Viroqua, WI

Saturday morning, I attended a free film presentation at Vernon Square; our locale cinema donated one of their theater rooms for the event. The film's title was "Keeping the Lights On".This documentary film, which has won several local film awards, presented the events that lead to locally defeating a proposed Coal Ash landfill being located in Vernon County. For more than the past year it has been a hotly debated topic. Many homes in Viroqua and around the county, especially in Harmony Township were the land fill was proposed, had protest signs in their yards, all proclaiming their opposition for the plan. Additionally, numerous meeting were held to let the public know what was taking place and to educate the residents as to the negative effect it would have for health, water quality, our way of life, and the environment.

Only recently was it announced that the plan to buy several farms or take them by eminent domain is over. Thus ending the battle between the community and Dairyland Power plant which had been seeking a location to bury hundreds of tons of fly ash a day.. Lower cost no doubt was why they preferred to dispose of it in a landfill rather than finding ways to recycle it. It's likely the powers at the power plant did not realize how local farmers would united with the community to prevent this from happening here.

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

Open House on Sunday, 11/23/08 From 12 Noon to 1:30 P.M.

Here is a wonderful 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in Viroqua. The Sellers are relocating out of State and would like anyone looking for an affordable home to plan on attending this open house Sunday the 23rd of November.

The home has orginal hardwood floors in the living area and dining area. The mainfloor 4th bedroom could be used as a family room or office. There is also potential for a 5th bedroom at the rear of this home. New price is $115,000

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

Without any great notice or fan-fair, finally on Friday Decker Street was re-opened to traffic.

It is a pleasure to see all those flashing roadwork signs removed and taken away. The roadwork that has been going on since early last spring appears to now be completed and over. It should help get traffic back to normal along highway 56, which is Decker Street and it should lessen all the traffic that was on Main Street. The good news might be short lived because next spring Vernon County raodwork Phase III will begin. That's the addition of an extra lane between Viroqua and Westby.

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

Many here are thanking AR for the leads they have closed on. I have yet to have that pleasure. Of course, I believe this will eventually happen for me too. You see because of AR, I have gotten several email requests about my area. I also have had a few phone calls asking more details about land and farms of which I have posted. However, I still cannot be certain that any appointments could be attributed directly to my AR blog and that is OK.

In time, I am certain this will come. But I do know this, on Friday I will close on a sale with a wonderful couple from Chicago. They read the Mother Earth magazine article about "9 great places to live You've never heard of." Viroqua made that list, they decided to make Viroqua their new home and I am now lucky enough to now call them new neighbors and friends.

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

Have you ever noticed that in real estate, listings frequently tend to run in streaks? The streak is not the numbers of listings an agent gets. It is more about the type of listings that come in at the same time. Once you list a property that is out of the ordinary, or one which runs more toward the bizarre or different; it's funny how you often get a lot more of them right away. Unexpectedly and all of a sudden you're the neighborhood expert on Dome Homes, Atypical A-Frames, and Yurts.

Right now I'm on an Earth-home Extravaganza for the second time in my career. To date, I have sold at least 5 earth homes, a few Dome homes, and lots and lots of other homes too unusual to classify. What sets them apart? Most of these not so ordinary homes, in my opinion, have one thing it common. It's the original home owners. They typically seem to be super creative, have a strong need to be different and were usually willing to use a lot of found and recycled materials. I have discovered these so called "off the wall dream homes" are fascinating, funky and fun to work on. During the hippie 70's "groovy things" were built into those earth homes, such as meditation rooms or towers, time capsules holding little treasures and truth windows so you could peak into the interiors of the walls and see how they were constructed. The earth homes pictured here were sold by me a few years ago. The one below I fondly named the Eco Prairie Castle and I took that photo from a top a hillside across the Valley. The one above has a solar envelop on the front of it. Predating the green home movement of today both of these homes were built in the mid 70's.

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