Usually, yes, and this one catches a lot of people off guard. Putting “as-is” in a purchase agreement doesn’t take you out from under Michigan’s Seller Disclosure Act, the state law that covers most sales of homes with one to four units. “As-is” decides what you’ll fix; it doesn’t decide what you tell the buyer. The upside is that the form only asks what you know, not what some inspector might dig up, and plenty of owners who sell to a local cash buyer like Michigan Houses For Cash knock it out in one evening at the kitchen table.
Why So Many Sellers Get This Wrong
You can see how it happens. “As-is” sounds like the end of the conversation, and after twenty-five years in a Troy or Sterling Heights house, with a buyer lined up who’s going to tear the kitchen out regardless, a disclosure form starts to feel like paperwork for paperwork’s sake.
There’s a practical reason it matters, though. A buyer who signs a purchase agreement before the disclosure arrives can walk away from the deal for a short stretch after it shows up, and that late paperwork is exactly how a lot of otherwise boring, simple sales start to wobble.
What Michigan’s Seller Disclosure Act Actually Says
The statute is Public Act 92 of 1993, starting at section 565.951 of the Michigan Compiled Laws if you want to look it up. Think of a duplex in Madison Heights or a single-family ranch in Troy: both count, because the act covers anything from one to four residential units, and selling on a land contract doesn’t change that.
You’d fill out the standard form (roof, basement, plumbing, furnace, known defects, and so on) from your own knowledge, and in a normal sale the buyer would get it before you signed a binding purchase agreement.
Flip that order around, and you’ve handed the buyer a way out. If the statement shows up after the agreement is signed, the buyer can terminate in writing within 72 hours of getting it in person, or within 120 hours if it came by registered mail, and that right only goes away once the property actually changes hands by deed or land contract.
Who Gets to Skip It
The act does let certain transfers skip the form, and summaries of it point to things like transfers made under a court order (some probate court sales during estate administration among them), foreclosure sales, sales by a bankruptcy trustee, and condemnations. Those carve-outs are narrow, mind you, so if you’re hoping one covers you, ask a Michigan real estate attorney or your title company before you lean on it.
Paying cash doesn’t get anybody out of it, and neither does selling as-is or selling to an investor. In the law’s eyes, those are just ordinary sales.
Filling In the Form When You’re Not Sure of Half the Answers
It’s a record of what you know. It isn’t a promise that the house is perfect. Not sure the sump pump still kicks on? “Unknown” is a perfectly good answer. Know the basement took on water in a big storm a few summers back and you had it sealed? Write that down, and mention the repair.
A handful of things trip people up over and over, mostly because they happened so long ago they stopped feeling like news: the spring the basement took on water ten years back and hasn’t since, the roofer who told you it was “getting up there” when you refinanced, the addition the previous owner built that you’ve always half-wondered about, the furnace that needed two service calls in one January. None of that automatically kills a sale. But if you knew about it, it goes on the form, and writing it down now costs a whole lot less than arguing about it after closing.
Memory a little hazy? The drawer with the old receipts, warranty cards, and insurance letters will usually fill in half the blanks in twenty minutes.
One more thing for pre-1978 houses: the federal lead-based paint disclosure rides along with the state form, booklet, and signatures included, cash buyer or not.
Two Very Different Kinds of As-Is
List the house as-is with an agent, and you still get showings, a buyer’s inspection, and a decent chance that the buyer comes back afterward wanting money off or a repair list, disclosure or no disclosure. Sell it as-is to a cash buyer, and it’s usually one walkthrough, no inspection contingency to haggle over, and a price that already assumes the house needs work. You fill out the same statement either way. The difference is that in the second deal, nobody turns it into a punch list.
Why Oakland County Owners Reach Out to Michigan Houses For Cash
According to its site, Michigan Houses For Cash has been buying houses across Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan since 2018, running out of Lincoln Park with owner Sergio Aguinaga at the helm. It buys in any condition, charges no fees or commissions, and says it covers closing costs, so the number you agree to doesn’t get nibbled away at the closing table.
For Oakland County owners who want a company that will buy houses in Troy exactly as they sit, the draw is mostly certainty: the disclosure gets filled out once, honestly, and there’s no inspection-driven tug-of-war after it.
How the Sale Works
Start with a call to (248) 654-8393 or the short form on the company’s site, giving the address and whatever details you’ve got, and Michigan Houses For Cash says you’ll have a cash offer within 24 hours. If you take it, you pick the closing date, and the company says closing can happen in days rather than months. Do get the disclosure into the buyer’s hands before the purchase agreement is signed; that one habit makes the 72-hour rule irrelevant.
Selling As-Is Anywhere in Metro Detroit
Disclosure is a state rule, so Troy, Rochester Hills, Southfield, and Royal Oak work no differently from towns in Wayne, Macomb, or Washtenaw County. Some cities do add inspection or certificate requirements of their own, and a five-minute call to city hall before listing beats hearing about it from a buyer’s agent.
Questions Michigan Sellers Ask
I’m selling the house as-is. Why on earth do I still need a disclosure?
Because “as-is” is about repairs, and the Seller Disclosure Act is about information. Most one-to-four-unit sales in Michigan need the statement no matter what shape the house is in.
What if I forget and hand it over after we’ve already signed?
Then the buyer gets 72 hours after in-person delivery, or 120 hours after registered mail, to back out in writing.
I inherited the place and never lived there. How am I supposed to answer half of this?
From what you actually know, with “unknown” wherever you don’t. Lots of heirs are in exactly your position.
Is the disclosure basically a guarantee nothing’s wrong with the house?
No. It’s a statement of what the seller knows, not a warranty, and the form says so itself.
Do cash buyers bother asking for it?
They should, since the act covers the sale no matter how it’s paid for. Expect to see it in the paperwork.
Does it matter that my house is really old?
Only in one way: if it was built before 1978, add the federal lead paint disclosure. Otherwise, the state form is the same for a 1940s bungalow as for a 1990s colonial.
So does the buyer still need an inspection?
They should, honestly, because the form only covers what you happen to know, and it says right on it that it’s not a warranty or a replacement for the buyer getting their own inspection done.
I found a new problem after I gave the buyer the form. Now what?
Tell them, in writing, before closing; the Act expects you to speak up when something changes that makes your earlier answers wrong, and your closing attorney can help you word it.
Where do I even get the disclosure form?
The form’s wording is laid out right in the Act, and title companies and real estate attorneys usually have a copy ready to go.
Ready to Sell? Let’s Talk.
If you own a house anywhere in Metro Detroit and you’d rather sell it as-is without the inspection tug-of-war, call Michigan Houses For Cash at (248) 654-8393 for a free, no-obligation cash offer.
