Hart County

Hart County, Kentucky sits at a median home price of $193,263, down 1.5% year-over-year, with an affordability index of 89 out of 100. The data does not include a median rent figure or cap rate calculation, which means the cash-flow and cap rate scores both register at zero, and the cash-on-cash return is likewise uncalculated. What that signals is not necessarily that this market produces no income, but that the rent data available is too thin to support a reliable underwrite from the top down. What you can say with confidence is that at $193,263 and a 6.85% rate on a 20% down loan, the acquisition cost is low enough that even modest rents could pencil, but an investor here needs to do local rent comp work before committing. The overall score of 59 out of 100, landing at the 49th national percentile and 72nd out of 120 Kentucky counties, places Hart squarely in the middle of the pack, neither a standout cash-flow play nor a clear appreciation market. The appreciation score of 42 confirms this is not a price-growth story, and the negative 1.5% price movement over the past year reinforces that.

Given the zero cash-flow score and the modest appreciation score of 42, Hart County is not clearly suited to either the pure cash-flow buyer or the appreciation buyer in its current data profile. The buyer it could serve is a value-add or deep-value operator who is willing to source their own rent comparables, buy below replacement cost at $193,263, and extract returns through operational management rather than market tailwinds. The affordability index of 89 is the strongest number in this dataset, which tells you the local population can afford to rent here, a necessary condition for stable occupancy, but that condition alone does not produce a return. A long-term hold investor seeking price appreciation would find the 42 appreciation score and the recent price decline discouraging. A cash-flow buyer needs rent data this dataset cannot currently provide before making a case.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Hart County, so no claims about job base or institutional demand drivers can be made from this data.

On carry costs, the Kentucky state-average effective property tax rate of 0.86% produces an estimated annual property tax of $1,662 and annual insurance of $638, combining to $192 per month in tax and insurance. That figure is flagged as "normal," meaning it is neither a tailwind nor a drag relative to other markets. It is worth noting that $192 per month is a fixed monthly obligation that sits on top of your debt service regardless of occupancy, and with a population of 19,345 the margin for vacancy-driven cash shortfalls is real. The 0.86% rate is a state-average estimate from the Tax Foundation and, as the note in the data makes clear, actual county and township rates in Hart may differ, so verify the county assessor's rate before finalizing your model.

The primary risks here are concentration and liquidity. A population of 19,345 is a small tenant pool. If a major local employer contracts or a demographic outflow accelerates, vacancy rises fast and there is limited buyer depth to exit into. The 1.5% price decline year-over-year, while not dramatic, in a small rural county can signal softening demand rather than a temporary adjustment. There is no vacancy, regulatory, or crime data in the provided dataset to quantify those risks further, but the size of the market and absence of apparent economic anchors are the structural concerns an investor should investigate independently.

Compared to its neighbors, Hart's $193,263 median price is higher than McLean ($152,820) and Greenup ($146,758), both of which also lack rent data in this dataset. Among the neighbors with rent figures, Madison County shows a rent-to-price ratio of 4.25% at a $276,671 median, Warren County shows 5.18% at $286,155, and Oldham County shows 5.07% at $433,371. Those ratios are materially better than what Hart's pricing implies even at modest rent assumptions, and Warren County in particular, with the highest rent-to-price ratio in this neighbor set at 5.18%, combined with a larger economic base anchored by Bowling Green, would be the stronger starting point for a cash-flow-oriented buyer in this region. An investor would choose Hart over these neighbors only if their acquisition price came in meaningfully below the $193,263 median, the local rent comps supported a ratio competitive with Warren or Oldham, or their strategy was explicitly value-add in a low-competition rural submarket where institutional buyers are absent.