Marty Erlandson

Monroe County Wisconsin Housings Statistics:

41 homes in the City of Sparta alone! Prices are skewed with a $20,000+ sale for a major fixer upper up to a beautiful country home in the high $230,000's. However, sales for the county are down from a year ago with over 130 from a year ago. I had a couple of great showings on a farm listing in the town of Glendale, but unfortunately the buyers just couldn't put the money together:( There was a working dairy farm in Monroe County that did sell in the past couple of months, but it took a $110,000 price reduction to get the job done.

Vacant land sales in Monroe County have been similar to other land sales throughout Southwest Wisconsin. Primary sales are smaller lots ranging from $15,000 - $50,000 with only a handful of larger acreage parcels sold. This somewhat surprises me with the great deals to be found around Elroy, Kendall and surrounding areas.

Contact Marty at Erlandson Realty for all your Monroe County real estate needs.

All information deemed reliable from the La Crosse area's Realtor's Association and South Central Realtor's Association.

La Crosse County Wisconsin Housing Statistics:

We're doing better! So far we've seen 332 single family homes sold in 2009 vs. the 2nd quarter of 2008. Prices are stabilizing with a vast majority of sales under $200,000. Home sales above $300,000 very slow with only 14 sales above that mark. Of course, most of these homes were within the city limits of La Crosse, Onalaska and Holmen. First-time homebuyers really took advantage of the $8,000 tax credit in this area! I can't imagine how much instant equity was built with all these sales.

We had a very interesting article in the local newspaper today regarding vacant land lots in La Crosse County. According to the paper, there are nearly 2500 vacant residential lots available! There were only 21 vacant land sales in La Crosse County this quarter, some with drastic price reductions and others at asking price. Quite frankly, I'm thinking some of the developers are going to take it in the shorts while trying to fill these huge sub-divisions.

Contact Marty at Erlandson Realty for all your La Crosse County real estate needs.

All information deemed reliable from La Crosse Area Realtor's Association and South Central Realtor's Association.

Home sales in Vernon County have not been as bad as the general public might expect. We just aren't hit as hard around here as other parts of the country. Compared with 2008 (38 sales) with more to hit the books, we've seen 30 single family homes ranging from $17,000 (tear down on a couple acres) up to $250,000 (updated farmette). One of my favorite properties sold this past quarter was a 55 acre valley with smaller home. It's hard to find such a nice valley setting without flood plain issues!

Vacant land sales have slowed compared to 2008 (13 sales) with only 5 sales recorded thus far. The largest parcel was over 100 acres of woods and meadows with small cabin. It appears to be a great hunting property and I'm sure the new owners will have years of enjoyment. Other parcels were smaller building sites in and around Westby and Viroqua.

I was involved with a relative bargain of selling 35 unsurveyed acres in the town of Sterling for $90,000. This sale had some major issues as the tax records say the property is 35 acres. After diligent homework by the Buyer, he came the conclusion the property could be as little as 28 acres without road easement. He asked for a survey but neither Seller or Buyer was interested in coming up with that additional expense. Needless to say, the Seller decided to slightly reduce his price to complete the sale. We still don't know how much acreage the property consists of!

Contact Marty at Erlandson Realty for all your Vernon County real estate needs. 1-888-800-9786

All information provided by the local MLS board involved the La Crosse Area Realtor's Association and South Central Realtor's Association.

I was reading our local La Crosse Tribune newspaper the other day and noticed the big headline "National Geographic comes to Coon Valley". I knew our area was special, but not this unique! I haven't read the article yet, but to my understanding, covers soils and soil practices throughout the world.

Over 75 years ago, a watershed soil conservation program was implemented to allow farming on these fertile soils and save the area from man-made erosion. To get an idea of how this program worked out, take a look at the pictures below posted from National Geographic.

This was one of the coolest pictures I've ever seen highlighting the "Coulee Region". With a limited population, lush landscape and low cost of living, it's hard to wonder why so many people from around the world are retiring in this amazing area.