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Wayne County, Michigan

Mortgage Broker in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI

Grosse Pointe Farms runs its own water plant, its own move-in inspection and its own lakefront park, and one Michigan broker shops your loan across multiple wholesale lenders.

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Buying a home in Grosse Pointe Farms

Wedged along the Lake St. Clair shoreline roughly 10 miles east of downtown Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms is a compact, established city of about 9,600 residents that trades on water access, century-old architecture, and a famously short commute. Daily life orbits two anchors: Pier Park, the city's 17-acre lakefront with a 333-slip harbor, beach, and resident pool, and The Hill, the walkable Kercheval shopping-and-dining pocket. The Grosse Pointe Public School System is the city's largest employer, followed by the Country Club of Detroit, both physically inside the Farms. Housing skews to Colonial Revival, Tudor, and Dutch Colonial homes from the early- to mid-1900s, ranging from modest cottages near the Hill to the large estates of Provencal Road. With median household income around $161,000, buyers here are typically financing move-up or luxury purchases rather than entry-level starters.

By the numbers

Grosse Pointe Farms housing and mortgage snapshot

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

$463,000

Typical home value, from the market research on this page

+36%

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

1.86%

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

1

Residential ZIP code: 48236

What financing looks like in Grosse Pointe Farms

Over July, August and September 2026, the middle Grosse Pointe Farms sale in Redfin's data came to about $562,000, about 5% higher than the same stretch of 2025. Homes went under contract in about 11 days on average, against 18 a year before, and sold for about their full asking price, and Redfin scored the city's competitiveness at 91 out of 100. That median sits a little above the 2026 FHA limit for Wayne County, $541,287, and well under the conforming limit of $832,750. The FHA limit caps the loan rather than the price, so FHA is a practical fit mainly in the lower half of this market, while conventional financing carries most purchases and VA is available to eligible veterans. Jumbo financing turns on the amount borrowed, not the price, and applies only when the loan itself passes the conforming limit. MSHDA's MI Home Loan caps the price at $566,355, close to the Farms median, and eligible buyers inside its income limits can add the MI 10K, $10,000 toward the down payment that is repaid on a sale, a refinance, a payoff or a move out.

A few Farms rules reach into the loan file. Before anyone moves in, the city requires a new Certificate of Occupancy, issued after its own inspection of the house, and a gutter downspout still tied into the sanitary or combined sewer can hold it up. If repairs are still open at closing, the city can issue a conditional certificate against a cash deposit or bond of at least $250, up to 150% of the estimated repair cost, so the purchase agreement should say who handles what. Lots on the lake side of Lake Shore Road can fall inside FEMA's coastal flood zones, where a government-backed mortgage requires flood insurance. The houses are old, too: the Census counts more than a third built before 1940 and about 86% before 1960, which is where an inspection that looks hard at plumbing, wiring and the sewer line pays for itself.

Property tax is the figure to plan around. The city bills twice a year and splits a homestead's 2025 levy almost evenly, 26.91 mills on the July bill, due September 15, and 25.83 on the December bill, due February 14. An escrow account collects for both, so the cushion set at closing depends on how near the closing date falls to either one. The 2025 bills also carried 0.48 mills of new debt for the Inland District sewer separation, the first part of what the city estimated at about 2 mills of total tax impact from the project's bonds.

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The homestead exemption lifts the 18 school operating mills a rental pays, yet a Grosse Pointe Farms homestead still paid Grosse Pointe Public Schools 3.52 operating mills in 2025.

The market

The Grosse Pointe Farms housing market

Redfin pegs the trailing-12-month median sale price in Grosse Pointe Farms at about $540,000, essentially flat (down roughly 2%) year over year, while individual months in early 2026 swung sharply on the strength of which estates closed. Zillow's typical-value index sits lower near $463,000 because it blends in smaller homes; Homes.com shows a comparable $540,000 median. Inventory moves quickly for a luxury market: homes sell in about 33 days, well under the national average. Demand is driven by Pier Park lake access and a 15-to-20-minute drive to downtown Detroit, which keeps competition tight for well-renovated homes near the Hill.

Mailing address

One ZIP code, four cities

ZIP code 48236 is a postal route, not a city line, and a plain Grosse Pointe 48236 mailing address can belong to three different cities. Land shares come from our sample of Census ZIP and city boundaries, the price medians are Redfin's for July through September 2026, and the Census geocoder placed each example address.

Grosse Pointe Farms: about 36% of 48236

Census ZIP boundaries put about 99% of the Farms' land in 48236. Pier Park, 350 Lake Shore Road, geocodes to the Farms whether the address reads Grosse Pointe or Grosse Pointe Farms. Redfin's Farms median was about $562,000, well above its median for the ZIP code as a whole, about $460,000.

