About Vilas County, WI

Thinking of Selling in 2009 then now is the time to start getting prepared.

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If you are thinking that you may want to sell this spring then I suggest you take a proactive approach to getting your home and property prepared for sale. In this market when all we keep hearing is " it's a buyer's market" the best way to get top dollar for your home now is to get a head start on the process.

If you want to feasibly have your home on the market, sign in the ground, and showing ready by May 1st then March 1st is not a bad time to start meeting with your local REALTOR. A good agent will help you sit down , go through your home, and get a plan of attack. Sure, this will mean some homework assignments for you but if it means less time on the market and more dollars in your pocket then isn't it worth it??

A good agent can generally lead you through your home , inside and out, and tell you small things that you can do to make a difference to prospective buyers. Some of this is staging and some of this is basic maintenance that you often will not think about when you live in a home every day. A few small examples of this I will list below:

- Clean up the front door and door knob .. make your buyers first impression of your home functional and clean not sticky and hard to open. These first impressions leave a buyer with the idea that everything inside will be as functional as this 1st experience is..

- Open doors and cabinets in your home.. You know buyers will, so do it yourself. Is everything orderly and tidy? Is there room so they have the idea that the home is spacious and large or is everything shoved in and disorganized leaving the impression that you have outgrown the home and it is small and contained.

- Depersonalize! Make your home spacious enough so buyers can see themselves living there but not Baron so that it has a cold, empty feel. Again, a REALTOR in your area can help you see the difference.

Many people often ask about vacant land.. How can I prepare that for sale? Well, a local expert will go over with you the best way to stage your land so that a prospective buyer can actually "see"it.

So, if spring is when you were thinking of selling don't be discouraged call an expert. Now, is not the time to cut corners, it is the time to hire the best and most qualified for the job.

Happy Selling!!

Julie Paez, REALTOR click here to visit my website for additional information.

In Eagle River Wisconsin it IS the TIME to BUY if you are a first timer!!

With all of the media noise about the market these days the one item that I will agree with is that it remains a great time to be a first time home buyer. In our community of Eagle River , Wisconsin, we have a large amount of homes for sale whether you are a buyer looking for in-town living or country living. There is something for everyone and if you are willing to shop around there are definite "deals' to be had. While it is true that lending has tightened up if you have some money down and good credit you should be able to secure yourself decent financing that will rival interest rate all the way back to the 1970"s. This is good news for many of your out there.

If you are concerned about the market being at its bottom or if the time is right for YOU, with your special circumstance , definitely talk to a local professional and get their advice. Remember, the benefits of purchasing now rather than continuing to wait for a bottom that may have already past us are great.

Some of those advantages are:

1. Less competition so you are less likely to get into a multiple offer situation.

2. Interest rates are at an all time low and the new tax credit could allow you up to 7500 dollar in tax credits .

3. We are inventory rich so you have a lot of parcels to choose from.

4. With increased inventory there is often an increase in the ability to negotiate.

For a complete list of all advantages including tax advantages , again, contact a local expert in your community. Depending on purchase price and the amount of money you have down a REALTOR in your area should be able to give you an idea of all the advantages that come with home ownership.

So, start looking and seize the opportunity at hand. Remember, the one investment that has continued to increase over time has been the value of homeownership!!!

An extended spate of below zero weather is finally coming to an end. Wind chill values have been as low as -50F during the last half of January, and at the start of this month. Market activity is sluggish and frustrating. The phones are quiet; Internet traffic has slowed, and walk-in inquiries have all but stopped. Those buyers who are looking and making offers are finding that getting a mortgage may be a long-term project, with some lenders now asking for 60 – 75 days for a commitment letter. The game has changed considerably from the “boom days” of three years ago. Even in comparison to 2008 sales figures, 2009 is starting off at a -60% pace relative to closed sales, with only 83 properties closed in the entire MLS last month. Team Rondello had two of those, which puts us ahead of most. In a month, we’ll be exhibiting at the Milwaukee Journal / Sentinel Sport Show, a traditional venue for spring and summer buyers. It will be most interesting to see how the show traffic compares to other years.

I was driving along the other day ... and I was thinking about how the whole real estate business seems like a Tilt-A-Whirl ride. At least up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Thankfully, there is SOME business to be had for those who are working it hard. But nowhere near like it used to be.

Remember when the ride was going "Full TILT", and the bright red cars were spinning around, and we were waving to each other and laughing? It was so much fun that our tummies even tickled. We'd hold the bar, and hope for a really long and fast spin, while the music played and the lights were bright, and we could smell cotton candy in the air.

There were lots of people on the ride, and even more wanted to get on. People waved from the railing to us, and we could see our friends on the Ferris Wheel too, as they rode up-up-up to the top! Whee!!!

But then that guy in the grease-stained t shirt with the pack of smokes in his top pocket started to pull back on that big lever that goes right through the floor of the ride, and the platform began to slow down.

We didn't notice at first, because we were still spinning pretty hard, and our tummy was more tickled than ever! We started to lean into the corners of the round caged car to get a little more spin.

Back went the lever even more ...

And we could start to feel things really going slower now. "No! Not yet! One more ride!" we yelled to the t-shirt man.

Now, the lever is all the way back. The leather strap is holding it in place, and the old tractor motor is idling off to the side of the blue platform. The squeal of the brakes can be heard, and our car has frozen in place. The platform is no longer undulating and turning, and the red cars have stopped. We have to get off the ride.

Up goes the bar, and we step across the shiny round tracks to the exit, taking one last look at the man with the greasy shirt.

"You can go again", he says ... "but you have to buy another ticket, and wait your turn. The motor got pretty hot from the last ride, so I have to slow 'er down a bit this go 'round. In fact, I gotta take a break. The ride'll start up in a bit after she cools off some".

I'm off to see the lady in the ticket booth. Hope I have enough money left to get a ticket for the next ride. Wanna join me?

The after-holiday surge that we’re used to experiencing has started; albeit not to the level of years past, but we HAVE seen some positive activity in the market since the 1^st of the year. Last week, Team Rondello conducted four showings and received two offers. One for a vacant acreage parcel and one for a commercial property. In both cases, the offers were well below asking price, and in both cases, the offers have failed to be accepted. Sellers are holding relatively firm to their asking prices, and the buyers we’re seeing are taking full advantage of the buyer’s market and trying ANY offer on ANY property. In some cases, they are successful. We are seeing more foreclosure properties entering the inventory stream, including several lakefront recreational homes, which is a change from 2008. We’ll see how these affect prices of that overall market segment, which has held values best of all during the current trend.

We’re preparing for metro-area sport shows, redesigning web sites, and tweaking marketing plans to adjust to this scenario, and remain positive that good things are ahead in 2009.