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Ottawa County, Michigan

Mortgage Broker in Spring Lake Township, MI

Buying in Spring Lake Township, the village or on the lake itself? Samantha shops your loan with multiple wholesale lenders, then checks the parcel for the village levy, the school district and any Lake Board assessment before you settle on a price.

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Buying a home in Spring Lake Township

Spring Lake Township is an Ottawa County township on the Grand River across from Grand Haven, home to about 15,700 residents in the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate. The Village of Spring Lake is inside Spring Lake Township, and the lake itself, about 1,097 acres and roughly 4 miles long, divides the township before draining into the Grand River. Established in 1855, Spring Lake Township has a median household income near $97,500.

By the numbers

Spring Lake Township housing and mortgage snapshot

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

$359,000

Typical home value, from the market research on this page

+35%

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

1.08%

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: 49456

What financing looks like in Spring Lake Township

From July through September 2026, the median sale in the 49456 ZIP code was about $475,000 by Redfin's count, about 4% above the same months a year before, and homes typically went pending in about 25 days. That price sits inside the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750 and under Ottawa County's FHA limit of $541,287, so conventional, FHA and VA loans all stay open for most purchases. A jumbo loan comes into play only when the loan amount itself, not the sale price, runs past the conforming limit.

The payment here turns on where the parcel sits. A house inside the Village of Spring Lake carries the village's 10.36-mill levy in addition to the township's taxes. A lot on Spring Lake, or a back lot with deeded access to it, pays the Lake Board's yearly assessment, about $600 for a developed lakefront home under the 2024 to 2033 program. And about 11% of the township's land lies in FEMA's high-risk flood zone, where a federally backed mortgage comes with a flood policy. We price each of those into the estimate before you make an offer.

Some buyers want a lake place for part of the year. The Census counts about 285 homes in the township held for seasonal or occasional use, roughly 4% of its housing. Fannie Mae treats a home as a second home when it is one unit, you occupy it for some of the year and it is not a rental or a timeshare, and without the principal residence exemption it also pays the 18-mill school operating levy a primary home skips. For a primary home, MSHDA's MI 10K gives a first-time buyer $10,000 for the down payment as a loan that waits until you sell, refinance, pay off the mortgage or move out. It comes with a MI Home Loan, which carries a $566,355 price limit and income limits.

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Inside Spring Lake Township the 2025 homestead rate runs from about 24 mills in the Grand Haven schools corner to almost 41 in the Village of Spring Lake.

The market

The Spring Lake Township housing market

The typical home value in Spring Lake Township is near $359,200, the median for owner-occupied homes in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which counts about 5,400 owner-occupied homes here. The median year built is 1987, and Spring Lake Township ranges from lakefront and channel homes to established subdivisions. Homeowners pay a median of about $3,880 a year in property taxes, an effective property tax rate of about 1.08% of the median value.

Where to look

Spring Lake Township neighborhoods

Lake Beach Drive and the north village

Village blocks north of Savidge Street along Lake Beach Drive, Buena Vista Road and N Buchanan Street, where the village meets Spring Lake. Owners put the block group's median value near $409,400, the typical home was built in 1963, and about one home in eight is held for seasonal use. On the assessor's 2026 roll, its 542 valued home parcels center near $367,000, the middle half from about $266,000 to $500,000, and about a third of them carry no principal residence exemption.

Mill Point and the village riverfront

The village's Grand River edge, from Mill Point Park and its public boat launch on School Street to Tanglefoot Park on W Exchange Street, with Riverfront Drive and Marina Bay Drive on the water. Owners' median value is near $305,800, with a wide margin, homes typically date from 1971, and FEMA maps about a third of the land as high-risk flood zone. The assessor's 2026 roll puts its 451 home parcels near $277,000 at the middle, and its 121 condo units sit higher than its houses, near $393,000 against $260,000.

