Transaction coordinator in Michigan: Form A dates, licensing and costs

What does a transaction coordinator do in Michigan?

Michigan names the role in statute, and the legal meaning is narrower than the way the industry uses the word. Under MCL 339.2517, a "transaction coordinator" is "a licensee who is not acting as the agent of either the buyer or the seller." Subsection (5) lets a licensee act in that role "upon proper notice to all parties to a real estate transaction." So in Michigan law a TC is a licensed, neutral party to the deal, not just a back-office helper.

Most agents who hire a TC want the back-office job: open the file, calendar the dates in the purchase agreement, collect signatures and keep the lender and title company on schedule. That work is the same in Michigan as elsewhere. The difference is in the vocabulary, so when you and a coordinator use the term, agree which of the two you mean.

Does a Michigan transaction coordinator need a license?

For the statutory role, yes: the definition starts with "a licensee". The 2023 Michigan REALTORS Legal Hotline Companion adds that a statutory TC is neutral and that one person cannot be both the transaction coordinator and the listing agent in the same transaction.

For an assistant who does licensed work, the hotline answers are strict about pay. A licensed assistant performing licensed activities must be licensed through and paid by the broker, whether on commission or hourly, because MCL 339.2510(1) bars a salesperson from accepting consideration from anyone but their employing broker. The hotline also says that legally "any per transaction payment qualifies as a 'commission.'" A flat fee for each closing therefore counts as commission, and has to run through the broker. An unlicensed assistant stays on the clerical side, and the hotline records LARA's historic position that only licensed agents can show property.

Which Michigan purchase agreement dates does a TC track?

The statewide form is the Michigan REALTORS Purchase Agreement, Form A, copyright 2024. Its clock is simple: the Effective Date is the date of final acceptance, and every number of days in the agreement means calendar days. Several key windows are blanks the agents fill in, so a coordinator reads each executed agreement rather than relying on defaults.

The inspection paragraph has a sting. After the buyer objects, the seller and then the buyer each get a blank number of days to respond, and if the buyer makes no election in time the contract becomes voidable by either party until one is made. A coordinator should calendar all three blanks, not just the first. The contract deadline calculator counts calendar days from the Effective Date, and our explainer on how each form counts days covers the difference from business-day forms.

Form A also prints the statutory role in its signature block. The selling broker office ticks one box for whom it represents, and the last option reads "Neither Seller nor Buyer (Transaction Coordinator)".

Two smaller windows complete the calendar. On a cash offer, ¶4 gives the buyer a blank number of days to prove available funds to the seller's satisfaction, and the seller may terminate if that proof does not arrive. On a home built before 1978, ¶12 reminds the parties that federal regulations require a 10-day lead-based paint inspection period or another period they agree.

Who closes a Michigan sale, and what taxes are due?

Form A names an escrowee for the earnest money in ¶23 and has the seller provide an owner's title insurance policy at the seller's expense under ¶7, so a title company is part of every Form A file. Under ¶18 the seller pays all state and county transfer taxes and the buyer pays to record the deed and the loan closing costs.

The state real estate transfer tax is $3.75 for each $500 of value, paid by the seller at recording through the county Register of Deeds and Treasurer. MCL 207.504 sets the county tax at 55 cents per $500 in a county under 2,000,000 people, and lets a county of 2,000,000 or more charge up to 75 cents. A seller selling a principal residence whose state equalized value has not risen above its value at acquisition can claim the exemption in MCL 207.526(u), with a refund available on Form 2796 if the tax was already paid.

Two after-closing items catch buyers. The new owner must file a Property Transfer Affidavit, Form 2766, with the city or township assessor within 45 days of the transfer, and Public Act 97 of 2024 changed the late-filing fees from April 2, 2025. A transfer also uncaps taxable value under MCL 211.27a(3), which is why Form A warns in capitals that the buyer's future tax bills may not match the seller's.

Which MLS and association does a Michigan TC deal with?

Michigan REALTORS publishes Form A and runs the Legal Hotline. Listing data is regional. Realcomp II, the MLS whose reports cover "the lower part of Michigan", breaks its figures out for the City of Detroit and for Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair and Wayne counties. Those reports do not claim the whole state, so on a listing outside that area check which MLS and local board it belongs to.

How active is the Michigan market?

We did not find a statewide 2025 sales total from a primary source, so here are the Realcomp December 2025 figures for all of its MLS, homes and condos combined. Closed sales held steady at 8,054 against 8,058 a year earlier. The median sale price rose 5.9% to $270,000 and homes averaged 43 days on market. Inventory climbed 10.3% to 20,440, which Realcomp put at 2.3 months of supply.

What changes in metro Detroit?

The biggest local difference for a TC is the point-of-sale inspection. Several Wayne County cities will not let a home change hands without a city certificate, and the timing of that certificate decides the closing date.

• Wayne. Chapter 1484 of the city code makes it unlawful to sell a dwelling, or act as broker on the sale, without a Certificate of Compliance. The application needs proof that the furnace has been inspected, cleaned and certified.
• Southgate. Since July 12, 2021 every dwelling needs an exterior inspection before sale. The fee has been $200 since June 1, 2024, and reports come within 5 business days. A buyer can take on the repairs by signing an affidavit and putting $1,000 in escrow before closing.
• Wyandotte. A dwelling needs a current certificate of approval to transfer. The inspection report is good for one year, and the estimated cost of repairs can be escrowed with the city instead of fixing everything first.

We have not given Detroit its own page in this guide. The rules that change a Detroit-area file sit in these city ordinances and in the Realcomp data above, and they fit here. Check the city where the property sits before the inspection window ends, because the escrow option and the paperwork differ in each.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in Michigan?

Coordinators here mostly quote one price per file. Our national review of 21 published price cards in October 2026 put the one-side fee between $300 and $550, and the majority charged nothing for a file that never closed. Because Michigan treats a per-transaction payment to a licensed assistant as commission, ask how a licensed TC's fee will be paid through your broker. The TC fee calculator sets a per-file fee against a salary at your volume.

How do you hire a transaction coordinator in Michigan?

Decide first which TC you want. If you need a neutral licensee on a deal, that is the statutory role and it needs notice to every party. If you want file management for your own side, you are hiring an assistant, licensed or not, and the pay rules above apply.

Then ask practical questions. Does the coordinator calendar all three inspection blanks in ¶10? Do they chase the Property Transfer Affidavit with the buyer after closing? Do they know which Wayne County cities need a certificate before sale? Our TC checklist template lists the rest of a complete file.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a Michigan agent?

The table sets the usual options side by side. A good freelance TC is worth every dollar on a messy file. What most agents are really paying for, though, is someone who never misses a date and always chases the lender. Software does that on every file at once.

To see what the gap means across a year of files, put your numbers into the TC fee per file calculator.

Compare plans on the DeedSpring pricing page.