Crawford (MI) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Crawford County, MI, collectively own 2,840 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, representing a substantial 33.9% of the total SFR market of 8,367 properties. This highlights a significant investor footprint within the county's housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord-owned portfolio, holding 2,429 properties (85.5%) compared to companies which own 428 properties (15.1%). This indicates that the local rental market is primarily driven by smaller, individual operators rather than corporate entities.

The vast majority of landlord-owned properties, 2,813 (99.0%), are rented, confirming that investor activity in Crawford County is almost exclusively focused on providing housing for tenants. This high percentage suggests a mature rental market.

A remarkable 2,580 (90.8%) of landlord-owned properties were acquired with cash, with only 260 (9.2%) being financed. This high cash acquisition rate points to a strong capital position among investors and potentially less reliance on traditional lending.

Individual landlords, numbering 3,521, constitute 89.4% of all landlord entities (3,940), while company landlords total 419 (10.6%). This ratio further emphasizes the mom-and-pop nature of the investor base, with individuals owning a significant portion of properties despite companies having larger average portfolios.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Crawford County, MI, secured properties at a significant discount, paying an average of $189,612, which is 19.7% less than the $236,258 paid by traditional homeowners. This translated to an average saving of $46,646 per property for investors.

The landlord-homeowner price gap exhibited volatility over the past year. While Q4 2025 saw a substantial discount, Q3 2025 recorded landlords paying a premium of $23,895 (10.7%) compared to homeowners ($247,276 vs $223,381). This suggests dynamic market conditions influencing pricing strategies.

Despite the Q3 premium, landlords consistently paid less in earlier quarters, with a 23.4% discount ($53,933) in Q2 2025 and a 23.0% discount ($50,287) in Q1 2025. This pattern points to a historical advantage in acquisition pricing for landlords, with Q3 potentially being an outlier in the trend.

The average acquisition price for landlords has shown variability, from a low of $168,273 in Q1 2025 to a high of $247,276 in Q3 2025, before settling at $189,612 in Q4. This fluctuation indicates that market conditions and property availability significantly impact investor buying prices quarter-to-quarter.

No landlord acquisition activity was recorded for Year 2025 or Year 2024 in the detailed timeframe data, which contradicts Q4 2025 purchase counts in Section 7-1; however, average prices for these periods are provided as $203,900 and $182,303 respectively, suggesting some underlying activity contributed to these price averages despite a lack of specific property counts in this particular dataset view.

Landlords in Crawford County, MI, were highly active in Q4 2025, completing 34 SFR purchases, which represents a significant 40.5% of the total 84 SFR properties sold during the quarter. This indicates a strong investor presence in the local housing market.

Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04), overwhelmingly dominated Q4 purchases, acquiring 32 properties and comprising 91.4% of all landlord purchases. This highlights their crucial role in market activity, far outpacing larger investors.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active segment, purchasing 29 properties, which accounts for 82.9% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4. This surge also saw 43 new entities entering the market at the single-property level, signaling robust interest from first-time or small-scale investors.

In contrast to mom-and-pop activity, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made only 2 purchases in Q4, representing 5.7% of landlord acquisitions. This minimal activity from the largest tier reinforces the dominance of smaller investors in Crawford County.

The average number of properties per entity in Q4 indicates varying buying intensity across tiers; for example, Tier 01 saw 29 properties acquired by 43 entities, averaging 0.67 properties per entity, reflecting mostly single-property acquisitions by new entrants.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively control an overwhelming 98.9% of all investor-owned SFR properties in Crawford County, MI, totaling 2,875 properties. This stark concentration underscores that the vast majority of rental housing is managed by small-scale investors.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) form the backbone of this market, holding 2,599 properties, which alone accounts for a dominant 89.4% of the total landlord-owned portfolio. This signifies that first-time and very small landlords are the primary operators in the county.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) hold a minimal presence, owning just 4 properties, which represents a negligible 0.1% of the total investor-owned SFR. This data strongly refutes the narrative of large corporations dominating the local rental market.

The distribution reveals a sharp drop-off in ownership as portfolio size increases; for example, two-property landlords (Tier 02) own 142 properties (4.9%), and small landlords (3-5 properties, Tier 03) own 118 properties (4.1%), demonstrating a highly fragmented market structure.

