Carter County presents an income case with unresolved resale and flood exposure: buyers focused on durable cash flow should investigate properties, while short-horizon or flood-sensitive buyers should be cautious. Zillow’s county observation for 2026-06 puts median home value at $244,223, 0.35% below its prior-year reading. FHFA’s separately dated 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.73%; it does not establish a current value or share Zillow’s vintage, and the series point in different annual directions.
Measured market economics are more usable than payment-standard data. Median asking rent is $1,164 per month and the supplied gross yield is 5.72% before tax, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, financing or flood-mitigation costs. The effective property-tax rate is 0.51%, a carrying-cost input that narrows that gross figure. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not market asking rent, so it cannot replace the measured rent or recalculate yield. Insurance, repairs, vacancy, and property-level tax bills are not published; without them, net yield cannot be determined.
Realtor.com MLS evidence for 2026-06 shows 173 active listings, 22.46% with price reductions, and a pending-to-active ratio of 36.81%. These are visible asking supply, concessions and transaction-status signals—not sales prices or standalone proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration was net positive by 346 households, while incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $5,108; county-wide demand implications remain unproven. Investor purchase mortgages numbered 34 of 552 total purchases, or 6.16%, indicating limited measured investor participation relative to total buyer activity, not all cash buyers.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.15% of building value; this is a modeled portfolio-risk ratio, not an individual-property loss estimate. QCEW’s annual covered-workplace figures do not provide resident employment, unemployment, tenant occupations, insurance quotes, repairs or lease-level achieved rents. Next checks are parcel flood zone, condition, tax bill, expenses and recent closed comparable sales. They determine whether gross income survives carrying costs and whether listing signals translate into executable resale liquidity.