A complete guide to selling your house

Written by Samantha SheltonNMLS 1647301Updated October 2026

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Transfer taxes, statutory disclosure duties, and the tax treatment of any gain on a home sale depend on your individual circumstances. Consult a qualified tax professional or attorney about your situation.

Selling a house is a nine-step sequence: set your timing, prep and repair, price from closed comparable sales, list and market, run showings, evaluate offers, clear inspection and appraisal, satisfy contingencies, and close. The median existing home spent 29 days on the market in July 2026 against a 4.6-month supply of unsold inventory, according to the National Association of REALTORS®, which makes pricing the step that governs every other one.

A new listing is at its most visible in its first days, when it lands in every saved-search alert set to its price band, and that visibility gets spent whether the price is right or not.

Learn how each step works, what selling costs, what you must disclose, and how your net proceeds become the down payment on your next home, starting with our selling a home guide.

Key takeaways:

• Price from closed comparable sales, not your loan balance: The median existing home sold in 29 days in July 2026, and the first two weeks on the market draw the heaviest buyer traffic a listing will ever get.
• Michigan makes the seller liable for the transfer tax: The state tax is $3.75 per $500 of value and the county tax is 55 cents per $500, $8.60 per $1,000 combined, or $2,580 on a $300,000 sale.
• Most sellers owe no federal tax on the gain: IRS rules let single filers exclude up to $250,000 of gain and married couples filing jointly up to $500,000, after owning and living in the home at least 24 months of the previous five years.

How does selling a house work, step by step?

Nine steps, and the two that decide your outcome, prep and pricing, happen before a buyer ever walks in.

• 1. Decide your timing: Whether you’re buying next changes how you price and which offers work.
• 2. Prep and repair: Declutter, fix what a buyer will notice, book photography before listing.
• 3. Price from closed comps: Closed sales set the number, not active listings.
• 4. List and market: The listing hits the MLS and syndicates to the portals, where photos do the work.
• 5. Manage showings: Every showing you decline is a buyer touring someone else’s house.
• 6. Evaluate offers: Read past price to financing type, contingencies, closing date and earnest money.
• 7. Clear inspection and appraisal: The inspection produces a repair request; the appraisal must support the buyer’s loan.
• 8. Satisfy contingencies: Financing, inspection, appraisal and any home-sale contingency release on schedule.
• 9. Close: Sign, let the title company pay off your mortgage from the proceeds, hand over keys.

Our selling process walkthrough covers each handoff; tips for first-time home sellers is the shorter on-ramp.

When is the right time to sell?

Start from one number: a 4.6-month supply of unsold inventory in July 2026, unchanged from both the prior month and a year earlier, a reasonably balanced national market, not the scramble of 2021 and not a glut.

Season matters less than condition and price: spring brings the most buyers and the most competing listings. Personal timing outranks both. If you’re relocating, settling an estate, or buying larger, sell when it fits your plan.

What do the latest sales and price figures say for Michigan sellers?

Existing-home sales increased by 1.5% in September 2026, with the Midwest holding steady, according to the National Association of REALTORS® Existing-Home Sales release, where NAR’s Lawrence Yun said: “Higher inventory and lengthening days on market give buyers improved negotiating power.” If a listing sits anyway, what to do if your home does not sell covers the next decisions.

Michigan prices are still rising. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index report for the second quarter of 2026, dated August 25, 2026, shows Michigan’s purchase-only index up 3.80% over four quarters, 0.39% in the latest quarter and 38.80% over five years, 14th in the report’s state table.

How do you prep a house for sale?

Prep is the cheapest lever you have, and the order is fixed: declutter, repair, paint, photograph. Nearly every buyer meets your house on a screen first, so the photos are the showing before the showing.

• Declutter and depersonalize: Clear surfaces, thin the closets, take down family photos.
• Fix what a buyer will notice: Running toilets, sticking doors, dead bulbs, torn screens. Each one found makes a buyer wonder what else was skipped.
• Paint before you renovate: Neutral paint and clean landscaping do more per dollar than a kitchen gut.
• Fix the first impression: The exterior sets the tone before anyone opens a door, see improving your curb appeal.

Be skeptical of remodeling return-on-investment percentages. NAR’s Remodeling Impact Report, produced with the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, is the most-cited source, and its cost-recovery figures are estimates supplied by REALTORS® and remodelers, professional opinion, not measured resale outcomes. Staging claims carry the same caveat: the familiar “staged homes sell faster” numbers trace to agent surveys reporting what agents believe, not to a controlled comparison of staged and unstaged sales.

