Transaction coordination in Michigan.

Michigan real estate is overseen by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), through its Bureau of Professional Licensing and Real Estate Board. Every file Quill runs in Michigan is handled with LARA's current rules in mind: broker supervision, trust account compliance, required disclosures, and the documentation a broker file can be audited against later.

Most Michigan residential deals run on the Michigan Association of REALTORS Purchase Agreement (often called the Michigan Buy and Sell Agreement), with regional boards like GMAR in the Detroit metro publishing their own versions. The 2024 revisions tightened financing-contingency language around post-NAR-settlement buyer broker agreements and reinforced lead-based paint handling for pre-1978 homes. Quill treats the contract timeline as a connected system so one missed deadline doesn't cascade into the next.

Key deadlines Quill tracks on every Michigan file:

• Seller's Property Disclosure Statement delivery (72-hour in-person or 120-hour mail window per Michigan statute)
• Earnest money deposit to the title company within 2 banking days of contract execution
• Inspection contingency removal (commonly 7 days)
• Financing and appraisal contingency expirations
• Title commitment review and objection window
• Final walkthrough and closing date

Michigan earnest money is typically held by the title company, with broker trust accounts as an allowed alternative under strict anti-commingling rules. The operational catch is the clock: Michigan statute requires the deposit within 2 banking days of contract execution, and a missed deadline can void the earnest money clause entirely. Quill confirms the deposit lands on time, reconciles the receipt against contract language, and verifies the credit appears correctly on the settlement statement at closing.

Michigan is a title-company state. Title companies typically conduct closings end-to-end: title search, commitment, settlement-table conduct, disbursement, and recording. Attorney involvement is optional and uncommon outside complex transactions. Quill manages the entire transaction from executed contract to recorded deed: ordering the title commitment, tracking prelim review, pushing lender and inspector deliverables to deadline, confirming the closing disclosure matches the commission demand, and assembling the broker file to LARA audit standards.

A handful of Michigan specifics catch out-of-state operators and newer agents more than anything else. These are the ones we watch for on every file:

• Earnest money misses the 2-banking-day deposit window. A check sitting in an agent's desk over the weekend can make the deposit unenforceable. The clock starts at contract execution, not the start of the next business week.
• Seller's Property Disclosure delivery method changes the clock. In-person delivery runs 72 hours; mail delivery runs 120 hours. Treating both the same is the most common reason a buyer walks with their earnest money intact.
• Regional forms don't match the statewide form. GMAR's Detroit metro form and the statewide MAR form have different addenda structures. Mixing clauses from one into the other creates ambiguity at closing.
• Lead-based paint disclosure skipped on pre-1978 homes. It's federal law, not a Michigan-only rule, but Michigan's older housing stock (particularly in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing) means it comes up on a large share of files.

From the moment you forward the executed purchase agreement until after the close package is in your broker file, we run the deal end-to-end. For the full MAR deadline breakdown and Michigan's unique disclosure timing rules, see our Michigan transaction coordinator guide. For a broader look at the closing process, see our step-by-step closing walkthrough.

• Contract timeline built and shared with you, the cooperating agent, lender, title, and inspectors
• Seller's Property Disclosure requested and tracked against the 72- or 120-hour delivery window
• Earnest money verified with the title company inside the 2-banking-day deadline, with follow-up that stops only when it's in escrow
• Inspection scheduling coordinated with the buyer's preferred vendors; objection and resolution deadlines tracked to the calendar, not to memory
• Lender updates pulled weekly with a direct confirmation before contingency expirations
• Title commitment reviewed for exceptions that need cure or waiver before closing
• Closing disclosure reviewed against commission demand and broker file requirements before signing
• Final broker-file package assembled to Michigan LARA audit standards

Michigan has distinct market rhythms by region. The Detroit metro moves on its own timeline, with GMAR-specific addenda and dense title-company competition. Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and the western Michigan corridor run on a different cadence, as do the northern lake markets in Traverse City and Petoskey. We adjust the playbook to the market you're working in, not a generic nationwide template.

For more detail on how real estate transactions work here, see our in-depth guides: Michigan Seller Disclosure Guide.