Selling · Selling Your Home
REALTOR® · ABR® · West Michigan
Buying or selling across West Michigan
Waterfront, lakeshore land, vacation property and new construction, from Grand Haven north to Silver Lake and inland to Fremont and White Cloud. I read the property myself before you drive up.
Find your starting point ↓Start here
Find your starting point
A few quick taps and I'll point you to exactly what to read, watch and do next. About a minute.
Client stories
Don't take my word for it. Take theirs.
Two sellers and three first-time buyers, talking about the part that worried them and what happened instead. Nothing here is scripted and nobody was paid.
She is so patient and calm, and takes the time to explain everything thoroughly. She is definitely the one you want in your corner.
I had a very specific idea of what we wanted. An unspoiled piece of lakefront land on a wooded lot. I quickly learned that finding such a property is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Tamara diligently stayed on the search for our dream property and was always on the lookout for us... When that perfect property finally came up, Tamara knew it was the one. She called us from her car urging us to come up and see it immediately.
Thinking about selling?Start with my free seller's course12 short video lessons. Free, and no sign-up to watch.Start watching →Why this works
Marketing is the part most agents skip
Listing a home puts it on the MLS and waits for someone else to bring a buyer. That is where most of the business stops. The homes that sell for more are the ones that get shown to the right people, in the right places, before the sign ever goes up.
How it works
Two methods, one standard
Pick your side. Four steps each, in the order they happen.
The seller side
Your home deserves a campaign, not a sign in the yard
The Lakeshore Demand Method
The marketing starts before your home reaches the MLS. Most agents begin the day the sign goes in, and that is the part I do differently.
Before the MLS
Paid, targeted marketing while your home is still being prepared, so there are buyers already waiting rather than buyers still to be found. The first week is the week you never get back.
Presented properly
Photography, video and copy built before anything goes public, for somebody deciding on a phone. On water that means showing what the water actually does, not just that it is there.
A report every week
Showings, feedback, and how the campaign is performing. In writing, every week, whether the news is good or not. You should never have to ring me to find out where things stand.
Cancel any time
If you are not satisfied with my work you can end it. I would rather stand behind the work than lock you into it.
The buyer side
The Lakeshore Recon Method
Named after a client who could not drive up to look, so I looked for her. Most of the people I work with are two or three hours away, which means they are judging water from photographs.
Ready before you need to be
Pre-approved and represented before we tour anything. On good water the right one goes in days, and the house a buyer loses is almost always the one they were not ready to write on.
The honest number
What your budget actually buys on the water you are aiming at, before you fall for something out of range. Out here that also means which water, because four of them price differently.
I go and read it
Frontage, bottomland, access, and what the road is like in February rather than July. Then I tell you what I found, including the times it means walking away.
Nothing surprises you
Offer strategy, the deadlines that actually bind, inspections and closing, run so the ending is boring. You hear from me before each date rather than on it.
Before you start looking
Three things almost everyone gets wrong about the water here
None of this is in a listing. All of it decides what you end up with. If you only read one thing on this site before you call somebody, read this.
“Waterfront” can mean three different things in one town
Montague alone touches three separate waters: White Lake and the channel, the White River, and Lake Michigan out along Old Channel Trail. They are three markets with three sets of questions, and prices on them do not move together. Work out which water you want before you work out which house.
The three waters of Montague →Some lakes have no way out to Lake Michigan
A boat on Muskegon Lake can reach Lake Michigan. A boat on Duck Lakecannot, because a dam under the Scenic Drive bridge blocks the route. You can walk between the two. You cannot run a boat between them. Same county, opposite answers, and it is not in any listing.
What a Whitehall address actually reaches →“Lake access” sometimes means a twenty-three minute walk
Frontage means the shoreline is yours. Shared access means you cross ground held in common, and both get listed the same way. So I walk the route and time it. The last one was twenty-three minutes and nine tenths of a mile. The difference between a place you use and a place you visit twice.
Frontage versus easement in Twin Lake →
The situation you are actually in
Different circumstances, different plans
The fundamentals do not change. The sequence, the timing and how much coordination it takes change completely. Start where you actually are.
