Garfield County is a small-market underwriting question rather than a clear value-or-income case. Zillow’s county median home value was $241,347, up 2.82% year over year, while no market rent is published. Cash-flow buyers and lenders dependent on reliable exit liquidity should investigate cautiously: value movement is measurable, but gross yield cannot be computed without market rent, and a county value metric does not establish a property’s purchase price or condition.
HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $961 per month, but it is a payment standard rather than measured asking rent and cannot be substituted into yield. Carrying costs nevertheless merit attention: the effective property-tax rate is 1.35%, with median annual tax of $2,383. Those county figures frame costs, not a parcel tax bill. The record supplies no rent-versus-FMR comparison, vacancy measure, or operating-expense evidence, so neither income coverage nor net return can be underwritten.
Annual QCEW reports 780 covered jobs at county workplaces, up 1.04%, while the average weekly covered-worker wage declined 1.85%. Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector. Tax-return movers numbered 38 in and 45 out; incoming movers had average income $35,685 higher than outgoing movers. This combines a small net outflow with higher-income arrivals, not proof of broad housing demand. One investor purchase among 12 total purchase mortgages, or 8.33%, suggests limited measured non-owner competition, although the count is small.
Inland flood is the dominant identified hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.16% of building value; this is a modeled expected-loss ratio, not a site-specific insurance quote. FHFA annual HPI is not published, so Zillow’s direction has no supplied repeat-transaction cross-check. Realtor.com MLS listing price, active inventory, days on market, and price-reduction data are not published, preventing assessment of visible supply, marketing time, and seller concessions. Next checks are parcel flood exposure and insurance, lease-level achieved rents, and current listing and sales comparables.