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Home Improvements with Rock Realty · Ask The Experts

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Eight thirty three thirty ten Wi b A and asked the experts with Rock Realty
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and Studio this morning with Matt heightman of Rock Realty. You can learn more
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online rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock Wisconsin dot com. They're telling phone
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number six oh eight, six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven
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three fifty four hundred and Matt, how you doing this morning. I'm doing
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great. Andr I'm doing well. Stand dry. Yeah for the most Yeah,
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we're gonna we've got a full show as always, We're going to talk
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about some affordable upgrade options for your home. We're gonna get to the featured
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listing in just a moment, but first, and this will actually tie in
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with our future listening. You and I were just talking a little bit about
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some of the great communities around Madison. Obviously, Madison is a jewel,
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it's a treasure. But there's all these outlying communities we were talking. You
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and I were specifically talking about Stoton, which is a community that's it's beautiful,
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it's got its own character. There is something for Like all these cities,
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Manona, Verona, Middleton, they all have a very unique field to
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them, don't they yeah, absolutely, and a different feel for different buyers
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and people that are interested in in In Stoughton, there's a lot of historic
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buildings downtown. A lot of people are attracted to that. Other people went
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a little more modern the area. So yeah, speaking of a little more
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modern, Middleton is a place where a lot of people it's that is.
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I will say this since I've lived in the Dane County area. Middleton used
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to be h it's always a beautiful, nice, nice area, but it
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has become the place to be in Dane County. Like people love Middleton.
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Uh. And We've got a feature listing this morning in Middleton, and I'm
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looking, I'm like, oh, this is a beautiful house and all every
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just everything checks and then I saw the price and I think there's got to
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be a typo here. Let's talk about this house. And speaking of Middleton,
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yeah, the growth there has been pretty insane ever since they got voted
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one of the best places to move in Wisconsin. So yeah, this is
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a feature listing that just went on the market this week and it's six six
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nine Cooper Avenue in Middleton if you look online. Because Middleton School Districts is
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considered a very nice school district, and it makes most of the real estate
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out that way pretty desirable. So if you look online and there isn't another
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house listed under four hundred and seventy five thousand dollars, it's a single family
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home that's available without an offer right now. In this one, four bedroom,
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one and a half bath combined at seventeen and twenty eight square foot,
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this one's only four nineteen to nine. Wow. And you mentioned too Middleton
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School, and I as a parent, I know you and I are both
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in this boat. Schools are are vitally important, and I'm looking on a
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map elementary schools right across the way. Yeah, talk about you talk about
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a fantastic feature in the crisis, right And we were talking to just about
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this being a holiday week for folks that are that are if you are an
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interested buyer, it is a really good week to be looking at homes,
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isn't it, Because there are a lot of folks that say, we do
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want to buy, but we want a vacation too, so we're heading out
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of town. If you're around and looking, gems like this are available,
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and this is probably good week to be doing it. Oh. Absolutely,
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Yeah, there's generally two really good times to shop for homes, and that's
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when everybody is occupied, right, So the first time is over the holidays,
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Yeah, when you're out shopping for homes, everybody else is with their
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family and you have an opportunity to maybe find a deal. And the other
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time is you know, June, and the begin in July when people are
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dealing with graduations and then they're dealing with the fourth of July. And as
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with as with any house, there's some personalations, some upgrades you may want
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to do to it as well, and that's we're going to talk about this
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week, are some affordable upgrade options. As we're joined this morning by Matt
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Heytman. If you want to check out that featured listening, or you've been
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looking to buy, you've been looking to list your home, you've been looking
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to list your home and buy a home man, the team at Rock Realty
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love to talk with You can learn more online the website and see the featured
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listing as well at Rockwisconsin dot com. That's Rock Rock Wisconsin dot com.
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Tel for number six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six
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seven three fifty four hundred. To make that call again, definitely check out
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sixty six one nine Cooper Avenue in Middleton. That's this week's featured listing.
