Benefits of working with a seller’s agent: What you actually get

Written by Samantha SheltonNMLS 1647301Updated October 2026

This article is general information about selling a home and Michigan real estate agency law, not legal or tax advice. Agency duties, listing terms and disclosure obligations vary by state and by the wording of your agreement. Consult a Michigan real estate attorney and a tax professional.

A seller’s agent, the same licensee your listing agreement calls a listing agent, prices your home, markets it, negotiates the offers and carries the contract and disclosure paperwork to closing. Almost every seller uses one: 91% of sellers worked with an agent or broker in the National Association of REALTORS® 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, equal to the highest share that survey has recorded. It covers transactions completed from July 2024 through June 2025.

What that adoption does not prove is that representation caused those sellers’ outcomes. The most-quoted number in this debate, the gap between FSBO and agent-assisted median sale prices, compares two different populations, and we handle it honestly below rather than dressing it up as a return on commission.

Learn what a seller’s agent is worth, including what Michigan law requires one to do, what the FSBO evidence really shows, and what the service costs, or start with our Selling a Home guide.

Key takeaways:

• Representation is now the near-universal default: 91% of sellers used an agent or broker in NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, equal to the highest agent share the survey has recorded, alongside 88% of buyers.
• The famous price gap is a median comparison, not a measurement of agent value: that same report puts the FSBO median sale price below the agent-assisted median, but the two groups are not alike. Many FSBO sales are private sales to a known buyer, and NAR itself notes FSBO homes skew toward lower-cost mobile and rural properties.
• Michigan puts a statutory floor under the service: a licensee under a service provision agreement owes a client 7 minimum duties and must deliver 5 minimum services, and only 3 of those 5 can be waived, and only in a written limited service agreement.

What does a seller’s agent actually owe you?

In Michigan, 7 duties and 5 services, set by statute rather than by the brokerage’s marketing. Under the Occupational Code, a licensee acting under a service provision agreement owes a client, at a minimum: reasonable care and skill, performance of the agreement, loyalty to the client’s interest, legal compliance, referral to other licensed professionals for expert advice outside the broker’s expertise, a timely accounting of money received, and confidentiality.

The services are enumerated separately, and they are the concrete work you are buying.

• Marketing the property as agreed: The statute requires marketing the client’s property in the manner agreed on in the agreement, which is why that paragraph matters more than the brochure.
• Receiving and presenting every offer: The licensee must accept delivery of and present offers and counteroffers, all of them, not a filtered selection.
• Negotiating to a signed agreement: Assistance developing, communicating and negotiating offers, counteroffers and notices until a purchase agreement is executed and every contingency is satisfied or waived.
• Carrying the file after signing: Assistance completing the transaction on the executed terms, and the licensee may not close on terms contrary to that agreement without written approval from both parties.
• A detailed closing statement: A broker involved at closing must furnish both parties a complete, signed statement of their receipts and disbursements, unless a title company conducts the closing.

Two consequences follow that most sellers never hear. Failing to provide those minimum services is prohibited conduct for a Michigan licensee unless the client expressly waived them in writing. And a broker representing a seller may not advertise the property as “for sale by owner” or otherwise suggest the seller is unrepresented.

What does the FSBO-versus-agent evidence actually show?

It shows a median price gap and a badly mismatched comparison.¹ NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports a lower median sale price for for-sale-by-owner homes than for agent-assisted homes. That gap is the number every listing presentation quotes, and it is real survey data, published November 2025 and available in NAR’s research on buyer and seller behavior.

It is also a median comparison across two populations that differ before an agent ever enters the picture. Three things make that plain.

• Many FSBO sales are private sales: A large share of FSBO transactions are sales to a friend, relative, neighbor or tenant the seller already knew, where price often follows the relationship rather than market exposure.
• The properties are different: NAR notes the lower FSBO figure may reflect that FSBO homes are more frequently lower-cost mobile homes or homes in rural areas.
• It is a median, not a study: The figures are medians for two self-selected groups in a consumer survey, not controlled for property type, condition, size, price tier, geography or market conditions.

