De Witt County

De Witt County sits at a median home price of $224,110 with home values down 2.6% year-over-year, placing it in the 33rd percentile nationally across the 1,000 counties tracked here. The cash flow score is 0 and the cap rate field returns zero, which signals that the rental income data needed to build a full underwrite is thin or absent for this market. What the affordability index of 82 and the sub-$225K median price do tell you is that entry cost is low relative to most Texas markets, and that the raw ingredients for a cash flow play exist if you can verify rents independently before committing. The appreciation score of 37 out of 100, combined with a price decline over the past year, puts De Witt firmly on the cash flow end of the spectrum in theory, but without confirmed rental comps that thesis is unproven rather than validated.

Given those numbers, the investor this market is most likely to suit is a cash flow buyer who is willing to do the ground-level rent research that the data set cannot currently supply. At $224K median with a 20% down payment of roughly $44,800, your equity check is modest by Texas standards, and if market rents in Cuero or the surrounding area can support even a modest spread over carrying costs, the cash-on-cash math could work. An appreciation buyer has little to work with here: a 37 appreciation score and a price already trending negative year-over-year do not support a thesis built on equity growth. A value-add operator hunting for distressed assets might find opportunity given the affordability index of 82, which suggests prices are already compressed, but that kind of play requires boots-on-the-ground deal sourcing rather than anything this data set can confirm.

The tax and insurance picture at this price point deserves direct attention before you build a proforma. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 1.80%, Texas sits in high territory, and that rate earns its own line on your underwrite. On a $224,110 purchase, the Tax Foundation 2024 estimate produces $4,034 in annual property taxes and $1,121 in annual insurance, for a combined monthly carry of $430 just in taxes and insurance before you account for mortgage, maintenance, or vacancy. With a 6.85% interest rate and 20% down, your principal and interest payment on roughly $179,288 financed comes to approximately $1,175 per month, meaning taxes and insurance alone add about 37% on top of debt service. Any rental market where gross rents do not clear $1,700 to $1,800 per month comfortably is going to produce negative or breakeven cash flow at this leverage level. That is not a reason to walk away, but it is a reason to verify local rents before closing, not after. The 1.80% figure is a state-average estimate and your actual county or township rate in De Witt may differ, so pull the county appraisal district rate directly when you underwrite a specific address.

De Witt County's population of 19,826 is a real concentration risk. A market this small amplifies single-employer or single-sector dependencies, and a meaningful pullback in any one demand driver, whether energy-related activity in the Eagle Ford Shale region that covers parts of South Texas or agricultural employment, can move vacancy and rents faster than a larger MSA would absorb. No economic anchor data was provided for this county, so employer-level demand analysis is not possible from this data set and would need to come from local research. The stability score of 50 out of 100 is middle-of-the-road and does not flag acute distress, but it does not signal a defensive, recession-resistant market either.

Compared to its neighbors, De Witt sits at a middling overall score of 54, matched by Washington, Duval, Bosque, and Karnes counties at 55 apiece. Washington County in Texas carries a median home price of $373,954 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0588, which is meaningfully higher than what De Witt's incomplete data can claim, and Washington's documented rent of $1,831 gives an investor an actual underwriting anchor that De Witt currently lacks. Karnes County at $199,873 median and an overall score of 55 is the most direct comparison, priced roughly $24,000 below De Witt with a marginally better score, making it the first county you should underwrite alongside De Witt if you are screening this corner of Texas. Duval County at $75,098 is dramatically cheaper but raises its own questions around liquidity and demand depth. You would choose De Witt over its neighbors if local rent verification comes back favorably relative to the $224K entry price and if the tax rate at the county level proves lower than the 1.80% state average, turning the carry cost picture from a headwind into something manageable.