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Curb Appeal with Rock Realty · Ask The Experts

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Thirty five thirteen ten WYBA and Ask the Experts with Rock Realty, joined in
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studio this morning by Matt Heytman with Rockrealty Online, Rock Wisconsin dot com.
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That's our oh c K Wisconsin dot com. Tell for over six O eight
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six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred And
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Matt, you didn't get stuck behind any moving apartment buildings today, did you
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not? This morning? Matt? This morning? How crazy is that?
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By the way, that they're they're moving a giant brick building down on the
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Isthmus. And I'd asked you earlier, I said, have you seen it
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before? You said, You've heard of things similar happening obviously nothing to this
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scale, though, Yeah, this is a pretty large project. It looks
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like I'm assuming it takes a unique set of skills to be able to do
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something like that. Yeah, that is it's really neat to see. And
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we're going to be talking this week about curb appeal. And sometimes, you
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know, they always say in real estate, location, location, location,
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So sometimes you just move if you don't like your location, you just just
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move on, move on down the road with it. And of course curb
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appeal is very, very important, and as we talk about kurb Appel,
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we're gonna get some great tips for making your your home look beautiful from the
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street, not only if you're planning on listing, but if you just want
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your house look better overall, we're gonna get some tips from Matt. But
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first, Matt start off with a featured listening that actually kind of ties in
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nicely with what we're going to be talking about this week. Yeah. I
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thought since we're on the subject of Peel, i'd discuss one of the listings
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that we have. That's a really nice place. You know, a lot
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of people in Madison are looking for some affordability and they're looking outside of Madison
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to get the larger home on a nicer lot and at a better price.
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Right, So we do have a listing in Edgerton. Oh, well,
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you're familiar with Edgerton. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. It's fourteen
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to eleven East Road two in Edgerton. It's currently listed at three hundred and
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fifty five thousand dollars. It's got three bedrooms and three full baths, which
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is nice. I always tell people what's important is the noumber of shower heads.
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Especially with old daughters. Like, yeah, the total square footage is
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over twenty three hundred square foot and it's on nearly a third of an acre.
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Oh, that is fantastic. I think back to how many eighties movies
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were set up with the whole family trying to scramble to get into the get
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into the one or two bathrooms. Having one for one when it comes to
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bath to bed ratio. What a huge benefit you mentioned having daughters. What.
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Oh, yeah, no, it's a big deal. And you know,
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as you probably know, like some of the smaller ranches that were built
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in the fifties, sixties, seventies with three bedroom, one bath, and
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then you're here all struggling to fight for the bathroom. So it's nice when
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you have more than more than just the single bath. So with this,
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with this featured listing this week, this this house in Edgerton. What makes
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it so when you're looking at it? What do you see there? As
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far as a really really nice curb appeal? What makes it so great from
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the road? Yeah, I would say in general, has a unique design.
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It's you know, it's important that you know, the exterior looks like
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it's in good condition. This particular one has some some stonework on the front
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that I think is a nice feature as well as a big front porch.
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So a lot of people are into that, sitting sitting on the front porch
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and watching the neighbors stroll by. Is that the one that's what you said
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on East Road too? Correct? Yep, fourteen eleven East Road too.
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Check that out at Rockwisconsin dot com. That's rock Wisconsin dot com. I
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will tell you this, if you got a minute, it's great to check
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in. If you've got a little bit of downtime, I will tell you
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something. The website Rock Wisconsin dot com. There's a lot of fun stuff
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there. I was earlier this week just kind of a little time on the
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couch waiting during a commercial break on Jeopardy, and I went to the website.
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Starts scrolling through and I just go down this rabbit hole of just beautiful,
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beautiful, ousis so it is. It's a very very cool website.
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Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's rock Wisconsin dot com. So we're talking this
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week with Matt about curb appeal and what makes it so important. And it's
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not just obviously if you're looking to sell, it's very important. We're talking
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dollars and cents here, but just in general, having a nice looking home
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from the street is a big benefit, isn't it. Well? Absolutely,
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And you know when you're coming home and you're proud of how your house looks
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when you pull up, it's always a good feeling. It's also important to
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sometimes impress the neighbors, right, or to fit in with the neighbors.
