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Washtenaw County, Michigan

Mortgage Broker in Barton Hills, MI

Buying on Barton Shore Drive, Corrie Road or Country Club Road? Samantha compares your loan across multiple wholesale lenders and checks the village tax bill. Before you commit to a price, ask for the septic reports filed at Village Hall and any Maintenance Corporation approvals for that lot.

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Buying a home in Barton Hills

Barton Hills is a home-rule village of 316 people at the 2020 Census, on the north bank of Barton Pond inside Ann Arbor Charter Township, just northwest of the City of Ann Arbor. Detroit Edison laid it out after building Barton Dam in 1912 and 1913, hiring the Olmsted firm of Brookline, Massachusetts to fit lots and roads to the hills, and the deed restrictions still give the Barton Hills Maintenance Corporation approval over every new house and exterior change. It became the first home-rule village in Washtenaw County on December 12, 1973. The village's own wells serve its 145 water customers, every house relies on its own septic system, and an Ann Arbor 48105 address covers far more than the village, so the parcel record is where we start.

By the numbers

Barton Hills housing and mortgage snapshot

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

$1,410,000

Typical home value, from the market research on this page

+38%

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

1

Residential ZIP code: 48105

What financing looks like in Barton Hills

Few houses change hands here, so we read each sale rather than an average. Ann Arbor Township's 2026 sales study, which covers April 2023 through December 2025, lists seven arm's-length sales of village houses, from $1,225,000 to $2,200,000, with a median of $1,900,000. Redfin adds two house sales the study does not list: $900,000 for a two-bedroom ranch on Barton North Drive in November 2025 and $1,249,000 on Corrie Road in January 2026. All six houses Redfin shows selling since 2024 closed below their first asking price. Census estimates for 2020 through 2024 put the owner median at $1,410,000, with a wide margin, and about four owner homes in five at $1 million or more. Those prices sit above the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750, so a financed purchase here is usually a jumbo loan, which asks for more cash reserves and fuller documentation. Jumbo is decided by the loan amount, not the price. FHA's $541,287 ceiling and the $566,355 price cap on MSHDA's MI Home Loan sit well below village prices.

Two local details reach the loan file on almost every house. Each home relies on its own septic system: the village code requires the tank to be pumped at least every four years and the whole system inspected by a Washtenaw County certified inspector at least every eight, with both reports filed at Village Hall, and the county requires a time-of-sale inspection of on-site septic systems before a home is sold, with approvals good for one year. Water comes from the village's own system, two groundwater well sites serving 145 customers in 2024, billed by meter at least once a year. With so few sales, an appraiser may also have to reach outside the village for comparable houses, so we raise the value question early.

Building or rebuilding brings in the Barton Hills Maintenance Corporation, which holds the deed restrictions on most lots. A new house, an addition, grading, a driveway or a landscape plan needs its written approval, a $750 application fee and plans signed by a registered architect, and an approval lasts one year and does not pass to a new owner. A lot purchase or a teardown is usually financed with a construction loan rather than a standard purchase mortgage. FEMA's high-risk flood zone touches under 1% of the village's land, a thin band along the Barton Pond shore, so the flood question applies mainly to lots that reach the water.

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A Barton Hills home pays an 11.5-mill village levy on the village's own July 1 bill, which put its 2025 homestead total at 49.56 mills, against 38.06 in the rest of Ann Arbor Township.

The market

The Barton Hills housing market

The typical home value in Barton Hills is near $1,410,000 in Census estimates for 2020 through 2024, with a wide margin on so small a village. About 150 detached houses sit on wooded lots, roughly a quarter built before 1940 and two in five in the 1950s and 1960s, and nearly every one is lived in by its owner. Only a few change hands in a year, and three-month medians swing with a single sale, so we read each recorded sale instead, as the cards below do.

On the record

Barton Hills sales since 2023

Ann Arbor Township's 2026 sales study, covering April 2023 through December 2025, lists seven arm's-length sales of village houses. Redfin adds three transactions the study does not list. Square footage and acres are the township's figures unless a listing is named.

$2,200,000, May 2024

Barton Shore Drive along the pond, about 5,900 square feet on 1.05 acres. Listed at $2,475,000.

$2,000,000, July 2023

Barton Shore Drive, about 6,400 square feet on 2.55 acres, near the Whitmore Lake Road entry.

$1,980,000, June 2025

Country Club Road, on about 2.2 acres in the northwest corner. Listed at $2,400,000.

$1,900,000, December 2024

Underdown Road, a 1920 house on 2.18 acres. First listed at $3,000,000 that July.

