Metro Detroit real estate answers
Straight answers on buying, selling, and investing across Oakland County.
What happens at the appraisal after your offer is accepted?
Your lender orders it, an independent appraiser walks the house within about a week, and a report comes back one to two weeks after
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Do you need a buyer’s agent?
You are not required to have one. You can call listing agents directly, tour houses, and write your own offer. Plenty of people do.
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What should your real estate agent actually be doing for you?
Eleven things, and you should be able to name every one of them by the end of week two. Pricing off real comps. Prepping
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How should you price your house to sell?
Price it at market, not above it. In Oakland County the median single-family home sold for $395,000 in June 2026 and sat 23 days
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What does it cost to sell commercial property in Michigan?
Plan on 3% to 6% of the sale price in broker commission, plus closing costs that usually land between 1% and 3%. The seller
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Which home renovations actually increase value in Metro Detroit?
The projects that pay you back here are almost all on the outside of the house. In our region a garage door replacement returns
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What is a real estate buyers list?
A real estate buyers list is a maintained roster of investors ready to buy properties for cash, usually kept by a wholesaler or agent
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What is the difference between a broker and a Realtor?
The short version: every Realtor is a licensed agent or broker, but not every agent or broker is a Realtor. A real estate agent
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How do you calculate ROI on a rental property?
To calculate ROI on a rental property, you run three numbers: cap rate (net operating income divided by purchase price), cash-on-cash return (annual cash
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How do you determine the value of a commercial property?
Commercial property value comes down to three appraisal methods: the income (cap rate) approach, the sales comparison approach, and the cost approach. For income-producing
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What is my home worth in Metro Detroit?
Homes across Oakland County are selling for a median of about $382,000 as of mid-2026, up 2.4% from a year ago. But that county
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How much is a buyer’s agent fee in Metro Detroit?
In Metro Detroit, a buyer's agent is typically paid 2.5% to 3% of the purchase price, and since August 2024 that fee is negotiated
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