Six of the Last Seven Luxury Home Sales on Madeline Island Were Listed by Madeline Island Realty   It's true. Since January 1 of 2012, there have been seven successfully-closed luxury home sales on Madeline Island which sold at over $500,000.   Six of those seven luxury home sales were properties listed by Madeline Island Realty (three of those six luxury homes were listed by Broker Eric Kodner). That means 86% of the upper-bracket homes sold in LaPointe, Wisconsin over the past 42 months were our own (Madeline Island Realty) listings. Three of the upper-bracket sales where the buyer was procured by Madeline Island Realty were at 88% of list price or more.  Only one home sale at over 88 per cent of list price was procured by a competing real estate company. Simply put, this means your ... 06/18/2015

Madeline Island Receives a Mention on Door County Daily News Website I was pleased to notice that an article on the Door County Daily News website about Washington Island (located just north of the Door Peninsula in northeastern Wisconsin) mentioned Madeline Island.  The mention appeared in a link to Barry Adams' April 12, 2015 article in the Wisconsin State Journal, entitled "On Wisconsin: Getting to know the Badger State a Little Better". Adams' article in the State Journal referred to Madeline Island as "the largest island of the Apostle Islands where students take an ice boat to school in Bayfield during the winter".   Unfortunately, the Door County Daily News article erroneously identified Madeline Island as "located in upper Bayfield, in northern Wisconsin" (Madeline Island is par... 04/14/2015

Madeline Island Luxury Homes Located Near Town are in Demand The following statistics are based on a relatively small sample, but they point to something  we've suspected for awhile now.  Homes located within three miles of the Town of LaPointe appear to be increasingly in demand. Of the six most recently-closed sales of homes in the 54850 zip code which sold at over half a million dollars, five of these six sales were homes situated within three miles of the Madeline Island Ferry dock. The only recently sold upper-bracket home that was not close to town was a property on Chippewa Trail, over twelve miles from downtown LaPointe. Examples of sold homes which point to this trend are abundant.  The sales of 351 Old Fort Road (the former "Chateau Madeline") in 2012, 933 Nebraska Row ("Woods... 04/12/2015

  What Are the Busiest Months for Home Sales on Madeline Island?              [Sales statistics supplied by Madeline Island Realty. Graphic prepared by Marquette Research LLC, Lakeville, MN.]     The above graph shows average residential dwelling sales by month for Madeline Island (LaPointe, Wisconsin, 54850 zip code). Data used was from calendar years 2012 through 2014 and includes only closed sales of residential properties by Madeline Island Realty. No vacant land sales or sales of commercial properties are included in this data.   As you can see from the graph, on average, half of our annual dwelling sales typically occur during the last four months of the calendar year.  To be even more precise, that 50% of annual home sales takes place between Mid-September and mid-December. We at... 03/31/2015

Ferry Service Between Bayfield, Wisconsin and Madeline Island Resumes   Today was the big day.  Yesterday, the Madeline Island Ferry Line made its first crossing of 2015, opening up a narrow channel in the ice between LaPointe, Wisconsin (Madeline Island) and Bayfield, Wisconsin on the mainland. And today, the Ferry Line made its first scheduled trip across the 2.2 mile stretch of Lake Superior that connects Bayfield with the Island.   The motor vessel Island Queen  made the first passage of the season through the ice yesterday late in the morning.  Apparently the crew nearly turned back, but their efforts prevailed and the maiden voyage was completed within a few hours.   This annual event marks our first and most apparent sign of spring on Madeline Island.  We had a very good ice road... 03/24/2015

What Makes a Neighborhood?   When we speak with customers and clients about Madeline Island real estate, we often refer to various neighborhoods.  Some of these neighborhoods are historical subdivisions that were created in the earlies part of the twentieth century when the Island was becoming a tourist destination for summer visitors. Others are property developments that have been created in the last half-century.     The concept of "neighborhood" varies widely across the country.  Most urban and suburban dwellers tend to think of a neighborhood in terms of local schools, area amenities, traffic, proximity to work and local crime statistics.  In other words, the criterial used to define a neighborhood may about school districts or commercial hubs, or even subtle factors like housing s... 03/21/2015