$1,550,000, twice

Barton North Drive on 5.14 acres in May 2023, and Corrie Road on 2.57 acres in November 2024.

$1,225,000 and $1,249,000

Hillspur Road on 2.73 acres in June 2025, and Corrie Road on 1.88 acres in January 2026, per Redfin.

$900,000, November 2025

Barton North Drive, a two-bedroom ranch, per Redfin. Listed at $1,200,000.

$750,000 for land, October 2026

Barton Shore Drive, a 2.22-acre lot. Its listing cited soil results approved for a six to seven bedroom house.

149 parcels, one roll

The township's 2026 study puts the village's 149 parcels at a combined state equalized value of $107,210,300, up from $100,695,900 in 2025.

Where to look

Barton Hills neighborhoods

Barton Shore Drive at the Whitmore Lake Road entry

The east end of the village's longest road, which runs about 1.5 miles from the Whitmore Lake Road entry along Barton Pond. The 2020 Census counted 27 homes in the block between here and Underdown Road. Ann Arbor Township's sales study lists a house of about 6,400 square feet on 2.55 acres here at $2,000,000 in July 2023, and Redfin shows a 2.22-acre building lot on this stretch selling for $750,000 in October 2026. Village Hall sits at 199 Barton Shore Drive, beside the open fields at the southeast entry that the Maintenance Corporation owns.

Barton Shore Drive along the pond and the Boat Club

The middle stretch faces Barton Pond, the City of Ann Arbor's reservoir behind Barton Dam, which supplies about 85% of the city's drinking water. The Barton Boat Club, founded in 1937, sits at 446 Barton Shore Drive on Maintenance Corporation land, and the shore between the club and Spring Valley Road is Corporation waterfront for its shareholders. No speed boats or jet skis are allowed on the pond. The township's sales study shows a 1957 George Brigham design on this stretch, per its listing, on 1.05 acres, at $2,200,000 in May 2024.

Corrie Road and Hillspur Road

Two short spurs off Barton North Drive, about 0.28 and 0.19 miles long, on the slope above the pond. Three sales here since 2024: a Corrie Road house on 2.57 acres, by the township's record, at $1,550,000 in November 2024, a Hillspur Road house of about 3,200 square feet on 2.73 acres at $1,225,000 in June 2025, and a David Osler mid-century house on Corrie Road, 1.88 acres per its listing, at $1,249,000 in January 2026. Some homes off Corrie Road and Barton North Drive sit on private drives that the Maintenance Corporation does not maintain, so check how the driveway reaches the road.

Underdown Road

A 0.4-mile road with a short spur on the east side of the village. A 1920 house here, about 8,500 square feet on 2.18 acres, first listed at $3,000,000 in July 2024 and sold for $1,900,000 that December, per Redfin and the township's study. Its listing noted winter views of Barton Pond through the west windows, and the township's study counts it among the arm's-length sales it used to value village houses for 2026.

Barton North Drive and the country club side

The 0.9-mile road across the north of the village, with Corrie and Hillspur branching off it. In the block that takes in the Barton Hills Country Club at 730 Country Club Road, the 2020 Census counted just 12 homes on about 125 acres. A house of about 5,100 square feet on 5.14 acres sold for $1,550,000 in May 2023, and a two-bedroom ranch sold for $900,000 in November 2025 after listing at $1,200,000. A paved extension off Barton North Drive leads to the 40-acre Jan and David Esch Nature Preserve just outside the village line.

Country Club, Colliston and Forest roads

The northwest corner, where Country Club Road, about 0.7 miles inside the village, meets Colliston and Forest roads. The 2020 Census counted 15 homes across the two blocks here, on about 46 acres. A mid-century house on about 2.2 acres sold for $1,980,000 in June 2025 after listing at $2,400,000. Country Club Road continues outside the village into Ann Arbor Township, where the same street name carries a lower tax rate: the township's study lists a township parcel on Country Club Road at $1,125,000 in May 2024.

Oakdale Road, Juniper Lane and the west end

The west side, from Oakdale Road, about half a mile with a spur, and Spring Valley Road down to Juniper Lane, a short spur off Barton Shore Drive, plus a private drive west off Barton Shore Drive. At 32 homes on about 70 acres in the 2020 Census, it has the most homes per acre of any part of the village. No sale here appears in the township's study for April 2023 through December 2025, which is how rarely some Barton Hills streets see a house change hands.

