The tax bill on the listing is not the one you will pay.
Michigan freezes a home's taxable value while the seller owns it. The January after you close, it resets, and your bill is built from the new number. Most buyers find this out in year two. Find it out now.
The direction and the range appear as soon as you enter the house. The exact figure and the full breakdown open after you enter an email address.
Why the number moves the year after a sale.
Four steps, all of them statutory. Nothing about the house has to change for the bill to change.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | While the seller owns the house, Proposal A caps how fast its taxable value can rise. Year after year it climbs by the inflation rate multiplier, not by what the house is worth. |
| 2 | You buy it. That is a transfer of ownership, and the cap ends with it. |
| 3 | The following January the assessor sets the taxable value to the assessed value — one half of true cash value. On a long-held house that is often a large step up. |
| 4 | Your bill is that taxable value, divided by 1,000, times your community and school district millage. |
The arithmetic, worked
A $250,000 purchase in Detroit, in the Detroit City School District, as a principal residence.
| Purchase price | $250,000 |
| Taxable value after the sale (half the price) | $125,000 |
| Millage — Detroit City School District, homestead | 64.1844 mills |
| First full year | $8,023 |
Source: Michigan Department of Treasury, Total Property Tax Rates in Michigan 2025 — Wayne County, Detroit, Detroit City School District, homestead 64.1844 mills.
What this page cannot tell you is the seller's current taxable value, which is what makes the step up large or small. That number is on the assessor's record for the address. The full report pulls it.
Two forms, two deadlines, real penalties.
Both are filed with the city or township assessor. Neither is automatic, and neither is the closing agent's job.
Principal Residence Exemption
Claims the exemption that removes up to 18 mills of local school operating tax from a home you actually live in. On a $300,000 house that is roughly $2,700 a year.
Deadline. June 1 for the summer levy, November 1 for the winter levy.
Property Transfer Affidavit
Reports the transfer of ownership to the assessor. It is what triggers the uncapping the tool above computes, and filing it is the buyer's obligation.
Deadline. Within 45 days of the transfer. The penalty for not filing runs $5 a day, up to $200 for a residence.
Where these rates come from.
The Michigan Department of Treasury publishes Total Property Tax Rates in Michigan once a year — the official statewide table. We parsed the metro Detroit counties out of the 2025 edition: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Livingston. That is 165 communities and 408 community and school-district combinations, each with its own homestead and non-homestead rate.
Three of them were spot-checked line by line against the figures the cities publish themselves, and all three matched exactly.
| Spot check | Homestead | Non-homestead |
|---|---|---|
| Dearborn — Dearborn City School | 50.8704 | 66.6894 |
| Detroit — Detroit City School District | 64.1844 | 82.1844 |
| Livonia — Livonia Public Schools | 41.2361 | 59.2361 |
Source: Michigan Department of Treasury, Total Property Tax Rates in Michigan 2025, parsed 2026-08-09. Rates are refreshed after the Treasury publishes the following year's table.
Community names and school district names appear exactly as the Treasury prints them, abbreviations and all. We correct nothing in the source table.
The tax reset is one number out of about forty.
It is the surprise buyers feel first. It is not the only one.
The tax you will actually pay
Computed from the uncapped taxable value and your city's published millage, against the assessor's record for the address — never from the seller's current bill.
The whole monthly cost
Insurance, mortgage insurance where it applies, utilities, and a maintenance reserve scaled to the age of the house — not just principal, interest, and tax.
Claims versus permits
Every renovation the listing claims, reconciled against the city's permit file. Where a record cannot be pulled, the report says so instead of treating the claim as a fact.
Price tested independently
The ask checked against published third-party estimates, comparable sales, and the assessor's record. We report what others publish and do the arithmetic. We never issue our own opinion of value.
The report closes with a verdict — Proceed, Conditional, or Walk Away. Proceed means proceed with further due diligence, not that you should buy.
Delivered within 3 hours. Complex municipal records can take up to 6. The clock starts at payment. 30-day money back.
About the reset, and about this tool.
Why do you ask for an email address?
Because this tool is how our report business meets buyers. The check costs you nothing, the arithmetic is the same either way, and the range you see before the email is the real computation rounded out — never a different number. After you enter an address you get the exact figure on the page and a copy by email, along with what the full financial inspection would cover on your house.
We take no lender money, we run no rate or refinance products, and we do not sell or rent your email address.
Is this an appraisal, or a tax opinion?
No. It is published millage rates and arithmetic. We reproduce third-party published figures and do the math on them. We do not issue an opinion of value, and nothing here is legal, tax, or lending advice.
Why do the taxes go up at all? I am paying the same as the seller.
You are not, and that is the point. Michigan's Proposal A caps how fast a home's taxable value can rise while one person owns it, often far below what the home is worth after a long ownership. A transfer of ownership removes the cap. The year after the sale the assessor sets the taxable value to the assessed value, which is one half of true cash value, and your bill is computed from there.
Does living in the house really change the bill that much?
Yes. The Principal Residence Exemption removes up to 18 mills of local school operating tax, which on a $300,000 house is roughly $2,700 a year. You claim it by filing Form 2368 with your city or township assessor. The deadline is June 1 for the summer levy and November 1 for the winter levy. Missing it is one of the more expensive paperwork errors a Michigan buyer can make.
Is there other paperwork after closing?
One more that carries a penalty: the Property Transfer Affidavit, Form 2766, due to the assessor within 45 days of the transfer. The penalty for not filing runs $5 a day, up to $200 for a residence.
What if my city is not in the list?
Then we say so rather than apply a rate that is close enough. The table behind this tool covers Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties. If the community you type is outside those five, or spelled differently than the Treasury prints it, the tool offers the nearest names it does hold and waits for you to pick one.
My city has several school districts. Which one applies?
The one the house sits in, which the listing or the assessor's record names. Rates differ between districts inside the same city by several mills, so the tool asks you to choose rather than guessing. One hundred and five of the 165 communities in the table are split this way.
How close is the estimate?
The millage is exact and published. The uncapping rule is statutory. The one moving part is the assessed value the assessor sets for your house in the year after the sale, which is one half of true cash value as the assessor determines it — usually near half the purchase price on an arm's-length sale, sometimes not. That is why this is a screening estimate, and why the full report pulls the assessor's own record for the address instead of assuming.
Know the whole number before you sign.
One home, one report, $249. The tax reset, the true monthly cost, the permits, the price test, and a straight verdict.
30-day money back. No subscription. We take no lender money.