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Wayne County, Michigan

Mortgage Broker in Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

Grosse Pointe Woods shares ZIP code 48236 with the Farms, the Shores and a corner of Detroit, and every sale needs a city inspection before move-in, so we start from the parcel and shop your loan across multiple wholesale lenders as one Michigan broker.

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Buying a home in Grosse Pointe Woods

The largest of the five Grosse Pointe communities, Grosse Pointe Woods sits roughly 12 miles east of downtown Detroit in Wayne County, a leafy postwar suburb of about 16,000 residents built mostly in the boom years around World War II (Wikipedia). Daily life centers on the Mack Avenue business district and the city-owned Lakefront Park, with its marina, pool, and picnic grounds on Lake St. Clair. The private Lochmoor Club, a golf club dating to 1917, sits just north of the middle of the city. Housing here skews heavily toward owner-occupied single-family homes, 93.3% of the 6,609 units are detached houses, and the estimated median value sits near $373,339 (Census QuickFacts). The Woods shares the Grosse Pointe Public School System with the other Pointes.

By the numbers

Grosse Pointe Woods housing and mortgage snapshot

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

$335,000

Typical home value, from the market research on this page

+43%

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

1

Residential ZIP code: 48236

What financing looks like in Grosse Pointe Woods

Redfin counted a median Grosse Pointe Woods sale of about $422,000 for the three months ending September 2026, up about 28% on a year earlier, yet its median price per square foot fell about 14% over the same stretch. That pairing suggests more of the homes sold were larger ones, rather than every house gaining that much, so we price the home you want from its own recent comparables. The usual listing went pending in about 18 days and sold near its asking price. Even the ZIP code as a whole, about $460,000 across the Woods, the Farms and the Shores, sits well under the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750, and the Woods median is under Wayne County's 2026 FHA limit of $541,287 as well, so for most Woods purchases the limits are not the constraint. Savings, credit and timeline are.

The house itself shapes the file more than the price does. By Census count roughly three in five Woods homes went up in the 1940s and 1950s, and every sale needs a city Certificate of Occupancy, issued after an inspection, before the buyer can move in. Corrections the inspector asks for can push back your move-in date, so we ask for the inspection status as soon as the offer is accepted, and a renovation loan can fold planned updates into one mortgage. If you are buying your first home and fit MSHDA's income limits, its MI 10K adds $10,000 for the down payment alongside a MI Home Loan, repaid when the home is sold or refinanced, the mortgage is paid off or you stop living there, and the program's $566,355 price cap clears a typical Woods sale.

Flood insurance is rarely the question. Our sample of FEMA's flood map found no high-risk zone anywhere in the city, which has no lake shoreline of its own. Water in the basement is the local risk to plan for: the Woods sends its storm water and wastewater through the same combined sewers to the Milk River drain and its retention basin, and after the June 25, 2021 storm the city pointed residents with flood losses to FEMA disaster aid. Ask the seller about past backups and ask your insurance agent whether the policy covers sewer and drain backup. One tax detail shapes escrow: about three fifths of the 2025 homestead levy, 32.80 of 55.24 mills, sat on the summer bill, payable without penalty through August 31, so the month you close changes how much tax money is collected at closing.

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One ZIP code, several tax bills: a 48236 homestead carried 55.24 mills in Grosse Pointe Woods in 2025, 52.74 in the Farms and 64.18 in the Detroit corner near Moross Road.

The market

The Grosse Pointe Woods housing market

The Zillow Home Value Index for ZIP 48236 reads about $371,671, up roughly 1.3% year over year, with listings going to pending in around 10 days (Zillow). Redfin shows a more volatile picture, a median sale price near $335,000 that dipped from a year earlier, with homes spending a median of about 23 days on market (Redfin). Demand is driven by the lakefront amenities and a tight supply of mid-century brick colonials. Inventory turns quickly, so pre-approval matters: well-priced homes near Monteith Elementary or the Mack corridor often draw competing offers within the first week.

