Hopkins County presents a valuation-versus-cash-flow tension: Zillow’s 2026-06 county median home value was $261,287 and median asking rent was $1,332 monthly, supporting the supplied 6.12% gross yield before operating costs. Yet that Zillow value was down 3.33% year over year, while FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 8.12%. These are different observations and methods, not competing home-value estimates to average. Buyers seeking current income should investigate costs and lease depth; buyers relying on price direction should be cautious until parcel-level transactions resolve the divergence.
Carrying-cost discipline is material. The effective property-tax rate is 1.01%; it needs parcel-level verification and is outside the supplied gross-yield measure. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not market rent; it cannot replace the published asking-rent input or establish gross yield. The supplied yield excludes tax, insurance, maintenance, vacancies, management, and financing. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.13%, making flood-zone, elevation, and insurance verification central rather than a countywide deduction.
Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS observation shows 86 median days on market and a 20.63% price-reduced share. These are asking-market evidence, not closed sales or proof of demand. Tax-return migration was positive, with incoming movers’ average income $8,184 above outgoing movers’; this is directional household evidence, not a tenant-demand measure. Investors represented 8.17% of 355 purchase mortgages, participation rather than dominance. The 2025 QCEW record covers annual average covered jobs at county workplaces—not resident employment or unemployment—and names Trade, transportation, and utilities as the largest disclosed private supersector by employment.
Closed-sale comparables, property-level rent rolls and renewal history, vacancy and turnover, parcel assessments, flood maps, insurance premium and deductible quotes, condition, rehabilitation scope, and debt terms are not published in this record. Their absence prevents a finding on actual acquisition basis, stabilized NOI, insurance-adjusted cash flow, or whether countywide listing softness applies to a target micro-market. Next checks should cover parcel flood exposure and insurance, executed lease comparables, tax assessment, inspection scope, and closed-sale evidence.