Michigan’s home-buying process follows the familiar sequence — offer, inspection, financing, title, closing — but two things work differently here than in most of the country: no attorney sits at the closing table by default, and the property tax bill you inherit as a buyer can look nothing like the one the seller was paying, because of how Michigan resets taxable value at sale.
Michigan closings run through title companies, not attorneys
Michigan doesn’t require a real estate attorney to be present or involved in a residential closing. A title company or settlement agent typically handles the whole process — running the title search, preparing closing documents, and disbursing funds — and that’s how the large majority of Michigan sales close. Title insurance isn’t optional if you’re financing the purchase, even though an attorney is. An attorney is still worth bringing in for anything genuinely complicated: an inherited or estate-owned property, multiple owners, old liens, or boundary and easement questions a title company won’t weigh in on.
Property is assessed township by township; deeds record with the county Register of Deeds
Like several other Great Lakes and New England states, Michigan doesn’t use a countywide property appraiser. Each city or township runs its own Municipal Assessor’s office, so there’s no single county valuation record to check. Real property is still recorded at the county level: the elected Register of Deeds (sometimes combined with the County Clerk’s office in smaller counties) holds the deed and mortgage record. RefPages doesn’t yet have county-level data live for Michigan; the State Government directory is the starting point for tracking down your specific township assessor and county Register of Deeds.
The transfer tax is really two taxes, stacked
Michigan’s real estate transfer tax has a state layer and a county layer, both charged when the deed is presented for recording. The state portion runs $3.75 per $500 of value (0.75%), and the county portion runs $0.55 per $500 (0.11%) in most of the state’s 83 counties, though counties with populations over 2 million (in practice, Wayne County) can charge up to $0.75 per $500 instead. Combined, that’s roughly 0.86% of the sale price in a typical county. The seller is responsible by default under Michigan law, though the purchase contract can allocate it differently. A range of statutory exemptions exist — including, notably, situations where the property’s value hasn’t increased since the seller acquired it — so it’s worth confirming with your closing agent whether a specific exemption applies before assuming the full tax is due.
The Property Transfer Affidavit and “uncapping” — Michigan’s distinctive post-closing tax reset
This is the piece of a Michigan purchase that catches a lot of buyers off guard. Under Proposal A of 1994, a property’s taxable value — the number your property tax bill is actually based on — can only increase by a capped amount each year while the same owner holds it, regardless of how much the property’s market value rises. A sale breaks that cap: the taxable value “uncaps” the calendar year after the transfer, resetting to the property’s current State Equalized Value (roughly half of its assessed market value). For a home that’s appreciated significantly or been owned a long time, that reset can mean a real, immediate jump in property taxes for the new owner — sometimes well above what the seller had been paying.
The mechanism that triggers this is the Property Transfer Affidavit (Form 2766), which the new owner must file with the city or township assessor within 45 days of the transfer. A handful of transfers are exempt from uncapping (for example, certain transfers to an immediate family member on death, where the property isn’t put to commercial use), but a standard arm’s-length purchase is not. Don’t budget around the seller’s current tax bill — ask what the taxable value is likely to reset to, or estimate based on the sale price, before you finalize your housing budget.
What sellers have to tell you
Michigan requires sellers of most residential property to complete a written seller’s disclosure statement covering known conditions across categories like the roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical systems, and known environmental hazards, delivered to the buyer before an offer is finalized. The duty is limited to what the seller actually knows — it’s not a guarantee and doesn’t require the seller to investigate conditions they’re unaware of. Certain transfers, such as new construction that’s never been occupied or a sale out of foreclosure, are commonly exempt — confirm with your agent whether a specific transaction qualifies.
If work is needed before or after closing
If an inspection turns up something needing a permit — a prior unpermitted addition, electrical or plumbing work, anything tied to bringing an older home up to code — RefPages’ Building Permit Departments directory links to the relevant city or township permitting office.