ZIP code 48236

Who else shares ZIP code 48236

All of Grosse Pointe Woods uses ZIP code 48236, and so do the Farms, the Shores, a corner of Detroit and slivers of two other neighbors. Land shares come from Census ZIP and city boundaries, millage is Michigan Treasury's 2025 homestead total, and sale medians cover July to September 2026 on Redfin.

Grosse Pointe Woods: about 43% of the ZIP

The whole city sits inside 48236 and holds more of its land than any other place. One school district and one homestead total, 55.24 mills, cover every Woods parcel, and Redfin's Woods median ran about $422,000.

Grosse Pointe Farms: about 36%

South of the Woods, reaching the lake. Its 2025 homestead total was 52.74 mills, about $250 a year less than the Woods per $100,000 of taxable value. 11 Grosse Pointe Blvd, Grosse Pointe 48236 geocodes to the Farms.

Grosse Pointe Shores: about 15%

The strip between the Woods and Lake St. Clair, which is why the Woods has no shoreline of its own. The Wayne County side carried 52.43 mills, and the Macomb County side, in South Lake Schools, 43.58.

Detroit near Moross Road: about 5%

Southwest of the Woods around Moross Road, west of Mack Avenue, including the Henry Ford St. John Hospital campus at 22101 Moross Rd and homes such as 18545 Frankfort Ave. Both are in the City of Detroit and its school district, with a 64.18-mill homestead total and a city income tax.

St. Clair Shores and Harper Woods: under 1%

Census ZIP lines also clip both neighbors. Harper Woods' share of Grosse Pointe schools carried 86.63 homestead mills with its special assessment levies, so any address near a city line gets a parcel check.

The ZIP-wide numbers

Redfin's 48236 median was about $460,000, up about 19%, with homes selling in about 16 days. It blends all of these places, which is why it runs above the Woods' own figure.

Where to look

Grosse Pointe Woods neighborhoods

Ferry School and Canterbury Road

The northeast corner, against Grosse Pointe Shores to the east and the Macomb County line to the north, around Ferry Elementary on Roslyn Road, Canterbury Road and its courts, and Van K Drive. The school board bought Ferry's site in 1929, between two streets later named Morningside and Wedgewood. Every home the Census counts here is a detached, owner-occupied house, the typical one from 1965, later than in any other part of the city. Owner values sit near $492,000, above any other block group in the Woods, though the margin is wide.

Brys Drive and the Milk River pumping station

Along the north city line by Marter Road, on Brys Drive North and South, Blairmoor Court, River Road and Woods Lane. The Milk River pumping station sits on that line, and the city's chronology says the river flowed through the Woods before the 1958 Grosse-Gratiot Drain project. The summer bus to Lake Front Park picks up at Hampton and Marter. All detached and owner-occupied, typical home from 1959, owner values near $371,000 with a wide margin.

Wedgewood Drive and Lochmoor Place

North of Vernier Road in the eastern part of the city, along Wedgewood Drive, Hampton Road, Anita Avenue and the Lochmoor Place courts. The city's chronology calls Vernier Road perhaps the area's first road from Lake St. Clair, said to be named for Jeremiah Vernier. All detached houses and nearly all owner-occupied, typical home from 1951, owner values near $369,000.

Charlevoix Avenue and Yorktown Street

North of Vernier Road near the middle of the city, on Charlevoix Avenue, Yorktown Street, Wicks Lane and the Westbrook, Eastbrook and Centerbrook courts. Detached houses only, more than nine in ten owner-occupied, typical home from 1948. Owner values near $326,000 with a wide margin, a little under the citywide Census median of $342,100.

Mason School and Jules De Porre Park

East of Mack Avenue and north of Vernier Road, around Mason Elementary at 1640 Vernier, which opened in 1929, and the pocket park at Anita and Goethe. More of this block group rents than most of the Woods, about one household in four, and about one home in ten is in a building of five or more units. Typical home from 1946, owner values near $282,000.

