About Vernon County, WI

If there is one guaranteed thing about selling real estate, it is that every day is guaranteed to be different from the past day. For example, a couple walks into my office a few weeks ago. They express a desire to own some farmland. Upon questioning them, I was able to learn they wanted an investment and felt the rate of return they could earn renting cropland to a farmer was profitable. Gently, I asked how they determined this to be so? Typically buyer will share much, but these two weren't willing to discuss much and wished only to take a tour out to the countryside and see some corn-ground. Given that they knew exactly what they were in search of; I did ask a few test questions. Like do you know how many bushels of corn are typical in this area per acre? I went on further to explain that maybe 125 bushel was typical, and this particular ground which they protested as to pricey a price... yields around 250 bushels per acre. While this other one over here, well, was very low and one most likely couldn't feed a goat on that one, which shall we see?

Nevertheless, we set off to see some cropland. Now there is not much to look at, as typically this type of land is very flat or rolling and not necessarily scenic. Yield is what you want to look at. If for an investment, that does count. It was a chilly, windy and a wet day, as we arrived at the first farm on our list. We each turned our separate cars onto a dead-end road. As we pulled in, out charges your typical farm dog. This dog was perhaps a year old, looked to be a mixed of Irish Setter and lab, very friendly. In fact he was overly friendly and an overly enthusiastic jumper. Within a few minutes of pulling in my car was quickly covered in muddy paw prints. Immediately, (I'll call him) Mr. Dozer set upon greeting my newly acquired customers as they got out of their car. They were both attired in stylish all black, designer clothing. Dozer was just so very happy to see them; he couldn't help but to lunged up, placing numerous mud-covered prints all over their expensive clothes.

There was no stopping Dozer, since farm dogs typically don't get a lot of company, the dog just kept dashing about in circles then charging full force towards them leaping with paws up and forward! I know that if you want to train a dog to not jump at your chest, you could raise your knee toward the dog as they leap, the dog then is greeted with the blunt end of your knee, which does not hurt them. Then you praise them and try to get the dog to sit down or stand on all four legs. Trying this was to no avail...the only thing that came of this, was the companion of the buyer thought I was, to my surprise, hurting the dog! Shortly after attempting to stop the dog from jumping on them they too jumped... but into their car and headed quickly back to the city. I was left to only guess that they had decided that investing in farmland was not exactly for them.

Are you searching for homes to buy in Viroqua or Vernon County Wisconsin

call Mary Strang therteam.com RE/MAX Hill Country Realty 608-606-2999

About the author:

Mary Strang is the Broker-owner of RE/MAX Hill Country Realty located in Viroqua, WI. Home to Organic farming, a small rural city population of about 4000 and a great place to live! Copyright © 2009 by Mary Strang. All rights reserved... "Paws First Realtor Second" Disclaimer: the blog post was written by Mary Strang is believed accurate but may not be guaranteed.

I would bet most folks have seen classic country mailboxes along rural roadsides. I would bet too, anyone who has ever driven around the rural countryside may have come across that folksy country humor of an airmail mailbox. They are out there, rural pranksters still putting them up thinking they are really cleaver for coming up with that idea. Well today I actually came across something equally clever, it is what one might refer to as an airmail info box.

I'm guessing that the listing agent who installed this info box better have some liability insurance. It's on a blind curve, to access it you would need to be a mountain goat and where to park without getting killed? It is certainly the most inconvenient location for an real estate information box I have ever seen. The last guy who was limber enough to get an info sheet out of this box, left the box open; most likely all the remaining info sheets are all wet. That is, if there are any in there, aren't most always empty?

Are you searching for homes to buy in Viroqua or Vernon County Wisconsin

call Mary Strang therteam.com RE/MAX Hill Country Realty 608-606-2999

About the author:

Mary Strang is the Broker-owner of RE/MAX Hill Country Realty located in Viroqua, WI. Home to Organic farming, a small rural city population of about 4000 and a great place to live! Copyright © 2009 by Mary Strang. All rights reserved... "Airmail information box" Disclaimer: the blog post was written by Mary Strang is believed accurate but may not be guaranteed.

So here's the deal... I decided to work on my 2009 budget and my yearly business plan. With my nose deep into my plan; I had to go retrieve a file from our storage area. Upon entering that room, it hit me. The enormous amount files... They plainly have now outgrown the available storage area and are overflowing from the file cabinets, extra cardboard files boxes and in some cases table tops. They needed, again, to be downsized. Begging the unanswered questions... to shred or to burn... in someones wood stove?