So the honest statement is narrow: FSBO sellers as a group sell cheaper homes under different circumstances. Nothing in that report measures what representation is worth on your house, and converting the gap into “an agent gets you X% more” invents a causal claim the data cannot support. What the report does show without a selection problem is where unrepresented sellers struggle: pricing, preparing the home, and selling inside their intended timeframe. The mechanics of going it alone are covered in selling without a REALTOR®.

What else did NAR’s 2025 seller survey find?

Beyond the headline 91%, the 2025 Profile describes who sells. In its November 4, 2025 release, NAR said the typical seller had owned the home for a record 11 years, compared with six years from 2000 to 2008, and that the typical seller was 64, the oldest age the survey has recorded. Sellers named help marketing the home, pricing it competitively and selling within a specific timeframe as top priorities when choosing an agent.

A follow-up NAR article dated November 11, 2025 broke out the for-sale-by-owner side of the same survey.

Source: National Association of REALTORS®, FSBOs Reach All-Time Low, More Sellers Rely on Agents (November 11, 2025), reporting the 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.

These are self-reported survey answers, so they carry the same selection problem as the price gap: they describe what sellers said, not what an agent would have changed on a given house. One academic study separates price from time. Economists Igal Hendel, Aviv Nevo and François Ortalo-Magné compared Madison, Wisconsin sellers who listed on a FSBO website with sellers who used an agent and the MLS, and in NBER Working Paper 13360 (September 2007) reported no support for the idea that MLS listing produced a significantly higher sale price, while finding that MLS listing shortened the time it took to sell. For a seller who is also buying, time costs money; see bridge loans and what to do if your home doesn’t sell.

How does a seller’s agent price your home, and what does mispricing cost?

Through a comparative market analysis, and in Michigan that is a regulated document, not a guess. A written market analysis performed for a fee by a licensed broker or associate broker must state in boldfaced print that it is a market analysis, not an appraisal, and was prepared by a licensed broker rather than a licensed appraiser. That boundary is the point: your agent gives an opinion of value from closed comparable sales, while a licensed appraiser produces the valuation your buyer’s lender underwrites to.

Hypothetical example, not an offer. Here is the arithmetic, using hypothetical but ordinary Michigan numbers. Say closed comparables in your subdivision ran $410,000 to $440,000 after adjusting for a finished basement and a newer roof. List at $429,900 and you sit inside the range buyer agents are searching. List at $469,900 because a neighbor’s asking price impressed you, and you burn the first six weeks, when traffic is highest, then cut to $434,900 and settle at $421,000 with a buyer who knows the home has been sitting.

The cost is not only the $8,900 between those two numbers. It is two extra mortgage payments, two months of taxes and insurance, and a weaker position on inspection credits. Pricing is the task FSBO sellers most often report struggling with. Our Selling Strategies hub goes deeper, and tips for first-time home sellers covers the preparation behind the number.

What does a seller’s agent cost, and what is negotiable?

All of it is negotiable, and there is no standard, typical or customary rate. Not by law, not by any association, and not on any form you will be handed.² The written disclosure your agent must give a buyer under the 2024 practice changes says the same thing in the same words: compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable. Treat any percentage quoted to you as an opening position, not a schedule.

What changed recently is where compensation may be communicated. Under the National Association of REALTORS® settlement practice changes effective August 17, 2024, offers of compensation to buyer brokers may no longer be communicated through an MLS, and MLS participants working with a buyer must have a written agreement disclosing the amount or rate of their compensation before touring a home. Buyer-broker compensation can still be negotiated off-MLS or handled as a seller concession, and the listing side must disclose any such payment to the seller and obtain the seller’s approval.

Three questions do the real work in that conversation.

• What is the total, and who receives what: Get the listing side and any buyer-broker payment as separate line items, not one blended percentage.
• What service is attached to the number: A lower rate paired with no professional photography and no showing coordination can cost more than it saves. See how real estate agent commissions work.
• What happens if you cancel: Termination terms and the protection period belong in the conversation before you sign, not after the listing goes stale.

What do federal agencies say about commission levels?

No law sets a commission, and federal agencies have treated commission levels as a competition question. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest, announced December 19, 2025, supporting competition among real estate brokers in Davis v. Hanna Holdings in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Twenty years earlier, the Government Accountability Office estimated in report GAO-05-947 that consumers paid $61 billion in residential brokerage fees in 2004.