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And Matt, So, when we talk about affordable upgrade options, very rarely
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do you set foot into a house and say this is perfect. Oftentimes there's
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going to be a little changes or if you're getting ready to sell your home,
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a lot of times, if you're working with a good agent, they'll
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come in and say this needs a little bit of this needs a little bit
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of work. Let's talk about some affordable upgrades to kind of get the get
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the return on investment. And the first one here is refinish or replace flooring,
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and let's talk about why that's so important and what that does for you.
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Yeah, every few years a study's done on remodel and upgrades and just
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figuring out what people are doing these days, what what upgrades make the most
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sense, what brings the most ROI This one, this study was completed late
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twenty twenty two, and what they found was the best return on investment as
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far as interior upgrades, which is actually a pretty affordable option as refinishing our
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hardwood floors. So you know, with the study, they averaged about thirty
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four hundred dollars for finishing floors. I've heard numbers that are lower for sure
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in our area. So it depends on how big of a floor you're doing.
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But that thirty four hundred dollars investment would bring back five thousand, which
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was one hundred and eighteen percent ROI well, that's fantastic. And I think
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of two I watched these these programs. I think we all get guilty of
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this once in a while. It's a Saturday or Sunday and you're watching some
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of these home renovation shows where they'll pull up the carpet and they'll be this
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beautiful floor under and sometimes I wonder if that, if if that wasn't set
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up that way, But like just just finding these they're having these, you
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know, refinishing your floor or putting new wood floors in. What an upgrade
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to the house. And as you're pointing out here, what a what a
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great overall investment and great return on that. Kitchen cabinets. I think about
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spaces in your house that take the absolute most abuse, and I would put
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kitchen cabinets probably near the top. Again, going back to having kiddos,
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what do they do? They open cupboard? Doors, and whether they're slow
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clothes or not, they're going to put as much mite into them to slam
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them or the other thing that they do is they just leave them open there,
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hanging there, which they're probably not her drawers, like my son has
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a tendency of pulling the drawer all the way open and leaving it there probably
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can't be the greatest for it. Finding ways to modernize or clean those those
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cabinets up that also can can help a lot for return on investment, can't
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it. Yeah, absolutely, the as you say, there's a lot of
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wear and tear, kids climbing up the drawer, hardware, and especially those
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trash basket bins they always all worn out right by the handle. Right.
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It is also one of the more expensive remodels that you can do. Right,
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but as far as an upgrade, something that some people don't know as
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you can have those sanded down and you can refinish those or paint them,
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and that's that's a huge return compared to replacing an entire cabinet, all the
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cabinets in the kitchens. Right, So just sometimes just refinding the front,
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refinishing the front face gives it that new look without having all the cost.
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You know, I see on Pinterest as a place I like to go.
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Do you get by the way, with real estate, do do you guys
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do anything on Pinterest? We do have a Rock Realty account. Yeah,
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I'm gonna make sure following you. But it's a good place to be because
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when you were talking about refinishing and painting cabinets, that's one of my favorite
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areas to look at on Pinterest is you'll see the before and after, and
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as you talk about return on investment, I can see why that's a that's
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an apparent one. If you walk into you know, into a kitchen and
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it's got those like that that kind of like honey oak color nineties early two
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thousands, yeah, or even or even the ones that go back with like
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the little scrolly things over the sink in the wood, and you're like that
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seems dated. And then you'll see like these before it's got the the eighties
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or nineties look. And then you'll see the after and they've you know,
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they've sanded it and they've painted a white cabinets and put like some nice new
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hardware on. You go that looks like an entirely like it looks like they
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spend tens of thousands of dollars and in reality and you read the article,
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it's like we did this on a weekend for two hundred bucks. Yeah yeah,
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yeah, wow Yeah. One of the most significant changes you can make
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on a budget is refinishing the cabinets and then maybe throwing lambin at countertops on
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top waiting countertops that are the least expensive of countertops, but they have a
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nice look to them. They can even look like granite. Just doing those
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two items alone, just a few thousand dollars invested. And do you look
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like a new kid. Yeah, it looks really really cool. Talking this
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morning with Matt Heightman, he comes to So it's from Rock Realty. This
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is ask the experts right here. I'm thirteen ten Wi b A. Check
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them out online Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock roc k Wisconsin dot com.
