Franklin County poses a cash-flow-versus-exit-liquidity tension: Zillow’s county median home value is $379,656, up 1.33%, while measured median asking rent is $1,769 monthly, up 6.69%, with a reported 5.59% gross yield before costs. Investors underwriting stabilized rental income should investigate rent durability and expense load; buyers relying chiefly on resale momentum should be cautious. These are Zillow county measures, not transaction outcomes.
Do not merge the Zillow result with FHFA: FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI, reported for a differently labelled annual period, rose 9.61%; it is an appreciation index, not a home value. The HUD two-bedroom FMR is $1,866 monthly—a payment standard rather than market rent—so it cannot replace the measured asking rent or support a yield calculation. A 1.44% effective property-tax rate adds carrying-cost scrutiny to the stated gross, not net, yield.
Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence signals a less frictionless exit: median marketing time was 32 days and 9.98% of active listings had price reductions. These are asking-market supply and concession measures, not closed-sale pricing or standalone proof of buyer demand. QCEW’s annual covered workplace employment fell 1.75%, while Education and health services accounted for 28.92% of disclosed private employment; neither describes resident employment or a forecast. Tax-return migration was net negative by 54 households, although inbound movers reported $6,818 more average AGI than outbound movers. Investors made 40 of 546 purchase mortgages, or 7.33%, a bounded measure of non-occupant participation rather than all competition.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled annual building-value loss is 0.14%, an expected-loss ratio rather than a property-specific claim. This thesis could fail if local rents cannot be supported at unit level, if resale conditions deteriorate beyond the visible MLS snapshot, or if flood insurance, condition, and tax assessments erode economics. Missing published evidence on vacancy, rent concessions, insurance quotes, property condition, financing terms, and subcounty sale comps prevents a net-cash-flow, debt-service, and asset-level flood underwriting conclusion.