NPR reported on May 21, 2025 that the settlement rules opened room for brokerages charging a flat fee, in Why more home buyers and sellers are turning to flat-fee brokers. None of this is a quote for your sale; it is why the number deserves the line-by-line questions above, and how to choose a real estate agent covers the interview.

What a seller pays and what an agent earns are different numbers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put median pay for real estate brokers and sales agents at $57,400 a year in 2025, with brokers at $73,220 and sales agents at $52,830 in May 2025, across 530,600 jobs, in its Occupational Outlook Handbook (page last modified August 27, 2026).

Where does a seller’s agent stop protecting you?

At four specific edges, and a listing presentation will rarely name any of them.

• Your agent cannot practice law or give tax advice: Michigan’s statutory duty is to refer you to other licensed professionals on material matters outside the broker’s expertise. Custom contract language, a title defect or capital gains exposure is work for a Michigan real estate attorney and a tax professional.
• Loyalty narrows the moment agency does: If the same licensee ends up representing your buyer too, Michigan permits it only with informed written consent from both sides, and the statutory form warns the licensee will not be able to disclose all known information to either party. That trade is covered in dual agency.
• Fair housing constrains what can be said about your home: The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to publish any advertisement about the sale of a dwelling indicating a preference, limitation or discrimination based on a protected characteristic, and Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act runs parallel. Listing copy describes the property, never the neighborhood or an ideal buyer, and an agent asked whether a school district is “good” should point you to objective public data rather than characterize it.
• Errors-and-omissions coverage is not a consumer guarantee: It is professional liability insurance carried by the brokerage; it promises you no recovery and does not respond to intentional acts. Nolo’s guide to selling a house is a plain-English starting point before you talk to counsel.

How do loan rules limit the closing cost help you can give a buyer?

When a buyer asks you to cover closing costs, the ceiling is set by the buyer’s loan program, not only by what you are willing to give. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide calls these interested party contributions, defined as contributions made by third parties with a vested interest in the transaction, and it names the property seller and the real estate agent or broker among those parties. Its Selling Guide section B3-4.1-02 (topic dated May 7, 2025, in the Guide edition published October 7, 2026) sets maximum financing concessions by the loan’s loan-to-value ratio, calculated on the lower of the sales price or appraised value.

Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-4.1-02, Interested Party Contributions (IPCs).

FHA, VA, USDA and Freddie Mac loans follow their own rules, so the first question on a credit request is which loan the buyer is using. See seller-paid closing costs and how to handle multiple offers.

Full-service, limited-service or FSBO: what actually changes?

In Michigan the dividing line is statutory, not marketing language. Of the 5 minimum services, only 3 (presenting offers, negotiating to a signed agreement, and post-signing assistance) may be waived, and only through a separate written limited service agreement the client initials service by service.

Read that as a menu, not a ranking. A seller who already has a buyer and a lawyer may rationally waive services a first-time seller should never touch.

What should you check before you sign a Michigan listing agreement?

• The license: LARA’s real estate licensing page links the state’s license verification and complaint pages, so you can look up both the brokerage and the individual agent before you sign.
• When the agency disclosure arrives: MCL 339.2517(1) requires the written agency disclosure before you disclose any confidential information to the licensee, so it belongs at the start of the conversation, before you discuss the price you would accept or why you are moving.
• Any payment for a future listing: If a broker has paid you for the right to list your home later, MCL 339.2512g, added by 2024 PA 122 effective July 25, 2024, makes that right-to-list home sale agreement void and unenforceable if it is not in writing, is not signed by every owner, runs more than 2 years, or lacks an early termination option costing no more than the broker’s initial payment plus 6% per annum.
• What a limited service waiver says about lawyers: The statutory waiver form in MCL 339.2517 includes the client’s acknowledgment that “in order to protect my interests I may need to retain other professionals, such as an attorney.”
• Where the buyer’s deposit goes: MCL 339.2512(1)(k) requires a broker to deposit a buyer’s money in a custodial trust or escrow account not later than 2 banking days after notice that all parties accepted the offer, and to hold it until the transaction closes or terminates. See earnest money deposits.

