The West Michigan Home Seller's Guide
How to sell your home for top dollar in today's market.
Sixty Days Out: Find the Paperwork
Start here, because it is the part that has a waiting time attached and nobody expects that.
Your well and septic records. When the septic was last pumped, where the tank and drain field are, when the well was drilled and how deep. Out here this comes up in every transaction, and a seller who can produce it looks like a seller who has looked after the place.
Find your survey, if one exists. On waterfront especially, where the lines run is a live question, and an old survey saves an argument.
Anything recorded about your access, if you are on a private or shared road, or if your water access is over somebody else's ground. Easements, maintenance agreements, association documents.
Permits and receipts for work done: the roof, the furnace, the seawall, the dock, the addition somebody built before you owned it.
Your mortgage payoff, so the number in your head is the real one.
Where would you like to start?
Forty-Five Days Out: Decide What You Are Actually Fixing
Money spent before a listing pays back in a narrow set of places, and it is not the places people expect.
Usually worth it. Anything that reads as deferred maintenance from the street or the driveway. A failed or failing mechanical item you already know about. The one room that is noticeably worse than the rest of the house. Cleaning to a standard beyond what you live at, which is the highest return per dollar available anywhere in this list.
Usually not worth it. A kitchen. Anything you would have to choose finishes for. Anything where you would be guessing at somebody else's taste with your own money.
The honest version: a buyer does not pay you back for a renovation, they pay you for a house that does not look like it needs one. Those are different jobs at very different prices.
Fixing something is not the only answer. Pricing for it, and saying so plainly, is a legitimate and sometimes better one.
Thirty Days Out: The Season Is Part of the Listing
This matters more here than it does almost anywhere, and it is the thing sellers think about last.
Your property photographs in a season. Water, trees and light are half of what somebody is buying, and a lakeshore property shot in November is a different listing from the same property shot in July. If you have good photographs of your own place from a better season, find them now.
A buyer two hours away is deciding from a screen. They are in Chicago or the Detroit suburbs on a Tuesday night, and what they can see decides whether they give up a Saturday. That is the whole argument for doing the photography and the video properly rather than adequately.
What the water looks like from the house, and what the house looks like from the water. On frontage the second one is frequently the shot that sells it and it is the one most often missing.
Drone, where it earns its place. Frontage, acreage and where a parcel sits relative to the water are all things a ground-level camera cannot explain.
Two Weeks Out: The Marketing Starts Before the Sign Does
This is the part most sellers here have never been offered, and it is the difference that moves the number.
The Lakeshore Demand Method means the marketing starts before your home reaches the MLS, in front of a paid and targeted audience. So when it goes live there are buyers already waiting rather than buyers still to be found. Most agents begin the day the sign goes in.
What that looks like in practice: the photography and video done and edited, a specific audience defined rather than everybody, the campaign running, and the inquiries collected before anybody can see a price.
Then, once it is live, 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.
The Disclosure Duty That Does Not End
Michigan asks a seller to complete a disclosure about the condition of the property. Complete it carefully, and take the time it deserves rather than the ten minutes it looks like it needs.
The part people miss: it is not finished when you sign it. If something changes about the condition of the property before closing, you have a duty to update it in writing. A tree comes down on the shed, a basement takes water in a storm, something stops working. It goes on the disclosure.
Answer what you know. Where you genuinely do not know, say you do not know rather than guessing at a reassuring answer. A guess that turns out wrong is the one that causes trouble later.
This guide describes my general process and the practice in this market. It is not legal, tax or lending advice. Your own situation may differ, and anything about your specific disclosure obligations belongs with your agent and, where it matters, an attorney.
The Questions to Ask Any Agent You Interview
Ask all of these, of me and of everybody else. What you are listening for is whether the answer is specific.
What happens before my home reaches the MLS? If the answer is nothing, you are paying for a sign and a listing entry.
How will I know what is happening, and how often? Listen for a rhythm rather than a promise to stay in touch.
Who is taking the photographs, and when? And whether the season has been thought about at all.
What would you price it at, and show me why. Sellers ask what I think, every single time, and it is the right question. What you want back is a number with reasoning attached, not three options and a shrug.
What happens if I am not satisfied? You can cancel with me at any time. I would rather stand behind the work than lock you into it.
Ready to put a real number on your own place? Start with what your home is worth, or call me on (231) 340-6420.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the best time of year to list a lakeshore property?
The honest answer is that it depends on your own timing more than on a season, and that the photographs matter more than the listing date. Water, trees and light are half of what a buyer is looking at, so a property shot in July and listed later can outperform the same property shot the week it goes live in November. If your timing is flexible, plan the photography first and the listing date around it.
What should I fix before listing?
Anything that reads as deferred maintenance from the driveway, a mechanical item you already know has failed, and the one room noticeably worse than the rest. Deep cleaning returns more per dollar than anything else on the list. What rarely pays back is a renovation, because a buyer does not reimburse your taste. Where something is not worth fixing, pricing for it openly is a legitimate answer.
Do I have to update the seller's disclosure after I sign it?
Yes, and it is the thing sellers most often do not realize. If the condition of the property changes before closing, the duty is to update the disclosure in writing. It does not end on the day you complete the form.
What records should I find before I list?
Well and septic records first, because they come up in every transaction out here and they take the longest to track down. Then any survey, anything recorded about a shared road or shared water access, permits and receipts for major work, and your mortgage payoff figure.
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Ready to make your move with Tamara Hekkema?