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I want to walk you through the most expensive assumption buyers make in Michigan, because I see it happen over and over.
You find a home on Zillow. The listing shows property taxes of, say, $3,800 a year. You budget around that number. Your lender pre-approves you around that number. Everything looks affordable.
Then about a year after closing, the reassessment hits. Suddenly you are paying hundreds or even thousands more per year, and a payment that felt comfortable is now a stretch. Some buyers genuinely cannot absorb it.
Here is why it happens. That number on the listing is the seller's tax bill, based on their capped taxable value from however long they owned the home. When you buy, the cap comes off and the home is reassessed based on market value. Your taxes and their taxes are two different things. And lenders estimate your escrow using the seller's numbers, not what yours will become. Nobody in the transaction is required to figure this out for you (but it's something I ALWAYS raise awareness about during the transaction).
Here is how you estimate it.
Local assessors will usually give you a range, since they do not have a crystal ball for what a reassessment will land at. The low end of that range: take the home's current SEV (state equalized value, which is right on the listing), multiply it by the millage rate, and divide by 1,000. That gives you a yearly tax estimate.
The high end: take 50% of your purchase price, multiply by the millage rate, and divide by 1,000. If you can afford the high number, you are safe. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
You can find every millage rate in Michigan in this official PDF (keep in mind these change yearly): https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/-/media/Project/Websites/taxes/4029/Total-Rates-Reports/2025-Total-Rates.pdf
Open it and hit Ctrl+F (Command+F on Mac) to search for the city AND school district the home sits in. Make sure you are looking at the right column too: homestead (your primary residence) or non-homestead (a second home or investment property). That one detail alone can swing your property taxes by 20 to 30%.
If you are looking at a home right now and want a second set of eyes on the tax math, just reply to this email with the address. I will run the numbers with you.
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