Staging can still help a vacant or dated home present better, reason enough to consider hiring a professional stager. Just don’t budget against a percentage nobody measured. See preparing your home for sale and NAR’s research on buyer behavior.

How do you price a house?

Price from closed comparable sales in the last three to six months, same neighborhood, similar size, age and condition. Active listings show what competitors are asking, not what buyers paid.

The expensive mistake is anchoring to a number you need rather than one the market supports. Your payoff balance, the price you paid in 2019, and the down payment you want next are facts about you, not your house. Our guide to pricing a home for sale shows how to build the comp set.

What do you legally have to disclose?

Disclosure is law, not strategy, and one federal rule reaches every home built before 1978. Under Section 1018 of Title X, the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 4852d), a seller of pre-1978 housing must disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, hand over records they hold, give the buyer the EPA’s “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” pamphlet, include a Lead Warning Statement in the contract, and allow a 10-day paint inspection or risk assessment period. Acknowledgments are kept three years.

It does not require you to test or remediate. Only to be honest about what you know and give the buyer a window to look.

Known defects (foundation problems, water intrusion, a failed septic field, an environmental issue) get disclosed. Selling “as is” describes what you’ll repair; it does not switch off a statutory disclosure duty or protect a seller who conceals what they knew. See handling seller disclosures.

How do you evaluate offers?

Read the terms before the price, because the terms decide whether the price ever happens. Hypothetical example, not an offer: a $315,000 offer with a thin preapproval and a home-sale contingency is worth less than a clean $308,000 offer.

• Financing type and strength: Cash was 26% of July 2026 sales and needs no appraisal or loan approval. A financed buyer should bring an underwritten preapproval, not a prequalification.
• Contingencies: Inspection, appraisal, financing and home-sale terms each give the buyer an exit, see contingencies in home offers.
• Closing date and possession: If you’re buying next, the date you can be out is worth real money. Sellers routinely trade price for the right calendar.
• Concessions: A request for closing-cost help or a rate buydown moves money, not price. Seller-paid closing costs explains how those get written in.

Commission is negotiable and always has been. Since the NAR practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024, offers of compensation to a buyer’s broker can no longer be communicated on an MLS, and agents working with buyers must have a written buyer agreement before touring a home. Compensation is still negotiated, not advertised.

When the buyer is financing, the lender’s valuation controls the loan. Fannie Mae computes loan-to-value from the lower of the sales price or the current appraised value, so an appraisal under contract is a financing gap, not proof your price was wrong. You have no channel to the appraiser either: federal rules bar covered persons, including creditors and real estate agents, from coercing an appraiser toward a target value. Supply comps properly and negotiate the gap, as selling with a low appraisal lays out.

Which buyer traits can never play a part in choosing an offer?

Compare offers on price, terms and financing. HUD’s overview of the Fair Housing Act says the act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights’ fair housing page lists age, marital status and source of income as well, under state and/or federal law.

What repairs can a buyer’s lender require before closing?

The buyer’s inspection has limits: the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors’ Standards of Practice say an inspection “will not identify concealed or latent defects.” According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s home inspection guidance, a buyer may ask the seller to fix problems or give a credit for the cost of the repairs, and depending on the contract and local market conditions, the seller may or may not agree. See answering buyer repair requests.

The lender’s list is shorter and firmer. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide section B4-1.3-06 (06/04/2025) says properties with a condition rating of C6 are not eligible, and that deficiencies affecting safety, soundness or structural integrity must be repaired to a minimum rating of C5 before the loan is sold. For minor items to be finished after closing, section B4-1.2-05 (12/10/2025) says the lender may escrow for them at its own discretion. A pre-listing home inspection surfaces condition problems before the buyer’s inspector does.

How much can a buyer ask you to pay toward closing costs?

Only as much as the buyer’s loan program allows. Every program caps what a seller can put toward the buyer’s costs, so ask which program the buyer is using before you agree to a number. Our seller closing costs guide lists Fannie Mae’s limits from Selling Guide section B3-4.1-02. Once a credit is agreed, the CFPB’s Closing Disclosure explainer tells buyers to check that the seller credit on their form matches what was agreed.

What can you do if a buyer backs out?

A buyer who cancels inside a contingency period is using the contract. One who walks away after those periods end may be in breach.

