Beaufort County, SC

The supplied Zillow county observation sets Beaufort County’s underwriting tension: a $558,125 median home value against $2,019 monthly median asking rent and a stated 4.34% gross yield before costs. The central question is whether property-specific operating costs, especially hurricane insurance, leave adequate net cash flow. Buyers relying on leverage or low repair and insurance assumptions should be cautious; cash-flow investigators should test expenses and rent comparables rather than use county medians as a pro forma.

The supplied HUD FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent; it cannot replace the measured market-rent figure in the yield calculation. The effective property-tax rate is 0.48%, and median annual tax is $2,174, linking the entry price to a known carrying cost but not a complete expense load. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI shows 4.11% annual growth and 73.89% cumulative growth over its supplied five-year measure. It is an appreciation index, not a home value, and should not be averaged with Zillow’s differently dated, methodologically distinct value change.

Workplace evidence is constructive but limited: QCEW reports 72,170 annual average covered jobs. Its wage measure is a covered-worker average, and neither measure represents resident employment or unemployment. Leisure and hospitality is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Net tax-return migration of 591 households coincided with average AGI of $146,541 for inbound movers versus $81,455 for outbound movers, an income-composition signal rather than proof of tenant demand. The record counts 422 investor purchases among 3,654 total purchases, an 11.55% share that warrants bid-competition checks but does not establish rental absorption.

Hurricane is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.56% of building value; underwriting needs asset-specific insurance, flood exposure and deductibles, none of which is published. Realtor.com MLS listing price, active listings, days on market, price-reduced share and pending data are not published, preventing a read on visible supply, marketing time, seller concessions or buyer demand. Missing operating expenses, vacancy, property condition, financing and closed-sale evidence prevent a net-yield or exit-price conclusion.