Watch the FULL video to see a driving tour, neighborhoods, and MORE!
MARKET REPORT
Jumping to the white lake market report. White Lake Charter Township has over 31,000 people, with an average household yearly income of over $85,000. The national average is around $62,000 just to put into perspective. The average home price was in the 250’s, but over the last 12 months there has been a significant increase up to $330,000. For homeowners in the area this is a great sign for increased equity in your home, but for people who are looking to move into the area, it’s a little more expensive than it used to be. With so many lakes around here. It really only took a few lakefront properties to sell at top dollar to make that average increase each month.
As of October 2021, there are 63 homes on the market right now. Which is roughly a 19.2% decline based on a 3-year period. Of course, the pandemic has had a heavy influence. Homes were spending an average of 28 days on the market opposed to the average of 32 days, and homes received 100% of their list price since the beginning of the year. Otherwise, it would float around 98.5%.
In terms of grading White Lake, according to Niche.com and other locational grading services based on resident input, White Lake received an overall grade of a B+. This grade factors in crime & safety, resident diversity, employment rates, business growth, schools, and nightlife.
PROS AND CONS
While I take a drive and show off White Lake’s atmosphere, I figured I’d breakdown a few pros and cons of living here as well. Starting off with the pros. For starters, this is a small lake and nature town. I’m sure you’ve already made that assumption just based on my driving tour alone. There are 21 or so named lakes in White lake that cover almost 10% of the city. That’s just how many lakes are in the area. This small town atmosphere is something you don’t see too much especially being in such close proximity to densely populated cities.
Number two, the proximity to other towns. You could basically throw a rock and it would go through a couple cities. White Lake is directly surrounded by Waterford, Highland, Milford, west Bloomfield, Pontiac, and Commerce. With that in mind, you have the ability to check out surrounding cities with just a short 10-15 minute commute without feeling isolated to one town.
Jumping over to the cons. The biggest complaint about White Lake from current residents and passerbyers is the lack of downtown. White Lake doesn’t have a downtown area, essentially all it is, is M59. M-59 is a Michigan highway that crosses the northern part of Metropolitan Detroit. It’s the go-to strip for everything you need. Which is a nice pro actually, that everything is centrally located, so you can knock out all your shopping in one swoop. The downside is, it tends to get fairly busy on the roads around. They are manageable, but I am sure you can imagine occasional delays. While this is a con to lack a downtown area, like I mentioned with the pros, there’s a lot of nearby cities full of downtown opportunity. Take a 10-15 minute drive over to downtown Milford and I bet you won’t be disappointed.
Another complaint from current residents is the lack of good paying jobs. As you take a look around during my driving tour, you can most likely make out that there are a lot of mom and pop shops around White Lake. There are chains and franchises, but a lot of the businesses seem to be family owned. This is a pro and con depending on how you look at it. I think it’s nice to have a bunch of mom and pop places around over having an influx of all the different chain stores and restaurants. Again, this con can be disputed a little bit by the proximity of other towns and cities, but it’s an understandable con.
Just to add a little cherry on top. I may be a little biased because I moved to white Lake just over 3 months ago and everyone has been so incredibly nice. I have neighbors coming from every angle asking if I need help or if I want to go out on a boat ride with them. People always talk to me while I’m out fishing too. Obviously my experience is just one person’s, but even with the lack of a downtown area, it does feel like a little community on the lakes.
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 White Lake, Michigan.