Tensas Parish

Tensas Parish sits at the 13th national percentile across 1,000 counties analyzed, ranking 47th out of 64 Louisiana parishes. The median home price of $133,118 makes entry capital light, and the affordability index hits 100, the ceiling of the scale. But the cash flow and appreciation scores both register zero, and home prices dropped 25.5% year-over-year, which is not a rounding error. That price decline alone should stop most investors before they open a spreadsheet. Without cap rate or rent data in the model, the tool cannot produce a cash-on-cash return or net operating income estimate, which is itself a signal: this is a market thin enough on transaction volume and rental comparables that the numbers simply do not populate. The 6.85% financing rate on a $133,118 purchase with $26,624 down is workable in isolation, but workable financing on an asset with no modeled income and a collapsing price trend does not constitute a deal.

The investor profile that could theoretically engage here is narrow. A cash buyer willing to operate in a deeply rural, declining market might look at all-cash acquisitions to sidestep the debt service problem entirely, but even then, who is the tenant and what is the rent? A population of 4,127 across an entire parish means the renter pool is measured in the hundreds at best. Appreciation buyers have no case: a 25.5% annual price decline is the opposite of an appreciation thesis. Value-add operators who depend on forced appreciation through renovation face the same absorption ceiling: there are not enough qualified tenants or buyers to exit into. This is not a market where the numbers suit any conventional buy-and-hold strategy at this moment.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Tensas Parish, so no claims about job drivers or institutional demand can be made. What the population figure alone communicates is that this is one of the smallest parishes in Louisiana, and markets this thin tend to have idiosyncratic vacancy risk that aggregate data cannot capture. A single employer exit or a single major employer reducing headcount can move vacancy rates in ways that would be statistical noise in a larger metro but are existential in a 4,000-person market.

On carry costs, the tax and insurance picture is actually one of the few constructive data points. Louisiana's state-average effective property tax rate is 0.55%, flagged as low, and the combined monthly tax and insurance load on a $133,118 asset works out to roughly $134 per month ($732 annually in taxes, $879 in insurance). That is a real tailwind relative to higher-tax states. Keep in mind that 0.55% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual rates at the county and township level may differ. The insurance figure at 0.66% annually is worth watching given Louisiana's coastal and storm exposure history statewide, though Tensas is inland.

The primary risks here are concentration and demographic. A parish with 4,127 residents is one of the most concentrated single-market bets an investor can make. There is no diversification within the market itself. The 25.5% year-over-year price decline suggests either distress, outmigration, or both, and rural Louisiana parishes have documented long-term population loss patterns. Without vacancy, crime, or demographic trend data in the provided inputs, specifics cannot be stated, but the population size and price trajectory together imply a shrinking demand base.

Compared to neighbors, Tensas Parish at $133,118 sits mid-range in price but scores at or below every surrounding parish on the overall metric. Evangeline Parish ($102,561, score 46) and Morehouse Parish ($82,759, score 44) are both cheaper entry points with comparable or marginally better overall scores. Concordia Parish ($112,372, score 41) and Saint Landry Parish ($126,787, score 45) round out a peer group where no parish distinguishes itself as a clear buy. Richland Parish ($157,785, score 43) is pricier with a worse score. If forced to choose within this peer group, Evangeline's lower price point and slightly higher score make it the least bad option, not because the thesis is compelling, but because lower basis reduces downside in a declining market. Tensas Parish specifically earns consideration over its neighbors only if an investor has a hyper-local operational advantage, existing tenant relationships, or specific knowledge of a property that the aggregate data cannot reflect. Absent that, the combination of a near-bottom national percentile, zero modeled cash flow, and a 25.5% price decline is a clear signal to look elsewhere.