Cornell Law School’s Wex legal dictionary defines specific performance as a court ordering a party to fulfill their obligations as closely as possible to what was promised, and says it is used most commonly in cases involving real property. For money damages, MCL 600.5807 sets a 6-year period of limitations for breach of contract. Michigan’s small claims limit has been $7,000 since January 1, 2024, under MCL 600.8401, and Michigan Legal Help’s small claims overview notes you can’t have a lawyer represent you there. Talk to a Michigan real estate attorney first; see handling a buyer who backs out.

What does it cost to sell a house?

The seller side absorbs commission, the Michigan transfer tax, title and settlement charges, prorated taxes, credits and your mortgage payoff. Only one has a rate set by statute.

Hypothetical example, not an offer: on a $300,000 Waterford sale, the state transfer tax is $2,250 and the county tax $330, $2,580, owed to the county treasurer within 15 days of the deed’s delivery.¹ Everything else moves with your contract, so a line-item projection beats a rule of thumb. Our breakdown of seller’s closing costs itemizes each charge, and a seller’s net sheet turns a sale price into what lands in your account.

What might a seller’s net look like on a sample sale?

Hypothetical example, not an offer. Say you sell a Michigan home for $350,000, owe $212,000 on the mortgage, and agree to a $5,000 credit after the inspection. The price is 700 steps of $500.

Tax rates: Michigan Department of Treasury, State Real Estate Transfer Tax ($3.75 per $500), and the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds fees and forms page ($.55 per $500 county). Sale price, payoff and credit are hypothetical.

The $5,000 credit is about 1.4% of the price; check any credit against the buyer’s loan program cap, as the closing costs section above explains. Add your negotiated commission, title and prorations in the seller net sheet calculator, or check the tax with the Michigan transfer tax calculator.

What are your options besides a full-service listing?

Four alternatives exist, each trading net proceeds for speed or control.

Disclosure duties apply identically across all five: selling without an agent removes a commission, not a statute. If speed is what you’re buying, what a cash offer means explains the tradeoff.

How many sellers go without an agent?

Few. According to NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers release of November 4, 2025, 5% of homes over the past year sold as for sale by owner, while 91% of sellers used a real estate agent. NAR reported a FSBO median price of $360,000 against $425,000 for agent-assisted homes; those are different houses, so the gap does not measure what an agent adds to one sale.

On cost, no commission rate is set by law, and every commission is negotiable between you and the agent you hire. The Department of Justice treats commission levels as a competition question: it filed a statement of interest on December 19, 2025 supporting competition among real estate brokers. See selling without an agent.

Do you owe taxes when you sell?

Usually not. Under IRS rules, a single filer can generally exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of a main home and a married couple filing jointly up to $500,000, provided they owned and occupied it as their main home at least 24 months out of the five years ending on the sale date.² Those 24 months need not be consecutive.

Gain is not your sale price and not your equity. It’s sale price minus selling costs minus adjusted basis. The exclusion covers a main home; rentals, vacation homes and land follow different rules. See IRS Publication 523 on selling your home.

How does your sale connect to your next mortgage?

If you’re buying next, the sale is the first half of a financing plan: your net proceeds become the down payment, which sets your loan amount, mortgage insurance and payment. Most sellers can’t touch that equity until closing but want to shop before then, which is why a bridge loan is worth understanding. As a broker, Align Lending can price the purchase across multiple wholesale lenders on a projected net, then re-run it once your real number lands.

What changes when you sell one house and buy another?

Samantha Shelton, Align’s broker owner: “The biggest mistake is thinking this is just another purchase. It isn’t. You’re coordinating two houses, two transactions and one family trying to move between them.”

Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide section B3-6-06 (09/02/2026) says the current home’s PITIA (principal, interest, taxes, insurance and association dues) need not be used in qualifying when the lender has the executed sales contract and confirmation that any financing contingencies have been cleared. That is also why a buyer who still owns a home may ask you for a home-sale contingency.

FHFA set the 2026 conforming loan limit for one-unit properties at $832,750 in most of the United States, per its November 25, 2025 announcement; Align’s loan limits page shows it by Michigan county.

What Michigan sellers should know

Four Michigan rules touch your paperwork or your closing statement, all set by statute rather than custom.

