Harrison County

Harrison County's headline numbers tell a clear story before you run a single pro forma. At a $231,789 median home price and 6.81% year-over-year appreciation, this is a market that has been moving. The affordability index of 80 suggests prices are still accessible relative to income, but the combination of a $231,789 purchase price and a 6.85% interest rate creates real carrying pressure. Cap rate and cash-flow figures are not provided in the data, and the cash-flow score registers at zero, which is itself informative: this county scores 91 out of 100 on appreciation and sits near the bottom on cash flow. The national percentile rank of 95th out of 1,000 counties reflects that appreciation trajectory, not a yield story. Investors should go in with eyes open: at today's rates, the math on free cash flow is difficult, and anyone underwriting to a positive monthly number will need either a larger down payment, a below-market acquisition, or rents that clear a high bar.

That profile maps directly onto who this market suits and who it does not. The appreciation buyer who can tolerate neutral or slightly negative monthly cash flow while building equity at 6.81% annually will find Harrison compelling, especially given a purchase price still below $240,000. The value-add operator who can acquire distressed inventory at a discount to the $231,789 median, force appreciation through renovation, and refinance or sell into that rising price environment also has a viable path. The pure cash-flow buyer looking for yield from day one faces a harder case: the zero cash-flow score is not a data artifact, it reflects the tension between prices that have run and a rate environment that compresses spreads. If your business model requires month-one positive cash flow at market rents, the numbers here do not currently support that without a meaningful purchase discount.

Economic context for Harrison County is not provided in the underlying data, so no employer or anchor institution claims are made here. What the data does show is a population of 14,623, which puts this firmly in small-county territory. Small population bases create concentration risk by definition: a single employer contraction or demographic shift has an outsized effect on rental demand in a pool this thin. Stability scores at 50 out of 100, exactly at the midpoint, which is consistent with a small rural Iowa county that lacks the diversification of a metro-adjacent market but also lacks the acute distress of a county in structural decline. Investors who have operated in rural Midwest markets understand this dynamic: tenants tend to be long-term and turnover is low, but the replacement tenant pool is shallow if a unit sits vacant.

On the carry cost side, the 1.53% state-average effective property tax rate deserves its own line on your underwrite. At that rate applied to the $231,789 purchase price, annual property taxes run approximately $3,546, or $296 per month. Combined with estimated annual insurance of $788 ($66 per month), total monthly tax and insurance comes to $361 before you account for mortgage, management, maintenance, or vacancy. That $361 is a floor on your fixed monthly outlay beyond the mortgage, and at a 1.53% rate Iowa is already in high-territory by national standards. The rate cited is a state-average estimate from the Tax Foundation and actual county and township rates in Harrison may differ, so pull the county assessor's data before closing. If the local rate runs above the state average, the cash-flow case deteriorates further.

The primary risks here are size and concentration. A 14,623-person county has a finite tenant universe, and any softening in local employment or outmigration accelerates the affordability problem in reverse: prices can fall faster in thin markets than they rose. The stability score of 50 reflects that uncertainty. Regulatory risk is not flagged in the data, and vacancy or crime statistics are not provided, so no claims are made there. What investors should model is a scenario where appreciation reverts toward the long-run Iowa average, because underwriting to 6.81% annual price growth in a county this small and this rate-sensitive is aggressive.

Harrison's closest comparables in the provided neighbor data are all priced below it: Audubon at $149,990, Hardin at $139,169, Fremont at $166,833, Carroll at $199,882, and Crawford at $174,920. Every neighbor trades at a discount of $32,000 to $93,000 versus Harrison's $231,789 median. Hardin and Fremont both carry overall scores of 77 versus Harrison's 76, yet price in at roughly 60 cents on the Harrison dollar. If your primary objective is cash flow, those lower entry points in Hardin or Fremont likely produce better day-one yield math at the same interest rate, even if the appreciation story is less pronounced. Choose Harrison over a neighbor when you are specifically targeting equity growth and can finance the carry, when you want exposure to a market that has already demonstrated price momentum at the 95th national percentile, and when you have a value-add angle that lets you buy below the $231,789 median. If the spread between Harrison and its neighbors narrows further through continued appreciation, the relative case for the neighbors on a yield basis will only strengthen.