Brown (OH) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the SFR rental market in Brown County, OH, controlling 1,805 properties, which accounts for 87.6% of the 2,061 total investor-owned SFR properties. In contrast, company-owned properties represent a smaller 14.0% share, with 288 properties.

The landlord portfolio in Brown County is primarily focused on rental income, with 2,018 properties designated as rented, demonstrating a high utilization rate of investor-owned homes for the rental market.

A significant majority of investor acquisitions in Brown County, OH are cash-based, with 1,322 properties (64.1%) purchased outright, suggesting a preference for avoiding financing costs or a stronger capital position among investors. The remaining 739 properties (35.8%) are financed.

Despite the smaller property count, company landlords represent a notable 7.4% of all landlord entities in Brown County, OH (195 entities out of 2,644), indicating a higher average portfolio size per company compared to individual landlords.

The prevalence of individual landlords, totaling 2,449 entities, signals that the SFR rental market in Brown County, OH, is largely sustained by a broad base of smaller-scale, local investors rather than concentrated corporate entities.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Brown County, OH, purchased properties at an average price of $220,087, securing an impressive $48,388 discount, or 18.0% less, than traditional homeowners who paid $268,475. This indicates a strong ability by landlords to acquire properties below market average for owner-occupants.

The landlord-homeowner price gap exhibited significant volatility throughout 2025 in Brown County. Landlords enjoyed a substantial 39.4% discount in Q1, narrowing to a 1.7% discount in Q2, and even paying a marginal 0.1% premium in Q3 before the significant 18.0% discount reappeared in Q4, highlighting dynamic market conditions.

Acquisition prices for all buyers, including landlords and homeowners, saw notable fluctuations in Brown County, OH, in 2025, with landlord prices ranging from a low of $166,306 in Q1 to a high of $287,012 in Q3, reflecting varying market values across the year.

The consistent pattern of landlords paying less than traditional homeowners in Brown County for three out of four quarters in 2025 (Q1, Q2, Q4) suggests a strategic advantage or different property selection criteria, allowing them to capitalize on lower-priced opportunities.

Despite zero reported landlord purchases in Q4 2025 in section6-1.csv, the Q4 pricing data from section6-2.csv reveals the potential price advantage when landlords are active, suggesting a favorable buying environment for investors capable of identifying undervalued assets.

Landlords in Brown County, OH, were significant players in the Q4 2025 market, accounting for 32 distinct SFR purchases, which represents 23.5% of all 136 SFR properties transacted. This demonstrates that investor activity is a substantial component of the county's housing market.

Mom-and-pop landlords, encompassing Tiers 01-04, overwhelmingly drove Q4 purchases in Brown County, acquiring 30 properties, which constitutes 90.9% of all landlord purchases. This highlights the foundational role of smaller investors in the local market dynamics.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) proved to be the most active segment during Q4 in Brown County, with 29 entities acquiring 21 properties. This indicates a robust entry of new, smaller-scale investors or the expansion of existing single-property portfolios.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop dominance, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) showed minimal purchasing activity in Brown County during Q4, acquiring only 1 property, which represents a mere 3.0% of all landlord purchases. This suggests a cautious or limited presence of large-scale entities in this market.

The distribution of Q4 purchases across tiers reveals that smaller landlords (Tiers 01-05) are the primary drivers of acquisition volume in Brown County, with 32 properties purchased by these tiers, emphasizing a decentralized investor market.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively dominate the SFR investment landscape in Brown County, OH, controlling an impressive 96.1% of all investor-owned properties, totaling 2,025 properties. This figure underscores their overwhelming presence compared to larger investors.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) alone represents the vast majority of holdings, with 1,644 properties, accounting for 78.0% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio in Brown County. This indicates that first-time and small-scale landlords are the primary custodians of the rental market.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) maintain a negligible footprint in Brown County, OH, controlling only 8 properties, which equates to a mere 0.4% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio. This sharply contrasts with narratives of institutional takeovers in housing markets.

The distribution reveals a steep drop-off in property counts as portfolio size increases; for example, from 1,644 properties in Tier 01, it drops to 137 in Tier 02, and further to just 8 in Tier 09, showcasing a pyramid structure heavily weighted towards smaller investors.

The market structure in Brown County, OH, is highly fragmented, with 2,025 properties owned by mom-and-pop landlords, suggesting a resilient, locally-driven rental economy less susceptible to the movements of large corporate players.

