Crockett (TN) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

In Crockett County, TN, landlords collectively own 1,528 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, comprising 34.0% of the total SFR market, indicating a substantial investor presence within the local housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord segment, holding 1,412 properties (92.4% of the investor-owned portfolio), significantly outweighing company-owned properties which account for only 134 units (8.8%).

The ownership structure by entity count further reinforces individual dominance, with 1,765 individual landlords compared to just 103 company landlords, representing 94.5% of all landlord entities.

A striking 87.8% of landlord holdings (1,328 properties) are cash-owned, indicating a strong preference for unencumbered assets or significant capital reserves, while only 200 properties (13.1%) are financed.

Nearly all investor-owned properties, 1,510 out of 1,528 (98.8%), are rented and non-owner-occupied, underscoring that the vast majority of these holdings are actively utilized as rental income-generating assets.

Individual landlords predominantly own cash-purchased properties (1,328 total cash properties, mostly individual), while companies, although a minority, are also engaged in rental operations as evidenced by the high percentage of rented properties across the board.

The high proportion of rented properties across both individual and company owners highlights a market driven by long-term rental income strategies rather than short-term flips or speculative holding.

Landlords in Crockett County, TN, demonstrated a significant pricing advantage in Q4 2025, acquiring properties for an average of $97,500 – a substantial $99,793 discount, or 50.6% less, than the average $197,293 paid by traditional homeowners.

The price gap between landlords and homeowners has shown considerable volatility quarter-over-quarter; while landlords enjoyed a 56.5% discount in Q3 2025 and a 47.8% discount in Q2 2025, they surprisingly paid an 8.4% premium in Q1 2025, indicating shifting market dynamics.

Despite reported average acquisition prices, current quarter data from Section 6-1 indicates 0 distinct SFR properties were purchased by landlords across all 2025 quarters and 2024, signaling extremely low recent landlord buying volume, making the Q4 price comparison from Section 6-2 particularly noteworthy.

The sharp swing from paying an 8.4% premium in Q1 2025 ($204,119 vs $188,223 for homeowners) to securing deep discounts in subsequent quarters (Q2, Q3, Q4) suggests a significant shift in landlord buying strategies or market conditions in Crockett County.

While no specific breakdown for individual vs. company landlord acquisition prices is available, the overall trend points to landlords, as a group, exhibiting superior negotiation or access to properties at lower price points in the latter half of 2025.

The listed average acquisition price for years 2020-2023 was $103,166, which is higher than the Q4 2025 landlord average of $97,500, suggesting a slight price decline for investor acquisitions post-pandemic boom, contrary to general appreciation trends in some markets.

The consistency of landlords paying less than homeowners (with the exception of Q1 2025) across Q2-Q4 2025, despite very low purchase volume, reveals a strong ability to identify undervalued assets or secure off-market deals.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Crockett County, TN, made 11 SFR purchases, capturing a notable 23.4% share of the 47 total SFR properties transacted in the market, indicating significant investor engagement in the quarter.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) overwhelmingly dominated Q4 purchasing activity, acquiring 10 properties, which represents 83.3% of all landlord purchases, solidifying their role as the primary drivers of investor activity.

The most active segment was single-property landlords (Tier 01), who purchased 8 distinct properties, accounting for 66.7% of all landlord acquisitions and indicating a strong entry or expansion by smaller-scale investors.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) showed no purchasing activity in Q4 2025, with 0 properties acquired, highlighting a complete absence of large-scale corporate investment in Crockett County during this period.

A total of 11 entities were active in the single-property tier during Q4, suggesting a healthy influx of new or expanding small landlords, outnumbering the 8 properties acquired, implying some entities might have made initial purchases to become Tier 01 landlords.

Mid-size landlords (Tier 11-20) also showed some activity, acquiring 2 properties, representing 16.7% of landlord purchases, indicating that not all activity was concentrated in the smallest tier.

The high concentration of purchases by smaller tiers underscores that the Crockett County market is predominantly influenced by individual and small-scale investors rather than large institutional players.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04, 1-10 properties) overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Crockett County, TN, controlling a combined 98.5% of all investor properties, totaling 1,563 properties.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) alone accounts for 1,256 properties, representing a substantial 79.1% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio, making first-time or minimal landlords the largest segment.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have no presence in Crockett County, owning 0 properties, which starkly contrasts with narratives of large corporations buying up housing nationwide.

The distribution reveals a highly fragmented and localized investor market, with the next largest tier being small landlords (3-5 properties) holding 137 properties (8.6%), and two-property landlords (Tier 02) owning 111 properties (7.0%).

Given the absence of pricing data by tier in this section, it is not possible to determine if larger investors historically paid more or less per property, but the dominance of smaller landlords suggests local market knowledge is key.

The overall market structure in Crockett County heavily relies on small-scale investors, with portfolios of 50 or fewer properties accounting for virtually all (99.1%) of the investor-owned housing stock, based on tiers 01-08.

