Nemaha (KS) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Nemaha County, investors hold a significant 20.5% share of the single-family housing market, totaling 548 properties out of 2,677 total SFRs.

The market is dominated by individual real estate investors, who own 433 properties (79.0%), compared to 122 properties (22.3%) owned by companies.

A striking feature of this market is the complete absence of financing; 100% of the 548 investor-owned properties are held as cash assets, indicating a low-leverage, high-equity investor base.

The rental market is robust, with 517 properties, or 94.3% of the investor-owned portfolio, identified as rented, confirming a strong focus on buy-and-hold strategies.

The investor landscape consists of 502 distinct landlords, with 449 being individuals and only 53 operating as companies, reinforcing the 'mom-and-pop' character of the local rental market.

There is no available data on landlord acquisition prices for Nemaha County in the observed timeframes.

Consequently, a comparison between landlord and traditional homeowner purchase prices cannot be performed for this market.

Analysis of pricing trends, such as the gap between investor and homeowner prices or price appreciation over time, is not possible due to the lack of transactional price data.

The absence of pricing information aligns with the lack of recorded purchase activity in the most recent quarter.

Further analysis would require more comprehensive sales data to understand the purchasing dynamics and potential discounts investors may achieve in this area.

Investor purchasing activity came to a complete standstill in Nemaha County during Q4 2025, with zero SFR properties acquired by landlords.

This lack of activity meant that investors had a 0.0% market share of all SFR purchases in the quarter.

Activity was nonexistent across all investor sizes; mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) and mid-size investors recorded zero purchases for the period.

The market saw no new entrants, as the number of new single-property landlords (Tier 01) was zero.

This halt in acquisitions suggests a period of market stabilization, a lack of desirable inventory, or investors holding their positions without expansion.

The investor landscape in Nemaha County is dominated by small-scale landlords, with those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04) controlling a combined 91.8% of all investor-held SFRs.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the largest single group, owning 277 properties, which accounts for nearly half (49.5%) of the entire investor portfolio.

In stark contrast to national trends, there is zero ownership by institutional investors (Tier 09), highlighting the exclusively local and small-scale nature of the market.

Mid-size landlords are a small fraction of the market, with those owning 11-50 properties holding a combined 8.3% of the portfolio.

This ownership structure indicates a highly fragmented market with a low barrier to entry, primarily driven by local individuals rather than large corporations.

Individual investors form the backbone of smaller portfolios in Nemaha County, owning 89.0% of single-property (Tier 01) holdings and 84.0% of two-property (Tier 02) portfolios.

The crossover point where companies gain a majority stake occurs in the 6-10 property tier, where they own 51.8% of the properties (29 properties) versus individuals' 48.2% (27 properties).

Even in mid-size tiers like the 11-20 property bracket, individuals surprisingly retain control, holding 96.0% of the properties in that segment.

This pattern suggests that while companies exist in the market, their strategy is focused on building slightly larger, yet still modest, portfolios compared to the single-property individual investor.

The data confirms that scaling into a portfolio of more than five properties is the primary threshold for corporate ownership structures in this specific market.

The bulk of investor-owned properties in Nemaha County are located in Sabetha (zip code 66534) with 205 properties and Seneca (66538) with 175 properties.

Sabetha (66534) has an investor ownership rate of 21.4%, while Seneca's (66538) rate is 17.2%, both close to the county average.

Several smaller zip codes exhibit hyper-concentrated investor ownership, with 66521 at 100.0% and 66432 at 50.0%, suggesting these areas may have very few total SFRs, making them prime for investor focus.

The zip code 66408 (Bern) has the highest ownership rate among areas with a notable number of properties, with 30.6% of its SFRs being investor-owned.

The geographic distribution shows a pattern where total volume is in the county's primary towns, but the highest penetration rates are in smaller, more rural zip codes.

Historical transaction data for landlords in Nemaha County is not available, preventing an analysis of long-term buying and selling trends.

It is not possible to determine if landlords have been net buyers or sellers over time, nor can a buy/sell ratio be calculated.

Information regarding inter-landlord transactions, such as the percentage of properties bought from or sold to other investors, is absent.

Similarly, a comparison of average buy prices versus sell prices to infer potential profit margins cannot be conducted.

The lack of this data, combined with zero recent activity, paints a picture of a stable, low-velocity market where properties are held for the long term.

The final quarter of 2025 was completely dormant for real estate investors in Nemaha County, with a total of zero transactions involving a landlord as either a buyer or seller.

This inactivity gave landlords a 0.0% share of the total transaction market for the quarter.

The market freeze was uniform across all portfolio sizes, with mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) and mid-size investors reporting no transactions.

As a result of the zero-transaction environment, there is no data on Q4 purchase prices by tier or the extent of landlord-to-landlord trading.

This lack of liquidity suggests investors in the area are primarily focused on long-term holds rather than transactional strategies like flipping.