HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) – Ottawa County is among the best places to own a home in Michigan.
In SmartAsset’s third annual study, Ottawa County comes in 6th place. The study compares average rent and home prices in counties across the United States to find the places where buying a home makes the most sense.
The study reveals that in Ottawa County, the average monthly mortgage payment is $612 with an average home price of $226,233. The rent versus buy index is at 89.7 %.
The study compares the total costs of buying and renting a typical home or rental in each county, for a household earning $100,000 a year. For the “buy” scenario, they made the following assumptions: a mortgage rate of 4.5%, closing costs of $2,000, and a down payment of 20%. For each county, they found the break even point in the buy vs. rent decision— the point at which the total costs of renting become greater than the total costs of buying.
The counties with the shortest time to break even are the best places to buy.
St. Joseph County comes in 5th place and Muskegon County 8th in the study.
Nationally, Ottawa County comes in at 122nd place.
