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Wayne County, Michigan

Mortgage Broker in Dearborn, MI

Every Dearborn sale needs a city inspection and a Certificate of Occupancy before the buyer can move in, so we plan your loan around that step and shop it across multiple wholesale lenders as one Michigan broker.

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Buying a home in Dearborn

Dearborn is a city of nearly 110,000 people in western Wayne County, and Ford sets much of its rhythm: Ford World Headquarters, the Ford Rouge manufacturing complex and the neighboring Cleveland-Cliffs Dearborn Works steel mill, with Carhartt's corporate office, Henry Ford Health, Corewell Health's Dearborn hospital, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Henry Ford College and The Henry Ford museum close by. That paycheck base keeps housing demand steady year-round.

The housing is mostly brick. East Dearborn and the South End hold dense blocks of bungalows and two-family flats around the Warren Avenue and Dix corridors and next to the Rouge plant; the west side has mid-century ranches and colonials in neighborhoods like Snow Woods, Fort Dearborn and Crowley Park; and Springwells Park sits between Greenfield Road and Rotunda Drive. Zillow puts the citywide typical value near $240,000. Redfin put the citywide median sale near $280,000 for the three months ending September 2026, and South End bungalows and Springwells Park homes share ZIP 48120. The usual Dearborn home went under contract in about 15 days in that period.

By the numbers

Dearborn housing and mortgage snapshot

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

$240,000

Typical home value, from the market research on this page

+66%

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

1.44%

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: 48120, 48124, 48126, 48128

What financing looks like in Dearborn

Redfin put the median Dearborn sale at about $280,000 for the three months ending September 2026, up about 2% on a year earlier, and the usual listing went under contract in about 15 days at close to its asking price. Even 48128, at about $340,000, sits under the 2026 FHA limit of $541,287 and far under the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750. So the price seldom picks the loan here. Your savings, your credit and how long you plan to stay usually do.

The city's sale inspection shapes the file more than the price does. Dearborn's ordinance requires a pre-sale housing inspection, the seller corrects what the inspector cites, and the city issues a Certificate of Occupancy in the buyer's name before closing. When the repairs are not finished, the city allows an as-is sale with a compliance agreement, which makes the buyer responsible for the open items. Your lender has to know about that agreement, and a renovation loan can fold the required work into the mortgage. By Census count roughly seven in ten Dearborn homes went up before 1960, so these lists are common. Two-family flats are part of the housing mix too, and living in one unit keeps the purchase eligible for owner-occupied financing. First-time buyers within MSHDA's income limits can add the MI 10K, $10,000 toward the down payment beside a MI Home Loan, repaid when the home is sold or refinanced, the mortgage is paid off or you stop living there. Dearborn's typical sale clears the program's $566,355 price cap with plenty of room.

One tax detail shapes escrow. About 43 of the 50.87 homestead mills sit on the summer bill, levied July 1 and due September 14, while the winter bill carries the county's remaining levies and the city's sewer debt. The month you close changes how much tax money is collected at the closing table.

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Same city, two school levies: most Dearborn homes carried 50.87 homestead mills in 2025, while the blocks near Telegraph Road inside Westwood Community Schools carried 52.91.

Sub-markets

Dearborn housing market by ZIP code

Census ZIP boundaries put Dearborn's four residential ZIP codes almost entirely inside the city, so here the ZIP code does point to the city that taxes the home. The sale figures below come from Redfin and cover July through September 2026, and the owner figures are Census survey results gathered from 2020 through 2024. A ZIP with few sales can swing widely from one quarter to the next.

ZIP 48120, near $220,000

The South End, Springwells Park and the Ford Rouge complex, about a fifth of the city's land but the fewest homes. Redfin's median sale was about $220,000, but only six homes sold here in September 2026, so one or two sales move the figure. Census owner median $224,000, with about three households in five renting. Named areas: Springwells Park, South End and Salina.

ZIP 48124, near $258,000

West Dearborn, about 36% of the city's land, from Dearborn Hills and the west downtown south through Snow Woods and the Southwestern Outer Drive streets. Redfin's median sale was about $258,000, up about 1% on a year earlier, and homes went under contract in about 14 days. The Census owner median for the ZIP is $204,200, and about 85% of its homes are detached houses. Named areas: Dearborn Hills, West downtown and Morley, Ford Homes Historic District.

ZIP 48126, near $280,000

East Dearborn, about 35% of the city's land, from the South End's northern edge up through the Warren Avenue and Michigan Avenue corridors to the Ford Woods and Oakman blocks. Redfin's median sale was about $280,000, up about 6%, and listings took about 28 days to sell. Census owner median $213,900, with about one home in five in a building of three or more units. Named areas: Ford Woods and the Wyoming Avenue edge, Oakman and the north edge, East downtown.

