Buying in Sugar Springs: it's a private community

Sugar Springs, in Billings Township, is a private residential community built around two man-made lakes (Lake Lancer and Lake Lancelot), with a golf course and other shared amenities. Like other private lake communities, it works a bit differently from buying an ordinary house.

When you buy in Sugar Springs, you join the property owners association, which runs the community, the lakes, and the amenities — so you’ll have annual dues and a set of community rules on top of your regular property taxes. Budget for the dues and read the rules before you commit; they’re what keep the lakes and golf course going. Its lakes are private and man-made, and separate from the county’s Tittabawassee River dam lakes (Secord, Smallwood, Wixom), so the dam reconstruction assessment doesn’t apply here.

The property owners association can tell you the current dues and what they cover.