Darren Kittleson, CRB, CDPE-Madison, WI

Kiplinger has named Madison #7 of the top 10 places to live in the U.S. based on unemployment and job growth figures.

Many of us have known this all along. In spite of winter, Madison is a great place to live, work and play. You can find the entire profile for Madison by clicking this link.

So my question is this--how long can we maintain this "quality of life" that continues to place us high in many "places to live rankings" and still keep our small town feel? What will happen as the state works to balance a HUGE deficit budget by cutting state jobs to this type of polling?

One of the really cool things about living in the central city is the vibrant community groups that seem to thrive here.

One of them is the Capitol Neighborhood, Inc. If you want to get plugged in to what's happening both on a cultural and quality of living standpoint in central Madison, joining this group is a must.

Visit their website by clicking here.

I just wanted to share 2 upcoming events that might be of interest to my readers:

1) Architecture of Downtown Madison-May 28 at 7 p.m. Gate of Heaven in James Madison Park. Jim Drager, deputy preservation officer with the WI Historical Society will help us recognize architectural styles, discuss notable Madison architects and lead a discussion on new ways to think about the places we think and work.

2) Annual Meeting featuring Madison's Cultural Plan-June 18 at 7 p.m. at Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center. Former Madison alder Noel Radomski will touch on a number of topics including the cultural plan that the city will soon undertake. In addition awards will be presented for exemplary service and contributions to the health of our downtown neighborhoods. There will also be elections of district representatives to the Capitol Neighborhoods Executive Committee.

Just this past week my team closed on a listing we took in late April.

What's extraordinary in that? At first blush absolutely nothing. In fact getting a buyer and seller to closing is part of what we get paid to do in this business.

At the closing table both Buyer and Seller were very amicable with each other. In fact the Buyers are moving to Madison from the area of the country the Seller is moving back to. They even discovered they know some of the same people. (Small world).

Anyway at closing I was thinking. This house was 82 years old. This new Buyer is going to be the 4th family to own this house. Other than when the original owner built the house in the 1930's and subsequently lived in it for 60+ years, I've been involved in EVERY SALE of the HOUSE since then!

That's right. When the original Owner's estate had it for sale, I was working with a buyer who wanted that neighborhood. The house came up for sale through the trust department of one of our local banks. I got my Buyer's through the house right away. They liked it but being 1st time homebuyers, were hesitant as to all the delayed maintenance the home displayed from years of an elderly homeowner living there. The price was more than right and they finally pulled the trigger. That was 1998.

They lived in the house until 3 years ago. During that time they did wonderful restoration to the home including adding a new kitchen, peeling off the masonite siding and residing with a "shingled" effect (perfect for the cottage style of the house). They also furnished it incredibly well and added a 1/2 bath to the main floor.

When it came time for them to move on, they called us to list the home. The 2nd day after it was placed on the market, Devery (my team member) and I were at the home staging it for the virtual tour pictures. There was as car eerily stopped out in the street in front of the house. The "For Sale" sign had just been place minutes before. My cell phone rang and it was an agent from one of our local companies. She stated she had out of town buyers who were sitting in front of the house at that moment and wanted to see it. She was with other clients and couldn't get there at that moment, would we be willing to show it to them?

We said of course and proceeded to meet the buyer and his mother. He was just back from deployment and coming to Madison for law school. He fell in love with the house and a full price offer was faxed to us before the day was over.

That was 3 years ago. This spring, this owner called us to discuss listing the house for him. He was finishing up law school and had gotten married. His next stage in life and new wife were already living on the west coast.

We placed the home on the market on a Thursday and by Saturday, darned if we didn't receive a full price offer from the 1st showing. That's the closing that occurred this past week.

So there you have it, 1 house, 82 years, 4 owners, 3 sales for our team.

My question is this--What is it about some houses that they sell so quickly and where do I find about 50 of them to build our business on?

I've been remiss in keeping up to date on the market in Middleton Hills. Here's an update as of the end of March 2008.