4 Michigan Cities Named the Most Affordable in America to Buy a House

Owning a home is part of the American Dream. But, home costs have been high in the US for years now. So, you probably want to get the best bang for your buck when it comes to buying a home. Of course. I definitely have a dream of buying a home someday. So, I always like to keep up on which areas have the best rates. Well, four Michigan cities have been named the most affordable to buy a house in America.

The new study is from HomeBuyer.com. So, what makes a home affordable? They explain that it has to do with the home's cost, mortgage, sales price, down payment amount, and current mortgage rates. Then, the next biggest factor for an affordable home, which I think some people overlook sometimes, is property taxes. "Property taxes vary by county and municipality, ranging from an annual cost of 1 percent of a home's value to five percent," HomeBuyer.com states. Also, "the third-largest component of home affordability is the cost of transportation, which includes commuting to work, the availability of public transit, and taxes on gas and electricity for people who live there." Finally, the cost of homeowners insurance and other insurance is also a factor.

As for methodology, "The Homebuyer.com research group built an algorithm that digests public and private homeowner data and calculates the relative cost of homeownership throughout the United States. We used the algorithm to find the most affordable cities for U.S. home buyers from the 800 largest Census-recognized cities."

So, let's get to it. What Michigan cities have been named the most affordable to buy a house in America? No. 2 is Detroit. Also in the top 10 are Flint at No. 4, Lansing at No. 9 and Pontiac at No. 10. I'm actually really surprised by Lansing. I look for homes in that area a lot, and they don't seem all that cheap. The top city in America was Macon, Georgia. Find the full list of cities here.