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Oakland County, Michigan

Mortgage Broker in Orion Township, MI

Looking at a home in Orion Township, from Keatington on Lake Voorheis to the newer streets off Baldwin and Squirrel roads, or refinancing one you own? Samantha compares multiple wholesale lenders for you and prices the payment with the millage your parcel actually pays.

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Buying a home in Orion Township

Orion Township is a charter township in northern Oakland County, home to about 39,100 residents in the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate, with the Village of Lake Orion inside it. The name Lake Orion is often used for both, and the township's motto is "Where living is a vacation." Orion Township counts 42 lakes larger than five acres and more than 4,200 acres of parks and open space, and the Paint Creek Trail runs through it. General Motors' Orion Assembly plant is in Orion Township, and the median household income here is near $118,800.

By the numbers

Orion Township housing and mortgage snapshot

Values move. Treat these as orientation and let us pull current figures for the address you are considering.

$370,000

Typical home value, from the market research on this page

+39%

Typical rise in taxable value the year after a home sells, 2026 Uncapping Study

1.18%

Property tax current owners pay, as a share of value. A buyer's bill can reset higher the year after a sale

4

Residential ZIP codes: 48359, 48360, 48362, 48348

What financing looks like in Orion Township

In the three months ending September 2026, Redfin's numbers put the median sale near $422,000 in the 48360 ZIP code, $392,000 in 48359 and $381,000 in 48362, each lower than a year earlier. Census estimates put three in four owner-occupied Orion Township homes below about $499,000, inside FHA's 2026 one-unit limit, $541,287, and far under the conforming limit for 2026, $832,750. Conventional, FHA and VA loans all fit most of this market, and a jumbo loan only enters the picture when the amount you borrow, not the view from the dock, goes past the conforming limit.

What sets an Orion purchase apart is usually the land around the house. About 1,300 single-family homes sit on the shores of the township's named lakes, and a lakefront appraisal leans on other lakefront sales, which are fewer. Away from the township's water and sewer mains, many homes draw from their own well and drain to a septic tank, so a water test and a septic inspection belong in your inspection period. First-time buyers can pair a MI Home Loan, whose $566,355 sales price limit sits above most Orion sales, with MSHDA's MI 10K, which puts $10,000 toward the down payment. It is repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off the home or stop living in it, and MSHDA sets household income limits.

Talk with SamanthaCompare loan options

In Orion Township the parcel settles three things before the loan does: the school district, whether the home is in the village, and whether the water comes from a township main or your own well.

Buying on an Orion Township lake

By the township's 2022 master plan, its lakes cover about 1,700 acres, about 8% of its area. The rental ordinance adopted in 2025 counts about 1,326 single-family homes on the shores of the named lakes: about 390 on Lake Orion, 188 on Lake Voorheis, 124 on Long Lake, 119 on Square Lake and 100 on Indianwood Lake, with smaller counts on more than a dozen others. Lake Sixteen, inside Orion Oaks County Park, has none.

Public access is limited. The master plan names Lake Orion and Lower Trout Lake, in Bald Mountain State Recreation Area, as lakes with public access, and most of the larger lakes are ringed by homes. Some carry their own rules: state boating rules bar high-speed boating and water skiing on Lake Voorheis from 6:30 p.m. to 10 a.m. Lakefront owners can also be billed through special assessment districts the township forms for work such as weed control, so ask the seller what the parcel pays.

For the loan, a lakefront appraisal compares the home with other recent lakefront sales, and on a smaller lake there may be only a handful. Frontage, and whether the lot fronts the water or only carries access rights, both move the value, so ask your agent which recent lake sales support the price before you settle on an offer.

Talk with SamanthaRead the lakefront guide

Lakefront comparable sales, the rental limit and any special assessment all belong in an Orion lake budget.

The market

The Orion Township housing market

The typical home value in Orion Township is near $369,900, the median for owner-occupied homes in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which counts about 12,600 owner-occupied homes here. The median year built is 1989, and Orion Township mixes lakefront and lake-access homes with subdivisions of colonials and ranches built over the last few decades. Homeowners pay a median of about $4,360 a year in property taxes, an effective property tax rate of about 1.18% of the median value.

ZIP codes

Orion Township ZIP codes, one at a time

Four ZIP codes reach into the township. Three lie almost entirely inside it, and the fourth is mostly Independence Township. Shares of land come from Census Bureau ZIP code boundaries; sale figures are Redfin's for each whole ZIP code, three months to September 2026.

48360: about a third of the land

Entirely inside the township: the middle band from Keatington and Lake Voorheis east past Township Hall and Canterbury Village on Joslyn Road to the Bald Mountain area beyond M-24, including the Rochester school district corner. Census owner median $387,500, typical home from 1992. Median sale near $422,000, about 9% lower than a year earlier, with homes typically selling in about 25 days.