Michigan also has its own case on discount listings. Realcomp II, Ltd., an association of local real estate boards in southeastern Michigan with about 14,000 member brokers, kept exclusive agency and other nontraditional listings out of its feeds to public websites, and from 2003 to 2007 out of the MLS default search. The FTC ruled that Realcomp’s listing policies, including the website policy, violated the FTC Act, and on April 6, 2011 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied Realcomp’s petition for review. On a limited-service listing, ask how it will appear in MLS searches and on public sites; common seller mistakes to avoid lists other pitfalls.

What Michigan sellers should know

Three Michigan rules shape what your listing agent prepares, what lands on your net sheet, and where a complaint goes.

• The seller disclosure is yours, and the timing is strict: Michigan’s Seller Disclosure Act covers transfers of not less than 1 or more than 4 residential dwelling units, and in a sale the written statement must reach the buyer before the seller signs a binding purchase agreement. Deliver it late and the buyer may terminate, within 72 hours of in-person delivery, or 120 hours by registered mail. Disclosure must be made in good faith, which the act defines as honesty in fact. See what a seller’s disclosure is.
• Transfer tax is a seller line item at $8.60 per $1,000: The state transfer tax runs $3.75 per $500 of value and the county adds $0.55 per $500 in counties under 2,000,000 population. On a $425,000 sale that is $3,187.50 to the state and $467.50 to the county, $3,655 total, before commission, title or prorations. Your agent should show it in a written estimate: see what a seller’s net sheet is.
• Know where a complaint goes, and how long you have: Michigan licensees are regulated by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs under Article 25 of Public Act 299 of 1980, and a complaint seeking a penalty under the Occupational Code must be filed no later than 18 months after the alleged violation or the completion of the transaction, whichever is later. Damages claims go to a Michigan real estate attorney.

One point sellers miss: your financing is independent of your listing. Align Lending is a mortgage broker, not a listing brokerage, not an agent-referral service, and not compensated by real estate agents. If you are buying next, we shop your purchase file across competing wholesale lenders and answer only to you. See the benefits of working with a mortgage broker.

How much is Michigan transfer tax at different sale prices?

Both Michigan transfer taxes are charged per $500 “or fraction of $500” under MCL 207.525, so a price a few dollars past a $500 step adds a full step. County registers of deeds publish the same rates: the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds fee schedule, effective October 1, 2016, lists county tax at $.55 per $500.00 ($1.10 per $1,000) and state tax at $3.75 per $500.00 ($7.50 per $1,000), plus a $30.00 deed recording fee that includes a $4.00 state survey and remonumentation fee.

Hypothetical example, not an offer. The table applies the state rate and the county rate for a county under 2,000,000 people to three sale prices.

Source: state rate of $3.75 per $500, MCL 207.525; county rate of 55 cents per $500, MCL 207.504. The $425,100 row shows the fraction rule: $100 past $425,000 adds a whole step.

Exemptions can remove the state portion. MCL 207.526(u) exempts the sale of a home that the seller claimed as a principal residence under the exemption in MCL 211.7cc, at an arm’s-length price, when its state equalized valuation is no higher than it was on the later of the date the seller acquired it or the first tax day after its certificate of occupancy was issued. The Michigan transfer tax calculator runs your own price, and the seller net sheet calculator adds commission and payoff, and the finances of selling explains each line.

FAQ: Working with a seller’s agent

Here are answers to common questions about working with a seller’s agent.

What is the difference between a seller’s agent and a listing agent?

They are the same role described two ways. “Listing agent” names the contract; “seller’s agent” names the representation, and Michigan’s statutory disclosure form says a seller’s agent under a listing agreement acts solely on behalf of the seller. Both mean the person who prices, markets and negotiates on your side, the mirror image of the benefits of hiring a buyer’s agent.

How does a listing agent decide my home’s price?

Through a comparative market analysis of recently closed sales similar to yours in size, age, condition and location, adjusted for differences and read against current inventory and days on market. The output is a range, not a number, and Michigan requires a written fee-based market analysis to state in bold that it is not an appraisal. Your buyer’s lender orders its own valuation.

Can I negotiate my seller’s agent’s commission?

