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Service Areas

Where We Serve in Michigan

Michigan property taxes, local programs and what it takes to win an offer all change by community. Start with your county, or go straight to your city.

Find your countySchedule a call with Samantha
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  • No credit pull to talk
  • 5.0 on Google, 128 reviews

Michigan

Start with your county, or go straight to your city

Oakland County

45 city guides

Oakland County holds some high-priced housing and some genuinely affordable communities, often within a twenty minute drive of each other.

Read the Oakland County guide

Wayne County

33 city guides

Wayne County holds Detroit and more than thirty other communities, from the Grosse Pointes to Northville and Plymouth, each with its own housing market.

Read the Wayne County guide

Beyond Michigan

Other areas we serve

Align Lending is also licensed in Florida and North Carolina, and buying there works differently. These guides cover what changes.

Florida

Homestead and Save Our Homes taxes, wind and flood insurance, condo rules after Surfside, and Florida Housing programs.

Florida mortgage guide

North Carolina

Due diligence fees, attorney closings, county revaluations, and NC Housing Finance Agency programs.

North Carolina mortgage guide

Michigan mortgage questions, answered

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

Why did my property taxes go up the year after I bought?

Michigan caps how fast a home’s taxable value can rise while the same owner keeps it. That is Proposal A, and the cap is the lesser of 5 percent or inflation. 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.

The practical effect is that your bill is often higher than the seller’s, sometimes by a lot. Budget from the uncapped figure, not from the tax line on the listing.

Estimate the tax for a Michigan address as the new owner.

The Principal Residence Exemption removes up to 18 mills of local school operating tax from a home you own and occupy as your main residence. On a home with a taxable value of $150,000 that is roughly $2,700 a year.

You claim it by filing Form 2368 with your local assessor. Deadlines fall ahead of the summer and winter levies, so file as soon as you close rather than waiting.

Two values matter. The state equalized value, or SEV, is half of the assessor’s estimate of market value, after county and state review. Taxable value is the number your millage rate is actually applied to, and Proposal A keeps it at or below SEV for as long as you own.

Your bill is taxable value, in thousands, multiplied by the total millage for your jurisdiction. Homestead and non-homestead millage differ by those 18 school operating mills.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority runs the MI Home Loan and a down payment assistance loan of up to $10,000. There are income limits that vary by county and household size, a sales price cap, and a minimum credit score.

Most of the state is first-time buyer only, though repeat buyers can qualify in targeted areas. If you have owned a home before, it is still worth checking the target area list before ruling it out.

That depends on the program rather than the state. VA, USDA, FHA, conventional first-time buyer programs and MSHDA each set their own minimum, and the minimum can move with your credit score. We will tell you which one applies to you, and whether MSHDA assistance can help with the down payment and closing costs.

The more useful question is usually not the minimum but which down payment produces the lowest total cost over the years you expect to keep the home.

USDA Rural Development eligibility covers a large share of Michigan once you leave the metro cores, including places that do not feel rural.

Eligibility is set by property address and household income, not by how the area looks. Check the address on the USDA eligibility map before assuming it does not qualify.

Michigan charges a state real estate transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 of sale price, which is 0.75 percent, plus a county transfer tax of $0.55 per $500, which is 0.11 percent. On a $300,000 sale that is about $2,580 combined.

By long custom the seller pays it in Michigan, but it is a term of the purchase agreement and it is negotiable.

Most Michigan jurisdictions bill summer taxes around July 1 and winter taxes around December 1, and the two are usually not equal. Which levies land in which bill varies by community.

If your loan escrows taxes, your servicer handles both. If you pay them yourself, plan for two uneven payments rather than one annual bill.

FHA accepts scores from 580 with a low down payment, and from 500 to 579 with a larger one. Conventional lenders commonly look for 620 or higher, and some set their own higher minimums. VA sets no minimum score, though individual lenders apply their own overlays.

Align Lending is an independent mortgage broker, so we compare across lenders. That matters most where lenders’ rules differ for the same file.

If the home sits in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area and the loan is federally backed, flood insurance is required. A great deal of Michigan waterfront sits outside those zones and carries no requirement.

Check the FEMA map by address early. The premium belongs in your monthly budget, and finding out late changes the whole payment.

Some Michigan counties require a health department evaluation of the well and septic system when a home changes hands, and scheduling can affect your closing date. FHA and VA add their own water testing and distance requirements.

Order the evaluation early rather than in the final week. It can delay a rural or township closing.

Anything above the conforming limit that the Federal Housing Finance Agency sets each year. No Michigan county carries a high-cost designation, so the baseline limit applies across all 83 counties.

Above that line, underwriting tightens on reserves and documentation. It is worth knowing where you sit relative to the limit before you start shopping, not after.

What our clients say

5.0 on Google across 128 reviews

★★★★★
I highly recommend Align Lending to anyone looking for a mortgage broker in Southeast Michigan. The team was knowledgeable, responsive, and easy to work with.
Riley LennonAugust 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
Read all reviews on Google

Individual experiences. Results vary.

The plan is the same wherever you are buying

What changes is the local market, and in Michigan the property tax picture, which is why we estimate your taxes as the new owner rather than quoting the seller's current bill.

Build my homebuyer game planSchedule a call with Samantha
  1. 1

    Tell us what you are trying to do

    Not what product you want. What you are actually trying to accomplish.

  2. 2

    We look at your situation

    Samantha works out what matters most for you specifically.

  3. 3

    You leave with a plan

    Your options, the tradeoffs, and your next step. No obligation to go further.

Start with your question

Purchase overview

Loan options

See every loan option

Run your own numbers

Check a figure before you call.

Align Lending LLC, NMLS #2041154, is a mortgage broker. Samantha Shelton, NMLS 1647301. Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensed in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. 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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