48359: about 31%

The south end: GM's Orion Assembly, Gingellville and the rebuilt Baldwin Road, Judah Lake, and the Pontiac school district strip along Brown Road. About 4% of the ZIP lies over the line in Independence Township and Auburn Hills. A fifth of its homes are in buildings of two or more units. Census owner median $350,100; median sale near $392,000, homes selling in about 29 days.

48362: about 30%

The north end: the Village of Lake Orion and the lake, Lake Orion Heights, Indianwood, and Long Lake and Bunny Run, plus a sliver of Oxford Township. The oldest stock of the four, with about 12% of homes built before 1940, mostly in the village. Census owner median $346,900; median sale near $381,000, and homes typically sold in about 14 days.

48348: about 4%

Clarkston's ZIP code reaches the township's west edge around Heather Lake, Shrewsbury and Valleyview drives near Clarkston and North Baldwin roads. These homes pay Orion Township taxes despite the Clarkston mailing address. Most of the ZIP is Independence Township, so its ZIP-wide sale figures say little about this corner.

Where to look

Orion Township neighborhoods

Keatington and Lake Voorheis

Subdivisions wrapped around Lake Voorheis between Baldwin, Joslyn, Clarkston and Waldon roads, on streets such as Armstrong Drive, Aldrin Court, Orbit Drive and Saturn Drive. The township's master plan lists Keatington among its sewered subdivisions. The Census tract shows owner values near $371,900, a typical home from 1980, and about 42% of its homes built in the 1970s. Lake Orion Community Schools.

Lake Orion Heights

A named place between Lake Orion, Square Lake and Elkhorn Lake, reached by Heights Road and Elkhorn Lake Road just west of the village. The township's rental ordinance counts about 119 homes on the Square Lake shore and 52 on Elkhorn. Its tract shows owner values near $393,400 and a typical home from 1983, with a quarter of owner homes valued above about $697,000.

Indianwood

The Indianwood Road area northwest of the village, around the Indianwood Golf and Country Club, whose Old Course dates to 1925 and which hosted the U.S. Women's Open in 1989 and 1994 and the U.S. Senior Open in 2012. By the township's count about 100 homes front Indianwood Lake and 53 front Manitou Lake. It shares a Census tract with Lake Orion Heights.

Long Lake and Bunny Run

The northeast corner, east of the village toward the Oakland Township line, along Long Lake Boulevard, Bunny Run Boulevard and Conklin Road. About 124 homes front Long Lake and 48 front Bunny Run Lake. Nearly every home in the tract is owner-occupied, with owner values near $281,200 and a typical home from 1983. Bunny Run Lake sits close to the Oakland Township line, so confirm which township taxes a lot near it.

Gingellville and the Baldwin Road corridor

A crossroads community at Baldwin and Gregory roads that the master plan treats as a future village center around Baldwin and Maybee, where Baldwin was rebuilt from a two-lane road into a four-lane boulevard with roundabouts. I-75's Baldwin Road exit is just south. About a third of the tract's homes are in buildings of two or more units, against 13% township-wide, and owner values sit near $258,000.

Judah Lake and Judah Road

The southwest corner between Baldwin and Joslyn roads north of Brown Road, around Judah Lake, whose subdivision the township lists as sewered. Building is still going on here: about 18% of the tract's homes were built in 2020 or later, its typical home dates from 1998, and owner values are near $359,100.

West of Baldwin by Orion Oaks

West of Baldwin Road between Clarkston and Waldon roads, beside the 916-acre Orion Oaks County Park. Every home in the tract is a detached house, most built in the 1990s and 2000s, with owner values near $459,100 and a typical build year of 1995. Some streets at the west edge, such as Valleyview Drive, carry Clarkston 48348 addresses.

Northwest Orion and Heather Lake

North of Clarkston Road from Joslyn Road west to the Independence Township line, along Coats Road, Newman Road and North Baldwin Road, with Pungs, Lonesome and Greens lakes and the Heather Lake area at the west edge. The tract shows owner values near $496,000 and a typical home from 1993, a quarter of them built in the 2000s.

East of M-24: Silverbell, Greenshield and Squirrel

East of Lapeer Road toward the Oakland Township line, around Silverbell, Greenshield and Squirrel roads, Jesse Decker Park and Bald Mountain State Recreation Area. The southeast corner is in Rochester Community School District. The tract is mostly newer, about 40% of homes from the 1990s and 30% from the 2010s, with owner values near $456,000.

Central Orion: Joslyn, Waldon and Giddings

The middle of the township from Township Hall on Joslyn Road south past Waldon Road to GM's Orion Assembly on Giddings Road. The tract mixes subdivisions with about 300 manufactured homes, roughly one home in six, and shows owner values near $277,900 with a typical home from 1993. A strip along Brown Road at the south edge is in the Pontiac school district.