Chene-Trombley Park and Ridgemont Road

West of Mack Avenue and north of Vernier Road, next to Harper Woods, on Ridgemont Road, Helen Avenue, Shorepointe Lane and Brys Drive. Chene-Trombley Park at Ridgemont and Mack was deeded to the village in 1943, and the city committed to renovating it in 2022. About one household in six rents, typical home from 1946, and owner values near $199,000, below any other block group in the city.

Beaufait, Lennon and Van Antwerp streets

West of Mack Avenue between City Hall and Vernier Road, on Jackson and Helen avenues and streets that carry the names of the area's old farm families, Beaufait and Van Antwerp among them. Lennon Street was named by developer and village president Joseph Beaufait for his mother's family. The typical home dates from 1945, the earliest of any block group here. Owner values near $254,000 with a wide margin, more than nine in ten homes owner-occupied.

The Lochmoor Club and Sunningdale Drive

The largest block group by land, about a fifth of the city, because the Lochmoor Club's golf course and the Grosse Pointe North High School campus on Vernier Road take up so much of it. The club dates to 1917 and opened its course in 1918. Homes line curving streets such as Sunningdale Drive, Fairway Drive and the Renaud and Oxford roads. Owner values near $425,000 with a wide margin, typical home from 1955, about four in five homes detached.

Parcells, Sweeney Park and Fairholme Road

East of Mack Avenue from Torrey Road up to Vernier Road, from Parcells Middle School at Mack and Vernier down to Sweeney Park, which has public access from Ford, Baltree and Clairview courts and Faircourt. Fairholme Road and the Renaud roads run through it. Every home counted is a detached, owner-occupied house, with a typical build year of 1948 and owner values near $370,000.

Ghesquiere Park and the Stanhope-Allard strip

West of Mack Avenue around the municipal center at 20025 Mack Plaza and the 32-acre Ghesquiere Park behind it, with the old Cook Schoolhouse close by. Allard Avenue and Stanhope Street sit in the strip of about 44 acres the village annexed from Gratiot Township in 1931. About 15% of households rent, typical home from 1949, owner values near $267,000.

Severn and Bournemouth roads

The southwest corner, west of Mack Avenue, on Severn, Bournemouth, Broadstone, Kingsville and Prestwick roads, with Harper Woods to the west and the Henry Ford St. John Hospital campus in Detroit just to the south. Detached houses only and almost all owner-occupied, typical home from 1951, owner values near $342,000, right at the city median.

Cook Road, Monteith School and the Hunt Club

The south end east of Mack Avenue, along Cook and Torrey roads and lanes such as Saddle, Peach Tree and Pear Tree, with Monteith Elementary at 1275 Cook Road and the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club, which took over the old Cook farm in 1911. Typical home from 1962, owner values near $424,000. About one home in five is in a building of five or more units, and about one household in eight rents.

Schools and commute

Schools

On the Census school district map every parcel in Grosse Pointe Woods falls inside the Grosse Pointe Public School System, so every home here carries the same school levies. The district lists six buildings at Woods addresses: Barnes Early Childhood Center on Morningside Drive, Ferry Elementary on Roslyn Road, Mason Elementary on Vernier Road, Monteith Elementary on Cook Road, Parcells Middle School on Mack Avenue and Grosse Pointe North High School on Vernier Road. It does not take Schools of Choice students, and enrolling asks for proof of residence such as a closing statement or deed less than two months old. The same district also covers the Farms, the Shores, the City, the Park and part of Harper Woods, and the tax still differs by city: Michigan Treasury's 2025 homestead totals were 55.24 mills in the Woods, 54.57 in the Park, 52.74 in the Farms, 52.43 on the Wayne County side of the Shores, 52.30 in the City of Grosse Pointe and 86.63 in the Harper Woods part once its special assessment levies are counted. The district's boundary map confirms an address.