Yes. Commission is not set by law or by any association and has always been negotiable, with no standard or customary rate. Leverage is usually strongest on higher-priced homes, in fast markets, and when the same agent will also represent you on your purchase. Ask what services change if the rate drops, and get every fee written as a line item alongside your seller’s closing costs.

Do I still need a seller’s agent in a hot market?

Often yes, because a fast market produces multiple offers, which are harder to evaluate than one. Comparing net proceeds across offers with different concessions, contingencies and appraisal-gap terms moves real money, and how you choose among buyers carries fair-housing exposure.

Who pays the transfer tax when a house sells in Michigan?

The seller, unless the contract says otherwise. The Michigan Department of Treasury says the seller (grantor) is legally responsible for the state tax, paid through the county when the deed is recorded, and that some buyers and sellers agree the buyer will pay on the seller’s behalf. If the transfer was exempt, Form 2796 asks Treasury for a refund; file it within four years and 15 days of the sale and allow 6 to 8 weeks.

Do I have to pay capital gains tax when I sell my house?

Often not on a main home. IRS Topic 701 (updated October 12, 2026) lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned and lived in the home for at least 24 months of the last 5 years. IRS Publication 523 subtracts selling expenses, including an agent’s commission, to find the amount realized. A Form 1099-S means you report the sale even if the gain is excludable. See capital gains tax exemptions.

Do I have to disclose lead paint when I sell an older home?

Yes, for housing built before 1978. According to the EPA (page last updated May 27, 2026), the seller must disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards, give the buyer the Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home pamphlet, allow a 10-day period for a paint inspection or risk assessment, include a Lead Warning Statement, and keep signed disclosures for three years. It sits beside Michigan’s own form; see how to handle seller disclosures.

Can a seller’s agent turn down an offer because of who the buyer is?

No. The Fair Housing Act, as HUD describes it, covers race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability, and Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act adds age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and marital status. MCL 37.2502 makes it unlawful for a broker or salesperson to refuse to receive or transmit a bona fide offer on those grounds. Offers are weighed on price and terms.

The bottom line on working with a seller’s agent

A seller’s agent prices your home from a market analysis, markets it, presents and negotiates every offer, and carries the contract and disclosure paperwork to closing, and in Michigan 7 duties and 5 services are set by statute, with only 3 services waivable in a written limited service agreement. Representation is now the default: 91% of sellers used an agent or broker in NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Treat that report’s FSBO-versus-agent median price gap as a description of who sells FSBO, often a private sale of a lower-cost or rural home to a known buyer, not a measurement of what an agent adds to your house. And treat the commission as fully negotiable, because it is.

If you’re ready to sell one home and finance the next, talk to Align Lending. We’ll shop your purchase scenario across our lender network and show you the numbers side by side, whichever listing arrangement you choose. Call 248-506-5727 or start online. Take listing-contract and disclosure questions to a Michigan real estate attorney and tax questions to a tax professional.

Footnotes:

1. The median sale prices for FSBO and agent-assisted transactions are published in the National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, a member-purchased consumer survey covering transactions completed between July 2024 and June 2025; the underlying dollar figures are not restated here, and current figures should be confirmed in the report itself. They are medians for two self-selected groups and are not controlled for property type, condition, price tier, geography or market conditions; NAR itself notes FSBO homes are more frequently lower-cost mobile homes or homes in rural areas. The comparison therefore does not measure the effect of representation on any individual sale and should not be read as a percentage an agent will add to your price. Align Lending is a Michigan mortgage broker and is not affiliated with NAR. Return to text.

2. Real estate commissions have always been negotiable and there is no standard, typical or customary rate; nothing here is a quote, an estimate, or a representation of what any brokerage will charge. Align Lending is not a party to the National Association of REALTORS® settlement, is not a real estate brokerage or an agent-referral service, and is not compensated by real estate agents; the practice changes described are administered by NAR and by individual MLSs, and local MLS rules and forms vary. Confirm compensation terms, MLS rules and the wording of your own listing agreement with your real estate broker and, where appropriate, a Michigan real estate attorney. Return to text.

