4 Best Ways for Selling a Home in Michigan
Even though the information on this web page is provided by a qualified industry expert, it should not be considered as legal, tax, financial or investment advice. Since every individual’s situation is unique, a qualified professional should be consulted before making financial decisions.
Michigan homeowners have a number of ways to sell their property. This article highlights four of the options, and the pros and cons for each one.
We’ll also detail the path of selling from preparing to list through the final closing meeting.
Let’s begin our sales journey with the quick-closing, all-cash sale that offers homeowners the highest level of privacy.
#1 How to Sell a House in Michigan Privately
A private home sale is an all-cash sale, and that moves the transaction to close quickly.
Cash sales skip the wait that traditional sales have, including the delay for the buyer to apply and qualify for a loan.
There are additional delays while the lender conducts an appraisal of the property, and for the underwriter to review all the details to decide whether to fund or not.
Private sales also have another benefit — they’re truly private. You won’t have photos of your home plastered all over the internet for your neighbors — and worse, strangers — to see.
You’ll skip the broker previews, open houses, and the need to keep your home in turnkey condition in case a potential buyer might want a showing.
Property owners choosing to sell a property in Michigan can have a quick sale, and for cash, when they offer their home in a private sale.
What Are Home Buying Companies?
Home buying companies look for investment properties in Michigan.
Firms of solo operators, family businesses, groups of buyers, and even hedge funds make up the variety of Michigan real estate investors.
Some companies focus on purchasing rental property as an investment for a regular income stream.
Many firms have a business plan that concentrates on buying homes, repairing them, and either keeping them as rentals or reselling the residential properties to other buyers.
Home investors purchase all types of property, from attached condos or townhouses to multifamily complexes of up to four units.
Many cash buyers will even buy commercial real estate and vacant land in residential neighborhoods.
Property investors, unlike the general public who prefer move-in ready properties, aren’t concerned with cosmetic condition or staging. They’ll buy properties as is.
Many investors even purchase homes with structural issues or properties needing extensive repairs.
The bottom line is investors have two things in common — they have cash and they can close quickly. There’s no extended wait times with cash home buyers.
Buyers who need a quick close can benefit from a sale to a cash investor. Those include:
- selling a house before it goes to a foreclosure auction
- selling a home with renters
- selling a house to avoid bankruptcy
- selling a house that needs work
- selling a house in an estate
- selling a house with unpaid property taxes
- selling a hoarder house
- selling a home to downsize to a smaller home
- selling a house during divorce
- selling a house for a job relocation
Cash investors typically work with Michigan investor-friendly title companies because they have experience dealing with all-cash sales.
Selling your home to an investor has both pros and cons. Let’s consider those before talking about what to do when selling a house privately to find an ethical cash buyer.
Pros of Selling to a Home Buying Company
- Your transaction will move quickly when you sell your home for cash to a professional investor.
- Michigan cash buying companies do all-cash sales, so you’ll avoid any risk that your buyer may not qualify for a mortgage to buy.
- Investors aren’t concerned with cosmetic details or staging. Many of them look for damaged homes to repair. So, you’ll skip all the time and money involved in making your home turnkey-ready for buyers from the general public.
- If you don’t use a real estate agent, you’ll avoid paying any commission on the sale of your home.
- Investors also typically pick up the closing costs to sell a house in the Great Lakes State.
Cons of Selling to a Home Buying Company
Selling a home in Michigan to real estate investors has a potential downside.
- Real estate cash buyers in Michigan typically don’t make offers that match market value.
On the surface that sounds like a deal breaker, but there’s something more homeowners need to consider rather than looking only at the price offered.
Cash investors generally pay your closing costs. You also skip paying agent commissions, unless you use a Realtor’s services.
When you look at what you walk away with after the sale, it looks pretty much like the offer.
A sale to a non-investor buyer requires you to deduct your closing costs and the real estate commissions from the sale price.
When you do the comparison between both traditional and investor sales, you may discover that the investor’s offer is better than you thought compared with a sale brought to you by a Realtor.
Let’s talk now about how you can locate an ethical home buyer who’ll make that all-cash offer.
How to Find an Ethical Home Buying Company
While most cash home buyers in Michigan are honest operators, just like any profession, there are some unethical firms. You can avoid the disreputable ones by doing some basic screening.
The first step in the vetting is to make up a list of prospects. Use ads you might have received in the mail or have encountered online. Add names from media advertisements. Ask coworkers, family, or neighbors for their input.
Then, use the internet to search by using terms like “cash buyers” and “we buy houses.” Include your locality in the search, so you bring up regional investors.
When you have your list, go to the investor’s website directly to locate the “About Us” page. Ethical investors are transparent about their operation.