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If nothing else, it gives you a positive reputation in the neighborhood. Make
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sure that your house doesn't stand up for the wrong reasons. Whatso, when
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we think about curb appeal, what exactly I think sometimes you take it a
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little for granted that everybody just knows what we're talking about. What are kind
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of those things when we talk about kurb appeal, What are we referring through
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specifically there? Well, I guess the best description is it's the home's first
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impression, right, you know, eventually, if you're looking to sell,
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it's what the buyers see on the outside, and it gives them an indication
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of the quality of the home that's on the inside, right. And so
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that's the same that goes for the neighbors or anybody else going through your neighborhood
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or your friends and family as they pull up right in visiting and they see
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the outside of the home and they're excited to see the inside. So it's
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interesting when we bought our house, one of the things, like I wasn't
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use the phrase I wasn't hundred percent sold right away, but I was.
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I was pretty much in love with our house. Literally when we pulled them
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the driveway, it had just this very interesting kind of this feature of a
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where the kitchen was, but just kind of like this cool little into a
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brick and all these type of things like can can for people looking to sell
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their homes. Are there buyers that are like I just I love that?
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Like is that a unique experience when somebody pulls in a driveway and says,
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I love this home simply by looking at how it looks from the street.
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Yeah, I would say in general, the curb appeal is what gets people
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in the door, right, what gets them interested in the home once they're
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inside. That's kind of when it feels like home, right, Okay,
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But the curb appeal definitely is a major factor for buyers for sure. So
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this week we're going to be talking about some of those improvements that not just
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kind of make things look great, but also good return on investment. And
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we're going to break down some low cost curb appeal ideas. And as we
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talk with Matt Heytman with Rock Realty Online Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's r
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O c K Wisconsin dot com. Tell for number six. So eight six
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seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred. Let's
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walk through some of these low cost curb appeal ideas. And clean up is
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a big one here, isn't it. Yeah, definitely, you know,
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off of the National Association Realtor's website, think do have seven kind of low
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cost suggested ideas that we that I pulled for today's discussion. And the first
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one is just spring summer clean up from on the outside, not just the
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inside. Were used to doing inside spring cleaning, but uh, you know
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when early summer and spring, if you can get out there and you know,
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powerwash the sighting, you know, clean the windows, you know,
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do some some work on uh you know, raking and getting rid of any
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excess leaves and such from over the winter, makes it makes a big difference.
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And obviously that's super low cost. Other than your labor. Yeah,
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a little bit of time, and it's not a bad thing. I will
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say, you know, Saturday or Sunday morning, before the sun really gets
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going and get out there, you put the radio on, do a little
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cleanup. One of the things I've learned over the years as well is just
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like with your car, sometimes just these little you know, these little maintenance
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things and just kind of taking care of the small things. Not only do
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they make your house look better, they can save you money. You're out
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there noticing things that maybe you hadn't noticed had you not taken the time to
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kind of do up and do a little bit of cleanup. Oh absolutely,
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yeah. Yeah, just staying in front of your house, you know,
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walking around the edge, just finding different things. I mean, that's what
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happened to me. I found a bunch of weeds. I didn't know we're
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there on the side. And so you know, you know, going outside
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and making sure you're taking care of the exterior or home will get you aware
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of those little things that you might not have noticed before. Weeds are is
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definitely sneaky. They will just pop up. Speaking of weeds and those type
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of things, that is definitely something you're gonna want to do just kind of
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that general manicuring and maintenance, isn't it. Yeah, definitely raking, mowing,
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pruning, weeding, you know, going around the exterior of the house.