Shared parks, fields and the nature preserve

The Maintenance Corporation owns three parks inside the village, among them Minoma and Cayuga, plus the fields on either side of Barton Shore Drive at the southeast entry, the waterfront by the Boat Club and the 40-acre Esch Nature Preserve beyond the northeast corner. These lands are for Corporation shareholders and their invited guests, and pets stay on leash. Shares are tied to parcels, one vote for a developed lot and half a vote for an undeveloped one, and most but not all village households hold one, so ask whether the parcel you are buying carries a share.

Building and renovating

Adding on or rebuilding in Barton Hills

Most building here is renovation, enlargement or a teardown and rebuild, according to the Maintenance Corporation's architectural guidelines. Two sets of rules apply, the village's 2014 zoning ordinance and the Corporation's deed restrictions, and both shape what a lot is worth to a buyer who plans a project.

Four sign-offs before work starts

Written approvals from the Maintenance Corporation, Barton Hills Village, Ann Arbor Township and the Washtenaw County Health Department, with a $750 application fee paid to the Corporation.

Zoning limits

In the R-1 district: a one-acre minimum lot and 150 feet of width, two and a half stories or 40 feet, 35-foot front and 20-foot side setbacks.

House size follows lot size

On lots of half an acre or more, a footprint of 3,000 square feet plus 4 square feet for every 100 square feet of lot, up to 10,500, and habitable floor area of 2,500 square feet plus the same share, up to 9,500. A two-acre lot allows a footprint of about 6,480 square feet and about 5,980 of floor area.

A registered architect

Plans must be prepared and signed by a registered architect. An approval lasts one year, belongs to the owner who applied and has to be resubmitted by a new owner.

Septic comes first

Preliminary plans show the septic field with written approval from the county health department. A 2026 lot listing on Barton Shore Drive advertised soil results approved for six to seven bedrooms.

Trees, fences and sheds

Removing a tree that is not dead, hazardous or invasive needs approval even with no project. Perimeter walls and fences are not permitted, and sheds go through the same review as houses.

Schools and commute

Schools

Ann Arbor Public Schools is the only district here. Census school district boundaries put all of Barton Hills inside it, and no school building sits in the village. The district's attendance area directory assigns every village street it lists, from Barton Shore Drive and Barton North Drive to Underdown, Corrie, Oakdale and Colliston roads, to Wines Elementary, Forsythe Middle School and Skyline High School, with district busing. The district notes the directory is being updated, so confirm the address with its transportation office before you count on a building. Because one district covers the whole village, the school levies are the same on every parcel. What sets Barton Hills apart is the village levy: Michigan Treasury's 2025 homestead totals were 49.56 mills here, 38.06 in the rest of Ann Arbor Township with the same district and 52.67 in the City of Ann Arbor. A house that is not your principal residence pays 65.52.

Commute

Barton Drive puts M-14 less than half a mile from Village Hall, and Whitmore Lake Road runs along the village's east edge. By OSRM routing in light traffic from Village Hall at 199 Barton Shore Drive, downtown Ann Arbor at Main and Liberty is about 2 miles and 5 minutes, the University of Michigan hospital complex about 2.8 miles and 7 minutes, Central Campus about 8 minutes and North Campus about 3.3 miles and 8 minutes. Domino's Farms, Domino's headquarters, is about 8 minutes, Dexter about 15, Brighton about 23, Detroit Metro Airport about 39 by M-14, US-23 and I-94, and downtown Detroit about 50. Ann Arbor SPARK's September 2026 list puts the University of Michigan first among Washtenaw County employers, with about 37,400 workers, followed by Trinity Health Michigan at about 5,500 and Ann Arbor Public Schools and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System at about 2,700 each. Census estimates for 2020 through 2024 count about one working resident in three doing the job from home, with a wide margin on so small a sample.

Michigan property taxes

Barton Hills 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 Ann Arbor Township, which assesses Barton Hills, our 2026 Uncapping Study found taxable value typically rises about 38% the year after a sale. On a $1,400,000 home, near the typical Barton Hills value, that is roughly $9,600 more in first-year tax at the village's homestead millage. We build your payment on that post-sale number.

Looking at a Barton Hills 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

County alone does not tell you much. We would never say you are in a particular county so here are your taxes. It does not work like that. We need the actual property.

Mills and bills

How Barton Hills' 49.56 mills compare

Totals are Michigan Treasury's 2025 homestead rates. Each mill costs $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

Barton Hills: 49.56 mills

About $4,956 a year for each $100,000 of taxable value. A house that is not your principal residence pays 65.52 mills.

The village levy: 11.5 mills

Set in the village's 2025 to 2026 budget and billed by the village on July 1, payable without penalty until September 14. Unpaid bills go to Washtenaw County for collection on February 28.

