Selling a house by owner in Michigan

No part of this page is an argument against selling by owner. For some sellers it is the right answer. It is the wrong answer when nobody warned you what you were taking on.

What selling by owner does and does not mean

For sale by owner means no listing brokerage represents you. You set the price, you market the property, you deal with whoever turns up, you negotiate, and you carry the file to closing yourself.

It does not mean no agents are involved. Most buyers are working with one, and a buyer's agent will approach you on their client's behalf. It does not mean no paperwork: Michigan's disclosure obligations sit with the seller whether or not a brokerage is involved. And it does not mean no cost, because title, transfer tax and closing charges arrive whoever lists the property.

What stays yours in every version of this

Some of the work does not move no matter how you list. It is worth separating that from the work that does, because the decision is only ever about the second kind.

The Seller's Disclosure Statement

Michigan requires a seller of most residential property to give the buyer a written disclosure statement about the condition of the property. It is your statement about your house. A broker cannot complete it for you, and listing with one does not remove it.

Lead-based paint, for homes built before 1978

Federal law requires a lead-based paint disclosure, the EPA pamphlet, and an opportunity for the buyer to inspect on homes built before 1978. It applies to a by-owner seller exactly as it does to any other.

Whatever your city requires

Several Michigan municipalities have their own pre-sale requirements. Dearborn requires a city inspection and a Certificate of Occupancy before a sale can close, and the ordinance puts that obligation on everyone helping to consummate the transfer, not only on the seller. These rules are municipal, so they differ from one city to the next, and they do not disappear in a by-owner sale. Check what applies where your property is.

Transfer tax

In Michigan the seller customarily pays the state and county real estate transfer tax: $3.75 per $500 to the state and $0.55 per $500 to the county, charged on each $500 of value or fraction of it. How it is calculated, with a calculator.

What changes: who sees the house

The MLS is the database brokers use, and it is what feeds the major public portals. A property that is not on it is not in the feed agents search when they are matching buyers to houses.

A by-owner listing can still be advertised with a sign, social media, the by-owner sites, word of mouth. What it cannot do without an MLS entry is appear in front of the agents actively working with buyers in your area. That is the structural difference, and it is the reason flat fee MLS exists as a category: it puts the property in the database without putting a percentage listing commission on the sale. What flat fee MLS is, and how it works in Michigan.

Showings, offers and the road to closing

Showings

Selling by owner means fielding the enquiries and arranging access yourself, around your own working week. Buyer agents expect to book a time and get in.

Offers

An offer is a contract, and the price is the part of it easiest to read. The terms that decide whether a deal survives are elsewhere: financing and appraisal contingencies, the inspection response period, what happens to earnest money, occupancy after closing, what stays with the house. Selling by owner means reading those yourself, and negotiating against someone who reads them for a living.

Contract to close

After a purchase agreement is signed there is a stretch of work with nothing to do with marketing: the inspection response, the appraisal, title, any municipal certificate, and the coordination that gets everyone to the table on the same day. In a by-owner sale that coordination is yours.

Where Michigan For Sale fits

Our packages exist because listing it yourself and hiring a full-service brokerage are not the only two options. Each draws the line in a different place.

You want MLS exposure and you are running the sale

MLS Listing, $599. Your property goes on the MLS and out to the portals it feeds. You receive offers directly, decide what they are worth, negotiate, carry the transaction through to closing, and arrange showings. This is the closest thing to selling by owner while still being in the database.

You want help when offers arrive

Offer Support, $799 upfront plus 0.5% at closing. Offers come to us and we present them to you, including a licensed read on what an offer says beyond the price. You still handle counteroffers, negotiation and the work after the purchase agreement is signed, and you still arrange showings.

You want the transaction handled

Full Service, $1,199 upfront plus 1% at closing, minimum $2,500. On Full Service we coordinate showings, negotiate offers and counteroffers on your behalf, and stay with the transaction through inspection, appraisal, title and closing. You decide whether to accept, counter or decline, and you complete your own disclosures.

Full pricing and what each package includes or work out what you would save.

Common questions

Is it legal to sell my own house in Michigan?

Yes. You are not required to use a real estate broker to sell property you own.

Do I still have to complete the seller's disclosure?

Yes. The obligation under the Seller Disclosure Act sits with the seller, not with a brokerage.

Can a buyer's agent bring me a buyer if I am selling by owner?

They can approach you. Whether you offer any compensation to a buyer's agent is a separate decision, negotiated as part of the purchase agreement. It is not set by law and it is not automatic.

Can I put my house on the MLS without hiring a listing agent on commission?

That is what a flat fee MLS listing is. The listing goes into the MLS and the portals it feeds, and you pay a fixed fee rather than a percentage of the sale price.

If I list with you, am I still selling by owner?

On MLS Listing you are doing most of what a by-owner seller does, with the property in the database. On the other two packages progressively less of the transaction is yours. Which one fits depends on how much of the work you want to keep.

Deciding

The question worth asking is not whether you can sell the house yourself. It is which parts of the job you want. Marketing and exposure is one problem. Reading and negotiating an offer is a second. Getting an executed contract to the closing table is a third. They are separable, and you can keep some and hand over others.

Start a listing or read how the process works.