Inside the Rising Appeal of Lakefront Town Traverse City, Michigan

The aquamarine water of West Grand Traverse Bay glinting in the sun, pristine public beaches where kids play and adults soak in the rays and the scenic Boardman River that slices through town, where salmon and steelhead leap for the catching: This is Traverse City, Michigan.

“Traverse City is a very hidden gem that is growing,” said Andrew Castillon, founder of the Lincoln Advisory Group at Compass. “I like to refer to it as the ‘Hamptons of the Midwest,’ however, I believe we have a much bigger sense of community and more activities.”

Another leg up that Traverse City and its surrounding communities have over the Hamptons? They’re still relatively affordable, with the average cost of homes in town coming in in the mid-six-digits. But luxury is none too far with new and updated waterfront houses offering a prime perch for watching boats pass in the summer or snow fall in the winter.

A measure of demand shows about half of the prospective buyers in town come from out of state, according to Realtor.com’s second-quarter data. Of those, the bulk are buyers from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago and Atlanta.

Boundaries

About a four-hour drive northwest of Detroit, Traverse City is a waterfront town with boundaries that have expanded out as summer revelers have flocked to its crystal clear waters. (Take, for example, its official U.S. Census population of 15,700, versus the metropolitan area’s population of closer to 154,000, according to Data USA.)

Traverse City sits on the southern tip of West Grand Traverse Bay, an offshoot of Lake Michigan, that creates the city’s border to the north. Munson Medical Center—a major employer and draw to the area for young professionals—is at the west end of town and the Cherry Capital Airport sits at the southeast.

Price range

A home on the water is the ultimate luxury here, and the cost reflects that.

Take a waterfront listing just north of Traverse City proper on Old Mission Peninsula, the finger of land that juts up between East and West Grand Traverse Bay. The 8,400-square-foot home built in 2019 with shake siding and 178 feet of water frontage has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. It’s listed with Pat Leavy, founder of Kidd & Leavy Real Estate, for $9.5 million.

Kyle O’Grady, an agent with Re/Max, said waterfront homes are more typically priced from $2.5 million up to to $7 million, such as his listing for a new 3,500-square-foot house on Old Mission Peninsula overlooking East Grand Traverse Bay. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home is priced at $2.85 million.

Traverse City’s historic city center has more modestly sized and often older homes that are priced around $450,000 on average, Castillon said. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price in Traverse City is $479,900.

Housing stock

“There’s really no truly defining architectural style. … That’s what makes it exciting,” Castillon said. He noted there are Craftsmans and Victorians with wraparound porches that sell and get fixed up, as well as homes along the lake that look like they’re plucked from the Hamptons with cedar-shake siding.

Leavy said he’s seen buyers in their 40s and 50s snatching up some of the older lakefront cabin properties and modernizing them with folding glass walls and other fresh upgrades.

“They like more of a clean-line look these days,” he said. “They’re remodeling these cabins to match the style they crave, and that’s modern. They’re not really gravitating toward the older Victorians.”

O’Grady said that new construction homes are few, but have become more popular in the last five years as buyers gravitated to the area during the pandemic looking to take advantage of its four-season, outdoor lifestyle.

Traverse City is also home to the Central Neighborhood Historic District that protects the character of about 550 structures downtown that were primarily built in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the Queen Anne, Italianate and Neo-Georgian styles.

What makes it unique

East and West Grand Traverse Bay are a wellspring of picture-perfect, fresh water that is so clear it can fool boaters and swimmers into thinking they can touch the bottom. The pristineness of the water is a great point of pride in the area, Castillon said.

Traverse City is also home to a calendar of non-stop summer events. Take the National Cherry Festival that happens annually over the week of July 4—the city is the so-called cherry capital of the world—which this year was headlined by bands Stone Temple Pilots and Goo Goo Dolls. Or Traverse City Horse Shows, an annual 13-week equestrian competition that attracts talent from across the country. There’s also tons of smaller one-off events that the city diligently tracks on its website.

The draw of the water and the jam-packed calendar mean Traverse City is a major destination in the summer, and it has bed and breakfasts, hotels and restaurants to accommodate that inflow of visitors.

For fine dining, O’Grady favors the Boathouse for its farm-to-table experience. He also praises Oakwood Proper Burgers, a greasy spoon that churns out burgers, fries and milkshakes for a hardy meal topping out around $20 a head.

Castillon said the city is also notably friendly to small businesses, with his favorites being coffeehouse Good Harbor Coffee and American Spoon, a gift shop that sells Michigan-made jams and preserves.

Luxury amenities

Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport has expanded its direct flight offerings, making it an easier destination from major cities like Minneapolis and Dallas as well as smaller locales like New Haven, Connecticut, and St. Petersburg, Florida. O’Grady added that there’s also lots of hangar space in the area for those who may be flying in on private planes.

The ease with which people can arrive now is boosting real estate values, Leavy said, and they’re staying up as young families move into the area. Castillon added that Traverse City’s public schools are top-notch.

There are a few nearby marinas for large vessel docking, like Harbor West Yacht Club, Duncan L. Clinch Marina and East Bay Marina. Castillon said it’s common for yachts to sail into the bays and anchor for a weekend while enjoying the downtown—but there’s more to the city than just the bay.

“You don’t have to be on the water to enjoy Traverse City,” Leavy said. “You can enjoy it by having a home in town, walking to the lifestyle amenities” like Crooked Tree Arts Center and Higher Arts Gallery. “Out into the country a little bit, there’s world-class golf,” he added. He said Grand Traverse Resort and Spa is a standout in the area, but there’s no shortage of courses to choose from nearby.

Another draw is its smattering of wineries. The area’s rolling hills provide a suitable growing perch for grapes that can stand up to the winter’s cold climates, like riesling and grüner veltliner. Castillon’s favorites are Mari and Hawthorne vineyards, both located on Old Mission Peninsula.

“I think it’s nice because as you look off, you see the bays and the water and the aqua, which makes it a little different than Napa and Sonoma,” he said.

Who lives there

Traverse City is a summertime destination for visitors and second-home owners alike, with a population that swells in the warmer months.

But since Covid, the area’s started picking up year-round newcomers taking advantage of work-from-home policies or who are attracted to Traverse City’s robust small-business scene, O’Grady and Castillon said.

Leary pointed out that while Traverse City is a great community for families, it also requires its residents to be a little hardier come the wintertime.

“We truly have a winter. We get a little colder, we get a little more snow,” Leavy said. “So you have to be able to embrace the winter lifestyle. You’ve got to get out, you’ve got to go skiing or cross-country skiing or enjoy snowmobiling.”

Notable residents

Former HGTV star Carter Oosterhouse and actress Amy Smart, who’s known for roles in movies “Just Friends” and “The Butterfly Effect,” live in town, O’Grady said. The couple co-own Bonobo Winery in Traverse City, which is also where Oosterhouse grew up.

Outlook

With its abundant outdoor activities, the city got a huge boost during Covid. Castillon said it has continued to grow and he expects that to last well into the future with the area’s strong job market in healthcare and agriculture. He believes it’s a top-notch place for young people to gravitate to, given its architectural allure and business-friendly atmosphere.

“You can appeal to so many different tastes,” he said, “especially with these millennial and Gen Z buyers who are planning to come up here to start a business or for some of the booming industries that we have.”