Major County’s decision tension is a rising Zillow value measure beside softer MLS asking-price evidence. In the matching June 2026 observations, Zillow reports a $174,501 median home value, up 7.64% year over year, while Realtor.com’s median listing price fell 6.89%. These methods are not interchangeable: Zillow is a value measure and Realtor.com reflects active MLS asking prices, not closed sales. This suits an investigator willing to validate a target asset with local comps; buyers relying on a countywide price trend should be cautious.
Income underwriting is the central gap. Median asking market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.63%; it is a carrying-cost input, but it does not establish property-specific taxes, insurance, or operating costs.
Listing conditions complicate the value signal: active MLS listings reached 19, up 76.19% year over year. That is visible supply evidence, not proof of buyer demand. In 2025 QCEW, annual average covered jobs at county workplaces were 2,033, down 4.78%, while the covered-worker average weekly wage was $986, up 1.75%. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Tax-return migration was net positive, but inbound movers had lower average AGI than outbound movers. Investors accounted for 2 of 52 reported purchase mortgages, a 3.85% share, limiting evidence of investor competition.
Hail is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.34% of building value; this is a model output, not a property insurance quote. No FHFA annual observation is supplied, so Zillow’s value direction has no repeat-transaction HPI cross-check. Obtain market rents, vacancy and lease-up evidence, closed-sale comps, property insurance terms, condition, and tax assessments. Their absence prevents a yield calculation, a defensible exit-value comparison, and asset-level carrying-cost underwriting.