It’s no secret that when people think Michigan, they think lake house, but with where home prices are, that ahhh feeling you get with your cup of coffee walking out on your back patio facing the waterfront seems more and more unattainable by the day. What if I said you could get a waterfront home in Waterford Michigan for under $500,000?
Waterford Michigan has been becoming a more and more popular area for my clients relocating from all over the country to land themselves an affordable lake home in southeast Michigan, where all the action is. With that being said, I figured I’d show you how far you can stretch your dollar for a lake home in Waterford.
HOME #1 - $260,000
Kicking this list off with home #1, this is the cheapest waterfront home lake option you can get in Waterford, coming in at $260,000. You might be thinking holy Jesus that’s cheap, well you’ll find out why that is in a second. This one is located off Williams lake road, on a little canal that is right on Williams lake. This home has 3 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom, built in 1938, and situated on .26 acres with an HOA fee with an undisclosed amount. The kicker is, the home is only 1,168 square feet, with 560 of those square feet being in the walkout basement, so you could see how a home like this could be overlooked, as structurally, it may have some hardship creating a promising layout. It does have a 2 car detached garage and the home is located on a paved road, but as we look at the images, there aren’t any showing the interior, so that could let you know that it would most likely require a lot of work. Depending on how rough it is, I could see someone purchasing this home and making an airbnb cottage experience, or even tearing it down and putting something else on the waterfront lot. I know what some of the locals might be thinking, an airbnb in Waterford Michigan?! Are you crazy? It’s not even that extravagant over here. To answer your question, yes I’m a little crazy, but not only do I know a few Airbnb investors who do great in the Waterford area on the lakes, AirDNA, which for those of you that don’t know, it’s a resource short term rental investors utilize to get their data to determine what’s a good place to invest, and they gave Waterford an AirDNA market score of 90, which represents the strength of the short term market based on a number of variables such as investability and rental demand. AirDNA states that a score above 60 indicates a fairly good investment so being a 90 in the A to A+ range is really good I’d say. So keep that in mind as I tackle the next 4 houses on the list under $500,000.
HOME #2 - $339,000
Moving along to home #2, is located north of Dixie highway and south of Walton blvd. This is actually a luxury lakefront condo on Loon lake with a deeded boat slip right next to your unit. This option comes in at $339,000. It has 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1,912 square feet, built in 1989 with a 2 car garage spaces. This community has a $499 monthly HOA fee, that offers an inground pool, Lake access, Maintenance of the Grounds, Snow Removal, Trash, and Water. Looking at the images, i’d say it’s fairly architecturally pretty. Taking a look at the floor plan, it’s a fairly large living area, and it doesn’t seem like it’s too smashed together as many condo units can often feel like. There’s adequate storage in the closets and a open living and dining room, everything has been fairly modernized, and it has a great view of the lake out of the large windows and door wall that leads out to the back deck. Great finishes and stainless steel appliances throughout, great cabinet space, moving into some of the bedrooms, they are a very good size, the closets like i mentioned are sizeable, the bathroom is gigantic, with separate vanities, a huge standing shower, and a lot of cabinet space throughout. A picture of that outdoor pool, and the stairs leading to the boat slips on loon lake, Then a couple pictures from the balcony during different times of the day to show the wonderful view of the lake.
This home is a unique opportunity for people who want to live on a lake but don’t want to spend all that time maintaining the home. I have made a few videos about what to expect when buying a lakefront home in terms of maintenance, that I can link in the description. After seeing those videos, you may have a bigger appreciation for a condo located on one of Michigan’s waterfronts.
HOME #3 - $450,000
Stepping over to home #3, this bilevel is located off of Elizabeth lake road, right on Crescent lake. This $450,000 home has 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, with 1,950 square feet, and 991 square feet in the walkout basement, making a combined 2,941 square feet and no HOA. The home was built in 1959, situated on .33 acres, with a 2 car detached garage. Taking a look at some of the images, it has a sizable driveway, and great curb appeal, but you might be wondering, why is this home still for sale? And without seeing this home in person, we can look at the driveway and know that being located on a busier road like Elizabeth lake road, they need to turn around in their driveway to pull straight out, so that of course is a downside to some people out there. And I know this road from experience, people tend to fly around the street which is unfortunate. Taking a look inside, a lot of the home was updated in 2023, you have the option to go up or down, floors are newer, colors are neutral giving you that blank canvas to work with, large bay window, archways transitioning from one room to the next, showing its age a little bit. A natural fireplace.
The question for everyone out there is are you a fan of the painted brick on a fireplace? Or are you a natural brick person? Drop your preference in the comments!