Can I Get More Money For my House if I Throw in the Furniture?   We hear this question from sellers more often than you might think.  In our Madeline Island real estate market, it is common for sellers to offer their home, cabin or cottage for sale, furnished.  Sometimes, this is referred to as selling a home "rental ready", since so many of our homeowners rent their dwelling during the summer tourist season.  Rental ready home sellers sometimes include in the sale not only furniture, but also dishes, flatware, glassware, towels and bed linens as well. Here are some cold, hard facts about what your furnishings are worth.  Furniture (like automobiles or boats) loses value rapidly.  If you paid $3000 for an average-priced living room set (sofa, chair, ottoman, and a side table or lamp tab... 03/14/2015

"I Wanted to Buy That Home"   Every year, we are given the privilege of representing and marketing a handfull of exceptional properties in our Madeline Island and Bayfield, Wisconsin real estate marketplace.  And each year, when these properties sell, we invariably hear from at least one or two folks who call us up after the sale closes and they wistfully lament, "I wanted to buy that home"  or "I was going to buy that home".   This statement always moves me to ask, "Why didn't you purchase it then?"  And the list of excuses comes forth from these would-be buyers in a torrent.  We hear replies like:     "I was waiting for the price to go down a bit more."   "I didn't think it would sell that quickly."   "We heard a rumor that a family member was going to get the house."     Some of the ... 03/09/2015

Successful, Educated Homebuyers may be Put Off by Amateurish Marketing I remember a speaker at a luxury homes conference in Florida cautioning us that amateurish, clumsy print or internet marketing may be a real turn-off for the upper bracket homebuyer.  And every now and then, I see an ad or flyer for a high-end home that's filled with time-worn cliches, misspelled words and poor grammar.  Some of these examples are produced by FSBOs and others are marketing materials that were created by real estate agents. Real estate agents should know better.  I don't expect the general public to excel in writing advertising copy, but I do  expect that an agent, especially one who hopes to excel in marketing fine properties, know how to reach and engage the sophisticated buyer.The speaker in that r... 09/28/2014

SOLD 3752 Big Bay Road, LaPointe WI, Listed by Madeline Island Realty   Another Madeline Island Realty listing SOLD – A Big Bay Road waterfront home offering sand beach with fifty-four acres of recreational land, plus three hundred feet of prime sandy swimming beach frontage.   This property listed for sale by Broker Associate Bob Kron, with Madeline Island Realty   Call us at 715-747-6500 for more Lake Superior waterfront opportunities in the Apostle Islands, or email MadelineIsland@Gmail.com for new listings.             09/28/2014

In Praise of the Homely House   We've all witnessed the efforts of a real estate agent who is trying desperately to market a homely house.  By "homely", I mean a house which looks tired, dated, even "long in the tooth" from a visual standpoint.  It's tough to photograph a homely-looking dwelling and make it look fresh and exciting. I previewed another firm's listing last week which suffered from this problem.  The house was plagued by a chocolate brown exterior (with an almost equally dark interior and poor lighting that would be a nightmare to photograph), worn and faded carpeting, decades-old avocado appliances and pale yellow formica countertops, dated light fixtures and a general feeling of neglect.  I'm sure you get the picture It's difficult to persuade most sellers to remodel, es... 09/21/2014

Word Gets Around   I received a voicemail first thing this morning from a Madeline Island property owner who has decided to sell his fine waterfront home.  He wasn't comparison shopping for a listing broker, nor was he trying to make a choice based solely upon the "lowest commission and highest sold price" formula.  This seller had heard over and over again that Madeline Island Realty has sold more upper-bracket homes on the Island in the past three years than any other area real estate brokerage.  He did his own research, asked other Island property owners and made the decision to call us.    People who own outstanding properties understand what's at stake when they select a listing agent.  They know who to ask and where to do their homework.  Those same owners are very good at calcula... 09/16/2014

Never Underestimate the Power of Lake Superior   The video below tells the story of what happened on Madeline Island two days ago.  We're told that the storm which struck the Island on Wednesday tore as many as sixty crib docks off the shore.       During the ferry crossing from Bayfield, Wisconsin to LaPointe (Madeline Island), we counted well over one hundred pieces of floating debris, including dock planks, timbers and downed trees.     Here's what the dock looked like before Wednesday's storm: Notice how the planking atop the log cribs has been completely swept away by the power of the waves and wind! 09/12/2014

  Tell Me Again That Statistics Have No Meaning Our Wisconsin real estate company, Madeline Island Realty, achieved another milestone recently.  Our virtual tour statistics indicate that our real estate virtual tour photographs have received over a quarter of a million views in the past four years .  And those same virtual tours have received over thirty thousand visits during the same time period. Those are some serious numbers, especially for a relatively small niche market like Madeline Island and Bayfield, Wisconsin.    As of today, our TourFactory virtual tour website is receiving over ten thousand views per month.  For a small "boutique" real estate firm with three agents and around $7 Million in property inventory, I'd say that's quite impressive. If you're approached by one of o... 09/10/2014

