Glynn County

Glynn County sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 0.056, which translates to a 3.65% cap rate at the median price point of $358,085. That places it squarely on the appreciation side of the spectrum rather than the cash-flow side. Running a standard 20% down underwrite at 6.85% produces a monthly mortgage of $1,877 against estimated rent of $1,676, and after adding operating expenses the modeled cash flow lands at negative $788 per month, a cash-on-cash return of -11.48%. Home price appreciation over the trailing year was 0.84%, which is not the kind of growth that rescues a negative carry position in the near term. An affordability index of 53 and an overall score of 54 out of 100 (33rd percentile nationally, 85th out of 159 Georgia counties) confirm this is a middle-of-the-road market with no standout characteristic in either direction.

Those numbers point to a narrow buyer profile. A pure cash-flow investor has little business here at current pricing: the spread between rent and all-in monthly cost is too wide to paper over without either a substantially larger down payment or a below-market acquisition. An appreciation buyer needs to believe in a sustained demand story that the 0.84% trailing price growth does not yet support at scale. The investor most likely to find a thesis here is the value-add operator who can push rents above the $1,676 median through renovation or repositioning, or who identifies off-market product priced enough below the median to shift the rent-to-price ratio materially. The appreciation score of 58 is the single highest subscores in the dataset, suggesting the market has more long-run price momentum embedded in it than the cash-flow score of 54 implies, but that alone does not justify negative carry unless the investor has a long time horizon and deep reserves.

The combined monthly tax and insurance burden on a median-priced asset runs $382, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.92% and an insurance rate of 0.36% (per Tax Foundation 2024 data; actual Glynn County rates may differ from that state average). That $382 is already baked into the -$788 cash-flow figure above, but it is worth isolating: at 0.92%, the rate is tagged as normal and is not a structural drag the way a high-tax state would be. Insurance at 0.36% is modest enough that coastal exposure, which is a real consideration for any Golden Isles-adjacent coastal Georgia property, does not appear to be inflating the state-average figure dramatically. That said, if a specific property sits closer to the barrier islands, a lender's required flood or wind policy could push the actual insurance line well above what this estimate reflects, and that deserves its own underwriting line item.

The stability score of 50 is the weakest of Glynn's subscores and is worth flagging directly. A score at the exact midpoint nationally suggests the local economy is not providing the kind of job-market depth that insulates rental demand against a downturn. No economic anchor or employer data was provided for this county, so no specific demand drivers can be cited, but any investor underwriting here should independently stress-test occupancy assumptions against the reality that a mid-sized coastal Georgia county of 84,566 people may have a narrower employment base than metro markets. Tourism and hospitality concentration, common in coastal markets of this size, can increase vacancy sensitivity to macroeconomic cycles.

Comparing Glynn to the five neighbors in the dataset, the most relevant contrast is with Rockdale County, which carries a rent-to-price ratio of 0.070 against Glynn's 0.056. That 14-basis-point spread is meaningful: Rockdale's median rent of $1,760 on a median price of $299,702 produces significantly better cash-flow math than Glynn's $1,676 on $358,085, and Rockdale's overall score of 54 is identical to Glynn's. Walton County offers a higher median rent of $1,929 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.060, splitting the difference, at a price point of $382,605 and an overall score of 55. Heard County, at $267,133 median and a score of 55, is the cheapest entry point among the neighbors but provides no rent data to evaluate. Morgan and Pickens counties are priced above Glynn without enough data to assess cash-flow position. The clear conclusion: if cash flow is the primary objective, Rockdale's numbers are more favorable than Glynn's at a lower price point and an equivalent overall rating. Glynn makes more sense than Rockdale only if the investor has a specific reason to believe in Glynn's appreciation trajectory, values the coastal market's characteristics for tenant quality or short-term rental optionality, or has access to deals below the county median that the aggregate data cannot capture.