Washington County presents a narrow trade-off: Zillow's median home value is $177,715, up 2.01% in supplied 2026-06 data, while FHFA's repeat-transaction index rose 1.75% in supplied 2025 data and shows a 41.13% cumulative gain over its supplied five-year interval. The signals are positive but use different vintages and methods, so they cannot be combined into a single appreciation rate or treated as a forecast. This merits property-level rent and flood checks; price-growth-only underwriting should be cautious.
Market economics cannot be completed: market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD's two-bedroom FMR is $983 per month, but it is a payment standard, not asking rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.23% and median annual tax is $365; those figures do not resolve vacancy, repairs, insurance, management, or financing. Obtain asking and achieved rent comparables and full operating costs rather than using FMR as rent.
Demand evidence is mixed. QCEW records 5,356 annual average covered jobs in the county, up 3.06%, and a $1,793 average covered weekly wage; it measures workplace jobs, not resident employment or unemployment. Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, at 60.72% of private covered jobs. Migration was negative at -16, although the inbound-outbound AGI gap favored inbound movers by $6,538; composition is better than the flow, but does not erase outflow. Investor purchases were 10 of 113 purchases, or 8.85%, indicating limited observed investor participation, not proven buyer demand.
Risk limits are material. Inland flood is dominant, and the modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.33% of building value per year; it is not a parcel-specific flood probability, insurance premium, deductible, or repair budget. Realtor.com listing price, active listings, marketing time, price-reduced share, and pending ratio are not published, so visible supply and marketing velocity cannot be assessed; closed-sale and appraisal evidence are also missing. Next checks are parcel flood maps and elevation, insurance and tax quotes, rent comps, condition, capital needs, and closed sales. The county record does not establish metro representativeness.