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The front of the house is obviously the most important, but sometimes the
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sides are forgotten, right because we don't see them quite as often. But
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you know, making sure everything's mode nicely and presentable. That makes a big
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difference with that too. As you talk about as we're talking with Matt about
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some low cost curb appeal ideas. As you mentioned, these are low cost
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and these type of things, I don't know that people realize, and especially
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let's say you're in a neighborhood and it's a great neighborhood. You've got maybe
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some some neighbors, and you start to kind of develop that reputation if it's
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like a nice looking house. People say, that's a nice looking house.
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And I'm thinking, like, if you ever decide to list that home and
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ever decide to sell, there's a reputation in your community that that's a nice
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looking house. Who wouldn't want to live in a nice looking right? Absolutely,
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you know you're kind of building up interest over the years that you've lived
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there and you know there's an expectation definitely because the curb appeal, right,
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I think personally that starts at the front door. That's another yeah, cost
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item here. You know, the sighting and windows on a house don't change
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too often, right, but your front door and how presentable and welcoming that
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is a big deal. If you've got an older door with a lot of
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appealing paint, you know it's not going to have the same feel as you
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know, a freshly painted door. So that's definitely a good option. It's
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just painting your door sometimes choosing a bold color to really make it stand out.
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It's even a good call. I was going to ask you about that.
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So you want and I love like when you drive around and you'll take
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a look at people's front door and you'll notice some of the very vibrant colors.
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That seems to be one of those places where where not only does it
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make sense just to you know, to protect the wood or whatever the material
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your door is made of, but it also makes a little bit of statement.
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Is there's kind of one of those one of those areas where you know
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you want to have a kind maybe a bolder color or a little pop,
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that might be the best place to do it. Yeah, and mostly,
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you know, the last ten to twenty years, a lot of the siding
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colors are a little more muted, a little more earth tone. So I
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think people are taking the opportunity to do bold doors to really make a statement.
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I know a friend of mine did kind of a lime green to match
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his car, So I don't I don't know if that's right for everybody,
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but yeah, well it makes it stand out. The other great thing too
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about these as we talk about some of the you know, some of these
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lower cost ways to add kurb appeal. You think about the door is painting
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the door is is it's attractive. But here's the thing. If you buy
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a house and you don't like that maybe it's lime green. It's an easy
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one to ease, the one for the new homeowner to say, you know
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what, I like that they took care of it. I only like the
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color. I can fix that as well. So yeah, talking this morning
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with Matt Heyman, he is with Rock Realty Online, Rock Wisconsin dot com.
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I love it Rock Wisconsin dot Com to number six So eight six seven
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three fifty four hundred, that's six seven three fifty four hundred decorate and declutter.
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These are put in the same and I think we've all seen it very
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cluttered homes. To me, I am, I I like kind of less
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is more, kind of kind look. Yes, yes, that can make
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a huge difference, can in a number of ways, right, Yeah,
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absolutely. I mean, if you have a ard full of gnomes that appeals
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to a very smaller segment of the population. However, you know, having
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one or two cute little yard ornaments, you know, might just set it
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off to make it unique. That's that is great to see. Sometimes you
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see some of these arts that are very busy and you're like, okay,
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just maybe just a couple of those. I always think sometimes save some of
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that for the backyard. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to talk about some
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other ways, things like window boxes and the driveway often neglected drive where we're
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gonna get some details from Matt on that in just a moment. If you
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haven't been to the website yet, check out Rock Realty Online the website Rockwisconsin
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dot com. That's r O c K Wisconsin dot com. Of we mentioned,
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of course the feature listing great house right in Edgerton right on road too.
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You can kind of See we're talking about really really nice curb appeal.
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You can get a great example of it when you head on over to Rock
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Wisconsin dot com. Check them out online again, it's a fun place to
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visit, even if you're not necessarily looking for home. Just get some ideas
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and see what's out there. I loved checking that out Rock Wisconsin dot Com.
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I gotta tell what number six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred.
