A cheaper way to a lake house in Michigan
Cheap lake houses in Michigan usually mean a long drive north or a small lake. On Bass Lake, north of Grand Rapids, a cottage with its own frontage sold for $277,000 in August 2026. A home at Side O’ Lake, on the same water, sold for $46,900 in April 2025. The difference is the ground: here you own the home and rent the site.
A note gets you directions and the current list of homes for sale. No application, no fee, no pressure.
Cottage with its own frontage
$277,000
Sold August 2026 · 2 bedrooms · 47 ft of shoreline
Home at Side O’ Lake
$46,900
Sold April 2025 · 1 bedroom · lot rent on top
What each price buys
The two prices buy different things. Here they are line by line, so the gap makes sense before you write in. The bars under the prices are drawn to scale: the home here sold for about a sixth of the cottage.
| Cottage with frontage | Home at Side O’ Lake | |
|---|---|---|
| The lake | Bass Lake, about 184 acres | The same lake |
| What sold | 2 bedrooms, 703 sq ft | 1 bedroom, 840 sq ft |
| Sale price | $277,000, August 2026 | $46,900, April 2025 |
| The ground under it | Bought with the house | Rented from the community |
| The shoreline | 47 ft of its own frontage | Listed as waterfront. Some homes here sit on the water; others are a row or more back. |
| Every month | Taxes, insurance and upkeep on the house and the land | Lot rent for the site, plus insurance and upkeep on the home. Ask for the current lot rent and what it covers. |
| Who says yes | The seller, and a lender if you finance | The seller, the community (every buyer, cash included), and a lender if you finance |
| Usually paid with | Cash or a mortgage | Cash or a home-only (personal-property) loan |
Sales: public MLS sale records, last checked September 28, 2026. Past sales shown as history, not today’s prices or an offer of any home. The homes differ in size, and the cottage price includes the land under it. Loan types: CFPB, May 2021.
The catch, plainly
Four things change when you own the home and rent the ground. None of them are small print.
You rent the ground
A home here sits on a rented site, so you pay a monthly lot rent on top of the home price. That’s the trade for not buying the land and the frontage. Ask the manager for the current amount and what it covers.
The community approves every buyer
Every buyer is approved by the community before the sale closes, cash buyers included. A loan approval, if you need one, is a separate yes from a lender.
It’s a summer place
Side O’ Lake is a summer community: when it closes for the winter, nobody lives there until it opens again. Ask for this year’s opening and closing dates. When the season ends, the guide to closing a cottage for the winter walks through the close-up in order.
Loans work differently
Because you own the home but not the land, a loan for it is usually a home-only (personal-property) loan, not a house mortgage. The CFPB found these typically carry higher rates and shorter terms, and are denied more often (May 2021). Some lenders won’t finance a seasonal home, so ask first. Lenders to ask, and a calculator you fill in yourself.
Which Bass Lake is this?
The one north of Grand Rapids, about 17 minutes from Greenville and about 45 to 50 minutes from Grand Rapids by road. Michigan has several lakes with the name, so fishing reports and listings aren’t always about this one. This one runs about 184 acres, an all-sports lake with a public Michigan DNR boat launch. The lake, its fish and the launch.
Pricing your own summer here
Your real number is the home price plus a year of lot rent and the home’s own costs. These are the answers that make it up. Put them in your note, and run the numbers in the calculator.
New to buying this way? The guide to buying a home in a mobile home park puts every step in order. When you ask about lot rent, ask for a written list of what it includes.
- The asking price of the homes for sale now
- The monthly lot rent, and a written list of what it covers
- How lot rent is billed across the year
- This year’s season: opening and closing dates
- Cash, or a lender that finances a seasonal home
- Insurance on the home
- The community rules you’d sign
Send a note back.
Leave a first name, an email and a phone number. The manager writes back with the homes for sale and how to find the place.
Rather use your own email?
A note gets you directions and the current list of homes for sale. No application, no fee, no pressure.