Shackelford County presents a low-price, weakening-workplace tension: Zillow’s June 2026 median home value was $159,237, down 3.52% year over year, while covered employment was softer. This merits investigation by buyers who can validate tenant demand and insurance costs; it warrants caution for underwriting reliant on rapid resale or stable local payroll. County-level evidence is limited, and no metro context is supplied.
Housing economics cannot yet be converted to a gross-yield test. No median asking market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be calculated. HUD’s $973-per-month FMR is a payment standard, not asking rent, and cannot substitute. Carrying costs require property-specific review: the effective property-tax rate is 1.15%, with median annual property tax of $2,004. The Zillow value decline describes that county observation only; no FHFA repeat-transaction HPI observation is published to confirm or challenge its direction.
In 2025, QCEW counted 1,210 annual-average covered jobs at county workplaces, down 6.35%, and its average weekly covered-worker wage declined 3.53%. Natural resources and mining accounted for 37.79% of private covered jobs as the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Net migration was negative 7, while incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $58,118. This selection signal does not establish tenant demand. Investor purchases made up 19.23% of 26 purchase mortgages: meaningful participation, but too few transactions to establish broad buyer competition.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual building-value loss ratio is 0.14%; it should be tested against parcel flood exposure, insurance terms, and prior losses rather than treated as a property estimate. The record does not publish Realtor.com MLS listing measures—median listing price, active listings, days on market, or price-reduced share—so visible supply, asking-price positioning, marketing time, and seller concessions cannot be underwritten. Next checks are market-rent comparables, property-level tax and assessment records, insurance quotations, flood-zone status, and transaction-level buyer and lease evidence.