East village around Parkview Avenue

The village east of downtown, along Parkview Avenue, Railroad Avenue and E Exchange Street, with Lakeside Beach at N Lake Street and Beach Drive. The typical home here was built in 1948, older than in any other block group in the township, and owners put the median near $275,800, with a wide margin. Our flood sample found none of its land in the high-risk zone. On the assessor's 2026 roll its home parcels center near $270,000, the middle half from about $228,000 to $362,000.

Leonard Street and River Bend

Township land between M-104 and the Grand River east of the village, along Leonard Street, River Bend Drive, Oak Point Drive and Heron Drive. Every home in its block group is single-family and nearly all are owner-occupied, with a median value near $344,400 and a typical build year of 1979. About three acres in ten fall in the high-risk flood zone along the river. The assessor's 2026 roll centers its 815 home parcels near $364,000, the middle half from about $282,000 to $508,000.

Hammond Bay and Channel View Drive

East of the village above M-104, where Hammond Bay Street, Channel View Drive and Bayou Meadows reach toward the lake's eastern bayous. All 353 homes in the block group are single-family, the typical one built in 1967, with an owner median near $393,400. Fruitport Community Schools serve roughly two thirds of this area, the eastern part, and that changes the tax rate. On the assessor's 2026 roll its home parcels center near $506,000, the middle half from about $323,000 to $637,000.

M-104 and 148th Avenue

The Cleveland Street stretch of M-104 east of the village, with State Road, Lloyds Bayou Drive and streets named for Canadian cities. About 386 of its 628 homes are manufactured homes, the Census publishes no owner median here, and about four in ten occupied homes are rented. Fannie Mae needs a manufactured home and its land classified together as real property, so a home on a rented lot is usually financed another way. The assessor's 2026 roll lists 216 improved home parcels here, 139 of them condo units, centered near $338,000.

Boom Road and the southeast corner

The rural east end between M-104 and the Grand River, toward 144th Avenue and the Crockery Township line, with Boom Road, Arcadia Woods Drive and Waterleaf Trail. All 563 homes in its block group are owner-occupied single-family houses, typically from 1995, with an owner median near $445,400, and about a quarter of the land is in the river's flood zone. Nunica itself lies farther east, in Crockery Township. The assessor's 2026 roll centers its 511 home parcels near $460,000, the middle half from about $340,000 to $596,000.

North Fruitport Road toward Fruitport

The lake's east side north of the bayous, along North Fruitport Road toward the Muskegon County line and the village of Fruitport at the lake's northeast end. Owners put the median value near $353,200, homes typically date from 1993, and about 93% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. Most of it is in Spring Lake Public Schools, with Fruitport schools along the eastern edge. On the assessor's 2026 roll its 800 home parcels center near $378,000, with the middle half from about $274,000 to $611,000, and its 109 condo units near $255,000.

West Spring Lake Road and Lovell Road

The west shore of Spring Lake north of Ferrysburg, from Water Tower Park at Van Wagoner and West Spring Lake roads up to the 80-acre Rycenga Park at the north end of West Spring Lake Road, with US-31 along its west side. Owners' median value is near $484,800 and the typical home is from 1988. The drive to the village crosses the M-104 bridge through Ferrysburg. Values spread widely here: the assessor's 2026 roll centers its 627 home parcels near $490,000, the middle half from about $309,000 to $778,000.

Wildwood Springs and 174th Avenue

West of US-31 in Grand Haven Area Public Schools, along Wildwood Springs Parkway and 174th Avenue, with the district's Lake Hills Elementary on Dogwood Drive. Homes typically date from 1995, owners put the median near $380,400, and about a tenth of the land, near the Little Black River, is in the high-risk flood zone. On the assessor's 2026 roll, its 325 home parcels center near $458,000, the middle half from about $278,000 to $619,000.

