Ottawa County

Ottawa County sits at a median home price of $142,292, making it one of the more affordable entry points in Oklahoma and nationally, where it ranks in the 89th percentile out of 1,000 counties scored. Home prices are appreciating at a modest 1.97% year-over-year, which positions this market firmly toward the appreciation end of the spectrum rather than a standout cash-flow play. The affordability index comes in at a perfect 100, signaling that home prices relative to local incomes are as accessible as they get. The cash-flow score, however, registers at 0, which is a direct signal that the rent-to-price dynamics here do not produce meaningful net income at current financing rates. With a 6.85% rate on a $142,292 purchase and a $28,458 down payment, the monthly debt service alone will be the primary obstacle to positive cash flow, and the data does not support assuming otherwise.

Given those numbers, this market suits a long-term appreciation buyer or a patient investor who can bring a larger down payment to reduce the debt load, rather than someone chasing immediate cash-on-cash returns. The appreciation score of 70 out of 100 and a national percentile rank of 89 suggest that Ottawa County is outperforming the majority of markets on growth trajectory despite its low price point. An investor buying at $142,292 is not paying a premium for that appreciation potential, which is the more interesting part of the thesis. A value-add operator who can purchase distressed assets below the median, force appreciation through renovation, and either refinance or sell into a market with limited supply could find traction here, but that strategy requires local knowledge and deal sourcing discipline. A pure cash-flow buyer looking for day-one income at standard leverage should look elsewhere.

The tax and insurance carry costs are worth a quick look even though they are not a red flag here. At Oklahoma's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.90%, the annual property tax on a $142,292 home runs approximately $1,281, and insurance at 0.72% adds another $1,025 annually, putting combined monthly tax and insurance at $192. That is a manageable figure and does not fundamentally impair underwriting. The tax rate flags as "normal" rather than elevated, so there is no compounding drag from the tax side. That said, the note in the data is worth taking seriously: the 0.90% figure is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024, and actual Ottawa County or township-level rates may differ, so pull the county assessor data before finalizing your numbers.

The stability score of 50 out of 100 is the number that demands the most scrutiny. It sits at the midpoint, suggesting neither the consistent income and employment diversification of a larger metro nor the extreme fragility of a single-industry town, but it is not a comfort score either for a long-hold investor relying on sustained rental demand. No economic anchor data was provided, so the specific drivers of local employment and rental demand cannot be assessed from the supplied inputs. At a population of 30,472, Ottawa is a small county, and small-county markets carry inherent concentration risk: a single employer contraction or regional demographic shift can move vacancy and rent meaningfully in either direction. Any underwrite here should build in a meaningful vacancy buffer and stress-test for rent declines, precisely because the cash-flow margin at current leverage is already thin.

Compared to its neighbors, Ottawa's $142,292 median is the lowest in the comparison set by a wide margin. Adair County at $168,812 and Pawnee County at $170,901 are the next closest, and both carry overall scores within two points of Ottawa's 73. Kingfisher County at $225,453 and McIntosh County at $195,367 are meaningfully more expensive with roughly equivalent overall scores of 72 and 73, respectively. Custer County offers a useful rent data point: at a median rent of $951 against a median price of $178,537, it produces a rent-to-price ratio of 6.39%, which is a real cash-flow indicator. Ottawa's cash-flow score of 0 against Custer's 6.39% gross yield suggests that if income generation is the priority, Custer is the more compelling allocation at current rates. Ottawa makes sense over its neighbors when the investor's thesis is entry price and appreciation optionality at the lowest capital commitment in the region, particularly if they believe the 89th-percentile national ranking reflects durable price momentum rather than a statistical artifact of a thin local market.