The First-Time Buyer's Guide to West Michigan
Everything you need to buy your first home with confidence.
Part One: Eight Questions for Your Lender
Make this call before you look at anything. Ask all eight, write down the answers, and ask the same eight of a second lender so you have something to compare.
1. What am I approved for, and what would my payment be at that number? The second half is the one that matters. Approved and comfortable are different numbers.
2. What is my interest rate, and is it locked? If not, ask when it can be and what that costs.
3. Which down payment assistance programs do I qualify for? Michigan has them and the eligibility rules are specific. Ask on the first call rather than the fifth.
4. What will I need in cash at closing, beyond the down payment? Ask for a written estimate rather than a range.
5. Is this a pre-qualification or a pre-approval, and what did you actually verify? A pre-qualification is an opinion. A pre-approval has documents behind it.
6. How long does your process take from accepted offer to closing? That number goes straight onto the contract, so a vague answer is a problem now rather than later.
7. How do you handle a property with a private well and septic system? Most property out here has both. A lender who pauses at this question is telling you something.
8. What would make this fall apart? A good lender answers this one honestly and specifically.
Part Two: The Showing Checklist for Rural Property
Print this. The things that cost money out here are mostly outside the house.
The water supply. Where is the well, how deep, how old. Has the water been tested and when. Run a tap and look at what comes out.
The septic. Where is the tank, where is the drain field, when was it last pumped, how old is the system. How many bedrooms is it sized for, and does that match the number of bedrooms being sold.
The road. Public or private. Who maintains it. Is it plowed in winter. If it is a seasonal road, that means not maintained year round, and it is a fact to plan around rather than a deal breaker.
The lot. Where the lines actually run, versus what the listing implies. Where the water goes when it rains hard. What is next door that the photographs cropped out.
If there is water. How much of the frontage is usable. What is on the bottom where you would swim. How deep it is at the dock, and whether a dock is even permitted. Whether you can get a boat out to where you want to go, because on some of these lakes you cannot.
The house itself. Age of the roof, the furnace and the water heater. What the basement smells like. Whether it was built to be used in July or to be lived in through February.
Part Three: The Deadline Calendar
This is where first-time buyers actually lose money, and it is entirely avoidable.
Everything counts from the Effective Date, the day acceptance is delivered. Two things people get wrong: these are calendar days, not business days, and day one is the day after.
Within 72 hours: earnest money delivered to whoever the contract names to hold it.
Within 5 days: title work ordered.
Within 10 days: well and septic inspection arranged, water test included.
Your inspection period and your mortgage application window run to whatever was negotiated on the form. Both are blanks, so both are yours to negotiate.
Within 3 days of closing: the final walk-through, unless it is waived.
The Three Days That Cost the Most
Five separate things can come back badly: a low appraisal, an unsatisfactory well or septic report, unsatisfactory inspection results, title objections, survey objections.
In every one of them you get three days from the report to do one of two things. Terminate in writing and get your earnest money back, or put a written proposal on a signed addendum.
Do nothing in those three days and you are treated as having accepted it, as it is. Not as still thinking about it. That is the single most expensive thing a buyer can fail to know.
Then the seller has three days to respond, and their silence counts as a rejection. After that you get three more days to walk with your deposit or proceed on the original terms.
Three days, three days, three days. Written, signed, inside the window, or it did not happen. This is why I keep those dates myself and call before each one rather than on it.
Part Four: The Money Beyond the Down Payment
Ask your lender for a written estimate of all of it early, so nothing at the closing table is new information.
Earnest money, which is due within 72 hours and is credited to you at closing rather than being an extra cost.
Inspections, paid as they happen and not refundable if you walk away. That is the price of finding out, and it is cheap for what it buys you.
Closing costs, which are a real number your lender can estimate and which vary by loan.
Prepaid items, such as taxes and insurance collected in advance.
And the first month in the house, which is never zero. On a rural property you should budget for the things you inherit: a tank that wants pumping, a filter nobody changed, a tree that should come down.
What to Do With This
Make the lender call this week. Print the checklist and take it to the next showing. Keep the deadline calendar for the day you are under contract, which is when it stops being interesting and starts being useful.
And when you are ready to look properly, tell me which towns you are considering. I go and read properties in person before you drive up, and tell you what I found, including the times it means do not bother.
Call (231) 340-6420 or email Tamara@SearchTheLakeshore.com. The full Michigan sequence is on how buying works here, and the first-home page is at buying your first home.
This guide describes my general process and the deadlines in the standard Michigan Regional Purchase Agreement. It is not legal, tax or lending advice, and your own transaction may differ.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I ask a mortgage lender first?
What you are approved for and what the payment would be at that number, because approved and comfortable are different. Then whether it is a pre-qualification or a pre-approval and what they actually verified, which down payment assistance programs you qualify for, what cash you need at closing beyond the down payment, and how they handle a property with a private well and septic system.
How many days do I have if the inspection comes back badly?
Three days from the report to either terminate in writing and get your earnest money back, or send a signed addendum proposing what you want done. If you do nothing in those three days you are treated as having accepted the property as it is. Calendar days, not business days.
What should I check on a rural property that I would not check in town?
The well and the septic, because both are yours the day you close. Where the tank and drain field are, when the system was last serviced, and how many bedrooms it is sized for. Then the road: who maintains it and whether it is plowed. If there is water, how much frontage is usable and what is on the bottom.
What does it cost me to work with a buyer's agent?
It is set out in the Buyer Agency Agreement we sign before we get into it, and every term in it is negotiable and agreed in writing between us. Nothing about it is fixed by anybody else. Ask on the first call, because it is a fair question with a straight answer.
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