Goodhue County

Goodhue County posts a gross rent-to-price ratio of 0.0504, which annualizes to roughly 6.0% before any expenses, and a cap rate of 3.27% on a standard underwrite. Those two numbers, sitting far apart, tell you most of what you need to know: this market leans hard toward the appreciation side of the spectrum. Home prices came in at $321,212 at the median, and year-over-year price growth was 1.6%, modest but positive in a rate environment that has pressured values broadly. The affordability index sits at 61, which is workable relative to the state's pricier metros, but it is not a low-cost market by any stretch. At 6.85% financing, a 20% down payment leaves you with a monthly mortgage of $1,684 against median rent of $1,348, and that gap does not close even before you layer in operating costs. The model estimates negative $808 per month in cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of -13.12%. Those are not rounding errors; they are structural to where prices and rents are relative to today's cost of capital.

This county does not work for a cash-flow buyer running standard leverage at current rates. The numbers are unambiguous on that point. An appreciation buyer with a long horizon and tolerance for negative carry can find a case here, particularly if they believe the MSA supports price growth over a five-to-ten-year hold. A value-add operator who can buy meaningfully below the $321,212 median and force equity through renovation could potentially compress the cash deficit, but the cap rate of 3.27% gives you little room for error on execution or exit timing. An all-cash buyer would look at an unlevered yield closer to 5%, which is thin for the illiquidity premium rental property demands but not irrational if paired with a conviction call on appreciation. Anyone who needs their portfolio to self-fund from day one should look elsewhere.

On the carry cost side, the state-average effective property tax rate for Minnesota is estimated at 1.13%, generating approximately $3,630 annually in property taxes on a median-priced asset. Combined with an estimated $1,124 in annual insurance, that puts monthly tax and insurance at $396. That $396 is already baked into the expense estimate above, but it is worth isolating: at roughly 29% of gross rent, taxes and insurance alone consume a significant share of the income before you touch maintenance, vacancy, or management. The 1.13% rate carries a "normal" flag in the state-average data, so it is not an outlier, but keep in mind this is a state-average estimate and county or township rates in Goodhue may differ. Verify the actual mill rate for specific parcels before finalizing your underwrite.

The principal concentration risk here is demographic and geographic. At 47,697 residents, Goodhue is a small county, and the county seat of Red Wing sits roughly 60 miles southeast of the Twin Cities metro. That proximity gives it some spillover demand from workers priced out of the metro, but it also means rental demand is sensitive to commuting patterns and any softening in Twin Cities employment. No economic anchor data was provided, so this analysis cannot speak to specific employer concentration or sector exposure. What the population size does imply is that vacancy in a specific submarket can move quickly when even a single large employer or major renter cohort shifts, so due diligence on the local employment base is an underwriting step you should not skip.

Compared to the five neighboring counties provided, Goodhue sits in an interesting middle position. Its rent-to-price ratio of 0.0504 is actually the highest in the peer group, edging out Isanti (0.0501) and Carver (0.0496), and sitting well above Douglas (0.0424) and Benton (0.0444). That means on a pure income-to-price basis, Goodhue is the most favorable in this set, even though its overall score of 55 places it between the 54 of Carver and the 57-58 range of Isanti, Sherburne, and Benton. Carver County's median price of $470,978 puts it out of reach for most value-buy strategies. Sherburne at $377,016 and Isanti at $329,762 are closer in price and carry slightly higher overall scores (58 and 57 respectively), making them the more direct comparisons. Douglas and Benton offer lower price points but meaningfully weaker rent-to-price ratios, which undercuts their apparent affordability advantage. Choose Goodhue over its neighbors specifically when your thesis centers on maximizing rent relative to purchase price among similarly priced assets, and you are willing to accept a smaller, more rural market in exchange for that marginal income efficiency.