Kewaunee County

Kewaunee County's numbers tell a clear story before you even open a pro forma: this is an appreciation play, not a cash-flow market. The county earned a cash-flow score of 0 and a cap rate of 0 in the model, while its appreciation score sits at 82 out of 100 and home prices have moved 9.1% year-over-year to a median of $326,118. That kind of price growth is meaningful in a county with a population of roughly 20,500, where demand drivers are presumably narrow. The affordability index of 60 suggests the market is not deeply cheap relative to local incomes, which constrains how much further rent can move even as prices rise. Investors running a standard buy-and-hold underwrite at 6.85% on a 20% down payment ($65,224) will feel that squeeze immediately.

The buyer this market suits is someone prioritizing long-term equity accumulation and willing to accept break-even or slightly negative monthly cash flow in exchange for a bet on continued price appreciation. The 82 appreciation score and 9.1% YoY gain are the data points that justify the position, but they are also the entire thesis. If appreciation stalls, there is no cash-flow cushion to fall back on, given the scored cash-flow figure of zero. This is not a market for a yield-focused operator who needs Day 1 returns or for a value-add buyer trying to manufacture spread between distressed acquisition and stabilized rents. Stability comes in at 50, which is median, meaning the county offers neither the defensive characteristics of a workforce-housing market nor the demand depth of a high-growth metro. If you need your rental portfolio to service debt comfortably from operations, Kewaunee does not solve that problem.

No economic anchor data was provided for the county, so rather than speculate on major employers or job drivers, the honest framing is this: a population of 20,570 means the tenant pool is thin by definition. Thin tenant pools are not automatically disqualifying, but they raise the stakes on unit-level vacancy. A single vacancy in a two-property portfolio here has a different bite than the same vacancy in a county with ten times the population and a diversified employment base.

The carry cost picture deserves a hard look at the underwriting stage. Wisconsin's state-average effective property tax rate of 1.85% is high enough to warrant its own line on your model, and the data flags it as such. On a $326,118 purchase, that rate produces an estimated $6,033 in annual property taxes. Combined with $750 in annual insurance, the monthly tax-and-insurance burden is approximately $565. That figure alone consumes a meaningful share of any gross rent before you account for mortgage service, maintenance, management, or vacancy reserves. The 1.85% rate is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in Kewaunee may differ materially, so pull the specific parcel tax history before you close, not after. In a market with a cash-flow score of zero, a tax rate at the high end of the national range is not a footnote; it is a primary reason for the underperformance in current income.

The principal risk in Kewaunee is concentration, both economically and demographically. A rural Wisconsin county of 20,000 people with no provided anchor employers and a stability score of 50 is a market where a shift in one or two local industries could affect both rental demand and price appreciation simultaneously. There is no data here on vacancy rates or regulatory environment, so those risks are not quantifiable from what's provided, but the small market size is itself a risk factor an investor should price in through a higher required return.

Against its neighbors, Kewaunee carries the highest median home price in the comparison set, coming in above Kenosha County ($311,505), Oneida County ($301,453), Vernon County ($261,888), Langlade County ($208,908), and Wood County ($215,899). The two neighbors with rent data, Wood County and Kenosha County, show rent-to-price ratios of 0.050 and 0.063 respectively, pointing to meaningfully better current income potential than what Kewaunee's scored zero cash-flow implies. Kenosha in particular, with a $1,624 median rent and an overall score of 67 versus Kewaunee's 66, offers a comparable overall rating with better yield characteristics and a substantially larger population base. Langlade and Vernon both outscore Kewaunee on overall rating (68 each) at much lower entry prices, which means lower dollar exposure to any appreciation thesis that underdelivers. The case for choosing Kewaunee over these alternatives rests entirely on the 9.1% appreciation rate and the 82 appreciation score. If your conviction on that price trajectory is high and you can carry the $565 monthly tax-and-insurance load without depending on rent income to do it, Kewaunee is a defensible position. If you need the rental income to justify the investment, one of its neighbors will serve you better.