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Legal & Development
The dream of space, a few acres, quiet, room for a garden or a barn or just some distance from the neighbors, is alive and well in West Michigan, and I help people chase it all the time. But buying rural property is a genuinely different game than buying in town, and the things that go wrong out in
Legal & Development
Here's a surprise that catches Michigan buyers every single year, and it's an expensive one. You're looking at a listing, you see the property's annual taxes, and you fold that number into your budget. The problem? That number is the seller's tax bill, not yours. After you buy, Michigan's property t
Legal & Development
A condo can be the perfect answer for the right buyer, low maintenance, often more affordable, frequently in a location you couldn't touch with a single-family home. No roof to replace, no lawn to mow, someone else handles the snow. But a condo can also become a headache nobody saw coming, and the d
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · December 10, 2025 Backyard cottages, in-law suites, garage apartments, accessory dwelling units are having a real moment, and it's easy to see why. One small structure can mean rental income, a place for aging parents or adult kids, and added value to
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · November 5, 2025 Owning real estate without an estate plan is like building a house and never recording the deed, when you're gone, someone else decides what happens to it. In Michigan, that someone is the probate court. Die without a will or trust and
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · November 4, 2025 The most expensive thing on a piece of West Michigan land is often the part you can't see. A buildable-looking 15 acres in Ottawa County turns into 11 the moment a hidden wetland complex shows up, because the state requires a permit an
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · November 3, 2025 In commercial real estate, the best investors aren't the sharpest negotiators, they're the best detectives. The deal is won or lost before you ever sign, in the unglamorous work of confirming that what's on paper actually matches reali
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · November 3, 2025 Walk down Western Avenue in downtown Muskegon and you'll see the future of West Michigan real estate in a single block: apartments above breweries, retail at street level, people living, working, and spending in the same place. That's
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 28, 2025 An investor bought a parcel in West Michigan, ran his numbers, and felt good about the deal, right up until $12,000 in payments he never saw coming landed on the property's tax bill. There was a road-improvement Special Assessment Dist
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 19, 2025 That grassy strip between your sidewalk and the street? You mow it, you maybe plant in it, but you probably don't fully control it, it's almost certainly a public utility easement. Easements are everywhere in Michigan, temporary or per
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 16, 2025 A Fruitport family owns 80 acres of forest they've loved for generations, and they want it to stay forest, not become a subdivision after they're gone. So they grant a conservation easement: it prevents the land from being carved up, b
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 15, 2025 A Norton Shores homeowner owns three properties, a residence, a duplex, and a lakeshore cottage, and wants all of it to pass to her family without a court ever getting involved. So she puts them into a single living trust. When she die
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 9, 2025 You can't just draw a new line on a map and call it a lot. A developer in Ottawa County learned that the hard way, selling off three parcels from a 12-acre tract without township sign-off. The sales were later voided, and the whole proj
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 3, 2025 A developer buys five acres in Norton Shores, planning to subdivide. Then the title search comes back: a 20-foot Consumers Energy easement runs across the center, a 15-foot drain easement cuts the rear, and a recorded ingress/egress eas
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · October 1, 2025 You'd be amazed how many Michigan property disputes start over a few inches, a fence post, a tree, the edge of a driveway. It sounds trivial until you remember that under state law, those few inches represent legal ownership of one of y
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · September 30, 2025 Nature Is Beautiful, Until It Becomes a Disclosure Issue Michigan’s landscape is one of the most diverse in the country. We’ve got forests, dunes, lakes, farmland, and industrial land often within the same county. But that natural va
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · September 19, 2025 Here's the uncomfortable truth: if you own a home in Michigan, you already have an "estate," whether or not you've ever written a will. And if you haven't planned for what happens to your property when you're gone, the state has a pl
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · September 15, 2025 From Grand Haven's Victorian streets to Muskegon's lakeside mansions, West Michigan's historic neighborhoods are full of character, and full of rules. That combination is the whole story: the same restrictions that protect the charm
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · September 10, 2025 A buyer picks up an old Muskegon factory site, a great price, big plans. He skips the testing to move fast. Months later, the soil tests come back: petroleum contamination. And under Michigan law, that's now his problem to clean up,
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · September 8, 2025 Zoning sounds like the kind of legal fine print you skim and forget. It's actually one of the most consequential parts of owning real estate, especially if you're an investor, developer, or business owner. In Michigan, zoning decides
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · August 24, 2025 Closing day comes, you get the keys, you own the house. Except owning a house and owning a clean title aren't the same thing, and in Michigan the difference can cost you thousands. A property carries its entire history with it, every pa
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · August 1, 2025 Most people facing foreclosure believe they've already lost. The letter arrives, the sale date is set, and they assume it's over. In Michigan, that assumption is wrong, and it's a costly one. State law still gives you time, rights, and c
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · July 29, 2025 There's a moment in every development project where your idea stops being yours and becomes "an approved plan." That moment is site plan review, the formal process where the local planning department evaluates your layout, design, and zon
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · July 20, 2025 Two investors buy the same duplex in Muskegon, put in the same money, sign at the same table. But one detail, the way they hold title, quietly decides everything that happens next. Hold it as "tenants in common" and each can sell or will
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · June 11, 2025 It’s More Than Just a Sign in the Yard Picking a REALTOR® is like picking a business partner for one of the biggest financial moves of your life. You’re not just hiring someone to unlock doors you’re trusting them with strategy, negotiati
Legal & Development
to be more uniform licensing but continued local control. The Bottom Line Short-term rentals remain one of Michigan's strongest cash-flow strategies, but the margin between profitable and penalized is local knowledge, the specific ordinance, the tax rules, the compliance steps. Get those right and t
Legal & Development
Dave Manley · REALTOR® based in West Michigan · April 17, 2025 Most people think of flooding as a coastal problem. In Michigan, it's one of the most common natural hazards we have, rivers, inland lakes, and even storm drains can overflow after a hard snowmelt or a heavy rain. That's why a single lin