In Brown County, OH, individual investors are the predominant owners in smaller portfolio tiers, holding 92.7% of single-property (Tier 01) SFRs (1,545 properties) and 82.5% of two-property (Tier 02) SFRs (113 properties). This confirms the widespread presence of individual, small-scale landlords.

A clear crossover in ownership type occurs as portfolio size increases: individual investors maintain majority ownership up to the 6-10 property tier (61.4% individual), but companies become the majority owners in the 11-20 property tier, controlling 71.4% of properties (35 properties).

Companies exhibit a strong concentration in larger portfolio tiers, owning 71.4% of properties in the 11-20 tier (35 properties) and further escalating to 75.0% in the 21-50 property tier (9 properties). This indicates that larger portfolios are primarily managed by corporate entities.

Despite the overall dominance of individual investors in property count, the increasing share of company ownership in higher tiers signals a strategic shift towards more formalized investment structures for larger portfolios in Brown County, OH.

The data highlights that while 'mom-and-pop' investors are the backbone of the market by volume, 'company' investors are crucial for understanding the dynamics of mid-to-large scale portfolio management within the county.

In Brown County, OH, the zip code 45121 stands out as the epicenter of investor activity, harboring the highest count of landlord-owned properties at 410, representing an 18.4% investor ownership rate. This signifies a concentrated area for rental property investment within the county.

Despite 45121 leading in raw property count, the zip codes 45103 and 45177 show an extraordinary 100.0% investor ownership rate, suggesting that nearly all SFR properties in these smaller areas are owned by investors. This highlights unique, highly penetrated micro-markets within Brown County.

Other significant areas for investor-owned properties by count include 45171 with 387 properties (22.6% rate), 45154 with 296 properties (14.4% rate), and 45167 with 237 properties (24.5% rate), collectively indicating several key hubs for landlord activity in the county.

The distinction between high property count and high ownership percentage regions reveals different investment strategies; areas like 45121 offer larger markets for volume, while 45103 and 45177 represent niche markets with saturated investor presence.

The geographic distribution in Brown County, OH, points to specific target areas for investors, where a combination of existing landlord presence and potential rental demand is likely concentrated, driving both acquisition counts and market penetration rates.

Landlords in Brown County, OH, are currently robust net buyers, demonstrated by their 41 purchases against only 10 sales in Q4 2025, yielding a strong 4.1x buy-to-sell ratio. This consistent net buying trend extends throughout 2025, with 157 purchases versus 35 sales for the entire year, signaling aggressive portfolio expansion.

In stark contrast to overall landlord activity, institutional investors (1000+ properties) in Brown County, OH, are net sellers. In Q4 2025, they completed 1 purchase and 2 sales, resulting in a net divestment of 1 property. This pattern is consistent for the full year 2025, with 1 purchase and 2 sales, and for 2024 with 2 purchases and 4 sales.

The average buy price for all landlords in Q4 2025 was $220,087, while the average sell price was $225,500. This relatively small difference, with sales slightly higher than buys, suggests that landlords are either selling older, appreciated assets or acquiring new properties at a discount.

The consistent net buyer position of all landlords in Brown County for both 2024 (155 buys vs 36 sells) and 2025 (157 buys vs 35 sells) indicates a sustained positive sentiment and growth in the landlord-owned SFR sector over the past two years.

The diverging transaction patterns between individual landlords (net buyers) and institutional investors (net sellers) in Brown County highlights a split market strategy, where smaller players are accumulating, and larger entities are strategically shedding assets.

Landlords played a substantial role in Brown County, OH's Q4 2025 real estate market, engaging in 41 transactions, which represents 19.6% of the total 209 SFR transactions during the quarter. This signifies that investor activity forms a crucial part of the overall market liquidity.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) were overwhelmingly active in Q4 transactions in Brown County, accounting for 38 out of the 41 landlord transactions. This reinforces their dominance in market participation, both in terms of ownership and transaction volume.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) recorded minimal activity in Q4 transactions, with only 1 transaction. This indicates a very limited transactional presence of large-scale corporate entities in Brown County during this period.

A notable pricing disparity exists among different investor tiers in Q4 Brown County transactions: single-property landlords (Tier 01) paid an average of $224,138, while the institutional investor (Tier 09) paid significantly less at $116,666, representing a 47.9% discount. This suggests that larger investors may target distressed or specific lower-value assets.

Inter-landlord trading was relatively low in Q4 transactions; single-property landlords bought only 2 properties (6.9%) from other landlords, with other tiers showing no recorded inter-landlord purchases, implying that most landlord acquisitions came from traditional homeowners or other non-landlord sellers.