Schools and commute

Schools

By Census Bureau district maps, about 93% of Orion Township's land lies in Lake Orion Community Schools, whose 12 school buildings include one primary and one alternative high school, three middle schools, six elementary schools and an early childhood center. Rochester Community School District covers about 5%, in the southeast corner east of M-24 around Greenshield Road, and the School District of the City of Pontiac about 3%, in a strip along Brown Road at the south edge. Michigan Treasury's 2025 rate table also lists a Clarkston Community Schools rate for a small part of the township, and it lists no Oxford rate for Orion. The district printed on the parcel record sets the school assignment and part of the millage, so confirm it for the exact address.

Commute

I-75 runs just south of the township line through Auburn Hills, with exits at Lapeer Road (M-24, exit 81), Joslyn Road (83) and Baldwin Road (84), and M-24 carries traffic north through the township and the Village of Lake Orion. From Township Hall on Joslyn Road, Stellantis in Auburn Hills is about 9 miles away, around 15 minutes outside rush hour; the Big Beaver corridor in Troy is about 18 miles (23 minutes), downtown Detroit about 37 miles (45 minutes) and Detroit Metro Airport about 54 miles, a little over an hour. Closer in, GM said in July 2025 that its Orion Assembly plant on Giddings Road will build the Cadillac Escalade and the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty pickups starting in 2027 (State of Michigan). Oakland County's employer list also places Stellantis, BorgWarner, Continental Automotive Systems and U.S. Farathane in Auburn Hills and Oakland University in Rochester. Residents average about a 26-minute commute, and about one in five works from home (Census Reporter).

Michigan property taxes

Orion Township property taxes after you buy

The year after a Michigan home sells, its taxable value resets to half of the assessor's market value, so the seller's tax bill is not your tax bill.

In Orion Township, our 2026 Uncapping Study found taxable value typically rises about 39% the year after a sale. On a $375,000 home, near the typical Orion Township value, that is roughly $1,750 more in first-year tax at the local median homestead millage. We build your payment on that post-sale number.

Looking at an Orion Township address? Our Michigan property tax calculator finds that property's published 2025 millage and works out the tax to plan for after you buy.

How Michigan taxable value works

In Samantha's words

Don't build your budget around somebody else's tax bill. The seller's tax history tells us something about the property. It does not automatically tell us what your taxes are going to look like as the new owner.

2025 homestead millage

What each part of Orion Township pays

Every school district and village combination in the township has its own 2025 homestead total in Michigan Treasury's rate report. Each mill is $1 per $1,000 of taxable value. The Study example above uses the middle of these five rates; most homes here pay the Lake Orion Community Schools rate, which is higher.

Lake Orion schools: 35.62 mills

About 93% of the township's land. About $3,562 a year on $100,000 of taxable value. It includes the school debt voters approved in 2018 and a building and site sinking fund approved in 2016.

Village of Lake Orion: 44.84 mills

The village inside the township adds its own levy, about $922 more a year than the Lake Orion schools part of the township on the same $100,000 of taxable value.

Lake Orion mortgage guide

Clarkston schools: 33.27 mills

Listed by Treasury for a small part of the township. About $3,327 on $100,000 of taxable value.

Rochester schools: 29.23 mills

The southeast corner, about 5% of the land. About $2,923 on $100,000 of taxable value.

Pontiac schools: 29.07 mills

A strip along Brown Road, about 3% of the land. About $2,907 on $100,000 of taxable value.

Second homes and rentals: 18 mills more

A home that is not your principal residence also pays the 18-mill school operating tax, 53.62 mills in the Lake Orion schools part of the township. Claim the Principal Residence Exemption with the assessor once it is your home.

Local resources

Check Orion Township records yourself

The official offices behind the tax and school details on this page.

Buying notes

Five Orion Township checks before an offer

Each one comes from the office that sets the rule, and each costs less to sort out while the offer is still being written.

  • Where the water comes from. Township water and sewer reach the subdivisions the 2022 master plan lists, including Keatington, Judah Lake and the Heather Lake area, but not every road. On a private well, Oakland County's health division leaves testing to the owner and sells sample bottles for bacteria and nitrate, and its septic program keeps permits and inspections on file for 18 years, so ask for the file on the address.
  • The flood map. FEMA maps about 4% of the township's land as high-risk, in thin bands beside lakeshores, creeks and wetlands. Look the parcel up on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center.
  • Rental plans.Ordinance 164 requires every rental to be registered and inspected and limits short-term rentals township-wide and on each lake.
  • Private roads and assessments.The township has no jurisdiction over roads: public roads belong to the Road Commission for Oakland County, and private roads are kept up by the owners along them. Ask who plows and repairs a private lake road, and whether the parcel pays a road or lake special assessment.
  • Repair help.Oakland County's Home Improvement Program lends income-eligible owners up to $23,000 for work that includes wells and septic systems.