If that page is missing, scratch that investor from your list of prospects.
Make sure your prospects have at least three years in the profession, and look for a list of professional memberships in community groups and real estate associations.
The next step is to see if any investors on your list have had complaints filed against them.
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office handles unethical or fraudulent business practices. Check out your list of prospects with that agency.
Then, check what former clients have to say about the investors. Skim websites like Yelp, Real Estate Bees, and the Better Business Bureau for comments.
That’s a time-consuming task, but there’s a quicker way to do your preliminary vetting.
We’ve done extensive screening of the professionals that partner with our national platform of investors.
You can request a cash offer on your house by using our simple online form, and we’ll share your request with prescreened professionals from our list of partnering investors.
There are no fees or commissions for you to pay. And there’s never any obligation to sell!
Expert Insight
What should home sellers look for when screening cash house buyers?
Those “we buy houses” guys? Get their offer in writing, check their BBB rating, and call two of their previous customers.
— Ryan Dosenberry, Crushing REI, CEO
#2 How to Sell a House in Michigan Traditionally
For selling a home in Michigan the traditional way, you should hire a real estate agent. Let’s talk about who they are, the pros and cons of using them, and how to find a good one.
Who Are Real Estate Agents?
Michigan agents are licensed by the state after taking coursework and passing an exam. Their job is representing buyers and sellers to get them the best deals they can.
Agents work under the supervision of a licensed broker to handle listings and contracts, market a property, take charge of negotiations, and also supervise the due diligence, title search, and escrow processes.
Your Great Lakes State agent is your fiduciary and can act on your behalf when selling a house in Michigan.
Realtors are dues-paying members of the Michigan branch of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This trade association holds members to high standards of professionalism and ethical behavior.
Pros of Using a Real Estate Agent
- Real estate agents have the training and experience in selling a property in Michigan. They know the ins and outs of all details of the transaction and can handle snags when they happen.
- Realtors have access to the Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is a resource that provides the sales data for agents to develop a market analysis to help homeowners set a price for a property.
- Your agent is your legal fiduciary. That allows you to go about your life without having to worry that selling your home might interfere with your home life or work.
Cons of Using a Real Estate Agent
- The average Realtor costs to sell a home are the obvious downside to selling with an agent. Michigan brokerage commissions charge the seller at least 2.5%-3% of the final sales price.
- Marketing your home with an agent is time-consuming. It can take weeks, sometimes months, to locate a buyer.
- Buyers from the general public, to whom real estate agents market properties, typically need mortgages to purchase your home. These require time to process, and there’s no guarantee that your buyer will be approved.
How to Find a Good Real Estate Agent
The easiest way to locate a qualified agent is to ask your family, friends, and coworkers to recommend real estate professionals they’ve worked with in the past.
Look for at least three years of local experience and an expertise in your neighborhood.
Once you have a list of prospects, screen them by using consumer feedback websites, including Yelp, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Real Estate Bees.
Look for positive comments and scratch agents who have negative feedback off your list of prospects.
The last step in the vetting process is the interviews. Invite three agents to do a formal listing presentation, including a marketing plan for your specific property.
Once you locate an agent you like, sign a listing contract with their brokerage.
The next sales method on our list of selling options is a “for sale by owner” listing, also known as an FSBO.
Expert Insight
What should home sellers look for when screening real estate agents to hire?
Before the interview, ask them to send links to any sites with verified reviews. The two best are Google Reviews and Zillow Reviews.
These two sites block fake reviews, and anyone with less than 50 I’d be very skeptical of. It’s common to see strong agents with 100 or more reviews.
During the interview, ask for the names and numbers of two recent past clients to call to see what their experience was. Then call them.
Lastly, don’t be overly impressed by the “neighborhood expert.” Most neighborhoods don’t need an expert, but all houses need the best, most seasoned negotiator.
— Michael Perna, The Perna Team with eXp Realty, CEO
It is important for sellers to get a feel for how well their agent listens to them and customize their advice to the seller’s situation and desired outcome.
An agent with a cookie cutter listing presentation that is delivered to every seller regardless of taking time to understand that seller’s particular circumstances is an agent to avoid.
— Sander Scott, Net Real Estate, Broker/Owner/Realtor
Interview them like you would a new hire. Ask about their list-to-sale price ratio, how they find leads, and their follow-up system. That tells you who actually delivers.
— Joshua Eberly, 717 Home Buyers, Co-Founder
— Ryan Dosenberry, Crushing REI, CEO
#3 How to Sell a House in Michigan Without Middlemen
An FSBO owner acts as their own official representative on the listing side of a transaction.