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TELF number six oh eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six
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seven three fifty four hundred. Our featured listing this week is a home in
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Middleton. It is a beautiful, beautiful home at a great, great price.
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Called this morning. Ask about that featured listing again right on Cooper's Avenue.
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Cooper Avenue, in Middleton again the telephone number six oh eight, six
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seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred. You
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have the most beautiful kitchen, you can have the most beautiful dining space.
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If it's not lit up properly, you're not doing yourself any favors. And
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lighting is oh my gosh, has it come a long way from the incandescent
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bulbs or the fluorescent bulbs. There's some amazing things that can be done now
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with LED and other type of lighting. Isn't there? Oh? Absolutely,
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yeah. Just going into the Minards lighting section, it's taking up a quarter
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of the store at this point. Yeah, yeah, And there's a lot
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of options now, where as before you choose brass or if you choose maybe
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some chrome finish, and now you've got five different options. So and the
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and the the fixtures themselves. The I I know that the type of light
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that goes out. Also, you mentioned kind of walking that that that half
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of Minards that's just nothing but light fixtures. It's cool to look at them.
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The other thing that I love is just how how kind of natural the
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lighting looks now is I you know, we think as we're sitting here in
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the studio with these noxious fluorescent tubes that are that are just put out a
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very unnatural light. But these these new light fixtures can really really look great.
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They're beautifully designed, and of course the light upgrades as well. What
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do we got is do we have numbers on that as far as what the
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what the return on investment on on updated light fixtures? What do we get
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there? Yeah, I mean you can go as simple as just replacing the
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bulbs. I mean start there. Obviously, if if you're not in the
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market for a new fixture completely, make sure to replace the bulbs. And
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you were talking about the kind of the warmth of the light is important.
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So sometimes when you get you know, the higher the number as far as
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the warmth of the light, the more it looks like a hospital, right,
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Yeah, And so having that more yellow light is going to give a
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little natural, a soothing feel. But in general return on investment for replacing
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lighting fixtures it is at seventy five percent. So not only will you get
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to enjoy it yourself, but you'll be able to recoup some of those costs
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if you ever sell. Have you ever had somebody, by the way,
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do these things and and going you know what, maybe we don't changed our
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mind man. Thanks for Yeah, we picked the wrong light fixture. I
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just made the room too dark. Yeah, so we ended up, you
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know, donating that and getting into it. There's the habitat restore probably take
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that, yeah, exactly. Talk this morning with Matt Heyman. He comes
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to us from Rock Realty online, Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's r O
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c K Wisconsin dot com. Tell for number six O eight six seven three
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fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty hundred. Continue our conversation with
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Matt. We'll talk more affordable housing upgrades at paid what about payde We'll get
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the details from Matt. We will do that next as ask the Experts with
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Rockrealty continues right here thirteen ten wib E eight forty seven thirteen ten WU I
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b A and ask the experts with Rockrealty in studio this morning with Matt Heyman.
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Of course, Matt comes to us from Rockrealty their website, Rock Wisconsin
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dot com. That's r O c K Wisconsin dot com. Dell four number
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six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred, that's six seven three fifty
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four hundred. Before we get back to this week's conversation talking about some affordable
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upgrade options for your home that gets you the most return on investment mention the
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website rock Wisconsin dot com for Rockrealty, which is Rockwisconsin dot com. We
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look at a day like today, kind of a rainy day. I know
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a lot of folks this week is an interesting week. I know some people
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blessed enough to have the whole week off. Great day to get on,
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get on, you know, you talk about a little pick me up,
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even if you're not necessarily looking to buy today, tomorrow, next week,
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next month. It's a great time just it's it's an enjoyable thing to kind
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of scroll through and just see what's out there, isn't it. Yeah,
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Yeah, you know, taking a look at what might still be available.
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It's kind of surprising. We've been hearing for for years, how's there's no
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inventory, But there's actually a number of houses available on the market at the
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moment, and it's good to scroll through there and just see if anything catches
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your eye. It's it's also when I when I hear from folks that that
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are you know, they're they're looking at you mentioned catching their eye and looking
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at homes is. You know, we do hear a lot of that,
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that kind of that, Oh there's you know, low inventory or no inventory.
