What is your best tip for dealing with a picky buyer?
It’s all different with every personality type. If I’m dealing with a buyer who has their heart set on a dream home at a specific price range and they’re not going to get it, I’ll bring the MLS up and let them drive it and see. You can either raise your budget significantly or give up on that five-acre parcel to find that dream home you absolutely have to have. You have to sacrifice one of those things, and I empower my buyers to help them realize this.
What is the most unique way you have marketed a new listing?
We had a historic home that was designed by an architect who was a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, which got national attention from The New York Times. Being able to push the designer name helped sell it, too. We watched our website explode and a ton of leads came in. Around that same time, we also had a write up in Money magazine about how Middleton, Wis., was the best place to live in America. Middleton is just outside of Madison and that really helped us as well. Tying these two things together helped us gain a lot of exposure.
What is your favorite time-saving tool that you use on a weekly basis?
By far, DocuSign. It saves me so much time. I use it every week for sure, probably even every other day.
What are some of the current trends you see in your market right now?
Our market sells three-to-four times the amount of homes in the spring and summer than it does in the winter. As most of the nation has done, we went from excessive inventory to excessive buyers in about a 12-month swing. In fact, we’re down to about five months of inventory in Dane County, where just a year ago, we were almost at 12 months’ inventory. Our office has about 50 buyers just waiting for the right house. The next step: Prices have to head up, of course. We’re starting to see that a little bit.