Sources: Share of sellers who used a real estate agent or broker (91%, equal to the highest share on record), share of buyers who used an agent or broker (88%), and the July 2024 to June 2025 survey period, National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (news release, November 4, 2025). The lower median sale price reported for FSBO homes than for agent-assisted homes, NAR’s observation that this may reflect that FSBO homes are more frequently lower-cost mobile homes or homes in rural areas, the share of FSBO sales made to a buyer the seller already knew, and the tasks FSBO sellers most often report as difficult (pricing the home, preparing it for sale, and selling within the desired timeframe). National Association of REALTORS®, Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers; the underlying dollar figures are published in the purchased report and are not restated here. Minimum duties owed to a client under a service provision agreement, reasonable care and skill, performance of the agreement, loyalty to the interest of the client, compliance with law, referral for expert advice, timely accounting, and confidentiality, MCL 339.2512d(2)(a) through (g); minimum services including marketing the client’s property in the manner agreed on, acceptance and presentation of offers and counteroffers, assistance in negotiating to an executed agreement, post-execution assistance and the bar on closing on terms contrary to the purchase agreement without written approval, and the detailed signed closing statement, MCL 339.2512d(3)(a) through (e); prohibition on a seller’s broker advertising the property as “for sale by owner,” MCL 339.2512d(4); waiver of the services in subsection (3)(b), (c) and (d) by limited service agreement, MCL 339.2512d(5) and MCL 339.2517(2). Statutory agency disclosure form text that a seller’s agent under a listing agreement acts solely on behalf of the seller, and the dual-agency paragraph stating the licensee will not be able to disclose all known information to either party, MCL 339.2517(3); the separate limited service agreement form, MCL 339.2517(4). Prohibited conduct for failing to provide the minimum services specified under section 2512d(3) absent an express written waiver, MCL 339.2512(1)(j); prohibited conduct for a market analysis that does not comply with section 2601(a)(ii), MCL 339.2512(1)(i); 18-month deadline to file a complaint seeking a penalty, measured from the alleged violation or the completion of the transaction, whichever is later, MCL 339.2512(2). Definition excluding from “appraisal” a fee market analysis by a licensed broker or associate broker that is put in writing and states in boldfaced print that it is a market analysis and not an appraisal, MCL 339.2601(a)(ii). Application of the seller disclosure requirements to transfers of not less than 1 or more than 4 residential dwelling units, Michigan Seller Disclosure Act, 1993 PA 92, MCL 565.952; delivery of the written statement to the transferor’s agent or the prospective transferee and, in the case of a sale, before the transferor executes a binding purchase agreement, plus the 72-hour and 120-hour termination windows for late delivery, MCL 565.954; limits on transferor and agent liability for errors outside the transferor’s personal knowledge, MCL 565.955(1); “good faith” defined as honesty in fact, MCL 565.960. State real estate transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 of value, MCL 207.525, State Real Estate Transfer Tax Act, 1993 PA 330; county real estate transfer tax of 55 cents per $500 in a county with a population of less than 2,000,000, MCL 207.504. Unlawful to make, print or publish a notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale of a dwelling indicating a preference, limitation or discrimination based on a protected characteristic, Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604(c); Michigan parallel, Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, 1976 PA 453. Practice changes effective August 17, 2024 prohibiting offers of compensation from being communicated through an MLS, requiring MLS participants working with a buyer to enter a written agreement disclosing the amount or rate of compensation before touring a home, permitting off-MLS negotiation and seller concessions, and requiring disclosure to and approval by the seller of any payment to a buyer’s broker, National Association of REALTORS® settlement FAQs. Licensing and regulation of Michigan real estate brokers and salespersons under Article 25 of Public Act 299 of 1980, as amended, Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Further reading: Michigan’s duties-and-services statute, MCL 339.2512d, the state licensing page for Michigan real estate brokers and salespersons, and the CFPB’s guidance for buyers and sellers.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Real estate agency duties, listing-agreement terms, disclosure obligations, commission practices and transfer taxes change and vary by state; confirm current requirements with the real estate licensing authority in your state, confirm listing, disclosure and contract obligations with a Michigan real estate attorney, confirm tax consequences with a tax professional, and confirm loan terms with your loan officer. Align Lending is an independent Michigan mortgage broker, NMLS #2041154, and is not a real estate brokerage, an agent-referral service, or a law firm.

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