The complete lack of institutional ownership in Crockett County indicates that this market is not currently a target for large-scale corporate investment strategies, leaving the field open for local and individual landlords.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smaller portfolio tiers in Crockett County, TN, holding 94.6% of single-property (Tier 01) holdings with 1,198 properties and 90.1% of two-property (Tier 02) holdings with 100 properties.

A clear crossover point occurs in the mid-size tiers, where companies become the majority owners; in the small-medium (Tier 21-50) segment, companies own 7 properties (87.5%) compared to just 1 property (12.5%) for individuals.

In the small landlord (Tier 6-10) category, individual ownership still maintains a slight edge at 50.8% (30 properties) compared to companies at 49.2% (29 properties), showing a near equal split before companies take over in larger tiers.

The Large (Tier 101-1000) segment shows an even split, with both individuals and companies owning 1 property each (50.0%), suggesting that even at higher property counts, individual investors can still compete or coexist with corporate entities.

This distribution indicates that while individual investors form the broad base of the market, company investment becomes more pronounced and eventually dominant as portfolio sizes grow beyond the 10-property threshold in Crockett County.

The significant presence of individual investors even in tiers like 6-10 (30 properties) and 11-20 (11 properties) defies the perception that larger portfolios are exclusively the domain of corporations, although companies clearly start to gain leverage in higher tiers.

Without specific pricing data for individual versus company acquisition within each tier, it's not possible to discern if one owner type consistently pays more or less for properties of similar portfolio sizes.

In Crockett County, TN, the zip code TN-Crockett-38034 exhibits a strong concentration of investor activity, leading by percentage with 46.0% of its SFR properties being investor-owned, totaling 330 properties.

Zip codes TN-Crockett-38001 and TN-Crockett-38006 report the highest absolute counts of investor-owned properties, with 497 and 437 properties respectively, demonstrating significant market share in these areas within the county.

Notably, two smaller zip codes, TN-Crockett-38021 and TN-Crockett-38050, reveal extreme investor saturation with 100.0% and 85.7% of their SFR properties being investor-owned, respectively, indicating these are niche markets almost entirely controlled by landlords.

The average acquisition prices across these top sub-geographies are not provided in this section, preventing analysis of how pricing strategies or market values vary regionally within Crockett County.

There is a clear correlation between high property counts and high ownership percentages in regions like TN-Crockett-38034, which is prominent on both the top-by-count and top-by-percentage lists, signaling a highly attractive market for investors.

The total SFR inventory in these top regions shows where the bulk of the county's investor-owned housing stock resides, with TN-Crockett-38001 and 38006 collectively accounting for 934 properties.

The varying investor ownership rates, from 24.3% in TN-Crockett-38343 to 100.0% in TN-Crockett-38021, indicate diverse market penetration levels across different sub-geographies within Crockett County.

Landlords in Crockett County, TN, consistently operated as net buyers throughout Q4 2025, recording 15 buy transactions against 8 sell transactions, resulting in a net increase of 7 properties in their portfolios for the quarter.

This net buyer trend is sustained annually, with landlords making 84 purchases and 35 sales in Year 2025, resulting in a net acquisition of 49 properties, following a strong net gain of 66 properties in Year 2024 (94 buys vs 28 sells).

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) displayed no transaction activity across any timeframe provided, making 0 buys and 0 sells, which indicates their complete disengagement from direct market transactions in Crockett County.

The average buy price for all landlords in Q4 2025 was $97,500, while the average sell price was $157,000, suggesting a significant implied margin of $59,500 per property if selling properties previously acquired at the Q4 average buy price.

While the overall buy/sell ratio for 2025 stands at 2.4x (84 buys / 35 sells), highlighting aggressive accumulation, the Q4 ratio is 1.88x (15 buys / 8 sells), indicating continued but slightly moderated buying intensity.

The absence of institutional transaction data means all market activity observed, including the consistent net buying, is driven by smaller-scale individual and mid-size company landlords.

The increasing buy volume from Q4 2024 (15 buys) to Q2 2025 (25 buys), followed by a slight moderation in Q3 (20 buys) and Q4 (15 buys), shows fluctuating but persistent landlord interest in acquiring properties in Crockett County.

Landlords were involved in 15 of the 71 total SFR transactions in Crockett County, TN, during Q4 2025, representing a 21.1% share of the overall market activity for the quarter.

Transaction volume was predominantly driven by single-property landlords (Tier 01), who participated in 11 transactions, making them the most active segment in Q4.

The average purchase price for single-property landlords (Tier 01) in Q4 was $89,000, which is a key indicator of entry-level investment costs for new or expanding small landlords.

Inter-landlord trading was minimal in Q4 2025, with only 2 out of 11 (18.2%) transactions for single-property landlords involving properties bought from other landlords, suggesting most acquisitions were from non-investor sellers.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) registered no transactions in Q4 2025, further confirming their complete absence from purchasing or selling activities in Crockett County.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04) accounted for the vast majority of landlord transactions, with 13 transactions, reinforcing their dominant role in the local real estate market.

The price spread between the highest and lowest tier activity in Q4 shows that single-property landlords (Tier 01) purchased at an average of $89,000, while small-medium (Tier 11-20) landlords paid slightly more at $120,000 on average.