Your first official step as the FSBO seller is to complete a written property disclosure that lists all the material defects that could decrease the value of your home.
That document must be given to all prospective buyers whom you tour through your house.
You’ll then need to set a price for your home. An online research tool can help you determine a fair market value for your home.
The major task then is to review Michigan and federal real estate regulations to ensure you’re doing things legally as you wrangle your home listing.
When you feel comfortable with your mastery, it’s then time to hunt for buyers.
Ways to Market Your House Yourself
- A professional looking sign on your property helps to attract potential buyers. Make sure you’ve included several ways to contact you on the signage.
- Create a video tour of your property, and then post it on social media, including YouTube and Instagram.
- Develop a printed and online flyer for your home listing the amenities and features. This will help attract buyers and remind them of your home’s attributes after they’ve toured the property.
- List your property on for sale by owner real estate sites. Many of these are free to sellers.
Before you take on the task of selling your home yourself, it’s helpful to evaluate both the benefits and the downsides of this sales approach.
Pros of Marketing Your House Yourself
- An FSBO seller skips paying 2% to 3% of the selling price in the form of agent commissions. Your side of the commission fee is eliminated from your Michigan closing costs when you sell your home yourself.
- You are in charge of everything related to the listing and sale of your home.
- You have only one client — and that’s your home — unlike a Realtor who has to divide their efforts and time between multiple listings.
Cons of Marketing Your House Yourself
- You’ll need to meet all the legal standards in selling your house. Unless you’re familiar with those laws, you may miss some important requirements.
- You’re on your own. You won’t have anyone to assist you in the sale.
- You may make a mistake that will delay your sale, or mismanage your marketing so your house sits on the market for a very long time. A major error may have a buyer sue you for damages.
- If you’re not familiar with the typical FSBO closing costs, you may miss out on some discounts available to you if you had known to negotiate for them.
Our final sales method is used by homeowners more often than you might expect.
Expert Insight
What are the common pitfalls when selling a house by owner?
If a buyer has an agent, great! 94% of buyers use an agent, so we don’t want to cut them out.
Just know that if you get an offer from a buyer not represented and one that is representing asking for a commission, the same price offers are not equal.
Last, before you do any of it, call a couple title companies to get all the docs and forms you’ll need. They’ll help and coordinate the transaction usually for free to get the title work!
— Michael Perna, The Perna Team with eXp Realty, CEO
FSBO sellers simply cannot get their property exposed to the entire market of buyers the way a realtor can.
One FSBO seller I spoke to recently said, “All I need is one buyer.” And yes, that’s definitely true.
The question that FSBO sellers need to ask themselves is, are they more likely to find that one buyer who will pay top dollar and give them the best terms found in a small pool of potential buyers or a very large pool?
— Sander Scott, Net Real Estate, Broker/Owner/Realtor
#4 How to Sell and Buy a House at the Same Time in Michigan
When you’ve found a home you want to buy, but you still own your current home, you have several options.
You can list your house and hope for a quick sale to a cash buyer, or you can make an offer on the new home contingent on selling your current property.
There are some problems with both those options.
You may not be able to quickly find a buyer for your current house, and the owner of your new home may not want to wait for you to sell yours.
Most sellers aren’t excited about a contingency offer. You have another option, however, and that’s selling to a Michigan iBuyer.
A local iBuyer will purchase your home, and that cash equity will give you the money to purchase your new property. Once your new sale has been finalized, the iBuyer will close on your current home.
There’s no hunting for a buyer, there’s no worry that the iBuyer will not qualify for a loan, since the investor brings cash to the sale, and you won’t have to make a contingency offer on your new home.
Home Sales Process in Michigan
That’s a wrap on how to sell a house in Michigan. Our next segment tracks the shared steps involved in the Great Lakes State sales process.
Before Signing a Purchase Contract
The intensive period for most homeowners is the pre-contract signing period.
If you’re marketing to the general public, you’ll need to make your home move-in ready. Typical buyers generally aren’t interested in purchasing a fixer.
Your prep might include painting, repairing or replacing flooring, decluttering, or installing new window coverings and improving exterior hardscape or landscaping.
Your pre-listing upgrades might also include making structural repairs or major remodeling. All the repairs and rehabbing to ready your home for sale take time and also require cash.
Selling to a real estate investor eliminates that expense of time and cash. Investors aren’t focused on buying turnkey homes. They purchase homes in as-is condition.
Before you can start marketing, you’ll need to fill out a property disclosure for your home.
You must use the form to inventory any material damages to your home or the risks present that might negatively impact the new homeowner.
Our article detailing how selling a house as is works in Michigan can give you specific information about the state-mandated property disclosure.