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Da da da da da. You talk to people that are actively and
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working with a good agent and actively looking, they're finding that right home.
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They're they're finding that perfect place and and gosh forbid, somebody holds back and
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just says, it's not the time. That's kind of a bad mind.
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I mean, if that is something, if you're looking to buy a home
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now, there's it's always like everything it's like no better day than yesterday,
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but today is a great day as well. It's a really good time to
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be doing this. Definitely, definitely, And you know, whenever there's a
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situation like, oh, I think rates are too high, most other buyers
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are saying the same thing. So if you can be the person that gets
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off the fence and gets out into the market, you're the one that can
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kind of capture an opportunity. That's it. That's always a funny thing too,
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when I hear rates are too high, when you're like, the rates
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aren't. No. It's talking this morning with Matt Hypeman. He is with
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Rock Realty. The website Rock Wisconsin Dot com. That's our O. C.
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K Rock Wisconsin dot com Dolphin number six so eight six seven three fifty
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four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred. Talking this week about
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some affordable upgrade options. We talked earlier about painting and refinishing cabinets, and
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some folks are going, wait, wait, wait, wait, what about
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what about just painting in general? That has and it's almost and and and
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Matt, I'll let you get into this, but to me, it seems
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like a fre cone of paint is almost like the best cleaning your house has
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ever had because the prep and then what it results with, right, Yeah,
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agree, completely, Like a fresh, freshly painted room just has a
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good smell, It has a good look to it. It's brighter. You
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know. My personal recommendation is we we are doing a lot of more muted
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colors and such in our houses right now, but to maybe do an accent
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wall with a pop on it, right, to really give a room a
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completely new look. And yeah, the ROI on that is actually pretty decent.
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So you know, if you go in and your paint interior walls,
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you've got over one hundred percent ROI. It's at one hundred and seven percent
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according to the report. You know, obviously, if you do a lot
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of that and put in the labor yourself, that ROI probably goes through the
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roof. Yeah, I bet it does another thing two with paint, and
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you think about living in your home, and obviously the studio is a horrible
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example because it is pretty grimy. But like at home, there's there's those
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things that like you know that area, like the kid all runs down the
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hall puts his and I'm speaking for myself, puts his hand on that on
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that part of the wall as he makes that tight turn to go down the
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other hall. You may not notice it as a homeowner that there's there's a
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dulling of the paint, or that there's there's kid hand crud on there because
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you just lived there every day. Taking the time to clean, prep and
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then paint that thing no longer becomes an issue. And little things like that,
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I've got a guess for for perspective buyers. It's a homeowner you may
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never think of it, But a perspective buyer is going to que into those
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type of things, aren't they Definitely, Yeah, the it's always good to
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have a second opinions, a second fresh set of eyes on it, and
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uh, you know, even replacing your drapes a couple of times, and
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you forget about the little holes in the wall that are up there, and
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just painting right over that covers it up and it looks pretty brand new.
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Doug's mornning with Matt Heytman with Rock Realty Online Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's
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Rock r O c K Wisconsin dot com. Hardware. Oh yes, let's
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let's talk about kind of where that and that kind of ties into with our
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conversation about cabinets. It really does make a big, big difference, doesn't
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it. Yeah, just modernizing the hardware, whether it's on vanity cabinets,
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kitchen cabinets, or even front doors exterior doors can make a big difference.
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So if you were to you know, paint paint and exterior door and then
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throw a new set of hardware on there, that alone makes it look like
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a brand new door. Right, So hardware is important, do you by
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the way, as you were talking then about like a door for example,
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I know what we've done at the Preble Household is because I'm a tech nerd.