Two township bills as well

Ann Arbor Township sends the summer bill by July 1, due September 15, and the winter bill on December 1, due in mid-February, which carries 3.1856 mills of county levies.

Rest of the township: 38.06

The same school district without the village levy, about $1,150 less a year per $100,000 of taxable value.

City of Ann Arbor: 52.67

With Ann Arbor Public Schools, about $311 more a year per $100,000 of taxable value than Barton Hills.

Samantha's planning number

Half the price times 49.5586 mills, about $37,170 a year on a $1,500,000 purchase. It is a deliberately high planning figure, not what the law sets: the assessor's value decides the bill.

Local resources

Check Barton Hills records yourself

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

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.

Barton Hills mortgage questions

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

What do houses in Barton Hills actually sell for?

Only a few change hands each year, so we look at each sale rather than an average. Ann Arbor Township’s 2026 sales study lists seven arm’s-length sales of village houses from April 2023 through December 2025, from $1,225,000 on Hillspur Road to $2,200,000 on Barton Shore Drive, with a median of $1,900,000. Redfin shows $900,000 for a two-bedroom ranch on Barton North Drive in November 2025, $1,249,000 on Corrie Road in January 2026 and $750,000 for a 2.22-acre building lot on Barton Shore Drive in October 2026. The Census owner median of $1,410,000 is a different measure: what owners estimated in surveys from 2020 through 2024.

Every village address reads Ann Arbor 48105, Village Hall included, but Barton Hills covers under 2% of that ZIP code’s land. The parcel number settles it. In Ann Arbor Township’s sales study, village parcel numbers begin with IB, while township parcels begin with I. Country Club Road is the one to watch, because it runs both inside and outside the village, and the study lists a Country Club Road sale outside the village as a township parcel. Inside the village the 2025 homestead total is 49.56 mills, outside it 38.06.

Water, yes, from the village itself. Barton Hills Village runs its own system from two groundwater well sites, 145 customers in its 2024 water quality report, and bills by meter at least once a year. Sewer, no. Houses here rely on their own septic systems, which the village code regulates. The village code requires the tank to be pumped at least every four years and the whole system inspected by a Washtenaw County certified inspector at least every eight, with the paperwork filed at Village Hall. Ask the seller for those filings and for the county’s time-of-sale inspection, which is required before the home is sold.

It matters more than most buyers expect. The Corporation was formed in 1922 as a nonprofit homeowners association and holds the deed restrictions on most lots. Its written approval is needed for a new house, an addition, exterior changes, grading, a driveway, landscape plans and removing any tree that is not dead, hazardous or invasive. It also owns the roads, three parks, the fields at the southeast entry, the waterfront by the Barton Boat Club and the 40-acre Esch Nature Preserve. Ask the seller whether the parcel carries a share, whether an assessment is owed and for copies of past approvals on the house.

Usually, if you are financing. With recorded sales between $900,000 and $2,200,000, most loans land above the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750. Jumbo is set by the loan amount, not the price, so a larger down payment can bring a purchase under the limit. A jumbo file usually asks for more cash reserves and fuller documentation of income and assets. FHA’s $541,287 ceiling and MSHDA’s $566,355 price cap sit well under village prices, so those programs rarely fit here.

On three bills. Ann Arbor Township sends the summer bill by July 1, due September 15, and the winter bill on December 1, due in mid-February. The village sends its own bill on July 1 for its 11.5 operating mills, payable without penalty until September 14. The 2025 homestead total came to 49.5586 mills, about $4,956 a year for each $100,000 of taxable value, and 65.5192 for a house that is not your principal residence. Taxable value also resets the year after you buy, so we build your budget on the buyer’s number, never the seller’s bill.

Very little of it. On FEMA’s Washtenaw County flood map, in effect since April 3, 2012, the high-risk zone touches under 1% of the village’s land by our sample, a thin band along the Barton Pond shore, most of it designated floodway. If a lot reaches the shoreline, look the house up in FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center before you write an offer. Flood insurance becomes a loan requirement when the house itself sits in that zone and the mortgage is federally backed or regulated.

Yes, within two sets of rules. The village’s zoning sets a one-acre minimum lot, 150 feet of width, two and a half stories or 40 feet, and setbacks of 35 feet in front and 20 on the sides. The Maintenance Corporation limits house size on lots of half an acre or more and asks that a replacement house sit where the old one stood where practical. Plans must show the septic field with written approval from the county health department. Expect to finance the project with a construction loan, and start the approvals early, because an approval belongs to the owner who applied and does not transfer.

Communities near Barton Hills

Washtenaw County overview

Guides for Barton Hills 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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