Tim Vertz on August 26th, 2010

Wisconsin’s First Real Estate Company to Use QR Code Technology on Every Listing to Give Buyers Instant Details on Your Property

You may have seen this unique looking code on a Homegate Direct sign in front of one of our properties for sale recently. This code is a revolutionary new way to engage home buyers as they drive or walk by your property.

What is it? It’s called a QR code and we’re proud to be Wisconsin’s first real estate company to utilize this technology on every one of our listings.

What does it do? It provides instant information to prospective home buyers on the details of your property. With their mobile phone, they’ll be able to instantly obtain information on your property such as price, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, property description, and even pictures – all in an instant.

How does it work? Anyone with a mobile smartphone such as an iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc. can simply take a picture of the code or use a QR reader app and the prospective homebuyer will automatically be presented with full information about your property for sale.

Why do I need this? You need every advantage to engage consumers to show them why your property is better than that other one down the street. Providing instant information to consumers will help separate your property and can help get your property sold faster.

How much does it cost? Nothing! We include this for free for ALL of our listings.

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Tim Vertz on July 26th, 2010

This article is a great read for buyers searching for a home right now and what they can expect with banks and potential delays – from NPR News…

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128488695&sc=17&f=1001

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Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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Here’s one of our new listings this week in the Milwaukee Real Estate Market. In beautiful Elm Grove, this 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath has over 1 acre of land with award winning gardens. See our virtual tour below or visit: http://www.homegatedirect.com/address.php?property_ID=138

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Wonderfully maintained Whitefish Bay colonial in a very desirable area.

Many updates and hard to find amenities incl. granite eat-in kitchen, chair rails, built-in bookcases, & hardwood floors. Custom french doors lead from the family room/den to the dining room. Spacious living room features a natural fireplace & flows easily to the rest of the home. Spacious bedrooms with walk-in closets throughout, large finished lower level, 2 car garage with spaces for additional parking & newer custom brick patio. For full details go to:

http://www.homegatedirect.com/address.php?property_ID=134

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Tim Vertz on June 10th, 2010

From the Milwaukee Metro MLS and Bob Helbig of the Journal Sentinel

Sales of existing homes in metro Milwaukee rose nearly 27% in May.

Wauwatosa-based Metro MLS Inc., which tracks sales by Realtors, reported Thursday that 1,607 homes sold in May, up from 1,267 the same month a year ago in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties.

The increase was less pronounced in Milwaukee County alone: 920 sales last month vs. 802 a year earlier, a 14.7% increase. There were 444 sales in Waukesha County, compared with 308 a year earlier; 153 in Washington County, compared with 101; and 90 sales in Ozaukee County, compared with 59.

For the wider nine-county area comprising southeastern Wisconsin – adding Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties – the sales were slightly lower, up 25.3%, with 2,241 homes sold in May, compared with 1,788 the same month a year earlier.

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Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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Due mainly to the tax credit that expired at the end of April – we saw an incredible increase in showings and sales at Homegate Direct in April.  We were also thinking, it would get a little too quiet once May hit – but we are as busy as ever with our listings, showings, and accepted offers.  Here’s the Milwaukee Journal report from today:

Sales of existing homes jumped more than 36% in April, an increase fueled by home shoppers hoping to beat the deadline to qualify for special tax credits.

There were 1,555 homes sold in April by Realtors, according to Metro MLS Inc. That’s up from 1,140 in April 2009, and a 31% rise from March sales of this year.

Waukesha County led the way with a 54.2% increase, followed by Ozaukee, 40.7%, Milwaukee County, 31.5%, and Washington County 25.0%.

The Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors said the increase in sales in suburban counties is significant because those counties added to their inventory of “move-up” houses during the recession, and the market needed to sell more of those higher-priced homes.

“It would appear that the $6,500 homebuyer tax credit targeted at buyers who were also selling a home has worked,” the Realtors group said.

A federal tax credit of up to $6,500 was one of two types available to home buyers who had a signed sale contract before May 1. The other was a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers.

The first-time buyer credit, which was part of Congress’ economic stimulus package, originally was set to expire Dec. 1 of last year. But Congress extended the credit to April 30, and expanded the incentives to include the $6,500 credit for qualified people who owned a home but were planning to buy another.

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Here’s a great story of how a home in the Milwaukee real estate market can sell extremely quickly (just 18 days) and for $2,100 over the asking price.

We recently had the honor of working with a really nice family in the Enderis park neighborhood of Milwaukee.  They had their home on the market for months and months with one of those big brand name realtors that gladly charge a 6% commission to sell their house.  After their house sat on the market for months – they decided they needed a fresh approach.  In early January, the family decided to switch to Homegate Direct Realty to hopefully get their home sold in a reasonable amount of time and at the price they want.

After giving them some staging tips and advice – we put their home on the market in mid-January.  They thought it might take a while considering the winter time is quite slow in the real estate business.  Things couldn’t have gone any better.

Within 18 days, they had an accepted offer at $2,100 above asking price.  And, they saved over $6,000 in real estate commission with our flat-fee real estate services model.  You couldn’t ask for a better success story than that.

Find out why HomegateDirect.com is changing the landscape of the Milwaukee Real Estate market and saving homeowners their hard earned equity.

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