Investing in Pasco, WA — Market Analysis
Pasco is one of the lower-basis entry points in Washington, with a median home price around $375,000. As a primary metro, Pasco gives you the deepest tenant pool in Franklin County — the kind of market where a vacancy is measured in days rather than months, and where lenders are most comfortable with appraiser rent schedules because there are hundreds of comparable leases to draw on.
Buying a rental property in Pasco on a DSCR loan means putting a minimum of $75,000 down (20% of purchase price), leaving a loan amount of $300,000 at 80% LTV. At current DSCR investor pricing near 7.50%, principal and interest on that loan runs about $2,098 per month. Add Franklin County property taxes of roughly $275/month and landlord insurance of about $150/month, and your all-in PITIA lands near $2,523/month. That PITIA figure — not the P&I — is what the lender divides your rent into.
A long-term lease in Pasco should generate roughly $2,225/month in gross rent. Against a PITIA of $2,523, that produces an estimated DSCR ratio of 0.88x. That falls just short of the 1.0 minimum. This is a very common outcome in Pasco and it does not kill the deal: moving to 25% down ($93,750) cuts the payment enough to close most of the gap, and several shelves will fund down to 0.75 with a rate add-on.
Two Washington-specific items to build into your model: Washington has no state income tax, but Seattle and several other cities have just-cause eviction ordinances and rental registration requirements that add compliance steps and lengthen turnover. Chelan, Leavenworth, and the coast carry the state's strongest short-term rental revenue. In Pasco specifically, effective property tax on investment property runs around 0.88% of value annually — about $3,300 a year at the median price — and landlord insurance near $1,800 a year.
On return metrics, Pasco pencils to an estimated cap rate of 4.41% using a 62% NOI margin, and a gross rent multiplier of 14.0. Monthly cash flow on a long-term lease at 20% down is estimated at $298 negative. Negative cash flow at 20% down is common in appreciation-led markets; investors here typically increase the down payment, buy below median, add a unit, or run the property short-term to close the gap.

