Phillips County presents a verification-first acquisition question: Zillow’s county observation places the median home value at $125,353, up 1.52% year over year, but income-producing economics cannot be established from this record. Operators able to obtain unit-level rent, condition, flood, and tax evidence may investigate; yield-focused buyers should be cautious until those inputs are documented. The price change is a Zillow home-value measure, not a closed-sale series, and no FHFA repeat-transaction HPI is published to independently check its direction.
Housing carrying costs are material to the limited price evidence. The effective property-tax rate is 1.80%, and median annual property tax is $1,738; neither figure confirms the tax bill on a particular purchase, so parcel assessment and exemptions remain necessary. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $877 per month, but it is a payment standard rather than market asking rent. Because county market rent is not published, gross yield cannot be computed, and FMR cannot substitute for it. No Realtor.com MLS listing price, active-listing, marketing-time, or reduction data are published here, leaving visible supply and seller-concession conditions unmeasured.
Demand evidence is balanced rather than directional: 111 tax-return households moved in and 111 moved out. Incoming movers reported average income $9,946 above outgoing movers, calculated from the two averages; it describes movers, not all residents or future demand. Investor participation was one of 22 purchase mortgages, or 4.55%, signaling limited observed non-owner competition but not cash buyers, bids, or purchaser intent. QCEW reports 2,194 covered jobs at county workplaces and a $914 average weekly covered-worker wage. Trade, transportation, and utilities is its largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.
Risk screening centers on inland flood: modeled annual building-value loss is 0.15%, a county-level ratio that requires address-level flood zone, insurance, elevation, drainage, and deductible review. The record contains six of eight evidence groups, which prevents a full demand-and-exit assessment. Before underwriting, obtain market rents and leases, parcel taxes and insurance quotes, property condition, and current MLS listing and closed-sale evidence. These checks are needed to test cash flow, carrying costs, liquidity, and whether county averages fit the asset.