Kaufman County

Kaufman County sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 8.03%, which places it well into cash-flow-leaning territory by Texas standards. The model cap rate comes in at 5.22%, a reasonable yield for a Dallas-adjacent suburban county where prices have softened 3.77% year-over-year. That price dip is actually the more interesting data point: median home prices have pulled back to $292,707 while median rents hold at $1,958, which means the yield math is improving for buyers who are entering now rather than at the 2022-2023 peak. The cash-flow score of 80 out of 100 reflects that yield picture, but the model's standardized underwrite at 6.85% interest spits out a negative $261 monthly cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of -4.65%, so the raw cap rate flatters the picture somewhat. Investors need to be honest that at current financing costs, levered cash flow is negative on a vanilla purchase-and-hold without meaningful rent upside or a below-market acquisition.

That negative cash-on-cash number doesn't disqualify the market, but it does define who belongs here. A pure cash-flow buyer expecting day-one positive leverage should look elsewhere. The more appropriate profile is a value-add operator who can buy below the $292,707 median, force appreciation through renovation, and push rents above the $1,958 median, or a modestly leveraged investor with 30-35% down who can get the debt service low enough to clear expenses. The appreciation score of 31 out of 100 signals that betting on outsized price growth is not the thesis here, and the current -3.77% YoY price movement confirms that. What Kaufman offers is a real yield foundation and an affordability index of 67, meaning the tenant pool is broad and not stretched to the breaking point, which supports rent stability even if price appreciation is muted.

No economic anchors were provided in the data for this county, so the employer-level demand story cannot be quantified here. What the data does establish is a population of 149,773 in a county that borders the Dallas metro, which historically has meant that suburban growth tracks with DFW's broader labor market. Investors should do their own homework on the specific employment draws pulling renters into Kaufman rather than into Dallas or Collin counties proper.

The tax and insurance carry is a real underwriting consideration that deserves its own line. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 1.80%, flagged as high, Kaufman generates an estimated $5,269 in annual property taxes on the median-priced asset. Combined with $1,464 in annual estimated insurance, that is $561 per month in tax-and-insurance before you touch debt service, maintenance, management, or vacancy. That $561 figure alone represents 29% of the $1,958 gross rent. The note from the data is worth repeating: this is a state-average estimate using Tax Foundation 2024 figures, and actual county or township rates may differ, so pull the specific Kaufman County assessor rate before you finalize any underwrite. Texas has no state income tax, which is the well-known offset, but at 1.80% the property tax line is not a rounding error and investors underwriting Texas assets on simplified national models routinely get surprised by it.

The primary risk embedded in this data set is the combination of negative levered cash flow at current rates, a modest appreciation score, and a stability score of only 50. That middle-of-the-road stability number suggests the market is neither a proven resilient core nor a high-growth speculative bet. Concentration risk is worth flagging conceptually: a suburban county of 149,773 that likely draws a meaningful share of its rental demand from DFW employment is exposed to any softening in that metro's job market. The data does not provide vacancy or demographic trend figures, so those risks cannot be quantified here and investors should source them independently before committing capital.

Against its neighbors in the data, Kaufman's $292,707 median price is the highest of the five comparison counties, but its rent-to-price ratio of 8.03% beats Victoria County's 6.39% at a $211,088 median, which is the only neighbor with both price and rent data available for direct comparison. Victoria costs less to enter but delivers meaningfully weaker yield on the ratio. Hamilton County at $260,560 and Robertson County at $259,047 both carry similar overall scores (58 and 56 respectively) at lower entry prices, but without rent data for those counties a yield comparison is not possible. Hutchinson County at $114,329 and Duval County at $75,098 are radically cheaper entry points, but again the data doesn't support a yield comparison, and the geographic and economic context of those counties differs substantially from a Dallas-adjacent suburban market. Choose Kaufman over these neighbors when the thesis is DFW suburban rent demand, a recognizable exit market for future resale, and a yield ratio above 8%, accepting that you will need to manage the tax load and likely accept modest leverage or value-add positioning to make the cash flow work.