Crenshaw (AL) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

In Crenshaw County, landlords have a significant footprint, owning 1,171 single-family residential properties, which constitutes 30.8% of the total 3,803 SFRs in the market.

The investor landscape is overwhelmingly dominated by individual owners rather than corporations. Individuals own 1,004 properties, representing 85.7% of the investor portfolio, compared to just 167 properties (14.3%) owned by companies.

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, with 1,257 individual landlords operating in the county, compared to only 136 company landlords.

A defining characteristic of this market is the preference for all-cash ownership. An overwhelming 96.9% of investor-owned properties were acquired with cash (1,135 properties), while only 36 properties are currently financed, signaling a low-leverage, stable investment environment.

The portfolio is almost entirely dedicated to rentals, with 1,147 of the 1,171 properties (98.0%) being rented out. This high rental penetration underscores the primary business model of landlords in the region.

Analysis of acquisition pricing trends and comparisons is not possible for Crenshaw County, as the data indicates zero single-family property acquisitions by landlords in any recent timeframe, including Q4 2025, Q3 2025, and the 2020-2023 period.

Similarly, a price comparison between landlords and traditional homeowners cannot be performed. The absence of purchase transactions for both groups in Q4 2025 means there is no data to establish an average price or calculate any potential discount.

The complete lack of acquisition data is a significant finding in itself, pointing to an extremely illiquid or static real estate market where properties are not actively trading.

This absence of activity prevents any analysis of price appreciation from the pandemic-era boom (2020-2023) to the current quarter, as no benchmark prices were recorded for either period.

The market's inactivity suggests that current owners, both landlords and homeowners, are in a holding pattern, with neither group actively buying or selling properties in the recent past.

The fourth quarter of 2025 was marked by a complete freeze in market activity in Crenshaw County, with a total of zero SFR purchases recorded for the period. Consequently, landlords' share of the market was 0.0%.

This inactivity was universal across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties), who own the vast majority of existing stock, made no new purchases in Q4.

Likewise, institutional investors (1,000+ properties), who have no existing presence in the county, also recorded zero acquisitions, highlighting the lack of large-scale investment activity.

The market saw no new entrants, with the number of new single-property landlords (Tier 01) standing at zero for the quarter.

This lack of purchasing activity across all tiers suggests a stable, hold-oriented market where existing assets are not being traded and new capital is not being deployed.

The investor ownership structure in Crenshaw County is defined by the dominance of small-scale landlords. Mom-and-pop investors (owning 1-10 properties) control a commanding 97.3% of all landlord-owned SFR properties.

First-time or single-property landlords are the bedrock of the market, with this tier alone accounting for 935 properties, which represents 77.9% of the entire investor-owned portfolio.

In stark contrast to national narratives, institutional investors (1,000+ properties) have no footprint in Crenshaw County, with 0.0% ownership. The market is exclusively composed of smaller to mid-size players.

Mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) hold a very small fraction of the market, with tiers for 11-20 and 21-50 properties collectively owning just 33 properties, or 2.8% of the total.

This distribution reveals a highly fragmented market, reliant on a large number of small, independent investors rather than a few consolidated, large-scale operators.

In Crenshaw County, individual investors form the foundation of the landlord market, owning the vast majority of properties in smaller portfolio tiers. They hold 88.2% of single-property portfolios and 87.4% of two-property portfolios.

A distinct shift in ownership structure occurs as portfolio sizes increase. The crossover point is the 21-50 property tier, where companies assert their dominance by owning 19 of the 20 properties, a 95.0% share.

This pattern indicates that while individuals are the primary players in the 1-10 property range, scaling beyond that level in this market is predominantly achieved through a corporate structure.

Even in the 6-10 property tier, individuals maintain a strong majority with 70.6% ownership, showing that the transition to company-led ownership happens sharply at a specific size.

Due to the lack of recent transaction data, it is not possible to compare acquisition prices between individual and company investors within any tier to determine if their buying strategies differ.

Investor ownership in Crenshaw County is geographically concentrated, with the zip code 36049 leading by volume, containing 448 landlord-owned properties. This single area accounts for 38.3% of all investor SFRs in the county.

When measured by market penetration, the zip code 36034 stands out with an investor ownership rate of 63.5%, the highest in the county. This indicates a market where landlords own nearly two-thirds of the single-family housing stock.

There is a clear distinction between areas with high property counts and those with high ownership rates. For example, 36049 has the most properties but a 30.2% rate, while 36028 has fewer properties (80) but a much higher rate of 37.7%.

The top five zip codes by investor property count (36049, 36009, 36041, 36028, 36042) collectively hold 925 properties, representing 79.0% of the total investor portfolio, underscoring the regional concentration.

The top five areas by ownership percentage all feature rates above 33%, with 36034 (63.5%), 36323 (40.0%), and 36028 (37.7%) showing particularly deep investor penetration.

A comprehensive analysis of historical transaction trends in Crenshaw County is not feasible, as no transaction data was recorded for landlords for any of the observed timeframes (All Time, 2025, 2024, etc.).

This lack of data prevents the calculation of a buy/sell ratio, making it impossible to determine whether landlords have historically been net buyers or net sellers in the market.

Similarly, there is no information on inter-landlord trading. The percentage of purchases from other landlords or sales to other landlords cannot be quantified.

An analysis of implied margins is also not possible, as there are no average buy prices or average sell prices to compare across timeframes.

The complete absence of historical transaction data is a primary finding, suggesting that the local SFR market is characterized by long-term holds and very infrequent asset trading.

In Q4 2025, the transaction market in Crenshaw County was entirely dormant, with zero total SFR transactions recorded. As a result, landlords' share of transactions was 0.0%.

This market-wide freeze meant there was no transaction activity to analyze by investor tier. Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) recorded zero transactions for the quarter.

Correspondingly, larger investors and institutional tiers also posted zero transactions, reinforcing the theme of a completely static market environment.

Without any transactions, it is impossible to assess inter-landlord trading activity. The data shows zero properties were bought from other landlords during this period.

Average purchase prices by tier could not be calculated, precluding any analysis of whether smaller or larger investors might pay different prices for assets in this market.