• You owe the transfer tax: State law makes the seller or grantor liable for $3.75 per $500 of value, payable to the county treasurer within 15 days after delivery of the deed. The county adds 55 cents per $500 in every county under 2 million residents, all of them, making $8.60 per $1,000.
• One exemption can erase the state tax: A conveyance of property under a claimed principal residence exemption is exempt from the state tax if the state equalized valuation at sale is equal to or less than the SEV at acquisition and the sale was arm’s-length.
• Rescind that exemption within 90 days: It removes up to 18 mills of local school operating tax. Once the home stops being your principal residence you have 90 days to file the rescission form; missing it costs $5 per day, capped at $200.
• The Seller Disclosure Act is not optional: It covers transfers of 1 to 4 residential dwelling units and requires a signed disclosure statement delivered before you execute a binding purchase agreement. Deliver it late and the buyer can terminate, 72 hours if hand-delivered, 120 hours by registered mail. The exemptions are a closed list, and “selling as is” is not on it.

One fair limit: the statute protects a seller from errors outside their personal knowledge and excuses conditions discoverable only by inspecting inaccessible areas or by an expert. Disclosure must still be made in good faith.

How do Michigan property taxes and county records change hands at closing?

Under MCL 211.44a, summer taxes are due from the owner on July 1 and are returned as delinquent if unpaid before March 1; your purchase agreement decides how each bill is prorated.

In Michigan, a home’s taxable value is capped while one owner holds it. The year after it sells, that cap comes off and taxable value resets to the state equalized value, which is half of the assessor’s estimate of market value, not automatically half of what you paid. The Michigan Department of Treasury’s page on changes in ownership and uncapping ties that reset to Proposal A of 1994. The Michigan property tax calculator shows a buyer’s planning number.

Oakland County’s Clerk/Register of Deeds, for example, lists on its fees and forms page a $5.00 fee for the Treasurer’s Tax Certificate in the recording payment, with transfer tax imposed where the value exceeds $99.99. For a principal residence exemption refund, Treasury’s transfer tax page says to file Form 2796 within four years and 15 days of the sale and allow 6 to 8 weeks before calling about its status.

Starting in January 2026, Grand Traverse County requires an evaluation for any sale of a home with a well and/or septic system located within 300 feet of surface water, according to its Time of Transfer Evaluations page. Ask your county health department about similar rules.

Which Michigan sales skip the seller disclosure form?

Among the act’s exemptions, MCL 565.953 lists transfers by court order, including probate; transfers by a nonoccupant fiduciary of an estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust; and transfers to a spouse, parent, grandparent, child or grandchild. See selling a home in probate.

If you don’t know an answer on the form, MCL 565.956 lets you comply by telling the buyer the information is unknown. The form in MCL 565.957 asks about items such as “Settling, flooding, drainage, structural, or grading problems?” See the seller disclosure statement.

FAQ: Selling your house

Here are answers to common questions about selling your house.

How long does it take to sell a house?

The median existing home spent 29 days on the market in July 2026, up from 28 days a month and a year earlier. That’s the listing-to-contract half. The second half runs on your buyer’s lender: underwriting, an appraisal, and a federal rule requiring the Closing Disclosure three business days before closing. Cash buyers skip the loan clock, as our home closing process guide explains.

Can I sell my house if I still owe on the mortgage?

Yes, and most sellers do. Your servicer issues a payoff statement, the title company pays the loan from your proceeds at closing, and you keep what remains after commission, transfer tax, prorations and credits. The hard case is owing more than the home is worth, which means bringing cash or negotiating a short sale.

What’s the biggest mistake home sellers make?

Overpricing the first two weeks. A new listing gets its heaviest exposure immediately, and an inflated price spends it on buyers who scroll past. By the time you reduce, the listing carries stale days on market and buyers hunt for the reason. Price at the closed comps from the start.

Do I have to pay taxes when I sell my house?

Often not. IRS rules generally let single filers exclude up to $250,000 of gain and joint filers up to $500,000 on a main home owned and lived in at least 24 months of the previous five years. Gain above that, or a sale failing the ownership and use test, is taxable. Your closing statement supplies the figures a preparer needs, see how to prepare for closing.

Who holds the buyer’s earnest money in Michigan?

When the deposit goes to a real estate broker, Michigan law requires the broker to put it in a separate custodial trust or escrow account no later than 2 banking days after learning all parties accepted the offer, and to keep it there until the deal closes or ends, under MCL 339.2512. Who gets it if the sale fails depends on the purchase agreement. See earnest money deposits.

Should I test my house for radon before I sell?

The EPA says yes. Its Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon, revised March 2024, tells anyone buying or selling a home to test it and tells buyers to ask the seller for results. The EPA’s action level is 4 picocuries per liter, and it estimates that nearly one out of every 15 homes in the United States has an elevated level. A recent result answers the question before a buyer asks.