Selling · Downsizing
The sale and the next place sequenced together, at a pace you set rather than one a calendar sets for you.
How I handle downsizing →
Selling · Selling a Home During Divorce
A sale two people have to agree on, handled evenly, with both sides told the same thing at the same time.
How I handle selling a home during divorce →
Selling · Probate and Trust Sales
Court and trustee timelines, the property cleared and prepared, and your attorney kept in the loop throughout.
How I handle probate and trust sales →
Selling · What Your Home Is Worth
A home value built from homes like yours that actually sold, from someone who knows this market.
Want it sharper? I'll walk through it with you.
How I handle what your home is worth →
Selling · Selling a Waterfront Home
The listing has to answer what the water actually does, because the buyer who pays most is the one who already knows to ask.
How I handle selling a waterfront home →
Selling · Selling Land and Lots
Buyers get nervous about land, and a nervous buyer offers low.
Showing what the parcel actually carries is most of the job.
How I handle selling land and lots →Selling · Selling a Vacation Rental
You are selling an income record as well as a house, and the two need marketing to two different buyers at once.
How I handle selling a vacation rental →
Buying · Buying a Home
I read the property in person before you spend a Saturday on it, then tell you what I found.
How I handle buying a home →
Buying · First-Time Buyers
Every step explained before it happens, including the well and the septic nobody warns you about.
How I handle first-time buyers →
Buying · Relocating to the Area
What a town address really covers out here, which town does what, and what surprises people in February.
How I handle relocating to the area →
Buying · VA and Military Buyers
You earned it.
The part that goes wrong out here is rarely the loan, it is the property, and that is the part I read before you offer.
How I handle va and military buyers →
Buying · Trading Up
Buy first or sell first, decided with your numbers.
Two transactions, one plan, one person holding both clocks.
How I handle trading up →
Buying · Investment Property
Numbers before emotion, and an honest read of the property.
When it does not work, I say so.
How I handle investment property →
Buying · Waterfront Homes
Know the water before you buy the view.
I go and read the frontage, the bottom and the access myself.
How I handle waterfront homes →
Buying · Lakeshore Land
Vacant land is where buyers get hurt.
I walk the parcel, and on a back lot I time the walk to the water.
How I handle lakeshore land →
Buying · Vacation Rental Property
The township rules come before the house, because they decide whether you own an asset or a second home.
How I handle vacation rental property →
Buying · New Construction
Everybody in that room except you already has representation.
Talk to me before the first model home.
How I handle new construction →Where I work
Neighborhoods I know inside out
North Muskegon
A peninsula with water on both sides: Bear Lake to the north, Muskegon Lake and the route to Lake Michigan to the south.
Explore North Muskegon →
Twin Lake
Several connected lakes and a quiet town, where the real question is whether a parcel touches the water or reaches it over shared ground.
Explore Twin Lake →
Whitehall
Four waters on one address: White Lake and the channel, the White River, Duck Lake, and Lake Michigan five miles west of the city.
Explore Whitehall →
Montague
Three waters in one town: White Lake and the channel, the White River, and Lake Michigan out along Old Channel Trail.
Explore Montague →
Fremont
Inland in Newaygo County, where Gerber started in 1927 and where the same money buys land instead of frontage. My office is here.
Explore Fremont →Who I Am
I am Tamara Hekkema, a REALTOR® with Greenridge Realty, and an Accredited Buyer's Representative. I was born in West Michigan and I have lived here my whole life, which is the difference between knowing the market data and knowing which lake, which shoreline, and what a seasonal road looks like in February.
I work on waterfront, lakeshore land, vacation rental property and new construction, and with first-time buyers across the lakeshore. I do not believe in guessing. I believe in data, presentation and targeted exposure.
Modern marketing. Personal service.
Know the Water Before You Buy the View
Most of the people I work with are two or three hours away, in Chicago, the Detroit suburbs, Grand Rapids or Indianapolis. Close enough to come up on a Friday, too far to drop in and see a listing on a Tuesday. Which means they are judging water and land from photographs, and photographs are exactly where water and land hide what is wrong with them.
