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Our Service to You

Buying or selling a home can be a stressful, overwhelming, complicated process. We understand. It is quite the Journey . We are here to help you. This is what we do for our buyers and our sellers to get to the destination. You are in good hands with us!

How we help our buyers

Journey Realty Group is here to help you find the perfect home. Read more about our services to help our buyers. We are honored to be part of this Journey of your life! More here

How we help our sellers

Journey Realty Group is here to help you sell your house. We will guide you through this sometimes very stressful and overwhelming process. It is a Journey. and we will get you there! More here

What we do for our community

Journey Realty Group is super passionate about helping animals. We not only dedicate time to volunteer at animal shelters, but we are very much involved in supporting Happy Paws Haven, a foster based animal rescue here in Michigan. Read more....

How we help our buyers...

It is a Journey, and we will get you there!

How Journey Realty Group helps you with the buying process?

Journey Realty Group is a locally owned full service real estate company here to help you with the home buying process. Whether you are purchasing your first home or a fifth investment property, ready to build your dream home or looking for a no-maintenance condo, our professional REALTORS® can help. In an evermore complex real estate market it is important to have someone there guiding you through the process.

Your agent will be personally representing you, and take you through each stage of purchasing a home. A few of the things your REALTOR® will help you with include getting pre-approved for a mortgage, finding and showing you all of the properties that match your criteria, writing of contracts, home inspections, financing, title and escrow, all the way to closing on your home. You will be working closely with your REALTOR® for several weeks or months so it is important that you have a skilled professional you can trust to help make the process go smoothly. Please read about some of the services that Journey Realty offers home buyers.

Getting Pre-approved

This is the first step in the home buying process. Before you start looking at homes, it is very important that you speak with a reputable lender so you know how much you can comfortably afford, and to get a good understanding of the costs associated with purchasing a home, including down payment, closing costs, and monthly payments. Being pre-approved will help narrow your focus on your home search, strengthen your written offer, and may even increase your negotiating power. Finding the right lender, and specifically a good loan officer is crucial in making your home buying process go smoothly. We recommend that you use a local company, preferably with an in-house underwriting department. While the interest rate is important, don't always just go with the lender that will promise you the best rate. Sometimes this will result in higher up-front fees, poor service, or both. Even if you have already been to a lender, it may be a good idea to get a second opinion. Given the much tighter financing restrictions and changes in regulation, we really cannot emphasize enough the importance of working with a good lender. Ask your Journey REALTOR® for some recommendations of reputable lenders.

Home Search

Your Journey REALTOR® will start by asking you some basic questions about what you would like in a home. After learning about your wants and needs, your REALTOR® will get to work finding homes that match your criteria. They will enter your home features into the MLS, and send you a link with an initial list of all the properties that match your criteria. After that, you will receive e-mails as soon as new properties come on the market, or when homes that match your criteria have a price reduction. You view detailed property information, and multiple photos when it is convenient for you. Then contact your Journey REALTOR®, tell them which homes you would like to see, and they will create an itinerary, and schedule private tours when it is convenient for you. After you find the home that is right for you, it is time to meet with your Journey REALTOR® to discuss the process of making an offer.

Contracts, disclosures, and negotiations

Once you find the home that is just right for you, your REALTOR® will meet with you to write the purchase agreement. This is a legal and binding contract that spells out all the terms and conditions under which you will purchase the property. Some of the items that are addressed in the contract include purchase price, closing date, inspections, repairs to be made, financing contingencies, if seller is paying any closing costs, personal property, and any other terms and conditions that you want or are needed to protect you. Prior to writing the offer, your agent will supply you with any required disclosures for you to view, provide comparable home sale data upon request, collect a copy of your mortgage pre-approval letter, explain the overall process, and answer any questions you may have before you proceed. Purchasing a home is a big commitment so we want to make sure that you have as much information as possible before you make a written offer.

Home Inspections

In today's real estate market there are a host of inspections that are available to you. Which inspections you should have performed are a function of the property, and your comfort level. Your REALTOR® will make you aware of the different types of inspections you may choose to have done. Some of these include a whole house inspection, radon, lead, mold, and structural. Your agent can supply information on these types of inspections, and which ones may be right for your situation. At minimum, it is always a good idea to have a whole house inspection, even on a new construction property because for a few hundred dollars, you may avoid having to spend thousands of dollars in the future. Home inspections usually run between $250 - $400, and are paid at the time the inspection is completed. Keep in mind that home inspections are for major defects and health and safety hazards. This language is generally in the home inspection addendum that accompanies the purchase agreement. Most homes are not going to be perfect, especially homes that are not new construction. Be prepared for the home inspector to come up with a list of problems or potential problems, but with the realization that many of the items are normal home maintenance and probably do not fall into the "major defect or health and safety hazard" category. The bottom line is a home inspection is important when purchasing a home, but don't expect the seller to fix every minor thing that the inspector finds wrong.

Contract to Close

Once your offer has been finally accepted by the seller, then comes a series of important steps in order to close on your home. Your REALTOR® will guide you through this process, and act as your liaison. Some of the things that will be occurring during this time are the loan processing, home inspection, negotiation of repairs, appraisal, termite inspection, transferring of utilities, scheduling the closing, final walk-through, review of final figures, and finally closing on your home. Most closings take a minimum of 30 to 45 days primarily due to the time it takes for loan processing. One thing you can do to help ensure a timely closing is provide all documentation to your lender as soon as it is requested. Your REALTOR® will help coordinate these details, and anything else that may need to get done in order to successfully close on time.