ZIP 48128, near $340,000

About a tenth of the city's land, on the north side of west Dearborn around Golfview Oaks, the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Henry Ford College. Redfin's median sale was about $340,000, up about 3%, with homes selling in about a week, and the average one went for about 2% over its list price. Census owner median $258,700, and about 96% of homes are detached. Named areas: Golfview Oaks, Fair Lane and the campuses.

Where to look

Dearborn neighborhoods

Springwells Park

The Springwells Park neighborhood association covers the blocks between Greenfield Road, Rotunda Drive, Longmeadow and Eastham, with Bennington Park inside and the TPC Michigan golf course nearby. The Census tract around it mixes houses with condos and apartment buildings: about three in ten homes are detached, half sit in buildings of three or more units, and the typical one dates from 1974. Owner values sit near $260,000 with a wide margin.

South End and Salina

The neighborhood the Concerned Residents for South Dearborn association covers, bounded by Amazon Street, Schaefer Road, Michigan Avenue and Riverside, Fordson Island included. Salina Elementary and Salina Intermediate sit here beside Lapeer, Canterbury and Ash-Raymond parks, with the Ford Rouge complex next door. About half the homes are detached and about one in seven is a two-family flat. Renters outnumber owners about two to one. Owner values sit near $188,000, and the typical home dates from 1953.

Ford Woods and the Wyoming Avenue edge

Three tracts in the northeast: around Ford Woods Park and Fordson High School, the blocks near Woodworth Middle School, and the east edge along Wyoming Avenue with Gary Park, Wyoming-Gould Park and McDonald Elementary. Owner values sit near $217,000 to $225,000. The Ford Woods tract is mostly detached houses from the 1940s, about 85% owner-occupied, while in the Woodworth tract close to half the homes are in buildings of three or more units and renters slightly outnumber owners.

Oakman and the north edge

Four tracts along the city's north side, around Oakman Elementary and Anthony Park, Maples Elementary, Lowrey Middle School and Hemlock Park. Typical build years run from 1938 to 1947, and the homes are mostly detached houses, though the Maples tract has about one two-family flat in eight. Owner values run from about $185,000 in the Oakman tract to about $270,000 in the small tract on the far north edge, where the margin is wide.

East downtown

The east side's commercial blocks and the streets behind them: the Arab American National Museum on Michigan Avenue, Geer Park and Miller Elementary, Argyle-Williamson Park, and Henry Ford Elementary near Palmer-Jerome Park. Owner values sit near $204,000 to $219,000. About a third of homes are in buildings of three or more units in two of the three tracts, and the typical home dates from 1938 to 1960 depending on the tract.

Golfview Oaks

The north side of west Dearborn: the Golfview Oaks association covers Ford Road to Outer Drive west of Golfview, and the tract next door holds Haigh Elementary and Levagood Park, with Howard Elementary and Lindbergh School nearby. Nearly every home is a detached house, mostly from the late 1940s, and about 85% to 88% are owner-occupied. Owner values sit near $242,000 to $266,000, and the Middle River Rouge runs past the northwest corner.

Fair Lane and the campuses

About an eighth of the city's land, more than any other residential tract: the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Henry Ford College, Dearborn High School, the Dearborn Country Club, Ford Field park and the Country Club Estates and Fort Dearborn Manor streets. Half the homes are detached and about four in ten sit in condo and apartment buildings, which is why the typical build year is 1987. Owner values sit near $392,000 with a very wide margin.

Dearborn Hills

The Dearborn Hills Civic Association area: Silvery Lane to the west, Cherry Hill to the north and the Dearborn Hills golf course to the south, with the Lower River Rouge running along that side. All detached houses, typically from 1949, and the Census counts almost no rentals. Owner values sit near $363,000 with a narrow margin.

West downtown and Morley

The blocks around the West Downtown district on Michigan Avenue, the Bryant library, the Dearborn Historical Museum and Wagner Park, with the Morley Area and River Bend associations to the north and east. About half the homes are in buildings of three or more units and the typical home dates from 1971. Owner values sit near $225,000 with a very wide margin. Its western blocks near Telegraph Road fall in Westwood Community Schools.

Ford Homes Historic District

The historic district on Park, Gregory, Edison and Francis streets and along Military Street near Duvall School and Summer-Stephens Park. The tract around them is about seven in ten detached houses with some apartment buildings, about 71% owner-occupied, a typical build year of 1953 and owner values near $211,000. Exterior work in a historic district can need city review, so ask before you plan changes.

Southwestern Outer Drive

The southwest corner the Southwestern Outer Drive association covers, west to Telegraph Road: Whitmore-Bolles and Edsel Ford High School, Penn-Vassar, Oxford, Columbia and Crowley parks. Four tracts of mostly detached houses from about 1949 to 1953 with owner values near $163,000 to $188,000.

