Clay County, IA: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties

Across Clay County, Iowa, DLRadar grades every ZIP for foreclosure, mortgage, tax and bank-stress distress. County-level credit and bank headwind reads 58/100. ZIP-level distress ranges from 28/100 at the top down to 18/100. The county spans 17 scored ZIP codes, averaging 22/100 composite distress.

The county market is in a peak phase: home prices rose 2.7% over the past year (phase confidence 21/100). This late in the run, distress turns selective — the edge is parcel by parcel.

With Clay County flat at +2.7% YoY (21/100 confidence), the wins are surgical well beyond the county average. Mid-range bank stress at 58/100 points to mixed owner- and bank-driven distress.

Distress concentrates in ZIP 51364 (28/100), ZIP 51058 (26/100), ZIP 51346 (26/100), ZIP 50585 (25/100), ZIP 51338 (25/100), ZIP 51033 (24/100) — drill into any for the parcel-level read. Coverage extends to 50565, 51047, 50515, 51301, 51333, 51340, 51341, 51343, 51357, 51366 among others.

Underneath the scores, the ZIPs DLRadar tracks across Clay County report a 7.3% poverty rate, a median age of 43.7, 16% of units sitting vacant, 85% of homes owner-occupied, a median household income near $64,265 (below the US norm), home values averaging roughly $127,700, below the US. Read together, they set up the kind of distress to expect and the buyer pool on exit.

With a low 22/100 reading over 17 ZIPs, the edge is selective acquisition for a disciplined buyer. Subscribers get each Clay County parcel's owner, mailing address, APN, a per-parcel score, lender exposure and exit read.

Because Clay County, Iowa is scored on the identical public-record model used nationwide, even a quiet county is measured on one scale — letting you weigh Clay County against neighboring markets or the rest of Iowa on equal footing.

The practical read on Clay County, Iowa is a targeting one — find the ZIPs holding real financial pressure, then work the parcels underneath them. All Clay County inputs are public record — recorder, court, FHFA and FDIC — and the score is rebuilt on ingest rather than modelled forward.

Drilling in, Clay County's highest-scoring ZIPs are 51364 (28/100), 51058 (26/100), 51346 (26/100), 50585 (25/100), 51338 (25/100), 51033 (24/100). DLRadar also scores 50565, 51047, 50515, 51301, 51333, 51340, 51341, 51343 and more across the county. Every one of these is scored independently — a ZIP's composite reflects its own recorded distress, which is why the county average alone hides where the real pressure sits.

Under Clay County's headline composite sit distinct layers — recorded foreclosures, tax and lien delinquency, mortgage stress and bank headwind — each scored separately before they roll up, so the same total can describe very different markets.