Decision frame: Zillow’s current city ZHVI is $285,761 and its city ZORI is $1,206 per month. The implied gross yield is 5.1% before taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, financing, or vacancy. The price-to-income measure is 5.3x, while annual ZORI equals 26.9% of the city ACS median household income; these are screening ratios, not a payment estimate or a household budget.
Citywide ACS housing stock contains 15,637 units, with a 10.2% vacancy rate and a 48.2% renter share among occupied units. The ACS median home value is $242,500; ACS gross rent includes selected utilities and both measures describe surveyed occupied housing, unlike Zillow’s current typical value and observed market rent. They should not be blended or averaged.
Within the city’s renter base, 53.8% pay at least 30% of income toward rent. Of all city units, 65.0% are single-family and 5.4% are large multifamily. Of vacant city units, 278 are for rent and 300 are for sale; these ACS reasons and structure shares do not identify available investment inventory or a particular unit’s lease-up prospects. The city population is 35,825 versus 33,727 in overlapping ACS five-year vintages, a 6.2% change that should not be annualized and may reflect boundary differences. Median household income is $53,716, poverty is 26.3%, and unemployment is 5.8%; these are descriptive demand constraints, not causes of tenant outcomes.
Rowan County’s property-tax rate is 0.652%; this county input does not measure a Salisbury property’s assessed value or bill. In the Charlotte metro, supply was 3.7 months; this metro inventory measure does not measure city supply. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate was 6.7%, a national financing reference rather than a city loan quote.
Main underwriting limits are the absence of property condition, actual lease, operating-cost, insurance, financing, and title data. Before relying on the screen, verify the address’s tax bill and zoning, inspect building systems, obtain insurance and lender quotes, compare current competing rents, and model utilities, repairs, management, turnover, and property-specific vacancy. Confirm legal rent status and any required repairs before setting a separate property-level operating budget with documented property assumptions. Retain dated source documents and evidence for every material underwriting assumption through closing and ownership, as terms may change.