Snow Woods

The Snow Woods association covers Southfield Road west to Pelham Road between Rotunda Drive and Outer Drive, around Snow Elementary, Pine-Linden, Morningside and Carlysle-Ash parks. The next tract holds Corewell Health's Dearborn hospital. Nearly all detached houses from the mid-1950s, about 86% owner-occupied, with owner values near $189,000 to $200,000.

Around the city

Landmarks across Dearborn

Four places that shape the city's map, each placed in its Census tract from OpenStreetMap and the Census Bureau's tract data, with job figures from the city's 2025 financial report.

Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford

The museum and the village fill a tract of their own with no houses in it, close to 8% of the city's land. The Edison Institute that runs them counted about 1,650 jobs in the city's 2025 report.

The civic center on Michigan Avenue

The Dearborn Administrative Center at 16901 Michigan Avenue and the Henry Ford Centennial Library share one tract, with the Arjay Miller Arboretum nearby.

Ford's home base

The Ford River Rouge Complex fills another tract without homes, a similar share of the land, and Ford Motor Company tops the city's 2025 list of property taxpayers with about 15% of its taxable value.

Registered neighborhood associations

The city keeps a list of neighborhood associations with set boundaries, from Concerned Residents for South Dearborn, which takes in Fordson Island, to Country Club Estates between Cherry Hill, Military, Brady and Shady Hollow. Their lines are a quick way to place a listing.

Schools and commute

Schools

Census school district boundaries put all but a sliver of Dearborn in Dearborn Public Schools, which the city's 2025 financial report counts among its major employers, with about 2,500 people. The exception is a few blocks of west Dearborn near Telegraph Road, such as the 24900 block of Trowbridge Street and the 1300 block of Cambridge Avenue, which the Census geocoder places in Westwood Community Schools, about half of 1% of the city's land. The district changes the bill: Michigan Treasury's 2025 homestead totals were 50.87 mills in Dearborn Public Schools and 52.91 in Westwood. Part of the gap is the college levy. A Dearborn Public Schools bill carries 4 mills for Henry Ford College, while the Westwood part pays 3.19 mills to Wayne County Community College instead. Dearborn Public Schools also reaches past the city into part of Dearborn Heights, so a listing that names the district has not yet told you which city taxes the home. The parcel record will. The high schools are Dearborn High near the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Fordson on the east side and Edsel Ford in the southwest. Confirm the assigned school for an address with the district.

Commute

Michigan Avenue (US-12) runs east and west through both of Dearborn's downtowns, the Southfield Freeway (M-39) runs north and south through the middle of the city, and I-94 follows the southern edge. From the Dearborn Administrative Center on Michigan Avenue, downtown Detroit is about 11 miles and 18 minutes outside rush hour by Michigan Avenue, I-94 and the Lodge, Detroit Metro Airport about 14 miles and 20 minutes by Greenfield Road and I-94, and downtown Ann Arbor about 36 miles and 45 minutes. The city's 2025 financial report lists Ford Motor Company first among employers, about 39,500 jobs, followed by Corewell Health at about 7,300, Dearborn Public Schools, The Henry Ford, Cleveland-Cliffs' Dearborn Works, AAA Michigan, the city itself and Carhartt. The Census puts the average commute near 22 minutes, with about three workers in four driving alone and about 13% doing their jobs from home, according to Census Reporter).

Michigan property taxes

Dearborn 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 Dearborn, our 2026 Uncapping Study found taxable value typically rises about 66% the year after a sale. On a $250,000 home, near the typical Dearborn value, the first-year tax goes up roughly $2,520 at the Dearborn schools rate. We build your payment on that post-sale number.

Looking at a Dearborn 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 goes into a Dearborn tax bill

Homestead rates for 2025 from Michigan Treasury and the city's own millage table. Each mill costs a dollar per thousand dollars of taxable value. Four cards cover Dearborn itself, and two set it beside the cities around it.

Dearborn Public Schools: 50.87 mills

Nearly every Dearborn home. About $5,090 a year for each $100,000 of taxable value.

Westwood Community Schools: 52.91

The few blocks near Telegraph Road. About $204 more a year per $100,000 of taxable value.

The city's own share: 22.90

Charter operating 15.00, garbage and rubbish 2.11 and library 1.54 on the summer bill, plus 4.25 mills of voted sewer debt on the winter bill.

Rental or second home: 66.69

Without the homestead exemption the school operating levy adds 18 mills, so a Dearborn Public Schools home not lived in by its owner pays about $1,580 more per $100,000.

Detroit next door: 64.18

Across the city line to the east, Detroit's rate runs about 13 mills higher, Detroit adds a city income tax that Dearborn does not have, and our 2026 Uncapping Study found a jump at sale of about 128% there against about 66% in Dearborn.

