Susquehanna County presents a decision tension: price measures point upward, but softer visible MLS marketing and covered workplace employment warrant caution. It suits investigators who can verify property-level rent, flood insurance, and comparable sales rather than rely on county signals. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value was $244,234, up 5.64% year over year. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 11.48% annually. This confirms an appreciation direction across measures, but FHFA is not a home value and its different-vintage, repeat-sales index cannot be combined with Zillow into one growth rate.
Income coverage is the central gap: market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $1,045 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent. The effective property-tax rate is 1.09%, but the county rate and reported median tax bill do not establish a subject property’s assessment. Without market rent, price cannot be tested against rental income or tax burden, and insurance, maintenance, vacancy, and net carrying cost remain unmeasured.
Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence indicates a more negotiated visible market, not a closed-sale outcome. Active listings declined year over year, yet median days on market reached 57, up 43.13%, while median listing prices fell and 15.94% of listings carried price reductions. These are supply, marketing-time, asking-price, and seller-concession measures; they do not prove buyer demand. Non-occupant investor purchase mortgages represented 7.77% of purchases, or 24 of 309, indicating some buyer competition but not its influence on pricing.
Net migration was positive, but incoming movers’ average AGI trailed outgoing movers’ by $11,560; this flow does not establish tenant income or durable rental demand. QCEW annual county workplace employment fell 4.12%; it is covered job data at county workplaces, not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast. Modeled annual building-value loss is 0.11%, with inland flood the dominant hazard. Next checks are market-rent and vacancy comps, closed-sale comps, parcel tax and flood-insurance quotes, property condition, and tenant incomes; without them, yield, downside carrying cost, and exit pricing remain untested.