Morgan County

Morgan County sits at a median home price of $161,102, up 6.12% year-over-year, with an affordability index of 95 out of 100. That combination, rising prices from a low base, puts this county squarely on the appreciation end of the spectrum. The data does not include rent or cap rate figures, which means the cash-flow picture cannot be underwritten from these numbers alone, and any investor who needs a modeled gross yield before proceeding should treat that as a research gap to fill before committing capital. What the data does confirm is that Morgan scores 89 out of 100 on appreciation and ranks 13th nationally out of 1,000 counties tracked, landing in the 98th percentile overall and second in Ohio out of 88 counties. For a county of 13,851 people, that is a notable ranking that warrants serious attention from any investor comfortable with rural or small-market exposure.

The investor profile this market fits is narrowly defined. With a cash-flow score of 0 and no rent or cap rate data provided, this is not a market for a buyer who needs a modeled positive spread at close. It is, however, a compelling target for an appreciation-oriented buyer willing to acquire at $161,102, accept a thinner or unknown current yield, and ride the 6.12% annual price growth. Value-add operators looking to buy distressed assets below median, force equity through renovation, and refinance or sell into an appreciating market may also find the low entry price attractive. The stability score of 50 is the counterweight here: it signals meaningful uncertainty around income consistency or population trends in a county this small, and any investor who needs reliable occupancy to service debt should weight that score carefully.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Morgan County, so the drivers behind rental demand and job stability cannot be assessed from this dataset. That is itself a signal: in a county of under 14,000 people without obvious named institutional employers, an investor should independently verify what is holding the local economy together before assuming the appreciation trend is demand-driven rather than a temporary artifact of broader rural price increases.

The carry costs deserve a dedicated line on any pro forma. At a 1.56% state-average effective property tax rate, Ohio's rate is high enough to be a material underwriting consideration, and Morgan County investors should not assume the actual township or county levy matches that figure, it may run higher or lower. On a $161,102 purchase, the estimated annual property tax is $2,513 and annual insurance is $371, combining to $240 per month in tax and insurance alone. Before any rent figure is known, that $240 is already a fixed cost sitting below the gross income line. At a 6.85% interest rate on an 80% LTV loan, the mortgage payment is an additional meaningful number. The math on cash flow will be tight until rents are confirmed, and the 1.56% rate, noted explicitly as a state-average estimate with county and township rates potentially differing, deserves its own cell in any underwrite.

The primary risks here are concentration and demographic scale. A county population of 13,851 means the rental pool is thin, a handful of units going vacant simultaneously can distort personal portfolio performance in ways that would barely register in a metro market. Liquidity on exit is the second concern: buyer pools for single-family rentals in rural Ohio counties this size are narrower than in urban submarkets, and a forced sale at a bad time can compress realized appreciation significantly. No vacancy or crime data was provided, so those risks are not quantifiable from this dataset.

Among the neighboring counties provided, Trumbull County and Lucas County are the most directly comparable because they include rent data. Trumbull carries a rent-to-price ratio of 7.99% annualized on a $160,493 median, essentially the same price point as Morgan but with a documented rent of $1,069 per month and an overall score of 77. Lucas County shows a $169,370 median with an $1,105 median rent and a 7.83% rent-to-price ratio, also scoring 75. Both neighbors offer a knowable yield picture that Morgan currently cannot provide. An investor should choose Morgan over those neighbors specifically when the thesis is appreciation rather than current income, when the 98th percentile national ranking and the 6.12% price growth justify accepting yield uncertainty, and when the buyer has the balance sheet to carry the property without depending on rent to cover debt service from month one. If yield certainty matters more than price momentum, Trumbull at a near-identical purchase price with documented rent is the more conservative entry.