Ward County presents a mixed underwriting screen: Zillow’s 2026-06 county median home value is $196,003, up 1.92%. FHFA’s separate 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 13.97%. Both readings point upward, but they use different dates and methods and cannot be blended into one appreciation measure. Buyers relying on current rent coverage or stable local employment should be cautious; investigators need property-level income and flood evidence before treating the price signal as actionable.
An effective property-tax rate of 0.64% is a carrying-cost input, but it does not establish the bill for a specific assessment or exemption. Market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $1,215 per month, but it is a payment standard rather than an estimate of asking rent and cannot be used to infer yield or rent coverage. The value, tax-rate, and FMR evidence therefore do not yet establish operating economics.
The annual QCEW record reports covered jobs at county workplaces down 2.21%, while average weekly covered-worker wage rose 6.17%; neither measure is resident employment or an unemployment rate. Natural resources and mining, the largest disclosed private supersector, accounts for 34.38% of private covered employment, concentrating the employment context that needs tenant and employer verification. Tax-return migration was nearly balanced, at a net 2 households, while average AGI of inbound movers exceeded outbound movers by $3,788. Recorded purchase mortgages show 2 investor purchases among 136 total, or 1.47%; that is limited recorded non-owner participation, not a measure of all transactions or demand.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled expected annual building loss is 0.09% of building value. That county-level model is not a property loss estimate, insurance quote, or flood-zone determination. Realtor.com MLS listing figures are not published, preventing review of visible supply, marketing time, and seller concessions; even if supplied, they would be listing-market evidence rather than closed-sale proof. Next checks are property-level market rents and leases, assessment and insurance costs, flood location, and current MLS and closed-sale comparables; without them, cash flow, acquisition basis, and location-specific risk cannot be underwritten.