Hollywood Park

Tri-levels, and why the square footage misleads

A neighborhood holding ranches and tri-levels is holding two products, and the tri-level is the one that most often misreports itself.

A tri-level, or split-level, arranges the house on three half-story levels connected by short flights: typically living space on the entry level, bedrooms up half a flight, and a family room and utilities down half a flight. A bi-level, sometimes called a raised ranch, puts the entry on a landing between two full levels instead, and listings use the words interchangeably even though the layouts differ.

The measured area is where it matters. The lowest level is usually partly below grade, which means it may or may not count toward the official finished square footage depending on how far below grade it sits and how an appraiser treats it. Two houses with identical usable space can therefore be listed at different square footages, and comparing them on that number alone misleads in both directions.

For a buyer that is an opportunity, because usable lower-level space in a split is consistently underpriced relative to the same area upstairs. For a seller it is a reason to be precise about which part of the stated area sits below grade, because a surprise at appraisal is worse than a smaller number stated up front.

The form also has a distinct buyer pool. Some people find the half-flights awkward; others value the separation of living and sleeping space the layout produces naturally. That means a wider spread of outcomes than a ranch of the same area, and comparables should be drawn from the same form rather than from the neighborhood at large.

And critically, a tri-level cannot reach the single-level buyer pool at all — a pool that is large, growing, and made up of people for whom no stairs is a requirement rather than a preference. The ranches here can and the tri-levels cannot, which is most of the pricing difference between them and is invisible in square footage.

Wherever a lower level is finished and partly below grade, check the grade falling away from the building, the downspouts discharging well clear, and the base of the finished walls for staining — and ask whether the sump pump has a battery backup, because a pump without one is useless in the storm that causes the power cut.

A park sharing the neighborhood's name

Where a neighborhood and an adjoining park share a name, the two are usually connected in the record, and the connection is worth establishing because it decides how durable the park is.

A publicly held park — a city holding — is the most durable tier of protected open space: not a business that can close and be sold, and not dependent on an association continuing to fund anything. It is the only category that does not need somebody to keep paying for it out of an assessment.

Association common area is a different thing under the same word: real protection while the association holds it, but revisitable, and funded by the owners as a recurring cost. Where a development dedicated land to the city as a condition of approval — a common arrangement — the park is public and the neighborhood's name on it is a historical trace rather than an ownership claim.

The city's parks department answers which applies at no cost, and a title company will confirm where the boundary runs relative to a specific parcel.

Either way a park is used, and the balance between outlook and activity depends on what it contains. A quiet green is a different neighbor from a lit court or a busy playing field, and the difference is felt most on summer weekends. Standing on the lot on a Saturday afternoon in season tells you more than any description — and for a house backing directly onto a park, the trade is an outlook nobody can build on against a degree of reduced privacy.

For a comparable analysis that difference is real and almost never priced: a house adjoining permanent public open space has something a house adjoining unbuilt private ground does not, and an automated valuation reads both identically.

The west side, off North Maple

North Maple Road runs north and south through the west side of the city, and the stretch between Sequoia and Dexter Avenue sits in an established part of town within a short run of downtown.

The corridor trade-off applies and varies sharply within the neighborhood: convenience and traffic in the same package, depending on distance from the road, orientation and what stands between. A weekday rush hour visit with the windows open settles it for a specific street.

This part of the city is close to the Huron River corridor to the north, where the city's natural area system and the riverside parks run — Bird Hills, Barton and the Border to Border Trail among them. Publicly held land of that kind is the most durable tier of protected open space, and Ann Arbor actively stewards its natural areas rather than leaving them alone, which means the character of the land is maintained deliberately.

An established west-side neighborhood also means mature canopy, which is both an asset and an owner's obligation. A large tree close to a house is one to have an arborist look at; removal of a mature tree is a four-figure expense and periodic pruning a recurring one; and canopy over a roof means leaf drop into gutters and valleys, exactly where roofs fail first.

Where trees stand in the public right-of-way rather than on the lot, they are usually the city's, and its forestry rules govern what may be done to them — including by the adjoining owner.

What to look up before a showing

The Washtenaw County Register of Deeds holds the recorded plat: the lot count, the dimensions, the original restrictions, the proprietor and the date. A low liber number generally means an early recording, which is itself a clue to the age of the platting.

The year built matters most, because it sets the entire inspection agenda — and the tri-level form is a strong hint without being an answer. The form belongs largely to the 1950s through the 1970s, which spans several distinct eras.

A house from the 1950s to the mid-1960s raises galvanized steel supply piping, which corrodes internally and loses flow before it fails, and 60-amp original service. A house from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s raises aluminum branch circuit wiring, whose concern is the connections rather than the wire — the remedy is proper connectors at every device rather than wholesale rewiring. Anything before 1978 carries a lead-based paint disclosure requirement, which is a legal obligation on a seller rather than a matter of judgment. And a house from the late 1970s raises polybutylene supply piping instead.

Materials of those decades can also include asbestos in pipe and boiler insulation, some floor tiles and adhesives, and some siding products. Identification is straightforward and undisturbed material in good condition is generally managed rather than removed.

On a mature street, a camera inspection of the clay or cast-iron drain lateral is not part of a standard home inspection, costs comparatively little, and is among the better-value additional checks available.

An Ann Arbor address is not necessarily the City of Ann Arbor

The City of Ann Arbor is ringed by townships — Scio, Pittsfield, Ann Arbor, Superior and Lodi among them — whose mailing addresses read Ann Arbor. A mailing address is a delivery route rather than a jurisdiction.

Each township is a separate government with its own board, tax rate, services, zoning and assessor. The rate difference between a city parcel and a township one is real and recurring, which is why comparable sales must be matched on municipality. Rates and taxable values both change, so compare the current millage and the parcel's own taxable value rather than a remembered difference; a tax bill arrives on the local schedule, and a lender collects an estimated share of it monthly.

School assignment follows a third line again. Three distinct versions of the split exist around here — Ann Arbor addresses with Pittsfield taxes and Saline schools; Pittsfield taxes with Ann Arbor schools; and a Ypsilanti address with Pittsfield taxes and Ann Arbor schools — which together show that no direction of inference works.

Four tiers of protected open space

Where open ground adjoins a property, ownership is the first thing that decides whether it stays open — but not the only one.

Land held by a public body is generally the most durable, though a public body can still sell or repurpose land. Land under a recorded conservation easement is next — an easement runs with the land, surviving a change of owner and of local board. Association common area is real protection that the owners themselves pay for. Unbuilt private land carries the least protection of the four, but that is not the same as none: zoning, recorded deed restrictions and state wetland regulation can each constrain what may be built, filled or cleared, and EGLE requires authorization for specified activities affecting regulated wetland.

From a window all four look identical, which is why it is worth checking the record rather than the view: ownership, any recorded easement or restriction, the zoning, whether wetland is mapped, and whether a development application has already been approved.

Schools

Hollywood Park is served by Ann Arbor Public Schools. District boundaries are redrawn from time to time.

Recreation at Veterans Memorial Park

Veterans Memorial Park brings several kinds of recreation together on Ann Arbor's west side, including an outdoor pool, an indoor ice arena, ball fields and a skatepark. It is a public destination with activities that vary by season.

Buying or selling here

The form, the year and how much area sits below grade are the three things to establish.

For a seller, the assessor's year built settles which era agenda applies, and being precise about which part of a tri-level's stated area is below grade prevents a surprise at appraisal. Where the house is a ranch, saying so plainly reaches a buyer pool the tri-levels cannot.

Not to be confused with

• Abbot · Ann Arbor
• Arbor Heights · Ann Arbor