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That's six seven three fifty four hundred. More of Ask the experts with
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Rockrealteam next here on thirteen ten wib A thirteen ten wi b A and ask
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the experts hanging out with Matt Heyman with Rockreealty online Rockhisconsin dot com. That's
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Rock Rock Wisconsin dot com talk about some low cost curb appeal ideas. And
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it's important not just if you're listing your home selling your home to have a
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nice look in house it. It just is good for everybody. And some
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great tips so far we've talked about I'm kind of cleaning cleaning not only the
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inside of your house, but outside when it comes to spring cleaning, rach
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moprune, those type of things, weeding. Oh, that makes a huge
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huge difference front door. The difference that are having a nice vibrant front door
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in a nice clean entryway makes decluttering the yard is a big deal. What
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about window boxes, This was one that that kind of surprised me, Matt,
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I guess I hadn't thought much about having planner boxes and those adding the
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curb appeal. Yeah, I mean it's an option for I would say,
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the right style of house. Right. I don't think window flower boxes are
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gonna work for every house, right, but if if you've got a house
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that kind of has more of a cottage feel, I think it's a great
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choice. Right. It gives you the option of adding color with flowers,
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either perennials or annuals that don't require permanent changes. I would say the more
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popular item right now is you know the larger pots, right, you know
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the planter pots that you can put out either right in front of your garage
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on your porch and then choose you know, any number of colors within that
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to really bring a pop to your house. Dude, by the way,
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a seasonal as you talk about planting flowers and and you know, I think
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of pictures and listings having that like for example, I know Obviously the summer
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months we are vibrant with color, lawns are green, things look great.
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As much as that is, that is fantastic. Does that do those pictures
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do as well in the winter months or better? Do we know have any
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understanding of that? As I just as we're thinking about curb Appel, I'm
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like, or does it seem like the house may have been on the market?
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I just what's the psyche there? Yeah, that's always a tough one
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where you have the dreary overhead, gray skies and you know, the snow
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in the yard. Let's say over the winter months, right, I would
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say there are some people that will go ahead and take photos during the summer
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just to give some comparison and have that ready for when they're going to list
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in the winter. And I think that's a fantastic idea. Just make sure
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that you have either a good camera or a professional taking those photos, so
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you know it's not alternating between the professional photos in the winter and some sort
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of cell phone shots in the summer shot. So, by the way,
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how much those photos make a big difference? As I was mentioned, you
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know, I love going to rock Wisconsin dot com and just kind of going
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through that pictures make a big difference, huge difference. Yeah, And you
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know there's even difference between professional photographers, right. The one that we've we've
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been working with for a number of years is you know, he's a perfectionist,
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right, and he does have the ability to photoshop out the dog that
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after to make it one of the shot right and you know, making sure
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that the lighting's just right. And that's the kind of photographer you want for
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something as important as selling a home. I look at the pictures on Rock,
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Wisconsin. They are absolutely amazing. As we're talking this week about some
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low cost curb appeal ideas and before we get to kind of the recovery on
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exterior projects, six down, one to go. And this is one that
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I think I don't want a stereotype, but I think there's a certain segment
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of the population that pays particularly particularly close attention. I'll call myself in this
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group to this this particular spot on a house. Yeah, that's the driveway.
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Yes, yeah, No, I'm surprised because it's very important to you,
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but it's it's surprising for how many homeowners they just don't notice it,
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right, So they don't notice the weeds coming through the cracks. It just
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doesn't. It's something they're used to at that point, right, And I
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think it's a port ordinate. You're spraying those those weeds with round up,
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killing them first, and then you know, recoding a driveway not super expensive
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like in the hundreds of dollars, right, We're not talking thousands of dollars.
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And what a difference that can make. Obviously we're talking about asphalt,
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but you know, even on the concrete, if you can kill off any
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weeds that have come through and maybe use some of that concrete filler and the
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seams, that makes a big difference. What about So with this stuff and
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you think of our home, it's most folks, the biggest purchase you're ever
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going to make is your home. And obviously we talk about some of these
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great curb a peel things and also the benefits not just if you're looking to
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sell, but just kind of you know, makes your house look better,
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helps with longevity. A lot of folks look at ROI return on investment.
