Amador County presents a yield-versus-depth tension: income-focused buyers should investigate property-level costs, while buyers dependent on resale liquidity should be cautious. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value was $424,879, down 1.48% year over year. In contrast, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.97% and was up 27.59% cumulatively over five years. These observations have different dates and methods; the HPI is not a home value, and the figures cannot be merged into one appreciation measure.
Measured market rent—not a subsidy benchmark—underpins the income case. Zillow’s median asking rent was $1,990 monthly, and supplied gross yield was 5.62% before expenses. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR was $1,698, but FMR is a payment standard, not asking rent or a yield input. The effective property-tax rate was 0.71%; its tax burden, insurance, vacancy, repairs, and parcel assessment require review before a net-yield conclusion is available.
Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing market showed 272 active listings, 61 median days on market, and a 21.28% price-reduced share. Visible supply, marketing time, and reductions indicate seller concessions, but none is a closed-sale price or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration was net positive, with incoming households’ average AGI $11,521 above outgoing households’; that is a favorable composition observation at county scale. Investors represented 3.94% of 507 purchases, showing limited recorded non-owner participation. QCEW’s 2025 annual covered workplace employment—not resident employment—is declining; education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.
Wildfire is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.32% of building value. That is a county-level modeled loss ratio, not a property insurance quote, realized damage measure, or forecast. Insurance availability and premiums, parcel exposure, vacancy, operating costs, lease-up, closed sales, financing terms, and micro-location evidence are not published here. Their absence prevents defensible net-cash-flow, liquidity, and hazard-adjusted underwriting; obtain address-level insurance, tax, condition, rent-roll, and closed-comparable evidence.