Entries from January 2008
For those of us who deal with how to avoid those pricing parking tickets during snow emergency days, there’s some good news:
NEW “FREE” PARKING TIMES FOR CITY PARKING UTILITY GARAGES DURING DECLARED SNOW EMERGENCIES
Beginning Monday January 28, 2008 the Parking Utility will not charge for parking in cashiered sections of city garages between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. on declared snow emergency days. Parkers will need to pay for parking before 9 p.m. or after 7 a.m. on those days. These new times will take affect immediately at the following facilities: Government East, Overture Center, State Street Campus, State Street Capitol and Capitol Square North. It is not available at other Parking Utility facilities. By expanding these parking hours during snow emergencies, the City hopes that there will be fewer parked vehicles on public streets, which would help facilitate snow removal during heavy snowfalls.
Categories: Downtown Living
If you own the residence you live in and you didn’t receive your lottery tax credit for 2007, there’s still time to claim it.
Many property owners miss out on this credit due to some flaws in the system. For example, new construction is often overlooked. So is a property that was rental income and now the owner lives in the home.
To apply for the credit visit the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Site here to download the needed forms.
Don’t miss out. Although it’s not a tremendous amount of money (usually around $100) it all helps!
Journal Sentinal Article
Categories: Downtown Living
This came out today from one of my great partners in Clear Title of Madison, LLC.
“The Fed (the Federal Reserve) surprised everyone today with an unprecedented, mid-meeting, three-quarter (3/4) point rate drop. As always, this does not necessarily translate into lower mortgage rates. If the markets and lenders believe this signals panic or will cause inflation, mortgage rates could actually rise. But consumer perception matters a lot.
Before this rate cut, mortgage rates were unbelievably low (5.6% on a 30 year mortgage). Many consumers have high enough rates on their current mortgages that refinancing now makes a lot of sense. Lenders and Mortgage broker’s aren’t the only ones who should be calling these consumers to get them off the fence. You can contact them and show your expertise while having an excellent reason for a “touch.”
According to Bankrate.com, rates peaked over the summer of 2007 at about 6.7%. Why not call any of your clients who purchased a house between May and September of 2007 and let them know that it may be a very good time to refinance since rates are a full point lower than their summer peak. And, of course, while your at it, make sure to let them know that you have excellent partners who can help them with their loan and closing.”
Peter Zarov
Clear Title Madison, LLC
3 Point Place, Suite 105
Madison, WI 53719
Direct: (608)203-4805
Fax: (608)203-4802
Categories: Market Data
Thursday night we had the pleasure of dinner at one of the central city’s newest nightspots, Samba Brazilian Grill. This upscale and exciting new restaurant is located in the old Woman’s Club Building (formerly Avol’s Bookstore) at 240 W. Gilman St.
The decor is very upscale and the room is beautiful. The dining room for the grill is on the 2nd floor of the building in what use to be the gymnasium. It’s a vibrant large space with a small stage and a large open grilling kitchen.
When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by 3 hosts who offered to take our coats (a nice touch in Madison’s winters). Our service was somewhat spotty from our general server. Our cocktail and wine order took until halfway through our salad bar visit. The meat service, however, was incredibly on the spot.
How this restaurant works is that you start with a massive salad bar. Once you’ve started to fill up with the great dishes there, you turn a small wooden cylinder that sits in the center of your table over. One end of this pillar is painted red the other is painted green. When you turn the green side up, the meats start to arrive delivered by authentically dressed “gauchos”. The gaucho then carves whichever meat variety they brought to you tableside. On Thursday there were 9 different meats from beef to pork to lamb. A particular favorite was the parmesan encrusted pork. Our table asked for a second round of this great flavor!
You are in control of the meats. What I mean by this is that the gauchos are very attentive to the tables. You let them know you’re ready for another round of meats by turning the cylinder on your table from red to green and vice versa. After the first full round of all the meats, our server did return to our table and asked if there were any meats we wanted to try for a second time. We shared with her which we would like again and boom, the gauchos were back with these.
All in all a wonderful evening. We topped it off with a serving of their specialty dessert, the Samba S’More. Add to the 2 bottles of great red wine and live music by a wonderful sounding combo and it was an evening to remember.
Make reservations for this night. We were told that both Friday and Saturday had already been booked solid. Worth the wait in every sense though.
Categories: Downtown Living
Check out the post on the Chicago Tribune site today. It list the top 6 reasons to visit Madison. I agree with Mr. Curwen’s picks. What’s cool is the opportunity to add your own thoughts.
Madison has too many wonderful feature to only pick 6.
Check out his post here.
Happy New Year.
Categories: Downtown Living
