In a world full of minimalistic homes, sharp designs, and lots of right angles, we forget about the historical districts full of character that are so hard to replicate, well if a community like that is one you’re looking for, I got the one for you.
Living In Franklin Michigan
Franklin Michigan, an area that most people have no idea existed. Maybe it’s out in the middle of nowhere where the population is less than 50 people?
Not exactly. This 2.66 square mile village is situated in Metro Detroit’s own Oakland county with a population of around 3,200 people. Be sure to stick around as I touch on all things Franklin Michigan from things to do, things to know, home prices, property taxes and things you would never expect this little area to be ranked so highly for, let’s get to it.
What Is Franklin Michigan Known For?
Let’s start with the question, what is Franklin Michigan known for? It’s actually a loaded question for this little village. For starters, it’s the first district that was listed on the national registry of historic places back in 1969. As I mentioned, Franklin is referred to as “the town that time forgot” due to how well the 19th century buildings and charming historic village atmosphere have been preserved. They don’t even have cars over there. It's all horse and buggy. It's crazy. I’m kidding.
Franklin Michigan Downtown
The historic downtown is very very small, but it’s safe to say the local businesses have made the most of it offering a village center full of locally owned boutiques. There’s a Comerica bank, an upscale resale shop, a boutique fitness studio, event bliss and gifts, Franklin auto service, Franklin cleaners, Franklin nails and spa, lake house studio design, pet shop, interior designer, a salon, a jeweler, a wine store, the village boutique for shipping and Zieben Mare for upscale shopping. So despite me taking 5 seconds to rattle off all the businesses, it’s safe to say shopping can be a one of a kind experience in good ole Franklin Michigan.
Franklin Michigan Events
On top of the businesses, they have some events to get the community involved like the one and only summer block party that happens late August, Frankenstein frenzy during Halloween, sip, shop and stroll during December for holiday shopping, and shop your heart out, a February event supporting the girls out there, since a lot of businesses in Franklin are woman owned.
The Franklin Michigan Cider Mill
If you’re someone who knows of Franklin Michigan or you’re someone who’s done some brief research you’d known the Franklin Cider Mill is a massive attraction to the area, and demonstrates the preservation of the villages history, as this mill has been through several hands since 1837, having financial issues for completion to a few floods creating more setbacks, and to this day since the year 1966, the Peltz family has maintained this historic gem and made it an annual tradition for so many families to this day. Michigan is ranked #3 in apple production and the Franklin Cider Mill uses Michigan apples only.
If you’re looking for some quality cider and donuts in Michigan, I highly suggest you make a visit, it’s safe to say this cider mill has some experience. With the cider mill in mind, beyond the main street area, there’s also the Franklin country club, Franklin athletic club, Franklin Community Kreger house (which is a historical landmark in Franklin), and Franklin public library.
And I know what you’re thinking, you’re going to starve to death because there’s no food....
I get it, but understand that Franklin is in the thick of it, having Bloomfield hills toward the south, Birmingham just northeast, Farmington hills to the west, and Southfield to the south. Franklin also borders telegraph road on the east, which is full of options and has northwestern highway to the south that has options as well. I can assure you no one in Franklin is starving for food options, they are nearby. Franklin Michigan is jam packed full of residential housing, where most people passing through will head along 13 mile road without even thinking they are blowing through the village of Franklin.
Franklin Michigan Home Prices
Something else Franklin Michigan is known for is big estate-style homes. This is a place where you can be secluded, and tucked away from everyone while being in the middle of everything. This graph provided by the MLS shows the average sale price over the last 3 years with the whole MLS in blue, and Franklin village in green, as you can see the average sale price is over $950,000 which was a 26.3% decrease year over year and I know what you’re thinking, it must not be that good if sale prices are dropping that low.
Home #1 - Cheapest Home In Franklin Michigan
The reality is, based on current and sold inventory over the last 12 months, there’s a $300,000, 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom home with over 1600 square feet on 0.39 acres, and built in 1953.
Home #2 - Most Expensive Home In Franklin Michigan
Then we jump to an almost $7 million dollar tudor with 6 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, 22,659 total square feet situated on 1.75 acres and built in 2009. All that to say the prices fluctuate quite a bit to say the least, so when a few more of those $7 million homes sell one year over another, it makes a difference on the charts. Franklin Michigan has arguably some of the coolest architecture in metro Detroit.
Franklin Michigan Rankings
Before I stroll on, I want to shed light on some other notable rankings about Franklin Michigan as it relates to points I'll touch on later. For starters, Franklin Michigan ranks #4 of 620 places with the best public schools in Michigan, #4 of 336 suburbs with the best public schools in Michigan and #13 of 802 best places to raise a family in Michigan.
You might be sitting back thinking, wait what, where were Franklin Michigan schools in the rankings?
Franklin Michigan Schools
Well, back in 1945 the Franklin school district joined Birmingham public schools, even though in 1827 Michigan’s territorial council states that every township with 50 or more people needed to have school, which they did, creating a small school house that eventually led to 2 more schools, and after the 3rd one burnt down, they joined good ole Birmingham schools. There’s also the Franklin community preschool and the Huda school and Montessori as well. So in a property tax sense, this makes a difference, so that’s something to keep in mind when choosing an area around here to live.
Franklin Michigan Property Taxes
So I will pull up the Michigan property tax estimator that I will link HERE for you. I mentioned this early on, but since there’s always some new viewers, I wanted to mention that there’s a disclaimer on the bottom that talks about the previous years rates being posted each year on August, so before August, the millage rates (what’s used to calculate property taxes) can be inaccurate, so in order to combat that i’ll continue to link HERE PDF of millage rates for cross referencing, just control find the area and make sure the rate is the same as the estimator.
If not, take that millage rate and multiply it by 50% of the list price and divide by 1,000 to get an estimate of your annual property tax amount. In this case, taking advantage of Birmingham schools in Birmingham comes out to be a millage rate of 38.6577, whereas in Franklin with Birmingham schools is 34.9456, which is a difference of $1,862 a year when based on a $950,000 home. More than likely if you’re buying a home for that much you may not care, but if you’re looking to save a few bucks, this is a way to do it.
For those of you watching, is Franklin a place you’d call home? Why or why not? Comment your thoughts below.
If you’re thinking about moving to Michigan in 1 day or a million, feel free to reach out anytime, I also have a link to the Living in Michigan newsletter to give you insight on all things Michigan, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss out! Thanks for watching, until next time.
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 pillars of Michigan real estate. 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 the best resource he can be. Andrew graduated from Cleary University in Howell, Michigan with a double major in business and marketing, and currently resides in Brighton, Michigan.
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