Other neighbors

Lincoln Park 52.76, Melvindale 70.05, Allen Park 47.87 to 59.87 and Dearborn Heights 46.78 to 52.72, depending on the school district. Dearborn Public Schools' part of Dearborn Heights carried 50.14.

Local resources

Check Dearborn records yourself

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

While the offer is still open

Dearborn details to settle early

Six Dearborn checks that cost little before a purchase agreement is signed and a lot after it.

  • The sale inspection. Ask whether the seller has scheduled the city's pre-sale inspection and heating certificate, and get the inspector's list. The city's Selling or Buying a Home page explains the Certificate of Occupancy, and its buying and selling FAQ covers as-is sales and compliance agreements. The Response Center is at 313-943-2150.
  • A Ford Homes address. The Ford Homes Historic District runs along Park Street from Military to east of Nowlin, with Gregory, Edison and Francis streets. Before you budget for exterior changes there, ask the city whether the work needs review.
  • The flood map. Search the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center. In a high-risk zone the lender requires flood insurance.
  • The school district on the parcel. Near Telegraph Road, confirm whether the home is in Dearborn Public Schools or Westwood. The city's 2025 millage table lists both.
  • Plans to rent it out. Every non-owner-occupied home must be registered and inspected on a three-year cycle under the city's rental program.
  • Paperwork once you own it. File your transfer affidavit and your homestead exemption claim with the Assessing Department, 313-943-2140. Miss the exemption and the bill uses the 66.69-mill rate meant for rentals and second homes.

Tract values on this page are survey estimates for small areas, and a few carry wide error bands, so before you commit we price the actual house from its own recent comparable sales.

What our clients say

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Dearborn mortgage questions

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

What do Dearborn homes sell for right now?

Across July through September 2026, Redfin’s Dearborn median came to about $280,000, up about 2% on a year earlier, with homes going under contract in about 15 days. By ZIP code it ran near $220,000 in 48120, $258,000 in 48124, $280,000 in 48126 and $340,000 in 48128. The $240,000 typical value on this page is Zillow’s estimate across every home, sold or not, and the Census figure of $218,800 comes from owners’ own estimates in surveys from 2020 through 2024. Three different yardsticks, so they will not agree.

City ordinance requires a residential inspection before every sale. The seller schedules it, a licensed heating company certifies the furnace or boiler, the seller fixes what the inspector cites, and a city inspector confirms the repairs. The city then issues a Certificate of Occupancy in the buyer’s name, and the buyer may not move in without it. Ask for the inspection report as soon as your offer is accepted, because its list can change the appraisal, the repair negotiation and the closing date.

Yes. When the cited repairs are not done by closing, the city lets the sale close with a compliance agreement in place of the Certificate of Occupancy, and the buyer becomes responsible for finishing the work. Tell us early. Most loans expect the home to meet minimum property standards, so we may plan a repair escrow or a renovation loan that pays for the work, and you still cannot move in until the city signs off.

Almost always Dearborn Public Schools, at 50.87 homestead mills in 2025. A few blocks near Telegraph Road, such as the 24900 block of Trowbridge Street, sit in Westwood Community Schools at 52.91 mills, about $204 more a year for each $100,000 of taxable value. The parcel record on the city’s property database shows the school district for any address.

Look it up before you make an offer. FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center shows the zone for any Dearborn address, and FEMA alone sets the flood insurance rules. In a high-risk zone the lender requires flood insurance on the loan, and the premium joins your monthly housing cost, so ask for a quote while the inspection period is still open.

No. Michigan Treasury’s list of cities that levy an income tax names Detroit and 23 others, and Dearborn is not among them. That can matter when you compare a Dearborn house with one across the city line in Detroit, where the income tax comes out of your pay on top of the property tax. We build each city’s taxes into the budget before you choose.

Twice a year by the city. The summer bill is levied July 1 and due September 14, and it can be split into three payments for a $3 fee. It carries the school, city and county operating levies, about 43 of the 50.87 homestead mills. The winter bill is levied December 1 and due February 14 and carries the rest of the county levies and the city’s sewer debt. After closing, check with the assessor that your Property Transfer Affidavit and Principal Residence Exemption are both on file.

Yes, with registration. Every home its owner does not live in must be registered with the city and pass the same inspection a sale requires, repeated on a three-year cycle. If the Certificate of Occupancy at closing is issued as non-owner occupied, the home is entered in the rental program at that point. Without the homestead exemption, a home in Dearborn Public Schools pays the 66.69-mill non-homestead total, about $1,580 more a year for each $100,000 of taxable value.

Communities near Dearborn

Wayne County overview

Guides for Dearborn 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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