Cheatham County

Cheatham County sits at a 5.0% gross rent-to-price ratio on a $395,014 median home price against $1,648 median rent, which places it squarely in appreciation territory rather than cash-flow country. The cap rate comes in at 3.25%, and the fully-loaded investment estimate tells the rest of the story: a 20% down payment ($79,003) at 6.85% generates a $2,071 monthly mortgage, and after $577 in estimated expenses the modeled cash flow lands at negative $1,000 per month, producing a cash-on-cash return of -13.21%. Year-over-year price appreciation of 1.89% is positive but modest, not the kind of double-digit run that would offset that carry deficit by itself. The affordability index of 45 and an overall investment score of 52 out of 100 (28th national percentile, 59th percentile within Tennessee's 95 counties) confirm this is a mid-tier market where the math does not work on autopilot.

Given those figures, the cash-flow buyer should look elsewhere. The negative carry at current financing rates is not a rounding error, it is $12,000 per year out of pocket on a stabilized, market-rate asset. This market suits an appreciation buyer who can absorb that carry cost and believes Nashville's suburban sprawl continues pushing buyers and renters into the Harpeth River corridor, or a value-add operator who can either force equity through renovation or convert a property to a use that commands above-median rents. The appreciation score of 69 is the highest subcomponent in the scorecard and the only number that makes a holding thesis credible. An investor needs a clear view on exit, either selling into appreciation or refinancing when rates fall enough to flip the cash-on-cash into positive territory.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Cheatham County, so the underlying demand drivers, whether commuter overflow from Nashville or locally anchored employment, cannot be quantified from this dataset alone. That absence is itself worth noting: an investor underwriting here should independently verify the share of residents who commute versus work locally, since a commuter-dependent rental market carries different vacancy risk than one anchored by on-site employers.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance load is $352, which is baked into the $577 expense figure above. At a 0.71% state-average effective property tax rate, Cheatham is in the normal range, no outsized headwind but no particular tailwind either. The 0.36% insurance rate is likewise unremarkable. The standard caveat applies: these are state-average estimates from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and your actual county and township assessment can differ materially, so pull the county assessor's current millage rate before finalizing your underwrite.

The principal risk here is demand concentration. A county of 41,184 people has a thin renter pool relative to a metro submarket, and if Nashville's job market softens or remote-work trends reduce the commuter premium, absorption of new rental supply or vacant units could slow quickly. The data does not provide vacancy figures, so this is a structural observation rather than a measured rate, but any investor should stress-test occupancy assumptions given the small absolute population base and the negative carry position that makes even a single vacant month painful.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Cheatham's 5.01% rent-to-price ratio is weaker than Robertson County's 5.53% and Montgomery County's 5.22%, both of which carry lower price points ($366,187 and $318,518 respectively). Robertson is particularly worth the comparison: it delivers a higher rent-to-price ratio at a lower entry price, and its overall score of 51 is nearly identical to Cheatham's 52. Montgomery at $318,518 median is the most accessible of the comparables with rent data, and its 5.22% ratio beats Cheatham's. Grundy and Sequatchie counties come in with much lower price points ($200,790 and $276,009), though without rent data their cash-flow profiles cannot be directly compared. Choose Cheatham over its neighbors only if you have a specific conviction on Nashville-adjacent appreciation or a defined value-add play, because on raw rent-to-price and entry cost alone, Robertson and Montgomery both offer better starting positions for a buy-and-hold investor trying to minimize monthly carry.