Lake Hills Drive and the Lake Michigan shore

The township's Lake Michigan side north of Ferrysburg, along Lake Hills Drive, North Shore Estates Road and Woodland Ridge Drive. Rented homes outnumber owner-occupied ones here, and about 466 sit in buildings of five or more units. The shoreline parcels fall under EGLE's erosion and dune maps, and the beach edge carries FEMA's coastal VE zone. On the assessor's 2026 roll, its houses and other non-condo home parcels center near $491,000 and its 56 condo units near $177,000.

On the water

Buying on Spring Lake, the Grand River or Lake Michigan

Three kinds of shoreline run through the township, and each one adds its own paperwork to a purchase.

  • The Lake Board assessment. The Spring Lake Lake Board, formed under Part 309 of Michigan's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, has run the lake improvement program since 1999. Every parcel bordering Spring Lake and every back lot with deeded or dedicated access is in its special assessment district. Its 2024 to 2033 budget of about $670,000 a year works out to about $600 a year for a developed lakefront home and $300 for a developed back lot, and it pays for aquatic plant control, water testing and an alum treatment estimated at $3.5 million and financed over 10 years. The alum went on between April 28 and May 21, 2025.
  • Lloyd's Bayou. The bayou has its own lake improvement board, which posts a summer schedule of weed and algae treatments. Ask the seller whether the parcel is in that board's district.
  • Docks and seawalls.EGLE's inland lakes and streams program says a seasonal dock or hoist for private use generally needs no permit, while a permanent one left in all year does, and so does dredging or placing sand below the water line. EGLE also steers owners toward plantings and stone before a new vertical seawall.
  • The Lake Michigan shore. EGLE maps two High Risk Erosion Areas on the township's frontage north of Ferrysburg. Its 1994 study projects the shoreline in them to recede 65 and 105 feet in 30 years and 115 and 195 feet in 60 years. A new building must sit back the shorter distance if it can be moved and the longer one if it cannot, and building on a designated parcel takes a state permit. About 4% of the township's land, all along that shore, is mapped as Critical Dune Area, where building a house or driveway, putting in a septic system or adding a retaining wall takes a permit and an application fee of $150 to $6,000.
  • Flood maps. Our sample of FEMA's map puts about 11% of the township's land, and about a third of the village's, in the high-risk zone. Roughly seven in ten of those acres follow the Grand River and its bayous. The rest edge Spring Lake, the Little Black River in the northwest and the Lake Michigan beach, where the zones are coastal VE. In every one of them a federally backed mortgage requires flood coverage, as FloodSmart explains. Look the address up in FEMA's Flood Map Service Center.

A note on the neighborhood prices: the first figure in each card is what owners in that block group estimated over 2020 to 2024, with wide margins at this scale. The second comes from the assessor's 2026 roll on Ottawa County's parcel records: twice each improved home parcel's state equalized value, which is half of the assessor's estimate of market value, for the parcels whose centers fall in that block group. Neither is a sale price. For an actual offer, we lean on recent comparable sales.

Schools and commute

Schools

Three districts split the township. Spring Lake Public Schools covers about 62% of its land, the village and most of the land around the lake included, and counts about 2,320 students in five buildings: Holmes and Jeffers elementary schools, an intermediate school, a middle school and the high school. Grand Haven Area Public Schools takes the northwest corner west of US-31, about 28% of the land, out to Lake Michigan, and its Lake Hills Elementary sits there on Dogwood Drive. Fruitport Community Schools serves a strip along the east edge north of M-104, about a tenth of the land. The district moves the bill: Ottawa County's 2025 rates put the Grand Haven corner about 6.3 mills below the Spring Lake schools part of the township, mostly because Spring Lake schools levy 7 mills for debt and Grand Haven schools levied none in 2025. Grand Haven voters decide a $98.55 million bond on November 3, 2026, with an estimated first levy of 1.95 mills in 2027.