So I go and read the property myself before you spend a Saturday on it. The frontage. The bottomland. How you actually reach it, and what that road is like outside of July. Then I tell you what I found, including the times it means walking away. That is The Lakeshore Recon Method, and it is named after a client who could not drive up to look, so I looked for her, and rang from the car when the right lot finally appeared.
You are not buying shelter. You already have a house. You are buying Saturdays, and a place your family will come back to. It is worth getting the water right.
Where I Work
I work the West Michigan lakeshore, from Grand Haven north to Silver Lake, including North Muskegon, Whitehall, Montague, Rothbury and Shelby, inland to Twin Lake, Holton, Newaygo, Fremont and White Cloud, and the smaller lake and shoreline communities in between. That covers Muskegon, Ottawa, Newaygo and Oceana counties.
Those town pages are not brochures. Montague touches three different waters and most people searching it do not know that. A Whitehall address reaches Lake Michigan while the city itself sits five miles inland. North Muskegon has water on both sides. Twin Lake is where the difference between owning frontage and sharing an easement decides the whole purchase. If you are looking in any of them, start there.
How I Market a Home
The Lakeshore Demand Method. The marketing starts before your home reaches the MLS, in front of a paid and targeted audience, so there are buyers already waiting rather than buyers still to be found. Most agents begin the day the sign goes in. That is the part I do differently and it is the part that moves the number.
Then you get a written report every week: showings, feedback, and how the campaign is actually performing. Not a phone call when there is news. A report, every week, whether the news is good or not.
And you can cancel at any time if you are not satisfied with my work. I would rather stand behind the work than lock you into it.
You are not just getting someone to put a sign in your yard. You are getting a strategic partner fully invested in protecting your equity.
Proof
More than $4 million in closed sales over my last twelve months, up from under a million the year before. I hold the Accredited Buyer's Representative designation from the National Association of REALTORS®, and I work on waterfront, lakeshore land, vacation property and new construction.
What that looks like from the other side is further up this page, in my clients' own words.
Start Here
Selling? Find out what your home is actually worth, and what a campaign that starts before the MLS would do for it.
Buying? Tell me which water you are looking at and I will go and read it before you drive up.
Either way it starts with a conversation, not a contract. Call (231) 340-6420 or email Tamara@SearchTheLakeshore.com, and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for what you are trying to do.
From the blog
Local market insight
2026-09-02 · 3 min read
What Does the Home Buying Process Look Like in Michigan?
The Michigan home buying process step by step: pre-approval, finding an agent, offer and purchase agreement, inspection, appraisal and financing, and closing with a title company.
2026-09-01 · 3 min read
Is It a Buyer's or Seller's Market on White Lake Right Now?
Buyer's or seller's market on White Lake? What the terms mean, the indicators that reveal the balance, why waterfront can differ from inland, and your strategy for each.
2026-09-01 · 3 min read
What Are Closing Costs in Michigan and Who Pays What?
Closing costs in Michigan explained: what they cover, what buyers typically pay, what sellers customarily pay, what's negotiable, and how prepaids affect your cash at the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
What areas do you cover?+
The West Michigan lakeshore from Grand Haven north to Silver Lake, including North Muskegon, Whitehall, Montague, Rothbury and Shelby, inland to Twin Lake, Holton, Newaygo, Fremont and White Cloud, and the smaller lake and shoreline communities in between. That is Muskegon, Ottawa, Newaygo and Oceana counties.
I live three hours away. Can you actually help me buy here?+
That is most of what I do. I go and read the property in person before you drive up, and tell you what I found: the frontage, the bottomland, how you reach it, what the road is like outside of summer. You see the honest version before you spend a Saturday on it, and you are not choosing water from photographs.
What makes your marketing different?+
It starts before your home reaches the MLS, in front of a paid and targeted audience, so buyers are already waiting rather than being found afterwards. You get a written report every week on showings, feedback and campaign performance. And you can cancel at any time if you are not satisfied.
Thinking about a move?
Let's figure out your next step together. No pressure.