joe hemmelgarn, co-founder

The son of a carpenter, I began my real estate career on the blue-collar side, working part-time for several construction companies during my high school and college years. This background knowledge of “sticks and bricks” has served me well in both my personal and professional life, as I landed my first white collar job working for a research and consulting firm that specialized in housing and consumer behavior.

Over the years, I have stuck to the white-collar side of the business – co-owning a real estate consulting firm for nearly ten years and then involving myself with home building and land development companies.  I am still confident enough to swing a hammer on most of my own personal remodeling jobs.

Learning both sides of the fence, so to speak, gave me a unique perspective of the pitfalls and rewards people realize when owning a home. I have gained my own experiences and absorbed the experiences of others along the way.

My goal is to share these experiences and provide the tools and information to help people reduce the pitfalls and increase the rewards when it comes to their own “new home journey”.

craig evans, co-founder

Call me a Do-it-Yourselfer (D.I.Y.), a Weekend Warrior (W.W.), or a Fix and Flipper (F.n’F.). I am not sure I would know what to do with a “Move-In Ready” home. I’ve bought multiple homes – only one new one – and have done major remodels in each one. Even the new home I bought kept me busy with doing my own patio and landscaping, installing built-ins and window coverings. It seems like every time I get our home fixed up the way I like it, I have this urge to move. Imagine that!

Within the first month of buying a home, I’m usually tearing out something usually a bathroom or a kitchen. I believe it’s a defective gene I inherited because my retired Father is my partner in crime -helping out on all my grand remodeling ideas. Visits to Home Depot or Lowes are like going to Disneyland for me.

I’m lucky to have a patient and understanding wife (at least I think she is) who puts up with the dust and inconveniences of always having a part of our home torn apart. My demolition and remodeling career will more than likely be toned down a little at the present time, as two pre-schoolers are now part of our lives, but I’m sure my friends need some help or advice!

The process of moving to your next home, whether for the first time or the last time, can be one of the most stressful, as well as one of the most rewarding events in your life. Our goal with NewHomeJourney.com is to provide tips, tools, and advice in a logical and straight-forward method to help lessen the emotional stress and heighten the financial rewards which occur during the process of changing your place. We believe NewHomeJourney.com provides the best offering of no-nonsense advice and easy-to-use planning tools on the web, at no cost to you. We trust you will find real time and money saving actions by utilizing our website.

NewHomeJourney.com receives its compensation from its marketing partners in the form of advertising revenue and commissions received when our patrons sign up for their services or purchase their goods via links from our website. We have chosen these partners based on the value, convenience, and uniqueness they bring to the journey of moving to your next home or improving your existing one. We thank you in advance for your patronage of these companies.

The content information displayed on our website is provided as a service for researching home-related issues. We advise you to use this information at your own discretion with the understanding that the information may not be pertinent or beneficial to your particular circumstance. It is not represented by us that the content information displayed on our website should replace the advice of real estate professionals, but rather to complement that advice.

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Life is a journey that is easier for some than others. Many, by no choice of their own, are born in environments with little hope. Others come upon setbacks and tragedies during their lifetime that make the joy of living a challenge. NewHomeJourney.com is committed to helping charities that are working to help make life better and provide hope for those in need. In addition to encouraging our employees to donate their time, we vow to donate five percent of our profits to various charities, including but not limited to the following causes.

close to home…

We are committed to supporting various homeless shelters that are providing a hand up to those in our country that have come upon hard luck in their lives. We will distribute our charitable contributions proportionately to the states from where our revenue is generated.

In addition, we will provide support to charitable organizations that are near and dear to our employee's hearts - ones that have physically, emotionally, or spiritually affected their own lives. As we make contributions and/or are made aware of these organizations, we will provide links to their websites here.

a little farther away…

What many of us take for granted is considered beyond the hopes and dreams of many in impoverished countries. There are so many needs in third world countries, starting with the basic necessities of food, clean water, and shelter. An agency we are proud to support is Food for the Poor, which helps destitute families in the Caribbean and Latin America. You can find out more about this agency at www.FoodForThePoor.org.