Madison, WI

The home buyer tax credit has been extended and enhanced, but in order to take advantage of the credit you must have your offer accepted by April 30th 2010 and your home closed by June 30th 2010. The deadline is not far away considering all of the steps that go into buying a home.

If you're new to the home buying process, you should consider attending one of the upcoming UW Credit Union or Dane County Housing Authority seminars. Both are no-nonsense seminars that provide a good introduction to the lending, inspection and purchasing pieces of the home buying process. With a little education under your belt, you will have the knowledge you need to go about your purchase in a thorough and efficient manner - and meet the deadline for the tax credit.

The next UW Credit Union Seminar is Tuesday, January 12th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.

The next Dane County Housing Authority seminar is a two-part series with sessions on both Tuesday, December 1st and Tuesday, December 8th. Both sessions run from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Click here for more course details and registration info.

Have a great weekend,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

We recently wrote about two duplexes that are worth a look from investors who are seeking to cash flow multifamily properties. Below are two other intriguing properties, one a home and the other a condo.

This 3 bedroom home at 125 N. 5th Street in Madison is priced at $94,900 and almost $60,000 under assessment.

This large 3 bedroom condo at 619 Wood Violet Lane in Sun Prairie is priced at $110,000 and over $69,000 under assessment.

Both of these properties are lender-owned. And both require some work, so they're a good fit for someone who is willing to invest some sweat equity in order to improve the value of their investment.

There are plenty of properties like these on the market right now. And there will be plenty more coming down the pike as more and more foreclosures work their way through the system and onto the open market.

One of the ways we learn about properties like these is by implementing a key word search of the MLS which sends us an email whenever a listing with one of the key words hits the market (or when an existing listing with a key word match undergoes a price reduction). For example, we have this search currently set up for an investor:

"forecl*,*as is*,*bank*,*corp*,*fixer*,*flip*,*investor*,*lend*,*lien*,*reo*,*short sale*,*subj*,*tlc*"

We'll discuss how this investor is leveraging the market in a future post.

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

A few days ago we downloaded from the South Central Wisconsin MLS all of the email addresses for agents with a single family home listing in Dane County. This amounted to almost 1,000 email addresses. Then we sent an email on behalf of an investor letting these agents know what our investor is looking for.

We've received a ton of responses, and they are still coming in. Most of the properties that we have learned about don't fit this investor's needs, but there are a few in our list that we will be looking at more closely.

There are two advantages to the mass email approach that are worth noting. First, for some properties we receive a lot of information that isn't available from the online listing. In some cases the client has given the listing agent permission to share his level of motivation, or the client has given his agent permission to share how low he is willing to go with price. Another nice advantage is we now have a large network of agents that is keeping us in mind as other properties become available in the future.

Over the next several weeks we'll share some properties that show some promise for the buyer that is looking for a good deal. And today we'll start with two duplexes located at 3010-3012 and 3014-3016 Union Street on Madison's East Side. Both buildings are listed at $117,000 with rents on each unit at $600 and higher. Run some numbers on these properties and you'll see they look pretty good, pretty quick. Also keep in mind if you plan to owner occupy a duplex, you could be eligible for the enhanced tax credit.

We learned about these two properties because we have an automated search set up that sends us an email anytime a new multifamily listing enters the Dane County market, as well as anytime an existing listing undergoes a price change. These two units recently underwent huge price reductions, which is why we're sharing them with you right now.

Have a happy and safe holiday,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

Strangely enough we're assisting two different pairs of brothers with their investment plans right now.

Pair #1 already owns 2 duplexes and is in the process of expanding its portfolio. Last week these two brothers put in an offer on an 8-unit, and we're waiting to see how this one turns out.

Pair #2 is new to the game. These two brothers are looking to buy their first duplex using the money they have saved between the two of them.

Both sets of brothers are at different points in their investment plans, but they are similar in many ways. They are all planners and goal-setters, and they all believe in the "get rich slow" formula that multifamily real estate offers. All of these brothers are seeking a property that cash flows while they pay down their mortgage and their property appreciates in value over time. They are aware of the tax benefits that come with multifamily real estate, and they plan to leverage their equity in future years to buy additional properties.

Both sets of brothers are persistent and patient. They have clear standards, and they are willing to evaluate 30 properties in order to find the one property that meets their criteria.

As we've stated before, it's a buyer's market in multifamily real estate. The irony is not many people are buying. Here's our latest multifamily real estate report. You'll find more useful information at MadisonIncomeProperties.com, including how we help you buy and how we help you sell multifamily real estate.

Have a good day,

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com

We're starting to use professional home video tours for our listings because the quality of the product offered by Whirligig Online Marketing is excellent. Video tours are a great fit for homes with quality upgrades and professional staging. They give buyers a closer look at what each listing has to offer. Because of this, we're happy to invest in professional tours as part of our marketing plan.

For example, take a look at the video tours for these 3 new listings (click the "video" tab along the top menu).

• 1714 Bellewood Drive, 5 BR/4.5 BA, Waunakee Parade Home - $995,000
• 1407 Blue Ridge Trail, 4 BR/4.5 BA, Waunakee Parade Home - $765,000
• 3317 Westview Lane, 3 BR/2.75 BA, Madison Arbor Hills - $299,000

We've outlined our full marketing plan online. You can view it here on the how we help you page at DaneCountyMarket.com.

Dan Miller, Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com