De Witt County

De Witt County sits at a median home price of $223,172, down 2.33% year over year, which puts it in an interesting position for a buyer willing to be patient but makes it a difficult market to underwrite for immediate returns. The cash flow score is zero, and with no cap rate or cash-on-cash figures available in the data, the income side of the equation cannot be confirmed from this dataset. What is clear is that the affordability index of 82 and median price below $225,000 signal a relatively accessible entry point by Texas standards, but affordability alone does not produce returns. On the appreciation side, a score of 38 out of 100 and a price trend already moving negative suggest this is not a market betting on equity growth. De Witt lands at the 36th national percentile and 98th out of 243 Texas counties, which places it firmly in the middle-to-lower tier of investment-grade markets regardless of how you weight the criteria.

Given those numbers, this market does not cleanly suit a cash-flow buyer, an appreciation buyer, or a value-add operator in any obvious way. The cash flow score of zero is a hard stop for anyone running income-first underwriting unless they are bringing enough equity or seller financing to change the math. An appreciation buyer is unlikely to find a thesis here either: a -2.33% YoY price move and an appreciation score of 38 do not support a hold-for-growth strategy in any reasonable time horizon. A value-add operator could theoretically find something in the $223,000 median price, but with a stability score of 50 and a population of under 20,000, the exit market for a renovated asset is thin. The investor this county suits best, if any, is someone with a very low basis, perhaps an inherited property or a distressed acquisition well below median, who can manufacture a return the market itself is not currently offering.

De Witt County has a population of 19,826, which is small enough that any single employer or industry shift creates meaningful demand volatility. No specific economic anchors or employer data were provided for this county, so drawing conclusions about job base concentration or wage stability would require additional research beyond what the data here supports. What a small population does imply structurally is limited rental demand depth: vacancy risk is higher when the renter pool is narrow, and any population softening, which the negative price trend may already be reflecting, compounds that risk.

Property taxes in Texas deserve serious attention in any underwrite, and De Witt is no exception. Using the state-average effective rate of 1.80%, flagged as high and sourced from Tax Foundation 2024 estimates, the annual property tax on a $223,172 purchase comes to approximately $4,017. Combined with estimated annual insurance of $1,116, the monthly tax and insurance carry is $428. That figure alone represents a significant fixed cost against whatever gross rent the property can generate, and at a 1.80% rate this line item deserves its own row in any pro forma, not a footnote. Keep in mind this is a state-average estimate and actual De Witt County or township rates may run higher or lower, so pulling the county appraisal district rate before closing is not optional.

The most significant risks here are scale and trajectory. A county of fewer than 20,000 people with declining home prices, a zero cash flow score, and a below-median appreciation outlook is a market where investor errors are harder to absorb. There is no deep resale market to bail out a bad purchase, and the lack of income data makes it difficult to stress-test even a best-case scenario. Regulatory risk and vacancy statistics are not available in the provided data and should not be assumed in either direction.

Compared to its neighbors, De Witt's $223,172 median is middle of the pack. Duval County comes in dramatically cheaper at $75,098 with the same overall score of 55, which raises the obvious question of whether the lower entry cost in Duval produces better income-to-price ratios even if the market is operationally more difficult. Karnes County at $199,873 and Uvalde at $192,913 offer slightly lower entry prices at the same overall score, making them worth comparing on a cost-per-unit basis. Washington County, at $373,954 median and a rent-to-price ratio of 5.88%, actually shows better rent yield relative to price than most of its neighbors, though the higher absolute price raises the capital requirement significantly. De Witt makes the most sense over its neighbors only if a buyer finds an off-market deal well below the $223,000 median and can structure the acquisition to overcome the property tax drag. On a market-rate basis, Karnes or Uvalde are worth underwriting first given lower entry costs at equivalent overall scores.