Lyman County is a cautious, evidence-thin rental screen: in 2025, covered workplace employment declined 1.68% while average weekly covered-worker pay rose 7.03%. Operators able to verify tenant sources and property costs should investigate; buyers needing demonstrated market depth should be cautious. As the largest disclosed private supersector, trade, transportation, and utilities accounts for 39.63% of private covered employment, making employer exposure a material diligence item. QCEW measures annual covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment, unemployment or a forecast.
Gross yield cannot be calculated because current market rent is not published. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $940 monthly, but it is a payment standard, not asking rent. The ACS 2024 5-year survey reports a $165,800 owner-reported median value for owner-occupied homes and $651 median gross rent for occupied units. These survey measures cover different housing sets, are not current market prices or rents, and must not be combined into yield. The effective property-tax rate is 0.91%, with median annual tax of $1,506; verify the parcel bill. The 23.50% ACS vacancy rate flags leasing risk, not current available supply.
Migration records show a net loss of 14 tax-return households. Arrivals had a stated $6,147 average AGI advantage over departures; it shows mover composition, not renter demand or population change. Investor-linked purchase mortgages were 1 of 15 purchases, or 6.67%: limited observed participation, but too small to characterize buyer competition. Realtor.com’s active-inventory source is 2026-06 but publishes no figure; listing price, days on market and price-reduction fields are also absent, preventing assessment of visible asking prices, supply and seller concessions.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled expected building-value loss is 0.27% annually. This is neither an insurance quote nor dollar loss, but makes flood zone, elevation, prior loss, coverage and deductibles key checks. Zillow county value and FHFA repeat-transaction HPI observations are absent, so current value direction and appreciation cannot be established; neither method can substitute for the other. Obtain address-level flood and insurance data, lease and concession comps, utility responsibility, parcel tax history, condition and closed-sale evidence. These resolve whether carrying costs and vacancy translate to the property.