Grosse Pointe Woods: about 43%

The biggest share of the ZIP code lies north of the Farms. 707 Vernier Road, Grosse Pointe 48236, the address of Grosse Pointe North High School, is in the City of Grosse Pointe Woods, which levied 55.24 homestead mills in 2025 against the Farms' 52.74.

Grosse Pointe Shores: about 15%

Lake Shore Road carries on from the Farms into the Shores, and the house numbers keep climbing. 795 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe 48236 is in the Shores, where a different city government handles assessing, permits and parks, and the 2025 homestead total was 52.43 mills.

Detroit: about 5%

Detroit blocks west of Mack Avenue around Moross Road also use 48236. Ascension St. John Hospital, 22101 Moross Road, Detroit 48236, sits in the City of Detroit and the Detroit Public Schools Community District, so a home on those blocks is taxed and schooled by Detroit.

Where to look

Grosse Pointe Farms neighborhoods

The Hill side: McKinley, Muir and Lewiston

West of Kercheval Avenue from Fisher Road up to about Ridge Road, just behind the Hill business district, with Richard Elementary on McKinley Avenue and the Henry Ford Medical Center Cottage building at 159 Kercheval. The typical home here went up in 1938, earlier than in any other part of the Farms. About one home in five is rented and about one in five is something other than a detached house, both well above the rest of the city. Census owner values near $484,000, give or take about $71,000.

Grosse Pointe South, City Hall and Moran Road

The band between Kercheval Avenue and Grosse Pointe Boulevard from Fisher Road north to Moross Road: Grosse Pointe South High School and the Central Library at the south end, City Hall on Kerby Road near the north end, and Moran, Mapleton and Merriweather roads between. About 96% of its roughly 900 homes are detached houses, typical build year 1947. The Census owner estimate, near $495,000, carries a margin of about $267,000 either way, so recent sales say more here than the survey does.

Lake Shore Road, from the War Memorial to Pier Park

Everything east of Grosse Pointe Boulevard to the lake, from the City of Grosse Pointe line north to about Moross Road: the Grosse Pointe War Memorial at 32 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe Academy, the Beverly Road Historic District, Beacon Hill, Fair Acres Drive, the city's water filtration plant and Pier Park. All of its roughly 340 homes are detached, Census owner values sit near $883,000, give or take about $95,000, and the typical home dates from 1968, later than anywhere else in the city. About 9% of its land is in FEMA's coastal high-risk zone.

Kerby Road, Vendome and Touraine

West of Kercheval between about Ridge Road and Moross Road, a grid of streets with French names, among them Vendome, Voltaire, Mirabeau, Vincennes and Touraine, around Kerby Elementary on Kerby Road. The Census counts about 500 homes, nearly all detached and every one owner-occupied in its estimate. Owner values near $612,000 with a wide margin of about $122,000, and a typical home from 1947.

Brownell, Chalfonte and Mount Vernon

Between the Mack Avenue strip and the Kerby Road grid, up to Moross Road: Brownell Middle School at 260 Chalfonte, with Mount Vernon, Belanger, Piche, Williams and Hillcrest around it. About 890 homes, all detached in the Census count and all but about 10 lived in by their owners, with a typical build year of 1941. Owner values near $389,000, give or take about $46,000.

The Mack Avenue side and Kerby Field

The blocks just off Mack Avenue, the city's other business district, from about Fisher Road up to Moross: Calvin, Manor, Madison and Webster, with Kerby Field's ballfields, fieldhouse and pass-only dog park between Mack and Chalfonte. The city pumping station at Chalfonte and Kerby Road is one of its four local historic districts. About 450 homes, nearly all detached, a typical build year of 1946 and Census owner values near $348,000, give or take about $48,000, below every other part of the Farms.

Bournemouth, Roland and the Woods line

The corner north of Moross Road and west of Lexington Road, up to the Grosse Pointe Woods line, with Bournemouth, La Belle, Roland, Maison and Shelbourne. The school district's boundary map sends this corner to Monteith Elementary and Grosse Pointe North rather than Kerby and South. The Census reports one figure for the whole north end, Country Club grounds and lakefront included: owner values near $383,000, give or take about $21,000, and a typical home from 1954. For these streets we pull recent sales instead.

Provencal Road and the Country Club of Detroit

North of Moross Road from Lexington Road east to the lake: the Country Club of Detroit's grounds, Provencal Road along their north edge and lakeside lanes such as Willow, Tonnancour, Whitcomb and Windemere. The Provencal-Weir House at 376 Kercheval is a local historic district, and the lake side of Lake Shore Road dips into FEMA's coastal zone here too. Kerby Elementary, Brownell and Grosse Pointe South serve these streets. The Census figure for the north end mixes them with the Mack Avenue corner, so a price here comes from recent sales.