  How to Recognize Our Madeline Island Realty Signs   Customers appear to be easily confused by the various "Real Estate For Sale" signs on Madeline Island.  I was showing homes yesterday on the Island and a customer asked me, "can we take a look at that house down the road today?  It's one of your listings, right?" The listing wasn't ours, but she thought the lawn sign was one of our signs.  The confusion is at least somewhat understandable. In January of 2011, we decided to redesign our Madeline Island Realty real estate lawn signs, in order to make them more visible and prominent.  We switched from our teal-blue sign with a horizontal layout, to a taller midnight blue sign (with white lettering reversed out of the dark blue background).  We also began hanging most of our signs from a... 08/31/2014

Seller Asks What it Will Take to Get His Home Sold   This is a question which we receive from determined and motivated sellers fairly often.  The answer may not be perceived as good news by a seller, but it's a truthful reply. When a prospective buyer sees the value in what you're selling, and they can picture themselves owning and enjoying the property you are offering, that combination of factors generally results in an offer. Price is probably the most significant issue in getting your home sold.  If a buyer sees your home as overpriced, it will likely drive that buyer away.  You probably won't get a second chance with buyers who view your asking price as unrealistic.  It's human nature for sellers to want to "start high" with their list price and test the market.  But you may be cha... 08/28/2014

Sellers, Keep an Eye on Your Competition   Sellers, if you don't think you have competition out there, think again. Start by taking a look at your price bracket.  This season we have seen a significant number of homes enter the market priced between $500,000 and $750,000 on Madeline Island (and elsewhere).  Yet showing traffic is down in the over half-million price range.  There's competition in your neighborhood.  For example, the 2013 sales season brought a number of homes on the South Shore Road area of Madeline Island into the market. This year, the majority of homes for sale appears to have shifted to the northwest side of the Island, from Sunny Slope Road and Sunset Bay north to Steamboat Point. We advise our sellers to take a second look at listing prices of comparable homes.  If... 08/28/2014

Current Pending Sales by Madeline Island Realty   Now that we've reached the end of August, an updated real estate Market Report seems appropriate.   As of today, August 28, the following Madeline Island Realty listings are Pending:   3752 Big Bay Road, LaPointe Wisconsin 2231 North Shore Road, LaPointe, Wisconsin 240 Wilson Avenue, Unit 209, Bayfield, Wisconsin   Madeline Island Realty also recently procured a buyer for a home in Polk County, Wisconsin, located at 1726 108th Street, in Balsam Lake WI  (property listed by Quorum Realty, Green Bay Wisconsin).    On August 8, the sale of 4327 Chippewa Trail, LaPointe, Wisconsin was closed.   Buyers are emerging from vacation mode, after a glorious (if somewhat late) summer season in the Apostle Islands.  Buying habits appear to be a bit m... 08/28/2014

  Sellers Want Higher Prices This Year - Will the Market Cooperate?   It's that time of year again, and real estate agents and brokers are hearing from new clients who wish to list their home for sale.  Along with that seasonal surge in newly-listed properties hitting the market, we're also finding that sellers tend to expect higher prices this year.    Will this year's winners who manage to receive an offer (or offers) on their property be rewarded with higher prices than those realized in 2013?  Time will tell.  2013 was the year of the bargain buyer in our recreational and second home market.  Some buyers who took the plunge in 2013 paid unbelievably low prices for existing homes on Madeline Island, compared to what those homes sold for in 2006 or 2007.   Many 2014 real estate market... 04/27/2014

  Reasons Why We Post our Pending and Sold Listings on our Blog   I've noticed that we seem to be the only area real estate firm in Ashland and Bayfield Counties that routinely publishes our "Sale Pending" and "SOLD" properties.  A few clients have asked us why we do this.   We're proud of our recent solds and pending sales.  For a long time, i've held the opinion that competitors don't publish their successes when there's not much to publish.  In other words, the second home/vacation home market in northern Wisconsin isn't surging everywhere.  There are still pockets of lackluster sales volume and some companies aren't yet sharing in the broader nationwide real estate market upturn.    New buyer prospects want to know what to expect when they get serious about buying.  Pubishing sold d... 04/27/2014