That's when I decided that this would be a good time to figure out a new storage solutions and to green up the office a bit. We will be filing with scanned PDF files saved on Cds starting now and a backup on our intranet site for easy access. Gee that ought to do it. Besides, there is no better time for some Green Resolutions than at the start of a new year. So besides solving our storage problem for me, it also turns out that going to Digital Storage just might also help out our planet a little bit.

Are you searching for homes to buy in Viroqua or Vernon County Wisconsin

call Mary Strang therteam.com RE/MAX Hill Country Realty 608-637-3599

If it did... this year you are not alone. Record numbers of homes in the past 6 to 8 months, that were listed, expired unsold as the housing market experience a melt down across the country. In some cases the Sellers of these unsold homes, still preferred to blame their agent for the home not selling. In truth some agents may be at fault for having poor marketing skills. However more often than not, the real reason was pricing, as sellers had to struggle and come to terms with the reality that home prices were dropping and fast. There are some agents out there that will tell you what you want to hear to get the listing, which that is called "Buying a Listing". Careful selection of an agent is more critical now than ever before. Today homes are in tougher competition and they need to be in tip top condition, you need an agent who specialized in the area your home is in and one who is a skilled marketer that can correctly price your property. If a home is overpriced it will languish unsold on the market and become stale in the buyer's eye.

Not too long ago I lost out on a listing due to price. I also suggested a few cosmetic fixes which also were never done by that seller. I was totally surprised when another agent took that particular listing for over $80,000 more than what I thought was ever possible. Turned out they were not area specialist, had less marketing experience than I have and also had a very limited marketing budget to get the job done. As it happened the home eventually expired unsold. Even thought that seller decided initially to go with another agent they ended up calling me back after their listing period expired. So if you are interested in a straightforward opinion on price and understand that the market is the market; it is not last years market anymore, here are a few suggestions for you... the seller.

Get your home in excellent condition by making sure it is sparkling clean inside and out, neutrally decorated and in good repair. No matter how much marketing and advertising we do, if the home is not priced right and in good condition the Realtor will only be advertising that they have an overpriced Listing. The buyers of today's market will pass it by for that better buy down the block. So carefully listen and try to recognize how your home stacks up to the competing homes that are also for sale. Your home will be judged by buyers who will form their own opinion. No matter how much you might think it is the best home, as it turns out, those buyers who are looking may just pass it by.

Are you searching for homes to buy in Viroqua or Vernon County Wisconsin

call Mary Strang therteam.com RE/MAX Hill Country Realty 608-637-3599

I had an interesting conversation this morning with my client who happens to be Amish. He had recently listed his Vernon County area farm and was moving out of state to Maine. With having a first showing and an interested buyer right out of the gate, it sounded very promising. Amish do not have telephones, they will use them but just don't believe in owning one. Many people ask why; it is not a necessity to own one so they just don't. So, as you would expect, it can be very madding not being able to quickly reach your client when selling their real estate. In these situation, the only way is by US mail, so I generally advise them to contact me at least once a week at a designated time by calling my 800 number. Unfortuanately. it now looks like the potential of a fast sale coming in, isn't now going to materialize. So with that now known our conversation just tuned to pleasantries and talk about the current state of the economy.

Even though the Amish generally keep to themselves, leading a somewhat removed lifestyle very different from what most of us think of as normal everyday life, my client was well aware that the real estate market is very slow in the larger world. We both joked about how if things really went completely south in the economy, maybe the rest of the world would have to adopt their ways. Learning to raise our own food, make our own clothes, and travel by horse and buggy... we joked. He told me yes... you could give up your cars and buy some horses... that would be very good for us because the horse market was really depressed right now. So it goes to show you, there really is a ripple that travels even deeper down to the people who live with way less. They too are feeling the effect of this slowed down economy in ways that most of us would never expect.

Just in case there are any-wanta-be-future farmers out there: here is a 23 Acres Amish farmette: Has a 3 bedroom ranch home which was moved in 3 years ago. Ranch home has a full cement block built-basement installed at the time the house was moved to the site. There is no electric, no indoor plumbing or septic system but does have an older well. The property has several small sheds and a second house, also moved in. The 40x60 workshop building is insulated and has a cement floor. There is a newer dairy barn that was also built 3 years old. The land is fully surveyed and mostly open organic pasture and organic crop land. Price is only $99,000

Are you searching for homes to buy in Viroqua or Vernon County Wisconsin

call Mary Strang therteam.com RE/MAX Hill Country Realty 608-637-3599