Offer Now Michigan Blog

No law in Michigan requires a home inspection to sell a house. Inspections exist for the buyer’s benefit, ordered and paid for by the buyer, and a buyer can skip one entirely. So yes, you can sell without an inspection. The real question is what kind of buyer will do that, and what you still … Continued

The short answer: one owner cannot sell the whole house alone. Every person on the deed has to sign for the full property to transfer. But that is not the end of the story, because what a single owner CAN do depends entirely on how the deed reads, and Michigan gives stuck owners a court … Continued

Distressed property is investor shorthand, but if you own one, the definitions matter because each type of distress runs on its own clock, and the clock decides which options you still have. The two kinds of distress Financial distress means the ownership is in trouble: missed mortgage payments, delinquent property taxes, a looming sheriff sale, … Continued

Yes, a house can be sold during probate in Michigan, and estates do it every day. What catches families off guard is the sequencing: certain steps must happen before anyone can sign a purchase agreement, and the calendar is longer than most heirs expect. Step one: someone needs authority Nothing can be sold until the … Continued

Nobody waives closing costs out of kindness, but a surprising share of them are negotiable if you know which line items move. Here is how the roughly 2 to 4 percent in costs on a Michigan sale actually breaks down, and where the leverage is. What sellers pay in Michigan The seller side is dominated … Continued

A condemnation notice feels final, but it is not. Condemned means a local building official has declared the structure unsafe or unfit for occupancy under the property maintenance code. It is about occupancy, not ownership. You still own the house, the land, and every option that comes with them. How a house gets condemned in … Continued

Michigan does not require a lawyer to buy or sell a house. Title companies run most closings, which is why attorney fees here are lower than in states where lawyers must conduct every closing. But there are situations where a few hundred dollars of legal review saves tens of thousands, so here is what the … Continued

Selling without an agent in Michigan is completely legal and, on paper, not that complicated. The trap is that a missed form here carries real consequences, from lawsuits over disclosure to a property tax penalty for a late affidavit. Here is the actual stack of paperwork, in the order you will touch it. Before you … Continued

Michigan does not have a separate capital gains tax rate. When you sell a house at a profit, any taxable gain flows onto your federal return, and Michigan taxes it like ordinary income at the state’s flat 4.25% rate. Whether you owe anything at all usually comes down to one federal rule. The exclusion that … Continued

Here is the answer people are relieved to hear: Michigan has no inheritance tax. It also has no state estate tax. Michigan’s old inheritance tax only applies to deaths before October 1993, so for any estate you are dealing with today, the state of Michigan takes nothing off the top when you inherit. The federal … Continued

Every month we walk through vacant houses across Michigan, and squatters come up in those conversations more than almost anything else. The good news: Michigan gives property owners more protection than most states. The bad news: a vacant house is still a magnet for problems, and the longer it sits, the worse the math gets. … Continued