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Let's kind of break down some of the cost recovery on some of the some
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of the projects that folks can be doing. Some of these are are pretty
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surprising when you look at the amount recovered for certain projects. Yeah, yeah,
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and obviously there's interior projects in exterior. We'll concentrate on the exterior right
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now, since we're talking about curb appeel pulling these figures off the National Association
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of Realtors site, it looks like, yeah, replacing your roof is a
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really big ROI. It's one hundred percent. You know, there's not a
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lot less attractive than coming up and seeing a roof that's falling apart and looking
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like it's gonna leak inside the house. Right, So it makes sense that
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you can get a majority of your money back for that. But another one
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that was surprising as a garage door. Apparently that's that's a big turn off
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for a lot of buyers, and you can get you get a one hundred
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percent ro I typically on a sale if you replace your garage door. That's
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fascinating with the with the garage door, and I look at just kind of
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that's to me, it's like kind of trends or where people are looking.
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I see some you know, there are times you'll be driving around and you'll
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see a garage door and you'll have beautiful windows and it'll have like a like
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the beautiful hardware and you're like, that thing looks fantastic. Then you look
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online you're like, wow, to have a it's a very affordable upgrade to
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your house and really can make it look moderate. What about sighting does that
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make a make a big different rents? Obviously, if you have some faded
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sighting, it probably has a different ROI factor than others. Right. But
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what it was surprising is that the fiber cement siding those are you know,
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kind of like your hardy boards and such, that has an eighty six percent
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return. And that's that's because it is something that can stand up to a
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lot of the tornado weather that we've seen recently. Really we've had tornadoes just
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occasionally here and there. That is good to know when you talk about cement
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siding and other different types of siding. Of course, siding windows are up
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there. Steel front door, let's talk about that one that that's that one
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kind of grabbed my attention. Also, what are we talking about there and
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what's the return on that? Yeah? I mean obviously having an older door,
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it's pretty apparent to most people. People can tell if it's a fifty
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door with the vertical little yeah, but you know, replacing that with the
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steel front door brand new, like we were saying before, bright and shiny,
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the first entrance to the house, the first impression as you're opening the
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door, you got sixty let's just say here, sixty three percent return on
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investment. I don't know how they figure that, Like, hey, we
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replace this five hundred dollars door, we figure they got three hundred back.
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But we'll go with it. We'll go exactly with the other area with that
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too, is security. It's I think people feel more peace of mind with
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that. And I you know, once you've lived I think for most of
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us, you lived in your house for amount of time, you start to
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get a little bit more carefree. But anytime you're new to a neighborhood or
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new to a thing, I think for people kind of assessing that stuff having
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like new doors, I think about energy efficiency as well doors, windows.
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You mentioned the roof. Anybody that's ever done a new roof knows that if
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you can get a house with a nice new roof, maybe with a warranty.
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Yes, it is a price here repair, that's for sure. Yeah,
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that is for sure. As we talked this morning with Matt Heyman,
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with Rock Realty the website Rockreealtea dot com. That's Rockrealty dot com. They're
19:57
twelve number six so eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven
20:02
three fifty four hundred. But looking to buy a home, looking to list
20:04
your home, looking to maybe do a little bit of both. They'd love
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to talk to you at Rockrealty. I'd urge you to head on over to
20:10
the website Rock Wisconsin dot com. Check out some of their great listings over
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there. This week's featured listening is a beautiful house on Road two in Edgerton.
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You can find that right at rock Rockwisconsin dot com. That's Rock Wisconsin
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dot com. Matt, it's always great and insightful laying out with you.
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You enjoyed this beautiful day. Yeah, thanks for having me. And again
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that website Rock Wisconsin dot com. Telephone number six soh eight six seven three
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fifty four hundred. That's six seven three ft four hundred. Give Matt and
20:37
the team acall right now at Rockrealty. Dan O'Donnell he comes your way next
20:41
right here on thirteen ten Wiba