The tract values in the neighborhood cards are owner estimates from the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey and can miss by a lot on a small sample, so recent sales of similar homes count for more when you price an offer.

What our clients say

5.0 on Google across 128 reviews

★★★★★
Samantha Shelton is amazing!! She helped me get into my first home in Ferndale. The closing process was easy I was able to take care of everything without taking a day off of work. Being a first time homebuyer was stressful but she provided clear communication and true experience guidance throughout the entire process
Jeffery HolleyFebruary 2026
★★★★★
Can’t say enough great things about Samantha and her team at Align Lending! Highly recommend
Justin BartonJune 2024
★★★★★
As a first-time homebuyer in Ferndale, I was unsure of some things. Samantha was awesome. She was extremely helpful and made sure I understood every part of the process.
Peter RosaAugust 2026
★★★★★
Want to shout out Samantha for the expert guidance, made my first-time homebuyer experience seamless! It exceeded expectations and was a stress free process throughout. Grateful for all your help and loving my new home in Bloomfield Hills!
MichaelJuly 2026
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Individual experiences. Results vary.

Orion Township mortgage questions

If yours is not here, ask it on the call. There are no dumb questions.

Is a Lake Orion address in Orion Township or in the village?

Usually the township. Every home in the Village of Lake Orion is also inside Orion Township, but the village covers only about 2% of the township’s land, around downtown and much of the lake itself. Both use Lake Orion mailing addresses, so I go by the parcel record. It changes the bill: in 2025 the village’s homestead rate was 44.84 mills, against 35.62 in the Lake Orion Community Schools part of the township outside the village.

It depends on the ZIP code. Redfin’s sale data for July through September 2026 puts the median near $422,000 in 48360, $392,000 in 48359 and $381,000 in 48362, all below a year earlier. Homes in 48362 typically sold in about two weeks, while 48359 took closer to a month. The Census median of $369,900 comes from owners’ own estimates over 2020 to 2024, so it runs behind current sale prices.

The parcel record tells you. Lake Orion Community Schools covers about 93% of the township’s land, Rochester Community School District the southeast corner and Pontiac’s district a strip along Brown Road, and Treasury lists a Clarkston rate for a small area. The rates differ: Michigan Treasury’s 2025 homestead totals were 35.62 mills with Lake Orion, 29.23 with Rochester and 29.07 with Pontiac, so each $100,000 of taxable value costs about $640 a year more in the Lake Orion part than in the Rochester part.

Maybe, but read the township’s rules before you count on that income. Orion’s rental ordinance, adopted in June 2025, requires every rental to be registered and inspected, and it limits stays of 30 days or less to 2% of the township’s single-family homes, about 237 in all, with a separate 2% limit on each lake: four on Lake Voorheis and three each on Long and Square lakes, for example. If those slots are taken on your lake, plan around a long-term tenant, and talk with me about how lenders count rental income.

Many do. The township’s 2022 master plan counts a little over 5,000 water customers and a little over 7,000 sewer customers, while the Census counts about 15,300 occupied homes. Keatington, Judah Lake, the Heather Lake area and the subdivisions around the village are on sewer, and homes outside the served areas often rely on their own well, septic tank or both. Testing a private well is the owner’s job in Oakland County, so ask for a water test and a septic inspection during your inspection period.

Only if the home sits in FEMA’s high-risk flood zone, which covers about 4% of the township’s land, mostly thin strips along lakeshores, creeks and wetlands. Being on a lake does not put a home in the zone by itself, and being away from the water does not keep it out. If it is in the zone, your lender will want a flood policy for most loan types, and I add that premium to the monthly figure, so I check the parcel on FEMA’s map while you are still deciding on an offer.

It can be. The 48348 ZIP code is mostly Independence Township, but it reaches about 4% of Orion Township’s land on the west edge, on streets such as Heather Lake Drive, Shrewsbury Drive and Valleyview Drive near Clarkston and North Baldwin roads. Those homes pay Orion Township’s taxes, and Census boundaries place that area in Lake Orion Community Schools, so go by the parcel record rather than the mailing city.

Yes, if your household income qualifies and the home is where you live. Oakland County’s Home Improvement Program makes loans of up to $23,000, due when you no longer live there, and its eligible work includes wells, septic systems, roofs and heating systems. Orion Township is not among the few communities the county lists as sitting out. Before you buy, MSHDA’s MI 10K can help a first-time buyer with the down payment, within its income and price limits.

Communities near Orion Township

Oakland County overview

Guides for Orion Township buyers

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Align Lending LLC, NMLS #2041154. Samantha Shelton, NMLS 1647301. Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensed in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Figures on this page are market research for orientation, not a quote. This page is for educational purposes only. It is not a credit decision, a preapproval, a commitment to lend, or an offer of credit.

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