Cocke County’s underwriting tension is price appreciation against weakening workplace employment: Zillow’s county median home value was $246,001, up 6.58% year over year, while QCEW annual covered employment at county workplaces fell 6.24%. Buyers who can verify property-level rents and flood costs should investigate; those dependent on broad job expansion or rapid resale should be cautious. The FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 2.76% year over year; it is an index rather than a home value and confirms positive direction under a different method and source period than Zillow.
Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $925 monthly is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot fill that gap. The reported effective property-tax rate is 0.57%, with median annual tax of $898, but neither establishes the tax bill, insurance, maintenance, or all-in carrying cost for a specific acquisition. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector; that designation does not describe the whole county economy.
Realtor.com MLS evidence shows 175 active listings, 72 median days on market, and 21.51% of listings price-reduced. These are visible asking-market supply, marketing-time, and seller-concession measures—not closed prices or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration was net positive by 296 households, while the calculated average-income gap between inbound and outbound movers was $4,108. The record counts 17 investor purchases out of 295 total purchases, or 5.76%, suggesting limited recorded non-owner competition rather than an assessment of cash buyers or all investor activity.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss is 0.17% of building value per year; it is a modeled county-level measure, not a property insurance quote or flood-zone determination. Missing lease comps, vacancy, collection, insurance, flood-zone, elevation, repair, financing, and transaction-price evidence prevent a revenue, net-income, or exit-value conclusion. Next checks should obtain property-level rent and expense history, insurance and flood documentation, and comparable closed sales; they should also test whether the workplace employment decline affects the relevant tenant pool.