Purchasing New Construction

Building a home is a lot more involved process than buying an existing house, which makes it even more important to have a professional that knows the process. Our agents will show you different new construction homes in your price range, help you find a builder that is right for you, help you find the perfect lot, guide you through the contract and negotiation process, make sure that all plans and specs are outlined in the contract so there are no surprises, attend meetings with you and the builder or builder's rep to make sure things are being done correctly, keep the builder on task to ensure a timely closing, provide advice and referrals for construction financing, and act as your representative throughout the process. Building a home is a long and sometimes emotional process, and there are inevitably delays and small problems that arise on just about every home build. Our REALTOR® is not only there to provide professional advice and guidance, but also as a friend to listen and help you with any problems or questions you may have.

What we do for our sellers

Selling a home is quite the Journey. We will get you to the destination!

The Most Powerful Marketing Tools

The most effective marketing options in today's real estate industry are through the MLS, website exposure, and good old-fashion signage. Over 90% of the buyers that purchase homes find the home as a result of one of those three. This is one reason that it is crucial to use a REALTOR® to help sell your home because two out of three of those options can be accessed only through partnering with a real estate company. Although, not all companies or agents are created equal in these areas. To get the true benefit from these powerful marketing tools, there is a lot of time, money, and expertise that goes into showcasing the property correctly, and delivering that property to as many potential buyers as possible. Journey Realty understands this, which is why we spend so much time developing these tools, and training our associates how to most effectively use them.

MLS Exposure

The Multiple Listing Service is a comprehensive database of homes that are currently for sale, are under contract, have sold, or were listed but never sold. . When a home is "listed" with a broker who is a member of the MLS, it is generally input into this database so that all REALTORS® have access to the information about these properties. When a REALTOR® is working with a buyer, this is where they will go to find available properties for sale that meet the buyer's criteria.

Website Exposure

Your listing will appear on all of the top local websites, and top national real estate websites. In fact your listing will be on literally 100's of websites! According to the National Association of REALTORS®, over 85% of all buyers search for a home on-line. By providing maximum website exposure, you can rest assured your property is being seen by anyone that is doing their home shopping on-line.

Syndication & Preferred Placement

Having your property show up on tons of websites is great, but if your Oakland county area home is marketed on oceanfrontcondos.com, it doesn't do much good. Some companies will boast about all of the websites they syndicate to, but many of these sites are irrelevant to those searching for your home. We are very selective about the websites we allow to receive our listing feed. Journey Realty seeks out the best, most trafficked real estate websites to promote our listings.

Professional Signage

In today's real estate industry the overwhelming majority of buyers for your home are going to be found through the MLS and the internet. The third best marketing option is still good old-fashion signage. Whether it is a standard yard sign, a banner, or a large sign for a development or commercial property, your REALTOR® will provide you with a quality professional looking sign. You can be assured that your sign will stand out to attract the most attention. Your REALTOR® may also provide directional signs to point more traffic to your home. There are some restrictions in certain areas so talk with your REALTOR® for more information. You can be proud to have the Journey Realty name on your sign, as we are a great locally owned full service real estate company with the reputation for friendly people and giving back to the community.

Additional Marketing Options

Every seller and their property are different. Some may require additional, more traditional marketing to offer added exposure for the home. Your REALTOR® has his or her own marketing plan, and will be able to give you an idea of which marketing options are right for your home, and will explain which ones may or may not be the most effective. Your REALTOR® may provide other options including open houses, real estate magazines, newspaper, e-marketing, flyer or post-card distribution, reverse prospecting, and more. Not every form of marketing is effective for every home. Consult with your REALTOR® to determine the options that are best for you.

Communication & Feedback

One of the most crucial parts of selling your home is choosing an agent that will stay in regular communication with you, and provide HONEST feedback. The last thing you want is an agent that only tells you what you want to hear. You need to choose an agent that will provide you with a communication plan, and that outlines their method and timing of feedback. A big part of a REALTOR®'s job is to get feedback for their clients, and communicate that efficiently and effectively. If you have several showings on your home and no offers, this is a sign that something probably needs to be changed. It may be price, condition, or some other factor, but you need to know in order to make that change because the longer your home sits on the market, usually the less money you will receive. Our associates understand the importance of good communication, and honest feedback.

Price the Home Correctly

Our associates will prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) for you that will give you a unbiased professional opinion of what the market would be reasonably willing to pay for your home.

The single most important factor in selling your home is pricing it correctly. The absolute worst thing you can do is to over price your home, especially in a buyer's market. Generally you will end up getting less for the home than you would had you priced it correctly to begin with. Our associates will prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) for you that will give you a unbiased professional opinion of what the market would be reasonably willing to pay for your home. They will give you an honest assessment of what your home is worth, which can be hard to do because people love their homes, and sometimes have unrealistic expectations of what their home's true value is. Be leery of companies or agents that tell you they can sell your home for more than "that other company." The industry term for this is "buying the listing." Agents sometimes try to inflate the price to ensure you will like what you hear so you will give them the listing. They also try to do this to justify a higher commission rate. Don't fall for this trap. Always ask to see the data in which they used to determine the price. Agents may differ slightly on what they believe your home is worth, which is normal. You just want to be concerned about the one that is way above everyone else. Our associates will provide you with a list of comparable home sales, and market stats so that you can see how they arrived at the suggested list price for your home.