Chatham County

Chatham County sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 6.1%, which places it squarely in the middle of the cash-flow versus appreciation spectrum, leaning toward neither extreme with conviction. The model cap rate comes in at 3.98%, which is thin by most buy-and-hold standards and reflects a market where purchase prices have not compressed enough relative to rents to generate meaningful yield. At a 6.85% interest rate on a standard 20% down conventional loan, the fully loaded monthly mortgage on a median-priced asset runs $1,788 against a median rent of $1,738, meaning the property doesn't cover debt service before a single expense is added. The tool's base-case underwrite spits out negative $658 per month in cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of negative 10.06%. Home prices declined 3.5% year-over-year, so the appreciation story isn't rescuing the yield story either. The overall score of 50 out of 100, ranking 552nd out of 1,000 counties nationally (27th percentile), is an honest reflection of a market that is average at best and mediocre for income-focused investors right now.

The cash-flow score of 61 is the one number that stands out relative to the other scores, and it deserves some context before you read too much into it. That score is comparative, not absolute, and what it's really telling you is that Chatham is less bad than many markets at this interest rate environment. The absolute numbers are still negative on a leveraged basis. The appreciation score of 32 confirms what the year-over-year price decline already signals: this is not where you go to ride price growth. The investor who can make Chatham work is probably a value-add operator buying below median, forcing equity through renovation, and either refinancing into better debt or selling into a tourist or short-term rental premium. The affordability index of 53, set against a median household income of $66,171, suggests the renter pool is real and not going away, but it also caps how aggressively rents can grow without outpacing what local wages support.

The monthly tax and insurance burden here runs $364 on a median-priced asset, based on Georgia's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.92% and an insurance rate of 0.36%. That $364 figure is already baked into the $608 estimated monthly expense line, and at a normal property tax flag, the rate is not the problem. Worth noting, as with any state-average estimate, that the actual rate at the county or township level may differ from the 0.92% figure, so pull the Chatham County tax records directly when underwriting a specific address. The bigger carry cost headache here is not taxes, it's insurance: coastal Georgia exposure means that 0.36% state-average figure may understate your actual premium once you account for wind and flood riders, which most coastal lenders will require. That's a line you want to price explicitly before closing.

The risk profile for Chatham is meaningfully shaped by its coastal geography. Savannah sits in this county, which gives it a more diversified economic base than a pure resort market, but it also means storm exposure is a real and recurring underwriting variable. Concentration risk exists if you're buying in tourist-dependent corridors where short-term rental regulations could tighten. The affordability index of 53 isn't alarming, but it does indicate a market where rent growth has limits tied to local income, and a tenant base that could be squeezed if insurance costs get passed through aggressively. The 3.5% year-over-year price decline is recent enough that you should be watching whether it stabilizes or continues, particularly in higher-priced segments where the rent-to-price math is worst.

Against its neighbors, Chatham doesn't look cheap. Glynn County, home to the Golden Isles, prices at $355,910 with a nearly identical rent-to-price ratio of 5.93% and an overall score of 50, meaning you're paying more for roughly the same investment profile. Marion County at $178,735 and Crawford County at $191,340 are dramatically cheaper entry points, each with overall scores within a point of Chatham's 50, which raises the obvious question of whether the volume of rental demand in those smaller markets justifies the lower price. Charlton County at $208,414 and Butts County at $274,024 round out a neighbor set where Chatham is the most expensive option without being the highest-scoring. The case for choosing Chatham over its neighbors comes down to one thing: Savannah's scale. A county of 296,266 people offers more transaction volume, deeper tenant demand, and more exit liquidity than any of the surrounding rural alternatives. If you're running a portfolio strategy that requires being able to sell assets reliably, or if you need professional property management infrastructure, Chatham has it. If you're an individual investor trying to maximize yield per dollar deployed at this rate environment, the smaller neighbors with sub-$200,000 entry points deserve a harder look before you commit to median-priced Chatham inventory.