Do I keep my principal residence exemption after I sell?

Usually through the year of the sale. MCL 211.7cc keeps the exemption in place until December 31 of the year the property is transferred, unless it stops being your principal residence first, which is when the rescission deadline described above begins. Your buyer files a claim of their own, and the reset of taxable value the following year is a separate change from the exemption.

Will the IRS get a Form 1099-S for my home sale?

Often, yes. Per the IRS Instructions for Form 1099-S, the person responsible for closing the transaction generally files it. A principal residence sale need not be reported when the sale price is $250,000 or less ($500,000 for married sellers) and the closing agent receives your written certification that the home is your principal residence. A filed form reports the sale; it does not by itself mean tax is owed.

The bottom line on selling your house

Selling a house is a nine-step sequence, and pricing governs the rest. The median existing home sold in 29 days in July 2026 against a 4.6-month supply, so the market rewards a house that is prepped, photographed and priced from closed comps. Budget the seller side: a negotiated commission, $8.60 per $1,000 of Michigan transfer tax you owe by statute, title and settlement charges, prorations, credits and your payoff. Disclose what you know, in writing, on time. And expect no federal tax on the gain if you clear the $250,000 or $500,000 exclusion test.

If your sale is the front half of a purchase, talk to Align Lending. We’ll shop your next mortgage across our lender network on your projected net proceeds and put the numbers side by side before you accept an offer. Call 248-506-5727 or start online.

Footnotes:

1. Example figures in this article are hypothetical and for educational purposes only; they do not constitute an advertisement of credit terms or a rate quote under federal or state lending laws. Your actual transfer tax, closing costs, prorations and net proceeds depend on your sale price, county, closing date and contract terms, and will be itemized on your closing statement. Return to text.

2. This is general information, not tax advice. Whether you qualify for the exclusion, how your adjusted basis is computed, and how any taxable gain is reported depend on your individual circumstances. Consult a qualified tax professional about your situation. Return to text.

Sources: median time on market of 29 days, 4.6-month supply of unsold inventory, cash sales at 26% of transactions and first-time buyers at 29% of sales for July 2026, National Association of REALTORS®, Existing-Home Sales, July 2026. Remodeling cost-recovery figures are estimates provided by REALTORS® and by members of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry rather than measured resale outcomes, NAR/NARI Remodeling Impact Report. Prohibition on communicating offers of compensation through an MLS and the written buyer agreement requirement, effective August 17, 2024, National Association of REALTORS® settlement practice changes. Loan-to-value computed from the lower of the sales price or the current appraised value, Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.2-01. Prohibition on coercing, influencing or otherwise encouraging an appraiser to misstate or misrepresent value, 12 CFR § 1026.42(c)(1). Closing Disclosure delivery three business days before closing, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Lead-based paint disclosure, the “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” pamphlet, the Lead Warning Statement, the 10-day inspection period and three-year record retention for pre-1978 housing, Section 1018 of Title X, Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, 42 U.S.C. § 4852d; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Exclusion of up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly) and the 24-month ownership and use test within the five years ending on the sale date, IRS Publication 523. Michigan state real estate transfer tax of $3.75 per $500, seller or grantor liability, and payment to the county treasurer within 15 days of delivery of the instrument, MCL 207.525 and MCL 207.523. Michigan county real estate transfer tax of 55 cents per $500 in a county of less than 2,000,000 population, MCL 207.504. Exemption from the state transfer tax where the seller claimed the principal residence exemption and the state equalized valuation at sale is equal to or less than the SEV at acquisition in an arm’s-length transaction, MCL 207.526(u). Principal residence exemption from up to 18 mills of local school operating tax, MCL 211.7cc and MCL 380.1211; 90-day rescission requirement and penalty of $5.00 per day up to $200.00, MCL 211.7cc(5). Application of the Seller Disclosure Act to transfers of not less than 1 or more than 4 residential dwelling units, MCL 565.952; exemptions, MCL 565.953; delivery before a binding purchase agreement and the 72-hour and 120-hour termination rights, MCL 565.954; limits on transferor liability for matters outside personal knowledge, MCL 565.955; good faith, MCL 565.960; other legal obligations not limited, MCL 565.961.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Tax thresholds, transfer tax rates, disclosure requirements and program rules change and vary by property, county and individual circumstances; confirm your figures with your closing statement and consult a qualified professional about your situation. Figures shown are illustrative, are not a rate quote or an offer of credit, and are subject to change. Align Lending is an independent Michigan mortgage broker, NMLS #2041154.

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