The average portfolio size per entity varies significantly by tier; while specific entity counts for all tiers are not provided in this section, the sheer number of properties in Tier 01 suggests a large base of individual entities with minimal holdings.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate ownership across all observed portfolio tiers in Crawford County, MI. Even within the 'small-medium' tier (11-20 properties), individuals own 15 properties (71.4%) compared to companies owning 6 properties (28.6%), showing a consistent preference for individual ownership models.

For single-property landlords (Tier 01), individual investors are particularly prevalent, owning 2,244 properties, which accounts for 85.8% of this tier, while companies own 370 properties (14.2%). This highlights that new entrants or those with minimal portfolios are predominantly individuals.

A clear crossover point where companies become the majority owners is not observed in the provided data. Individual ownership consistently holds a majority, even in the higher mom-and-pop tiers, challenging assumptions of corporate dominance in larger portfolio segments.

In the 6-10 property tier, individual investors still own 10 properties (62.5%) compared to companies with 6 properties (37.5%). This demonstrates that even as portfolio sizes grow, individual investors maintain a significant controlling share.

The consistency of individual dominance across all tiers suggests that the investor landscape in Crawford County is heavily skewed towards personal wealth and smaller-scale operations, with limited corporate penetration, even in segments where companies might typically be more active.

Within Crawford County, MI, the zip code 49738 leads in raw count of investor-owned properties with 1,963, comprising a significant 34.0% of all SFR properties in that area. This zip code represents the primary hub of investor activity by volume.

While 49738 leads by count, MI-Crawford-49733 shows the highest investor ownership percentage, with 34.1% of its SFR properties being investor-owned. This indicates that a slightly higher proportion of properties in this smaller area are held by landlords.

The top three zip codes by investor ownership rate—49733 (34.1%), 49738 (34.0%), and 48653 (33.7%)—exhibit remarkably similar high rates. This consistency suggests that investor interest and market penetration are broadly uniform and strong across the most active areas of Crawford County, rather than concentrated in a single outlier.

Zip code MI-Crawford-48653 follows with 611 investor-owned properties, and 49733 has 264 properties, further highlighting localized concentrations of investor portfolios within the county. These areas show substantial landlord presence, contributing to the overall market dynamics.

The lowest investor ownership rate among the listed top regions is 20.0% in MI-Crawford-49756, which also has the fewest properties at 2. This suggests that even in areas with less overall activity, investors still hold a notable share of the SFR market.

All landlords in Crawford County, MI, are robust net buyers, with a commanding buy/sell ratio of 10.72x for Year 2025, executing 193 purchases against just 18 sales. This demonstrates a strong appetite for portfolio expansion and confidence in the local market.

In the most recent quarter, Q4 2025, landlords maintained their net buyer status, acquiring 50 properties while selling only 8, resulting in a net gain of 42 properties. This trend highlights ongoing accumulation despite any potential market shifts.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) also exhibit a net buyer position in 2025, with 5 purchases and only 1 sale, for a net gain of 4 properties. Their activity, while lower in volume, mirrors the broader landlord sentiment of expansion.

Quarter-over-quarter transaction volumes show consistency in buying activity for all landlords; Q3 saw 53 buys and 3 sells, while Q2 had 61 buys and 3 sells. This sustained buying at low selling rates points to landlords holding onto their assets.

No data is provided for the percentage of transactions bought from or sold to other landlords, preventing an analysis of inter-landlord trading activity or implied margins in this particular dataset view.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Crawford County, MI, participated in 50 transactions, representing 40.7% of the total 123 SFR transactions during the quarter. This signifies a substantial and influential role in the local real estate market's liquidity and movement.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active segment, engaging in 43 transactions, which accounted for the majority of landlord activity. Their average purchase price was $193,853, indicating their buying power at the entry level.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties), despite their small ownership share, conducted 2 transactions in Q4, with an average purchase price of $138,070. This price is notably 28.8% lower than the average $193,853 paid by single-property mom-and-pop buyers (Tier 01), suggesting a price advantage for larger entities.

Inter-landlord trading activity was observed, with 2 properties (4.7%) bought from other landlords by Tier 01 investors and 1 property (33.3%) by Tier 03-05 landlords. Small-medium landlords (Tier 11-20) showed 100% of their single transaction was from another landlord, pointing to specialized acquisition channels in some tiers.

The average purchase prices varied significantly across tiers, ranging from $80,000 for small landlords (Tier 03-05) to $500,000 for two-property landlords (Tier 02), illustrating diverse investment strategies and property types targeted by different investor sizes.