Home Seller Questions, Answered

A real valuation comes from recent sales of genuinely comparable homes near you, adjusted for condition, updates, and lot. Online estimates cannot see a new roof, a finished basement, or a road that backs the yard. I'll walk the home, pull the sold comparables, and give you a range with the reasoning behind it. It's free and it doesn't commit you to listing.

Yes. Michigan law requires most residential sellers to give the buyer a written Seller's Disclosure Statement covering the condition of the home's systems and known defects. It is a disclosure of what you know, not a warranty, and it has to be delivered on the timeline the statute sets. Answer it honestly — an inaccurate disclosure is one of the most common reasons a closed sale turns into a dispute.

Budget for real estate commission (always negotiable, and agreed in writing before listing), the state and county real estate transfer tax, the owner's title insurance policy that sellers customarily pay for in Michigan, any prorated property taxes, a closing or settlement fee, payoff of your existing mortgage, and anything you agree to fix or credit after the inspection. I'll put your actual numbers into a net sheet before you sign anything.

The state real estate transfer tax is $3.75 per $500 of the sale price and the county transfer tax is $0.55 per $500 in most counties, and by custom the seller pays both. On a $300,000 sale that's $2,250 to the state and $330 to the county. Certain transfers are exempt, including some sales where the taxable value has not risen since you bought — your title company confirms exemptions at closing.

Clean, decluttered, and mechanically sound pays for itself far more reliably than a pre-sale renovation. Fix the small visible things — dripping taps, sticking doors, burnt-out bulbs, cracked outlet covers — and deal with anything a buyer's inspector will flag as a safety issue. Before you spend real money on a kitchen or bathroom, ask me whether that specific project is likely to come back in your sale price. Often it isn't.

No. Price is one term among several. The financing type, the size of the earnest money deposit, the appraisal and inspection contingencies, the closing date, and whether the buyer needs occupancy after closing can matter more than the top-line number. The strongest offer is the one most likely to actually close on terms that work for your move.

A financed buyer's lender will only lend against the appraised value, so the gap has to be resolved: the buyer brings the difference in cash, the price is renegotiated, the appraisal is challenged with better comparables, or the contract ends under its appraisal contingency. Which of those is available to you is written into the purchase agreement, which is why those terms get reviewed before you accept.

Yes, and most sellers do. The usual approaches are making your purchase contingent on your sale, negotiating occupancy after closing so you don't move twice, or bridging the gap with your lender. Each has trade-offs in cost and in how strong your offer looks. We plan the sequence before your home goes on the market, not after an offer arrives.

Yours end at closing and are prorated between you and the buyer. The buyer's bill is a separate question: Michigan caps annual growth in taxable value for the current owner, and that cap resets the year after a sale, so the new owner's taxes are often higher than yours were. Also file the paperwork to rescind your Principal Residence Exemption on the home you're leaving and claim it on the one you're moving into.

Honestly, it depends on price, condition, and what else is available in your price range at that moment, so any specific number a website gives you is a guess. What I can tell you is that once you accept an offer, a typical financed closing runs about 30 to 45 days. I'll show you how long comparable homes near you actually sat before they sold.