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Is went with like a you know, a Wi Fi Bluetooth door,
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locked. Do we see and it doesn't. It doesn't look techy, but
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it's it's got a cool technology. Do we see like some of that is
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we're upgrading some things, kind of adding some of those little maybe more modern
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features. I know you want to keep some a lot of depending on the
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house, maybe some of the classic design. But do we see stuff like
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that, We're kind of integration of some and I think maybe going back to
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lighting too might be one of those. We're seeing some integration into into some
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technological features into homes. Is that that's something we're seeing other I've got to
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guess it makes your job easier for showing. If you've just got a code
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on the door. Yeah, if there's you know, the remote wireless keypad
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for the for the dead bolt, that's definitely helpful when showing. But it's
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also really convenient. I think buyers are starting to notice that it's nice to
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be able to kind of set a code and have someone access it for just
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one day and you can delete the code versus giving out your key to a
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random contractor. It's a nice feature to have. One of the nice things
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I will say to it going it feels like it's a parent show but one
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of the nice things too is when the kiddo gets home from school, you
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get a little alert that door has been unlocked, and then more importantly an
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alert that says they locked it as well, exactly. And if you have
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teenagers, if it's a late alert, it's important too. Yes, yes,
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it is. That is a great, great point. You mentioned window
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and drapes, window coverings, the the treatments, and this is as I
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think of this when I think of like like my vision of what a nice
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home has. I don't know why, but I think really nice window coverings
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like that fit, not not have to be overly ornate, but just like
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really nice, maintained, good looking. That's a big deal, isn't it.
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Yeah. Yeah, I mean you can go as simple, obviously as
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just a a drape prod and then some drapes hanging down, but as you
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said, that's not quite always the best fit, right, especially if they're
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hanging all the way to the floor and dragging on the floor. One of
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the nicest looks is those custom blinds that are kind of fit within the windows
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with and the exact length, the exact width. As a it's a nice
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feature and it's a nice upgrade something that's not cheap, and I think buyers
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do notice that and appreciate that. They know the ones you got at a
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Kia versus the ones that you actually yeah, something like that, there is
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a difference. There nothing against Ikea, but there is a there is a
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difference. And then one final final point is, of course countertops, appliance
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is those kinds of things. I'm surprised, and I know, you know,
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we hear a lot about inflation and other things. It doesn't seem that
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the numbers have hit appliances like I've seen other Like I look at our like
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we redid all of our kitchen stuff probably four or five years ago, and
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I look at ranges and I look at refrigerators that they don't seem to have
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gotten much more expensive over the past five years or so. So new countertops,
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new appliances, that's something that can really add a little pop to your
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house as well, isn't it agreed? Yeah? And anything to do with
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tech tends to be very competitive, right. I think appliance has gotten more
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and more tech heavy, and I think brands have to compete with each other.
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Not that they've gotten cheaper, but they haven't gone up as much,
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so I would agree with you on the appliances. Just replacing the appliances can
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be a big deal. The other is countertops, and there's a wide range
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of different materials you can use for countertops. You know, laminate being the
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cheapest, and then you have your solid surfaces. Your quartz and granite are
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the higher end, but you can get away with a laminate replacement and make
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your kitchen look pretty new for a reasonable price. That's a great day to
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start that conversation about thinking about maybe listing your home and getting some tips as
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to how to really maximize your return on investment. The team at Rock Realty
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love to talk with you, Matt and everyone. All you gotta do this
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morning, pick up phone, give McCall six O eight six seven three fifty
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four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred. The website Rock Wisconsin
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dot com. That's Rock Rock Wisconsin dot com. Great day to check that
21:25
out again, kind of this rainy day. I'm sitting at the office this
21:27
morning looking for something to do. We won't tell your boss doesn't know.
21:30
Check out Rock Wisconsin dot com. Let's go on your phone, not saying
21:33
that that's what you should do. But that's another way to check it out
21:37
Rock Wisconsin dot com. I got to tell number six O eight six seven
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three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred I'm at.
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Before we wrap up this week, we started off talking about the featured listing,
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which is, of course a beautiful home in Middleton for folks that are
21:48
interested, pickphone, give you guys a call and set up an appointment.
21:52
A good time to do that, isn't I absolutely, it's a great,
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great option to build some equity at a good price. It is a great
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opportunity there again, check that house out that's at six six nineteen Cooper Avenue.
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Again, all I gotta just pick a phone, give them a call
22:03
to take a look at at six oh eight six seven three fifty four hundred.
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That's six seven three fifty four hundred. And again the website Rockwisconsin dot
22:10
com. That's r O c K Wisconsin dot com. Dan O'Donnell Rocksmadison.
22:15
Next here on thirteen ten wib A