What $500K, $750K and $1M Buys in Northwest Guilford County: Summerfield vs. Oak Ridge vs. Colfax vs. NW Greensboro

One of the first questions I get from buyers looking at the northwest side of Guilford County is a simple one: what does my budget actually get me out here? The honest answer depends on which side of the line you're on. The same $750,000 can mean a brand-new house on two-thirds of an acre in Oak Ridge, a mid-2000s house on nearly an acre in Summerfield, or a larger 1980s house on half an acre inside Greensboro.

So instead of describing neighborhoods in general terms, I pulled what actually sold. Every figure below comes from Redfin's sold-home records (Triad MLS listings) for homes that sold in the six months through October 22, 2026, grouped by ZIP code: 27358 for Summerfield, 27310 for Oak Ridge, 27235 for Colfax, and 27410 and 27455 for northwest Greensboro. I looked at three price bands: $450,000 to $550,000, $675,000 to $825,000, and $900,000 to $1.1 million. The square footage, lot size and year built for each band are medians of the homes that sold in it.

A ZIP code is a mailing area, not a town boundary, so a few sales in each group sit just outside the town or city line. Treat these as a picture of each area, not an appraisal of any one house.

What does $500,000 buy in Northwest Guilford County?

This is the band where the areas look the most different from each other. Here is what sold between $450,000 and $550,000 in the six months through October 22, 2026, per Redfin:

• Colfax (27235): 27 sales. Median of 3,017 square feet, built in 2025, about $167 per square foot. Twenty of the 27 were built in 2025 or 2026, and four were townhomes. Where Redfin listed a lot size, the median was about a third of an acre.
• Summerfield (27358): 22 sales. Median of 2,702 square feet on about 0.92 acre, built around 2001, about $191 per square foot.
• Oak Ridge (27310): only 3 sales. Median of 2,339 square feet on about 0.46 acre, built around 2004, about $235 per square foot.
• Northwest Greensboro (27410): 55 sales. Median of 2,610 square feet on about a third of an acre, built around 1986, about $188 per square foot.
• Northwest Greensboro (27455): 29 sales. Median of 2,763 square feet on about 0.29 acre, built around 2004, about $187 per square foot.

The pattern is clear. At this price, Colfax is where you find new construction, Summerfield is where you find land, and Greensboro's northwest ZIP codes are where you find the most choices. Oak Ridge barely shows up at $500,000; in my experience showing there, a buyer at this budget will see very few options in a given month.

Where are the new homes around $500,000?

Most of Colfax's activity in this band came from one community. Per the same Redfin records, 17 of the 27 Colfax sales between $450,000 and $550,000 were in Dillon Ridge, and all 20 Dillon Ridge sales in the six-month window were homes built in 2025 or 2026, ranging from $407,442 to $546,772 and from about 1,930 to 3,160 square feet.

That's a lot of house for the money compared with resale homes nearby, and it's why Colfax keeps coming up with buyers who want new construction close to Greensboro and PTI. The trade-offs are smaller lots and an HOA: the median HOA fee Redfin listed for Colfax sales in this band was $85 a month. If you're comparing a new Colfax home with an older Summerfield home on an acre, you're really choosing between a newer house and more land.

What does $750,000 buy in Oak Ridge, Summerfield and Northwest Greensboro?

In the $675,000 to $825,000 band, Oak Ridge and Summerfield are the busiest markets, and Colfax nearly drops out. Per Redfin, for sales in the six months through October 22, 2026:

• Oak Ridge (27310): 29 sales. Median of 3,526 square feet on about 0.66 acre, built in 2023, about $210 per square foot. Twelve of the 29 were built in 2025 or 2026.
• Summerfield (27358): 28 sales. Median of 3,502 square feet on about 0.94 acre, built around 2005, about $216 per square foot.
• Northwest Greensboro (27410): 25 sales. Median of 3,675 square feet on about 0.47 acre, built around 1988, about $201 per square foot.
• Northwest Greensboro (27455): 20 sales. Median of 3,539 square feet on about 0.69 acre, built around 2008, about $214 per square foot.
• Colfax (27235): 3 sales, with a median lot of about one acre and a median build year of 2006.

Notice that the house size barely changes across the four main areas. At $750,000, nearly everyone gets about 3,500 square feet. What changes is age and land. Oak Ridge's median home in this band was built in 2023, Summerfield's sits on almost an acre, and 27410's is the oldest but often the largest.

Which new-construction communities sold around $750,000?

