If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out and we’ll make it our next video. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

6 Reasons to List Your Home This Holiday Season

We want to thank all of our past clients and referral partners for their business, so we are holding a raffle for a new Yeti cooler! Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.  Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. We have a great opportunity for you to win a new Yeti cooler! First of all, we want to say thank you to all of our past clients and our referral partners who so graciously spread our name to all of your friends. We really appreciate it—those referrals help our business grow and improve every year. As a way of saying thank you to all of our wonderful clients and friends, we are having a raffle for a free Yeti cooler. We will announce the winner on Halloween! All you have to do is go to our Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook, Trulia, LinkedIn or Twitter page and leave a review. If you really want that cooler, you can write multiple reviews to increase your chances of winning! We will announce the winner on Halloween. Good luck to all of you—we can’t wait to see the reviews!

Enter to Win a Yeti Cooler

If you’re shopping for a home, it’s important to leave yourself a buffer of cash in your max budget. The market is competitive! Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.  Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. When you’re in the market to buy a home, setting a realistic budget is very important. Let’s say you set a budget of $225,000 and are looking for a home. If you look at homes that are priced for $225,000, you may find a home that has multiple offers. When there are multiple offers on a home that’s already priced at your max budget, you’ve got no chance. You don’t have the buying power to go any higher. In this market, you need a bit of wiggle room. We recommend giving yourself some buffer room. If your max budget is $225,000, cut off the home prices you are looking at to homes priced $220,000 and below. If you’re in a multiple offer situation, extra cash is always beneficial. When homes are selling in our market, they are selling for $5,000 to $10,000 over asking price. If you find the home you love, you should go after it and not wait for someone else to get their hands on it. Give yourself that little buffer so you can feel confident when competing against multiple offers. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Problem with Zillow and Your Home Value

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