Marketing the Property
The next step involves marketing your home.
You could have the best plan, but if the market isn’t good, or you’re selling in a season that’s typically slow, your marketing efforts may fail to locate a buyer.
A typical plan includes signs on the property, broker previews, open houses, and traditional and online advertising.
A sale to an investor eliminates all of that. Investors require only your call to let them know you would like to receive an offer.
Accepting an Offer
Buyer’s offers for sellers using any of the listing options will be accompanied by an earnest money deposit. That cash moves to an escrow account when you accept an offer.
An escrow company is a neutral third party that ensures the terms of the sales contract are met, creates the required legal paperwork, and also holds and transfers the money involved in the sale.
Buyer Due Diligence Period
The next period can take weeks, or months, depending on your buyer and the issues involved in the transaction.
The major sticking point in most transactions is property condition. Your buyer has the legal right to hire property inspectors to examine your house.
If professional inspectors find damage that isn’t listed on the property disclosure, then you may be back to negotiating the sale price and terms.
This is also the time your buyer hires a title company to do a search of the legal title to the property.
Your buyers will also take out title insurance, search for a lender, and then apply for a loan, and contract for hazard insurance.
All that takes weeks to complete. Investors skip most of the steps on that list, so your time in the due diligence period will be shorter.
A few days prior to signing the final paperwork for the sale, your escrow officer will review your closing costs with you.
While you’ll see commissions and closing costs on your side of the ledger, when selling to an investor, you’ll pocket that cash since professional cash buyers cover those costs for you.
After your buyer does a formal walkthrough of the property, it’s time for the final closing.
Closing
The formal closing involves signing and notarizing the legal paperwork. A new deed to the property will also be filed with the county’s Register of Deeds office.
Once you turn your keys over to the new buyer, that’s it. You’ve sold your home!
Expert Insight
In a traditional real estate sale, which stage is the most complex and time-consuming for sellers and how could they make it easier?
At this point, it’s go time. First up, the inspection takes 3-8 hours you should not be there for and if something comes up, there would be a lot of back and forth negotiating that out.
Then, the appraisal. Appraisals have been coming in at value for the last few years, but that’s starting to change.
We’ve seen an increasing amount come in under the sales price, which means we’re negotiating again.
Next up is any additional paperwork the title company will need.
Are you in a trust? Dig it up, they’ll need it. Is it an estate sale? You’ll need the death certificate. After that, it’s just waiting on the lender to finish up the underwriting process.
— Michael Perna, The Perna Team with eXp Realty, CEO
Managing the post inspection re-negotiation (avoiding it entirely is preferred), appraisal issues, buyer financing issues, title work, point of sale regulatory requirements, occupancy timing, closing logistics, and buyer communication are all factors that can easily overwhelm a seller if not planned for and managed well.
I like to take my sellers through an exercise that I call “Deciding How You Will Decide” ahead of time.
This exercise helps me understand the sellers’ particular circumstances, goals after the sale, and preferences so that I can customize my advice and help them make good property decisions for themselves along the way as we move through the transaction.
Every client’s situation is unique and the decisions made along the way should be tailored to the client’s best interest.
The only way to make sure that happens is to understand the client’s situation, preferences, and goals after the sale at a deep level.
— Sander Scott, Net Real Estate, Broker/Owner/Realtor
Preparing the house for listing is the most complex stage. Sellers don’t have enough guidance and this is very personal.
There’s a gray line between what people are going to do that could be outside of their lifestyle, or they may not see the value in it.
Many times, I’ve seen very good listings sit on the market because, for example, sellers didn’t clean the house, or even the yard which was a turn-off for buyers so it made the house sit.
Now, I am sure the agent mentioned it, but humans have different standards and those things are never in black and white.
So, I recommend listening to your agent’s recommendations about how to make your house listing-ready so it’s presentable, and observing the similar houses in your area and their current conditions.
These can set the standard and the rest is on you!
— Sam Talib, Fine Investments, Founder and Investor
Next Step
We’ve reviewed how to sell a home in Michigan and the methods to sell in the Great Lakes State.
The next step is to collect the names of Realtors, iBuyers, and real estate investors.
We can help you with your search for professional cash home buyers.
We work with a national collection of experienced real estate investors who have the expertise and a record of closing transactions quickly.
We’ve prescreened our investors to ensure they have the training, experience, and a long list of satisfied clients.
You can request cash offers now by completing a short questionnaire, so we can share your request with our partnering local investors.
There’s never a fee for sellers. You won’t pay a dime for the vetting or the offers. There’s never any obligation to sell — no matter how many offers you receive.
It’s fast, free, and easy!