Commute

M-104 ties the township together. As Savidge Street it crosses the village, as Cleveland Street it runs east to I-96 at exit 9 just west of Nunica, and at its west end it meets US-31 at the Grand River drawbridge in Ferrysburg. Spring Lake splits the township in two, and the M-104 bridge between the village and Ferrysburg is the only road across the lake, so the west shore and the Grand Haven schools corner reach the village through Ferrysburg. From the township offices at 101 S Buchanan Street, routing in light traffic puts downtown Grand Haven about 2 miles away (5 minutes), Shape Corp.'s headquarters on Hayes Street in Grand Haven about 5 miles (10), downtown Muskegon about 14 miles (21), Grand Valley State University's Allendale campus about 23 miles (32), Gentex in Zeeland about 27 miles (38) and downtown Grand Rapids about 31 miles (39). The county's 2025 financial report lists Gentex first and Shape fifth among Ottawa County employers. Harbor Transit runs on-demand, curb-to-curb rides across northwest Ottawa County, and the township's 2025 levies include 0.59 mills for transportation. The Census puts the average commute near 23 minutes, with about 13% of workers working from home.

Michigan property taxes

Spring Lake Township property taxes after you buy

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

In Spring Lake Township, our 2026 Uncapping Study found taxable value typically rises about 35% the year after a sale. On a $350,000 home, near the typical Spring Lake Township value, that is roughly $1,350 more in first-year tax at the local median homestead millage. We build your payment on that post-sale number.

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

How Michigan taxable value works

In Samantha's words

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

2025 homestead rates

Four homestead rates inside one township

Michigan Treasury's 2025 totals for a principal residence, each including the township's 1.5-mill fire district assessment, with the pieces from Ottawa County's 2025 apportionment report. One mill is a dollar for each $1,000 of taxable value, or $100 a year on $100,000.

Village of Spring Lake: 40.86 mills

Spring Lake Public Schools plus the village's own 10.36 mills, 9.88 for operations and 0.48 for debt. About $1,036 more a year than the township side on $100,000 of taxable value.

Township, Spring Lake schools: 30.50 mills

Most of the township outside the village, around the lake and east toward Crockery Township. Spring Lake schools levy 7 mills for debt.

Township, Grand Haven schools: 24.19 mills

The northwest corner west of US-31. Grand Haven schools levied no debt millage in 2025, only a 0.70-mill building and site levy. The November 3, 2026 bond would add about 1.95 mills starting in 2027 if it passes.

Township, Fruitport schools: 28.67 mills

The east strip north of M-104. Fruitport schools levy 6.9 mills for debt, and this part pays the Muskegon intermediate district's 4.59 mills instead of Ottawa's 6.32.

Second home or rental: 18 mills more

Without the principal residence exemption the school operating levy applies: 48.50 mills on the township side of Spring Lake schools and 58.86 in the village.

The township's own levy: 2.80 mills

Operations 0.75, bike paths 0.98, transportation 0.59, aging council 0.25 and the museum 0.24, plus the 1.5-mill fire district and 1.51 mills for the library district. The township keeps about 12% of all the taxes it bills.

Local resources

Check Spring Lake Township records yourself

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

Settle these early

Questions to answer before you make an offer

Each one is easier to settle during the inspection period than after closing.

  • Which unit taxes the home. A Spring Lake mailing address can belong to the township, the village inside it, Ferrysburg, a corner of Grand Haven, Crockery Township, or Norton Shores and Fruitport Township across the county line. The township's tax information page links the parcel lookups, and a village parcel pays both levies.
  • Water, sewer, well or septic. The township's public works page posts a 2025 sanitary sewer map and a 2024 water system map. The village switched to Lake Michigan water from the Northwest Ottawa Water System in 1992, after TCE and PCE turned up in its groundwater in 1987. Put a water test for any private well in the inspection plan, and where a house uses a well or septic tank, the seller has to arrange the Ottawa County transfer evaluation before closing.
  • The electric company. Consumers Energy serves the east side of the township and the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power the west side near Ferrysburg, per the township's utility page. Ask which one bills the house.
  • Rental plans. Township short-term rentals need a registration and a spot inside the May 12, 2025 overlay. The village handles its own through a special land use permit.
  • Plans to build. In the township, an addition or an attached deck takes a $50 township zoning permit and a building permit from Michigan Township Services in Muskegon, according to the township's building page.
  • After closing. File the principal residence exemption so the 18-mill school levy comes off. The township's summer bill comes due September 14 and the winter bill February 14, and anything unpaid after February 28 is paid to the Ottawa County Treasurer.