Commute

Mack Avenue runs north and south through the middle of the Woods, and Wayne County began resurfacing it from Cook Road to Eight Mile Road in August 2026. I-94 passes just west of the city through Harper Woods: Vernier Road meets it at exit 225, where 8 Mile Road (M-102) ends, and Moross Road at exit 224A, while Allard Avenue has an exit off the freeway but no entrance. From City Hall on Mack Plaza, the Henry Ford St. John Hospital campus on Moross Road is about 1.3 miles and 3 minutes away, downtown Detroit about 13 miles and 22 minutes outside rush hour, Henry Ford Hospital on West Grand Boulevard about 11 miles and 19 minutes, and Detroit Metro Airport about 30 miles and 43 minutes. The city's Lake Front Park, at 23000 Jefferson in St. Clair Shores, is about 3 miles and 9 minutes by car, and a weekday summer bus for park pass holders starts at Hampton and Marter. The Census puts the average commute near 24 minutes, with a little over one worker in four working from home (Census Reporter).

Before you write an offer

Grosse Pointe Woods details to settle early

Five Woods details that are simpler to handle before an offer is final.

  • The sale inspection. The city issues a Certificate of Occupancy only after its code official inspects the house and any violations are fixed, and nobody moves in before that. The Building Department's permit page explains it. Ask for the inspection status the week your offer is accepted.
  • The water line. With 6,397 of the city's 6,874 service lines still of unknown material, look at the pipe where it enters the basement. The city's lead and copper testing page shows how to identify it and where to have the water tested.
  • The basement. Ask how the house came through the June 2021 storm, and check that the downspouts are disconnected, as the city's home care page requires. The Milk River drainage district page explains where the city's combined sewage goes.
  • Park passes. Plan a stop at the Community Center at 20025 Mack Plaza with a license showing your new address. The park pass page lists the rules, and a rented house needs a current Certificate of Occupancy on file before its tenants can get passes.
  • Paperwork after closing. File a Property Transfer Affidavit and a Principal Residence Exemption affidavit with the city, both posted on its tax forms page. Without the exemption, a Woods home is billed at the 69.72-mill non-homestead total. The assessing department, at 313-343-2452, answers parcel and taxable value questions.

The neighborhood figures above are 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey estimates for small Census areas, and several margins are wide, so recent sales of similar houses carry more weight when we look at a specific address.

Michigan property taxes

Grosse Pointe Woods 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 the City of Grosse Pointe Woods, our 2026 Uncapping Study found taxable value typically rises about 43% the year after a sale. On a $325,000 home, near the typical Grosse Pointe Woods value, that is roughly $2,700 more in first-year tax at the local median homestead millage. We build your payment on that post-sale number.

Looking at a Grosse Pointe Woods 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

I'd much rather somebody ask me, "Why are your taxes higher than what I'm seeing online?" than have them build a housing budget around the wrong assumption.

Tax bills, 2025

Woods millage next to the other Pointes

Each figure is a 2025 homestead total from Michigan Treasury, checked against the city's own rate table. A mill is a dollar of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value.

The Woods: 55.24 mills

One total for the whole city, roughly $5,524 for every $100,000 of taxable value. The summer bill carried 32.80 mills of it and the winter bill 22.44.

The other Pointes: 52.30 to 54.57

The Park 54.57, the Farms 52.74, the Wayne County side of the Shores 52.43 and the City of Grosse Pointe 52.30, all in the same school district. The Woods ran about $67 to $294 a year higher per $100,000.

A rental or second home: 69.72

Without the principal residence exemption the winter bill adds 14.48 mills of school operating tax, adding roughly $1,448 for every $100,000 of taxable value.

The jump at sale: about 43%

Our 2026 Uncapping Study's typical rise in taxable value the year after a Woods sale, against about 39% in the Park, 36% in the Farms, 34% in the City and 33% on the Wayne County side of the Shores.

Detroit's 48236 corner: 64.18

About 8.94 mills above the Woods, close to $894 more per $100,000, plus Detroit's city income tax. Grosse Pointe Woods has no income tax of its own.

When the bills are due

Summer taxes are payable without penalty July 1 through August 31 and winter taxes December 1 through February 15. After March 1, unpaid taxes are paid to the Wayne County Treasurer.

