Personal finance site lists Martin County as top place in Kentucky to buy a home. Wait, what?

Oct. 19--A SmartAsset national study of renting vs. buying a home came up with an unusual No. 1 in Kentucky: Martin County.

The personal-finance website's top pick for the best place to own a home in Kentucky was Martin County, a county plagued with clean-water woes and recently deemed by U.S. News & World Report as the worst-performing white-majority county in the nation when considering links between race, geography and health outcomes. The county has about 12,000 residents.

The U.S. News report analyzed health and economic factors including job availability, prevalence of various disease, smoking rates, housing affordability and air and water quality. Martin County scored 10.5 out of a possible 100 points.

SmartAsset's site says it has "award-winning tools, calculators and contents ... created by personal finance experts." It also directs readers to a questionnaire that asks them about their retirement plans, families and familiarity with investing in an effort to match them with nearby financial advisers.

Smart Assets evaluated counties across the country using a methodology that included average rents and home prices and compared buying to renting in every county in America.

The assumptions include a mortgage rate of 4.5 percent, closing costs of $2,000 and a down payments of 20 percent.

Smart Assets senior editor Ross Urken said in an e-mail response to questions about Martin County's suitability for a top-in-state ranking that the company releases its studies "to help get people thinking and talking about major personal finance topics like home buying and retirement."

"In this case, our study strictly measured how quickly the price of buying becomes more favorable than the price of renting," Urken said. "For anyone looking to buy a home in a specific county or metro area, it's very important to look at the external factors that will have an impact on your day-to-day quality of life. Though a county may offer you the most favorable path to ownership, your family, financial picture, and personal preferences will determine whether or not it is the best fit for you."

In addition to Martin County, SmartAsset's Kentucky top 10 includes the counties of Taylor, Meade, Marshall, Edmonson, Henry, Trigg, Jefferson, Trimble and LaRue.

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