GROSSE ILE · DOWNRIVER
I’m Troy Puste. I live on Grosse Ile, and I work the island and Downriver. I’m a licensed real estate broker, and I’ve been doing this for 12+ years. I started my career as a nurse.
Median sale price
Per sq ft
Typical time to sell
Sales
Single-family, last 180 days, Realcomp, through Oct 13, 2026
I wrote this because the first page of Google is directories and agents who’ve never explained anything. This is what I’d tell a friend who asked me about the island. If something here isn’t sourced, I say so.
Grosse Ile is an island township in the Detroit River, about 18 miles southwest of downtown Detroit. The township covers about 18.7 square miles, but roughly half of that is water. The land is about 9.2 square miles.
It’s actually a group of islands. Grosse Ile is the big one, and the rest are small and uninhabited. About 10,800 people live here, per the 2020 census.
French explorers named it in 1679. “Grosse Île” means “Big Island.”
Two bridges connect Grosse Ile to the mainland: a toll bridge and a free county-owned bridge (the Parkway Bridge).
My honest take: ask about the bridges before you buy, not after. Closures happen, and when the free bridge is closed, everyone uses the other one. For current status and toll rates, check the township and Wayne County, not me.
We love it here. It’s a real community, and once you live on the island, you don’t want to leave. It’s beautiful, and the wildlife is amazing. You’re close to everything Downriver, but because you cross a bridge to get here, it feels like its own place.
Schools and safety: I’m not the right source for either, and I won’t tell you what to think. Look at the state’s published school data and the local police department’s published reports, and come see the island for yourself.
Over the last 180 days, 65 single-family homes sold on Grosse Ile. The median sale price was $400,000, or $198 per square foot, and the typical home took 18 days to sell.
For comparison, the typical home took 7 to 8 days in Flat Rock, Brownstown and Woodhaven over the same period.
A median alone can mislead you, so I always show price per square foot next to it. Here’s how I actually price a house: price per square foot against the last six months of comparable sales, adjusted for what’s different about the house. A portal estimate can’t do that.
I’m not going to guess what an individual house will do. I will tell you what I ask on every island home, because water is part of the deal here:
Is it in a flood zone, and what does flood insurance actually cost? Get a quote before you write an offer.
Is it on sewer or septic?
What does the foundation look like? Michigan has two types of foundations: the ones that crack and the ones that haven’t cracked yet. Hairlines don’t worry me. Bowing walls do, and I’ll tell you to walk.
What does the basement or crawl space look like after a heavy rain?
My goal is to get the most money for you with the least amount of problems in the least amount of time.
In practice that means:
1
I look at your house and the real comparable sales first. Then we talk price.
2
We get the house ready. You wouldn’t sell a car with gum wrappers inside, so we fix what a buyer will notice.
3
I tell you the truth about the number. I can tell you your house is worth $700,000, and I can say $900,000. That doesn’t mean that’s what the buyer will pay. The appraisal decides that.
4
If an update won’t earn its money back, I’ll tell you not to do it. If we put in $1, I want to see $2 come out.
Nobody can promise you a perfect time. I won’t tell you the market is about to crash, and I won’t tell you it only goes up. Look at the data for your house, your payment and your plans.
Is Grosse Ile an island?
How many people live on Grosse Ile?
How do I get to Grosse Ile?
How far is Grosse Ile from Detroit?
What do homes cost on Grosse Ile?
Do you work in Flat Rock, Brownstown and Woodhaven too?
Will you tell me not to buy a house?
Troy Puste is a real estate broker who lives on Grosse Ile. Before real estate he was a nurse. Twelve-plus years in real estate and about $70 million in sales. Nursing taught him to open up people who don’t want to talk, earn their trust, and fight for them on a hard day.