Schools and commute

Schools

Every Grosse Pointe Farms address is in the Grosse Pointe Public School System, which also serves the other four Pointes and part of Harper Woods and does not take School of Choice students, so enrollment follows the address. The district's boundary map splits the Farms three ways for elementary school: Richard Elementary on McKinley Avenue serves the south end around the Hill, Kerby Elementary on Kerby Road the middle of the city and the lakefront up to Provencal Road, and Monteith Elementary, over the line in Grosse Pointe Woods, the corner north of Moross Road and west of Lexington Road. Brownell Middle School on Chalfonte Avenue serves the whole city. Grosse Pointe South, on Grosse Pointe Boulevard at Fisher Road, is the high school for most addresses, while that northwest corner, roughly 6% of the city's land by our map sample, sits on the Grosse Pointe North side of the district's dividing line. The map is marked as illustrative, so confirm a specific address with the district. Because one district covers the whole city, the school levy does not change from street to street: every Farms homestead carried the same 52.7433 total mills in 2025.

Commute

From City Hall on Kerby Road, Moross Road reaches I-94 in about 2.7 miles, roughly 7 minutes. Downtown Detroit is about 9 miles away in a straight line and about 14 by road over Moross, I-94 and I-75, around 24 minutes outside rush hour, and Detroit Metro Airport is about 31 miles and 44 minutes. Ascension St. John Hospital, on Moross Road just over the Detroit line, is about 1.6 miles away. Inside the city, the largest employers in the Farms' 2025 annual financial report are Grosse Pointe Public Schools with 338 jobs, the Country Club of Detroit with 280, the city itself with 120, Grosse Pointe Academy with 80 and the Grosse Pointe War Memorial with 60. The Census puts the average commute near 24 minutes, with about one worker in four working from home (Census Reporter). SMART buses serve the area, and PAATS, run with Harper Woods and the five Pointes, takes residents 60 and older or with a disability by reservation made at least two days ahead.

Before you write an offer

Before you close on a Farms house

None of these is unusual on its own, but together they are how a Farms purchase differs from one a mile away, and every one is simpler to handle before the offer is signed.

  • The move-in inspection. No one may start living in a Farms dwelling until the city inspects it and issues a new Certificate of Occupancy, and a downspout tied into the sewer is enough to hold it up. The rule is in the Residential Property Maintenance chapter of the city code, and the Public Service Department runs the inspections.
  • The service line. The city's 2025 water quality report counts 225 lead water service lines among 4,128. The Water and Sewer Department can tell you whether a given house is on one.
  • The lake side of Lake Shore Road. Those lots are where FEMA's coastal high-risk zones sit. Look the lot up on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center and price the insurance while the inspection period is still open.
  • Historic district rules. The Farms has four local historic districts: the Beverly Road district, the Provencal-Weir House at 376 Kercheval, the water filtration station at 29 Moross Road and the pumping station at 305 Chalfonte. Construction, additions, alterations, repairs, moving, excavation or demolition there needs an application to the Historic District Commission first, so a renovation plan needs extra time.
  • Park and harbor access.Pier Park passes go to residents, tenants included once the Certificate of Occupancy is filed. Harbor wells are residents only, by waiting list, so a boat slip does not come with the house.
  • Two filings after closing. The Property Transfer Affidavit goes to the city assessor within 45 days, or a $5 a day penalty applies up to $200, and the Principal Residence Exemption affidavit is due by June 1 for the summer levy or November 1 for the winter one. Both forms are linked from the assessing office's affidavit page.

The neighborhood values above come from the Census Bureau's block group estimates for 2020 through 2024, some with margins wider than the gap between areas, which is why Samantha prices a specific house from its own recent comparable sales.

Michigan property taxes

Grosse Pointe Farms 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 Farms, our 2026 Uncapping Study found taxable value typically rises about 36% the year after a sale. On a $475,000 home, near the typical Grosse Pointe Farms value, that is roughly $3,330 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 Farms 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

In Michigan, don't just look at the current tax bill. Understand what could happen after ownership changes.

2025 homestead millage

How the Farms tax rate compares

Homestead millage from the State of Michigan's 2025 total rate report, beside the usual climb in taxable value after a sale measured by our 2026 Uncapping Study. Every mill adds $100 a year on $100,000 of taxable value. All five Pointes share Grosse Pointe Public Schools and Wayne County, so the gaps come mostly from each city's own levies.

Grosse Pointe Farms: 52.74 mills

Roughly $5,270 on every $100,000 of taxable value, and a typical jump of about 36% the year after a sale. A rental or second home pays 67.22 mills by Treasury's table, about $1,450 more per $100,000.

City of Grosse Pointe: 52.30

The Farms' southern neighbor, mostly in ZIP 48230. Roughly $45 less than the Farms on $100,000 of taxable value, with a typical jump near 34%.

