Washington County presents a screening tension for an investor: Zillow’s county measure, labeled 2026-06, puts median home value at $356,013, while published median asking market rent is $1,648 per month and the supplied gross yield is 5.55%. That permits an initial revenue screen, but it is not a net-return result. Investigate properties with durable rent support and manageable flood exposure; be cautious where carrying costs or price concessions make the gross spread insufficient.
Measured market rent must remain separate from HUD’s $1,347 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent. The latter is a payment standard, not asking rent; the supplied comparison places market rent 22.3% above it. The 0.52% effective property-tax rate is a stated carrying cost, and other operating costs are not published, so net yield cannot be calculated. Zillow reports value growth of 4.26%; FHFA’s separately labeled 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.17%. These are directionally consistent but different methods and vintages, not rates to average.
Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing-market evidence shows 967 active listings, a 58-day median marketing time, and 17.5% of listings reduced in price. These are visible supply, marketing-time and seller-concession measures—not closed prices or standalone proof of buyer demand. Net migration of 938 tax-return households accompanied an incoming-versus-outgoing average-income gap of $4,951, a positive composition signal rather than a demand forecast. The record also shows a 15.94% investor share of purchase mortgages alongside 3,577 total purchases; this indicates meaningful competing capital but does not identify investor acquisitions, cash buyers, or neighborhood concentration.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with modeled expected annual building-value loss of 0.13%; it frames risk but is not a parcel-level loss estimate. County-level figures cannot establish insurance availability or individual flood exposure. Vacancy, lease turnover, property-level condition, insurance quotes, debt terms, and closed-sale comparables are not published. Their absence prevents net operating income, all-in acquisition cost, and exit-value underwriting; verify those items before treating the county screen as a property conclusion.