Two communities show up often in the Redfin records. In Oak Ridge, The Preserve at Carriage Cove, listed on Jome as a Keystone Homes community, had 13 sales in the six-month window, from $674,863 to $753,585, built 2024 to 2026, with about 3,300 to 3,860 square feet. In Summerfield, Spencer Hill, built by Arden Homes per NewHomeSource, had 6 sales from $679,900 to $865,540, built 2025 and 2026, on lots of roughly 0.7 to 1 acre.

New construction at this price competes directly with resale homes on bigger, wooded lots. In my experience, buyers who start out set on new often end up comparing a builder's warranty and new systems against an established lot and mature trees. Neither is the wrong answer, but it helps to walk both before you decide.

What does $1 million buy in Northwest Guilford County?

At $900,000 to $1.1 million the market gets thinner, so the medians rest on fewer sales. Per Redfin, for sales in the six months through October 22, 2026:

• Summerfield (27358): 11 sales. Median of 4,126 square feet on about 1 acre, built around 2007, about $233 per square foot.
• Oak Ridge (27310): 6 sales. Median of 4,025 square feet on about 0.94 acre, built around 2020, about $251 per square foot.
• Northwest Greensboro (27455): 5 sales. Median of 4,283 square feet on about 0.8 acre, built around 2016, about $214 per square foot.
• Northwest Greensboro (27410): 2 sales, both larger homes on lots of most of an acre.
• Colfax (27235): no sales in this band. Redfin's records showed one Colfax sale above $1.1 million, a 2016 home on about 4.8 acres.

Above $1.1 million, the same records show 13 Oak Ridge sales, 9 in Summerfield and 8 in 27455. Oak Ridge stands out at the top of the market: of its 13 sales above $1.1 million, 8 were built in 2025 or 2026, so much of Oak Ridge's high end is new custom and semi-custom building.

How much more is the property tax at each price?

Taxes are where the town-versus-city difference shows up every year. Per the Guilford County Tax Department's 2026–27 rate schedule, per $100 of assessed value, the combined rates are 1.5880 inside Greensboro (code 01), 1.0036 in Oak Ridge (code 32), 1.0214 in Summerfield (code 89) and 0.9254 in the unincorporated Colfax fire district (code 88). Applied to an assessed value equal to each price point, my arithmetic on those rates gives:

• $500,000: Greensboro $7,940; Summerfield $5,107; Oak Ridge $5,018; Colfax fire district $4,627
• $750,000: Greensboro $11,910; Summerfield $7,660.50; Oak Ridge $7,527; Colfax fire district $6,940.50
• $1,000,000: Greensboro $15,880; Summerfield $10,214; Oak Ridge $10,036; Colfax fire district $9,254

Two cautions. First, the bill is based on the county's assessed value, not your purchase price. Per the county's Property Tax Moratorium Information Hub, North Carolina Senate Bill 889, signed June 19, 2026, delayed the 2026 reappraisal, so 2026 bills use 2025 values and the new reappraisal values apply starting with the 2027 bill. Second, a mailing address doesn't settle the rate. Some Summerfield parcels carry a different fire district code, and parts of the Colfax area have been annexed by Greensboro or High Point. Check the rate code on the county tax record for the exact parcel.

What else changes between these areas besides price?

The bigger practical differences are utilities, lots and time on market:

• Water and sewer: inside the Greensboro city limits, homes are generally on city water and sewer. Many homes in Oak Ridge and Summerfield are on a private well and septic system. For new Colfax communities, ask the builder who provides water and sewer before you write an offer.
• Lots: at every price, Summerfield's median lot was close to an acre, while Colfax and 27410's were roughly a third to a half acre.
• Time on market: per Redfin's ZIP housing-market pages for the three months ending September 2026, the median days on market was 36 in 27235, 39 in 27410, 40 in 27455, 45 in 27310 and 65 in 27358.
• Overall medians: on those same pages, the median sale price was $453,000 in 27235, $700,000 in 27310, $589,000 in 27358, $386,000 in 27410 and $375,000 in 27455 for the three months ending September 2026.

For school assignment, Guilford County Schools assigns by address, and lines don't follow ZIP codes or town names. Use the GCS School Assignment Locator for the specific address and the year you'd enroll, and the NC School Report Cards for official information about any school.

How should I use these numbers?

Think of them as a starting map. Medians hide a lot: one band can include a dated house on two acres and a new house on a quarter acre. I don't forecast prices, but I can tell you what sold, and the most useful next step is to pull the recent sales on the specific streets you're considering, with the same lot, age and utility setup.

If you want that list for your budget, call or text me and I'll put it together. If you know someone sorting out where their money goes furthest in Northwest Guilford, I'm always glad to help, and referrals are welcome. And if you're relocating to the Triad, reach out early. Knowing which area fits your budget before your first trip makes that trip far more productive.