Zillow puts Lima’s typical city home value at $155,891 and its typical observed market rent at $1,176 per month. The resulting 9.1% gross yield uses annualized ZORI divided by ZHVI, before taxes, insurance, maintenance, financing, vacancy, or management. ZHVI increased 6.2% year over year and ZORI 3.9%. At 3.4x median household income, the price-to-income measure and the 30.5% annual rent-to-income measure frame affordability, but neither establishes a property’s payment or cash flow.
Citywide housing is renter-majority: renters occupy 54.4% of occupied homes, and the housing-stock vacancy rate is 10.5%. The ACS reports a $107,200 median home value and $903 median gross rent, which includes contract rent plus selected utilities. Those are survey measures for occupied housing, unlike Zillow’s current typical value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as the same period.
Among city renters, 41.6% report spending at least 30% of income on rent. The city stock is 73.1% single-family and 7.0% large multifamily. Of 1,677 vacant units, 143 are categorized for rent and 103 for sale; these ACS vacancy-reason categories do not identify rentable investment inventory or lease-up speed. Population declined 5.7% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages, subject to potential boundary differences. Median household income is $46,240, poverty is 23.9%, and unemployment is 8.5%; these describe demand constraints, not causes of rent performance.
In Allen County, a 47-day Realtor median days on market is county listing-market context, not a city sales measure. In the broader Lima metro, 2.4 months of supply is metro market context, not city inventory. The national 30-year Freddie Mac mortgage rate is 6.7%, a national financing benchmark rather than a local borrower quote.
Underwriting remains limited by citywide averages and separate source definitions: Zillow values and rents do not reveal a specific asset’s condition, lease terms, expenses, or financing. Verify the address’s legal unit count, ownership and zoning, physical condition, utilities paid by tenant or owner, insurance quote, property-tax bill and any assessment exposure. Test achievable rent against comparable current listings and signed leases, then model vacancy, turnover, repairs, capital needs, management, and debt using property-level evidence. Confirm flood and other hazard exposure, title, permits, code compliance, and local rental requirements before drawing a deal-level conclusion.