Chelan County

Chelan County's numbers tell a clear story before you run a single spreadsheet. At a median home price of $531,212 and median rent of $1,704, the rent-to-price ratio sits at 0.039%, well below the 0.08-0.10% range most cash-flow investors treat as a minimum threshold. The model underwrite confirms it: at 6.85% financing with 20% down, you're looking at a $2,785 monthly mortgage, estimated expenses of $597, and a projected cash flow of negative $1,677 per month. That's a cash-on-cash return of -16.47% and a cap rate of 2.5%. Chelan scores 28 out of 100 on cash flow and 46 on appreciation, which places it squarely on the appreciation end of the spectrum. Home prices are actually down 0.75% year-over-year, so even the appreciation thesis isn't firing right now. An affordability index of 24 and a national percentile ranking of 2nd out of 1,000 counties surveyed rounds out the picture: this is an expensive, low-yield market with compressed entry-level returns.

Given those numbers, the cash-flow buyer has no business here under conventional financing at current rates. The negative carry is too wide and too structural to paper over with modest rent growth. The appreciation buyer gets a more nuanced case: Chelan has historically attracted second-home and vacation demand tied to Lake Chelan and the surrounding recreational corridor, which creates a buyer pool that supports prices independent of pure local income levels. But with prices already down slightly on a year-over-year basis and an affordability index of 24, you're not buying into a market with obvious near-term price momentum. The value-add operator could find opportunity if they can acquire below median, force equity through renovation, and either sell into the vacation-home buyer pool or operate short-term rentals, though the data here covers long-term rent assumptions and STR performance would need separate underwriting.

The tax and insurance carry deserves attention before you finalize any model. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.98% and an insurance rate of 0.21%, the combined monthly tax and insurance burden is approximately $527. That figure is already baked into the $597 monthly expense estimate, but it's worth isolating: on a $531,212 asset, taxes and insurance alone consume $527 of your monthly budget before you account for maintenance, vacancy, or property management. The 0.98% rate is flagged as normal relative to the state average, so it isn't a special penalty, but it isn't a tailwind either. As always, that rate is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and the actual Chelan County or township rate may differ, so pull the assessor's current levy rate before you close.

The concentration risk in Chelan is real and worth naming. A county of 79,076 people whose rental demand is meaningfully tied to tourism and recreational amenities is not the same as a diversified metro employment base. If recreational travel softens, short-term demand contracts, and long-term tenants, who are priced out by a $531,000 median, have limited alternatives locally. No vacancy statistics are provided here, but the structural tension between a high price point and a $1,704 median rent implies the tenant pool for a conventionally financed rental is thin. Landlord-tenant regulation in Washington state also leans tenant-protective at the state level, which is a legitimate underwriting consideration regardless of what the county-specific enforcement environment looks like.

Compared to its neighbors, Chelan is neither the most expensive nor the highest-yielding option. King County prices you out further at $841,149 with an even worse rent-to-price ratio of 0.032 and an overall score of 34. Snohomish at $739,453 and a 0.035 ratio is similarly uninspiring. Island County at $623,534 and a 0.039 ratio essentially mirrors Chelan's yield profile with a slightly higher overall score of 39. The two neighbors that actually edge ahead on the numbers are Whatcom County, at a 0.040 rent-to-price ratio and an overall score of 40, and Klickitat County, which delivers the best ratio in the peer group at 0.044 on a much lower median price of $455,628 and scores 41 overall. If your mandate is buy-and-hold cash flow in Washington, the data points you toward Whatcom or Klickitat before Chelan. The only reason to choose Chelan over those alternatives is if you have a specific asset, below-median acquisition price, or short-term rental strategy that the long-term rent figures here don't capture.