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Spring Lake Township mortgage questions

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

What are homes in Spring Lake Township selling for right now?

For July through September 2026, Redfin’s median sale in the 49456 ZIP code was about $475,000, about 4% higher than the same stretch of 2025, and homes typically went under contract in about 25 days, selling a little under list price on average. Redfin’s narrower Spring Lake area ran near $392,000. The Census figure of $359,200 measures something else: the value owners put on their own homes in surveys from 2020 to 2024. The assessor’s 2026 roll is a third yardstick: at twice each parcel’s state equalized value, improved home parcels center near $411,000 in the township outside the village and $302,000 inside it.

It could be any of those. About 64% of the 49456 ZIP code’s land is Spring Lake Township, village included, and the rest reaches into Ferrysburg, Crockery Township, Fruitport Township in Muskegon County, Norton Shores and a corner of Grand Haven. The Census geocoder places 17000 W Spring Lake Road, Spring Lake, in Ferrysburg and 14000 Leonard Road, Spring Lake, in Crockery Township. The parcel record settles it, and it sets the tax rate.

About 10.36 mills more. The village levies 9.88 mills for operations and 0.48 for debt in addition to the township, county and school taxes, which put the 2025 homestead total at 40.86 mills against 30.50 on the township side of the same school district. On $100,000 of taxable value that is about $1,036 a year. The township bills and collects both, and village homes get village water, sewer and zoning.

Spring Lake Public Schools covers about 62% of the township’s land, Grand Haven Area Public Schools the northwest corner west of US-31 (about 28%) and Fruitport Community Schools a strip along the east edge north of M-104 (about 10%). Outside the village, 2025 homestead totals were 24.19 mills in the Grand Haven part, 28.67 in the Fruitport part and 30.50 in the Spring Lake part, a spread of about $630 a year on $100,000 of taxable value. A Grand Haven schools bond on the November 3, 2026 ballot would add an estimated 1.95 mills in 2027 if it passes.

Every parcel on Spring Lake, plus back lots with deeded or dedicated lake access, sits in the Lake Board’s special assessment district. For the 2024 to 2033 program the board estimates about $600 a year for a developed lakefront home, $300 for a developed back lot or an undeveloped lakefront lot and $150 for an undeveloped back lot. The money covers plant control, water monitoring and the alum treatment finished in May 2025. The state’s online tax estimator leaves lake board charges out, so add it yourself.

That depends on FEMA’s map. The high-risk zones cover about 11% of the township’s land and about a third of the village’s in our sample. Most of it follows the Grand River and its bayous, from Mill Point east past Leonard Street to the southeast corner. With a federally backed mortgage on a house in one of those zones a flood policy is required, so pull up FEMA’s map for the address and price the premium before you commit.

Only inside a mapped overlay. The township limits short-term rentals to the overlay district it adopted on May 12, 2025, and each rental must be registered, $100 for three years, after the township drives past to check the property. The village runs its own process, a special land use permit with its own overlay map. Check the parcel against the right map before you count on rental income.

It depends on the street. The village buys Lake Michigan water from the Northwest Ottawa Water System for about 1,200 customers, and the township runs its own water and sewer funds and posts maps of both systems. If the house relies on a private well or a septic tank, Ottawa County has required sellers to have those evaluated before a transfer since 1984, and the county’s report reaches you at closing. On a well, add a water test to your inspection.

Communities near Spring Lake Township

Ottawa County overview

Guides for Spring Lake Township buyers

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Tell Samantha what you are trying to do in Spring Lake Township and she will tell you what actually matters for your situation, including whether the timing is right.

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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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