Roane County presents a decision tension: a calculable gross yield is offset by home-value growth that outpaced asking-rent growth and a listing market showing seller concessions. Income-focused buyers should investigate operating costs and lease comparables, while buyers relying on rapid resale should be cautious. Zillow’s county record is labeled 2026-06; median home value was $304,134 and median asking rent was $1,362 per month, supporting a stated 5.37% gross yield before costs. Values rose 4.58% year over year, versus 0.77% for asking rent, so basis growth has outpaced income growth.
Carrying costs are the central unresolved underwriting issue. The effective property-tax rate is 0.53%, but parcel assessments, insurance, repairs, utilities, vacancy and management costs are not published; the gross yield therefore cannot become a net-return conclusion. HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate and not an input for recalculating yield. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI increased in its separately labeled 2025 annual observation. Its directional appreciation reading does not share Zillow’s method or vintage, so the measures cannot be averaged or treated as one interval.
Realtor.com’s separate MLS record carries the same label. Active listings increased 6.56%, median marketing time was 55 days, and 20.38% of listings had price reductions. These are visible-supply, asking-price, marketing-time and seller-concession measures—not closed prices or independent proof of buyer demand—but they complicate resale underwriting. Net tax-return migration was 428 households, with incoming movers’ average AGI $6,833 above outgoing movers’. That is constructive demand context, not evidence of tenant absorption. QCEW covers annual covered employment at workplaces in the county; Professional and business services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.
Investor purchase mortgages represented 7.9% of 810 purchases; this identifies a minority of recorded purchase mortgages, not investor control of market pricing. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss is 0.15% of building value; it is not a site-specific flood, insurance, or damage estimate. Missing flood-zone and insurance quotes, lease turnover and vacancy data, property condition, financing terms, and closed-sale comparables prevent a defensible net cash-flow, resale, or hazard-cost conclusion.