Most affordable city to buy in! Grand Rapids, MI

Most affordable cities to buy!!! Grand Rapids, Mich. $236,000 buys a five bed, four bath house in Grand Rapids. • Life after foreclosure: 4 stories • Big cities: Big changes to foreclosure rates Median home price: $100,000 Median income: $63,100 Affordability score: 92.9% -- 5th best The huge tracts of nearby hardwood forests that helped make Grand Rapids "furniture city" starting in the late 19th century may be mostly gone but it still is a center for office furniture manufacturing. Today, however, there's a lot more diversity in its economy mix. It has some auto plants, which are seriously suffering, and has attracted some health science facilities, consumer goods manufacturers and aerospace products. Foreclosure has not visited households as often as other cities in Michigan but Grand Rapids has still suffered during the foreclosure plague. According to RealtyTrac, there were nearly 4,200 properties with foreclosure filings during the first half of 2009, the 61st highest rate among the 203 biggest metro areas. ...