Waterford Michigan Pros and Cons | Living in Waterford Michigan - The geographic center of Oakland County is known as Waterford, Michigan. In this video, I am going to tackle a few pros, cons and some other cool things about living in Waterford Michigan, let’s get to it.
This blog is a direct transcript from the video below. This comes in 3 versions: You are able to watch the video, read the blog for your convenience or listen to the audio experience (which is linked under the video below).
Before I dive head first into Waterford, Michigan. I want to mention another video I created a little while back that talks about Four Towns, Michigan, which is one of the five unincorporated communities in Waterford. That video will give you additional insight on this city and its surroundings, as a lot of the data is from Waterford, Michigan.
Alright enough messing around, Waterford twp, Michigan. Established in 1834, this township covers just over 35.3 square miles, with 4 of those square miles being water. The population is over 73,000 people.
Pros of Living In Waterford Michigan
Starting this list off with the pros, Pro #1 just to talk more about the cities geography in general, the lakes. Waterford is home to 34 named lakes, which is absolutely insane, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t have the luxury of lake access or waterfront living for that matter. These lakes range from small ones such as Lake Goodrich, which is 4 acres in size with a depth of 10 feet, to large lakes such as Cass Lake, which is 1280 acres with a depth of 123 feet. Granted, Cass Lake is only partially in Waterford Twp and mainly in West Bloomfield twp., but you still get some access on the North side in Dodge State Park.
Pro #2, is all about affordability. Again, I touched on the cost of living in depth in the Four Towns video, so I'll just talk about my perspective on home affordability in a city like Waterford. As you and I both know, living on a lake is ungodly expensive, doesn’t matter if it’s a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home or a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home, there’s a significant price tag, and for good reason (you’re on a lake).
Just to put into further perspective, I'll pull up some homes that are for sale, pending and sold in the last 90 days in Waterford, that are waterfront. Taking a look at this list, the price ranges anywhere from $165,000 to $1.65 million. Imagine getting a lake house for under $200K? That’s the cool thing about Waterford. It may not be this luxury retreat of a town, but it makes waterfront living affordable. Yes, that 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo for $165K will definitely need some TLC, but jump up to $400,000 and you got yourself a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom single family home with a 2-car attached garage, and is 100% move in ready.
Switching gears to pro #3, and that’s the community. If you know Waterford, you know there really isn’t a downtown, but like I mentioned, it is VERY centrally located in Oakland county, so the surroundings are very plentiful. Just like White Lake and Highland, there tends to be heavy dependence on the M-59 corridor to supply the entertainment and attractions. The cool thing about Waterford is with all the surrounding lakes, there has been a good sense of community created from it. I’ve been living in the area for about half a year now and have seen some of the winter and summer months and I can’t help constantly think about how cool it is to see SO MANY people boating, fishing, ice skating, ice fishing, and making use of all of the parks in and around Waterford twp. to mountain bike and utilize some of the many sports fields. If that doesn’t say a thing or two about community safety I don’t know what does, and with the schools, library, town hall, police and fire departments being so close to each other, the police presence is a great touch.
Cons of Living In Waterford Michigan
Alright, now to the not so good things about living in Waterford twp., Michigan. Con #1, as I mentioned, there’s not much of a downtown, so I feel obligated to make that a noteworthy con despite the cities location. Like I've said in a lot of my other videos, having a walkable downtown space is life or death for a lot of people when it comes to planting some new roots, and it’s understandable of course. M-59 is a 45-55 MPH road (4 lanes for the most part) that stretches as far west as Howell and as East as I-94 near Anchor Bay. This strip is chalked full of anything you could imagine from restaurants of all calibers to attractions like escape rooms, movie theaters and bowling alleys. There really isn’t anything you can’t do, but anything more than a 2-lane 15-25 mph road might be a little overwhelming for any downtowner. So make that note when you’re looking into the area.
Con #2, is the schools. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with the schools, but like I said, Waterford has an abundance of nearby cities and towns that rank higher in the school department, so with that being said, Waterford twp. gets the shorter end of the stick there. Of course the township has great schools such as Clarkston Highschool and Sashabaw Middle School, but according to Niche.com school ranking, They averaged a B. The plus side to Waterford’s school district is it’s school of choice, meaning you have the opportunity to make the decision on which school or district you’d want to attend. I can link more information on that in the description.
Last but not least, con #3, the job market. Taking a look at how bestplaces.net breaks this down, Niche.com also had a few similarities as well. Waterford twp. has had positive job growth, but in terms of employers, there’s not a lot happening in the town, but just like anywhere else, the average commute to a job is 25-30 minutes. You have cities like Troy full of fortune 500 companies with endless employment options, then you have cities with a whole lot of lakes. *jokingly* There’s a trend here obviously and that’s not mixing business with pleasure. All jokes aside, the future job growth is 38% in Waterford, whereas in the U.S overall it’s 33.5%. When looking at these charts it’s clear Waterford is focused on longevity, because the 3 year and 5 year growth comes in a little short compared to the U.S in general, but looking at the 10-year growth, it trumps the U.S by 1.4%.
That sums up the pros and cons of living in Waterford. If you have any additional questions about something I may have not touched on, please don’t hesitate to reach out anytime and I would be happy to answer anything you throw my way.
MENTONED LINKS:
→Four Towns Video: https://youtu.be/V8K9fABF208
→School of Choice Info: https://bit.ly/3keh5Wn
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.