Grosse Pointe Shores: 52.43

The Wayne County part of the Shores, north along Lake Shore Road. About $31 less per $100,000 than the Farms, with a typical jump near 33%.

Grosse Pointe Park: 54.57

Roughly $182 more than the Farms on $100,000 of taxable value, with a typical jump near 39%.

Grosse Pointe Woods: 55.24

About $250 more per $100,000 than the Farms, and a bigger typical jump at sale, near 43%.

The Farms' own levy: 17.29 mills

From the city's 2025 rate table: general operating 11.61, refuse 2.56, road improvements 1.94 on the December bill, sewer separation debt 0.48, other debt 0.36 and senior services 0.35. Schools add 9.63 for a homestead, and county, college, library and the rest 25.82.

Local resources

Check Grosse Pointe Farms 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

★★★★★
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
★★★★★
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
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Individual experiences. Results vary.

Grosse Pointe Farms mortgage questions

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

How much do Grosse Pointe Farms houses sell for right now?

Redfin put the middle sale at about $562,000 for July through September 2026, roughly 5% above the same months of 2025, with homes selling near full asking price in about 11 days. The Census number, $442,000, answers a different question: what owners themselves said their houses were worth in the 2020 to 2024 survey, with a quarter of owners below $340,800 and a quarter above $706,100. The $463,000 typical value in this page’s snapshot is Zillow’s estimate across every home, not only the ones that sold.

Not necessarily. By our sample of Census boundaries, about 43% of the land in ZIP 48236 is Grosse Pointe Woods, 36% Grosse Pointe Farms, 15% Grosse Pointe Shores and 5% Detroit. The Census geocoder places 350 Lake Shore Road, Pier Park, in the Farms, 795 Lake Shore Road in the Shores and 707 Vernier Road in the Woods, all three written as Grosse Pointe 48236, while 22101 Moross Road, Detroit 48236 sits in Detroit and the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Each city sets its own millage and its own move-in rules, so we confirm the parcel’s city first.

Grosse Pointe Public Schools, for every address in the city. By the district’s boundary map, elementary students go to Richard on McKinley in the south end, Kerby on Kerby Road in the middle and along the lake, or Monteith in Grosse Pointe Woods from the corner north of Moross Road and west of Lexington Road. Brownell Middle School serves the whole Farms, and Grosse Pointe South is the high school except in that northwest corner, which falls to Grosse Pointe North. The district does not take School of Choice students and labels its map illustrative, so confirm the address with the district.

The city’s residential property maintenance code makes it unlawful to start living in a dwelling until the Public Service Department issues a new Certificate of Occupancy after inspecting it. The owner or an agent applies and pays the inspection fee, an inspector visits within five days, and any violations come back on a check list that has to be cleared. A gutter downspout still connected to the sanitary or combined sewer is one item that blocks the certificate. If work is unfinished at closing, the city can issue a conditional certificate against a cash deposit or bond of at least $250. Who pays for the repairs is up to the purchase agreement, so settle it in the offer.

Only for a small share of houses. Sampling FEMA’s current flood map, we found about 2% of the city’s land in the high-risk zone, nearly all of it on the lake side of Lake Shore Road, in coastal zones AE and VE with base flood elevations of 578 to 585 feet on maps effective October 21, 2021. FEMA says homes in high-risk areas with a mortgage from a government-backed lender must carry flood insurance. Inland streets showed no high-risk zone in our sample. Sewer backups in heavy rain are a separate question, and the city’s Inland District sewer separation, begun in 2025, is meant to reduce them.

Once you live in the Farms. Park passes run for the calendar year and go to residents 8 and older who live in the city permanently, adults show proof of residency in person, and each pass carries ten guest entries. Tenants qualify too once a Residence Verification Form and a Certificate of Occupancy are on file. The 333-well harbor is for Farms residents only, from May 1 to November 1, with waiting lists by well size and a $100 first application. The pools, bath house and splash pad closed for a full rebuild in 2026, so ask the parks department about the reopening.

The city does. Its own filtration plant, rated at 10 million gallons a day, draws from Lake St. Clair through an intake shared with Highland Park and supplies both the Farms and the City of Grosse Pointe. Water, sewer and recycling are billed every two months, and the utility billing office prepares a final bill on request when a house changes hands. The 2025 water quality report counts 225 lead service lines among 4,128, about one in 18, so ask the water department whether the house you want is one of them.

Samantha plans high on purpose. Her planning number is half the price times the homestead millage, which on a $560,000 purchase at the Farms’ 2025 rate of 52.7433 mills comes to about $14,800 a year. That is a cushion, not what the law sets. Our 2026 Uncapping Study found Farms taxable values typically rise about 36% at the reset after a sale, and the city’s own tax estimator page warns buyers that taxes usually go up when a house sells. File the Principal Residence Exemption affidavit by June 1 or November 1 to get the homestead rate on the next 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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