The kitchen is neutral colored, stainless steel appliances, paneling on the walls. A little room off the back of the house with a large window overlooking the lake, I'm just thinking about a nice relaxing set up in this room, nothing too complicated. Upstairs we have a bedroom with outdoor access, a full bathroom, with a whole lot of white going on, another bedroom , then the last one which has outdoor access too if i’m not mistaken. We jump outside the kitchen now which was definitely creepy at one point, but it’s brightened up with the lighting and the paint colors for sure. Built in cabinetry off to the side , a modernized bathroom, and a nice open entertaining space that has a door leading outside, then we have the laundry room which is carpeted. Not something you see so much off, with water being involved. And I’m not quite sure what’s going on with those cracks on the ceiling either. Then we step outside to a nice long balcony that overlooks the lake, covered a little bit by trees, but nice nonetheless. It may hinder your view a little, but some people appreciate this, as it’s better than being completely open and every person looking at you while they drive by on their boats or kayaks. The backyard is pretty shaded with the trees, a firepit next to the water, a nice little cut out beach area. It has a nice wood seawall of sorts, which is nice, because most people don’t think of this until several feet of their land has been washed away. Then we have a rear aerial view showing that privacy once more. Aside from Crescent Lake not being the most desirable due to its size, and it being located on a busier road, it’s a nice little spot, but I’d assume there may be a few more issues deterring people away. That’s just an assumption, because of course I haven’t seen the place in person, but with people making sacrifices to get into homes these days due to the lack of inventory, it makes me wonder.
HOME #4 - $474,900
Jumping on over to home #4, located north of the Pontiac Lake recreation area and south of Andersonville road, this $474,900 home is located on a canal on Maceday lake, and for those of you that don’t know Maceday lake, connects to Lotus lake. There’s horseshoe shape to it almost, where Blain island is the middle separator. This home has 3 bedrooms, 1full bathroom, and 2,056 square feet, built in 1942, situated on .23 acres, with a one car garage. This home has an HOA fee of $75 a year, I’d assume for the boat launch, clubhouse, beach, playground, and various community events throughout the year. The home was completely updated, and you can tell from the pictures and the newer deck, stepping inside, we have all those neutral colors that are so popular for flippers to do. You might be looking at these pictures thinking wow this is pretty nice, but I always tell people to proceed with caution on flips, not that I’d ever downplay this quality without seeing it in person, but more times than not, I’ve just seen so many corners cut that make the pictures look good, until they get ownership and think wow there’s a lot of “bandaids” they did and now I have to not only spend money to repair it, you need to spend more time undoing the work they did, which can be irritating. This home appears to be very clean in the images, and the dollars were spent accordingly, the roof looks newer, the exterior was spruced up, luxury vinyl tile throughout. The backyard is very sizeable and all in all another lake front home for under $500,000 in Waterford Michigan.
HOME #5 - $495,000
Last but not least, we have home #5, located off Elizabeth lake road again, so we know there’s that busyness aspect to it. This home is located on Pleasant Lake, which is a very round 95 acre private lake, it has a boat ramp and has the ability to do all the watersports, but similar to the lake I used to live on it was small and round which isn’t ideal for all your watersports, but maybe the occasional hobbyist. Otherwise, paddle boarding, kayaking and fishing may be your go-to activities, and of course the view of the lake outside your back door everyday. This home has 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1,599 square feet, built in 1934, and situated on 0.26 acres with a large two car detached garage. This home as that circular drive making it easy for you to pull out forward on the busier road, it has a smaller yard which is a preference for maintenance, a bar located right on the dock which is pretty cool. A back patio with a great view of the lake. A couple more images of the exterior and lake views, and another look at that massive garage, which is very cool. Stepping inside the home it’s been updated in 2016, feels a little tight on the space, and that’s probably why they built up the garage for more space, it was most likely more cost effective and allowed them to spread out a little bit more. The living room, kitchen, and dining space are seamless into one another, then there’s a bedroom off the dining area.
This home gives off an apartment type layout, or for us Michiganders, that 30-40’s style cottage. Jumping to some other images of the full bathroom, the bedrooms, which are definitely a little smaller in size, but back in the day, this was a place you’d visit on the weekends and you’d just pile your family in for a short period of time, and since then they have become primary residences. Moving over to the garage, there’s that cool balcony that overlooks the lake, a sitting area located right inside, an additional bedroom space, and a full bathroom, and fridge. It little guest suite above the garage, which is a nice touch!
For those of you that stayed around for all 5 homes, what do you think of the waterfront homes in Waterford Michigan under $500,000? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
MENTIONED LINKS ⬇️
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Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew McManamon is a Michigan REALTOR® with Signature Sotheby’s International Realty and provides real estate services to Buyers, Sellers and Investors throughout SE Michigan including Livingston County, Oakland County, Washtenaw County, Genesee County & beyond. Andrew has become one of the rising stars of Michigan real estate agents. Prior to his real estate career Andrew was responsible for managing a senior living facility in Brighton, Michigan as a dining supervisor and an activities assistant. Andrew’s passion to help people is unlike any other, and he continues to strive to be best resource he can be. Andrew graduated from Cleary University in Howell, Michigan with a double major and currently resides in Brighton, Michigan.
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