Local resources

Check Grosse Pointe Woods records yourself

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

What our clients say

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Grosse Pointe Woods mortgage questions

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

How much are homes in the Woods going for right now?

Over July, August and September 2026 the median Woods sale on Redfin was about $422,000, up about 28% on a year earlier, with listings going pending in about 18 days. Its median price per square foot fell about 14% at the same time, so part of that rise reflects larger houses among the sales. The 48236 ZIP code as a whole ran about $460,000, but that figure mixes in the Farms and the Shores. Census owners put their own homes at a median of $342,100 over 2020 to 2024, a different measure from sale prices. An earlier Redfin reading on this page, near $335,000, came before the latest run of sales.

The ZIP code alone does not say. By Census boundaries about 43% of the land in 48236 is Grosse Pointe Woods, about 36% Grosse Pointe Farms and about 15% Grosse Pointe Shores, with about 5% in Detroit and slivers of St. Clair Shores and Harper Woods. The Census geocoder places 20025 Mack Plaza (City Hall) in the Woods, 11 Grosse Pointe Blvd in the Farms, 795 Lake Shore Rd in the Shores and 18545 Frankfort Ave in the City of Detroit, all with ZIP 48236. A Detroit parcel means a different school district, a 64.18-mill homestead total and a city income tax, so we confirm the parcel before anything else.

Yes. The city requires a Certificate of Occupancy whenever a home changes owners. A code official inspects the property, the certificate is issued once any violations are corrected, and the buyer cannot move in until then. It stays valid for two years from the application. The city’s 2026 fee schedule lists $200 for a residential sale inspection and $75 for a re-inspection. Settle in the purchase agreement who corrects what the inspector lists, and by when.

Once you have passes. Lake Front Park sits outside the city, at 23000 Jefferson in St. Clair Shores, and entry takes a Grosse Pointe Woods park pass for every resident 8 and older. Passes are issued with a photo at the Community Center, 20025 Mack Plaza, and adults prove residency with a driver’s license or state ID showing the Woods address, so update your license first. The current passes run to December 31, 2028. Adults may bring two guests a day and residents under 18 one, and a driver’s license on its own will not get you through the gate.

Our sample of FEMA’s flood map found none: all 2,535 points we tested across the city fell in Zone X, the area of minimal flood hazard, and the Woods has no Lake St. Clair shoreline of its own. Basement water is the risk to ask about instead. The city’s sewers carry storm water and sewage together to the Milk River retention basin, city ordinance requires every downspout to be disconnected, and a claim for sewage backup damage must reach the city in writing within 45 days of finding the damage.

It could, and most lines are still unconfirmed. The city’s 2026 water quality report counts 6,874 service lines: 30 lead, 31 galvanized lines once connected to lead, 416 confirmed non-lead and 6,397 of unknown material. Its 2025 sampling put the 90th percentile lead reading at 13 parts per billion, above the 12 ppb action level, and the report says the state’s added requirements were met. The city replaces lead lines on a priority schedule and has until 2040 to finish, and the state’s EGLE laboratory tests water for individual households.

The whole city sits in one school district, so every Woods homestead carried the same 2025 total, 55.24 mills. That was above the Park’s 54.57, the Farms’ 52.74, the Wayne County side of the Shores at 52.43 and the City of Grosse Pointe’s 52.30, roughly $250 more than the Farms for each $100,000 of taxable value. Our 2026 Uncapping Study also found a bigger typical jump in taxable value after a sale in the Woods, about 43%, than in the Farms, about 36%. We build your payment on the post-sale number either way.

Registration and a city certificate. A rental has to be registered with the Building Department and hold a rental certificate, with the tenants on file and any change of tenants reported within 30 days, and the city’s 2026 fee schedule lists $200 for a single-family rental certificate. The tax rises too: without the principal residence exemption the 2025 total was 69.72 mills against 55.24, about $1,448 more each year for every $100,000 of taxable value, all of it on the winter bill.

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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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