Run the numbers
Enter the numbers from the listing — the comparison updates instantly as you type.
🔗 Import from a listing URL
Paste a listing link and we'll pull in what's publicly on the page (address, price, beds/baths, sqft). AI-assisted — always double-check what comes back.
🏠 The Property
🧾 Monthly Costs
💰 Financing Assumptions
Fill in both blocks — you don't have to pick one. The results below always show cash, bank, and hard money side by side so you can compare every route before deciding.
🏦 Bank Investor Loan
⚡ Hard Money Loan
My saved deals
Every deal you save lands here. Reopen one to tweak the numbers, download its spreadsheet, or take it lender shopping.
Shop hard money lenders
You've done the hard part — we'll handle the shopping. Pick your deal, answer a few questions, and we package everything the way lenders want to see it: a polished funding request written for you, a professional spreadsheet breakdown of your deal, and one email that goes out to multiple lenders at once — each on BCC, so they never see each other and have to compete for your business. All you do is hit send, then sit back while the offers roll into your inbox.
🚀 Ready to send
Step 1 downloads the deal spreadsheet, step 2 the full photo report — attach both. Step 3 opens the email in your mail app with every selected lender on BCC — review it, attach the files, and hit send.
Shop insurance providers
Don't guess at insurance — a real quote can swing your cash flow by $50+/mo. Pick a saved deal, tell insurers what they need to know, and send one quote request with every provider on BCC. Compare the replies and drop the winning premium back into your analysis.
🌐 Get instant online quotes too
Investor-focused marketplaces that quote landlord policies online — useful as a benchmark against your local agents' offers.
🚀 Ready to send
Step 1 downloads the property report (with your photos) to attach. Step 2 opens the quote-request email with every selected provider on BCC — review, attach, and hit send. Replies come straight to your inbox for easy comparison.
Learn the ropes in 5 minutes
The handful of numbers and rules of thumb that experienced investors actually use.
💵 Cash flow
Rent minus every expense — mortgage, taxes, insurance, vacancy, maintenance, management. Positive cash flow means the property pays you monthly. Many investors want $150–$250+ per door.
Cash flow is the number that pays your bills, not equity or appreciation — those are on paper until you sell or refinance. Watch for owners who quote "cash flow" using only the mortgage payment and forget vacancy, maintenance, and management — that inflated number is the #1 way new investors get burned.
Quick math: $2,200 rent − $250 vacancy/maint/mgmt reserve − $767 mortgage − $175 taxes/insurance = ~$1,008/mo before you've touched a wrench. Run every deal through DealGrade's full breakdown rather than eyeballing it.
📈 Cash-on-cash return
Annual cash flow ÷ cash you actually put in. It answers "what does my money earn here vs. elsewhere?" 8%+ is solid; 12%+ is strong.
This is the metric that lets you compare a rental against the stock market, a CD, or another deal — it's a return on your money, not the property's total value. A property that costs more but needs less cash down (bank financing) can have a much higher cash-on-cash return than the same property bought outright.
Formula: (annual cash flow ÷ total cash invested) × 100. Total cash invested includes your down payment, closing costs, and any rehab you paid out of pocket — not the full purchase price.
🎯 The 1% rule
Monthly rent should be roughly 1% of the total cost (price + repairs). A $200k house should rent near $2,000/mo. A fast filter, not a final answer — many good markets land at 0.7–0.9%.
The 1% rule exists to save you time — it lets you screen out obviously bad deals in seconds before running full numbers. It's not a promise of profitability: a property can pass the 1% rule and still lose money once taxes, insurance, or HOA fees are high, and can fail the 1% rule while still cash-flowing nicely in a low-expense market.
Coastal and high-appreciation metros routinely run 0.5–0.7% and still attract serious investors chasing appreciation over cash flow — use the rule as a filter, not a verdict.
🏦 DSCR
Debt Service Coverage Ratio — net operating income ÷ loan payment. Lenders usually want 1.2+, meaning income covers the payment with a 20% cushion.
DSCR loans are popular with investors because they qualify off the property's income, not your personal W-2 or tax returns — handy for self-employed buyers or anyone who already owns several rentals and is "maxed out" on conventional debt-to-income limits.
Formula: Net Operating Income (rent minus operating expenses, before the mortgage) ÷ annual mortgage payment. A DSCR of 1.0 means the property exactly breaks even on the debt; below 1.0 means it doesn't cover its own loan payment from operations alone.
🧮 The 50% rule
Over the long run, expect about half the rent to go to expenses (not counting the mortgage). If half the rent still covers the payment with room to spare, you're in the zone.
The 50% rule bakes in long-run averages for things new investors chronically underestimate: vacancy between tenants, routine maintenance, bigger periodic costs like a roof or HVAC (CapEx), property management, taxes, and insurance. It's a long-term average, not a monthly guarantee — some months will be near 20%, others near 80% when something breaks.
Older properties, larger multi-family, and markets with higher property taxes tend to run above 50%; newer construction with low taxes can run meaningfully below it.
⚡ Hard money, explained
Short-term loans (6–18 months) from private lenders based on the property, not just your W-2. Higher rates (10–13%) and points, but fast closes and they'll fund rehab. The classic play is BRRRR: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance into a cheap bank loan, Repeat.
Hard money is priced for speed and risk, not affordability — it's a bridge, not a destination. Lenders care most about the after-repair value (ARV) and your exit plan, since the loan is secured by the property itself and they need to know they can get their money back if you don't.
The BRRRR math that matters: if your refinance loan (usually ~75% of ARV) doesn't return enough cash to pay off the hard money balance plus points and holding costs, you're stuck holding an expensive loan — always model the refinance before you close on the hard money, not after.
🚩 Rookie mistakes to dodge
Underestimating repairs · using asking rent instead of real comps · forgetting vacancy and CapEx · buying negative cash flow hoping for appreciation · skipping the inspection to "win" the deal.
Underestimating repairs is the single biggest budget-killer — add a contingency of 10–20% on top of any contractor estimate, since surprises (rot, old wiring, permit issues) are the rule, not the exception, on older homes.
Using the listing's suggested rent instead of real comparable listings is how deals that "pencil" on paper lose money in reality — sellers and agents have every incentive to quote optimistic numbers. Always verify with 2–3 independent sources.
Skipping the inspection to make an offer more competitive can save you a week, and cost you tens of thousands if it hides a bad foundation or roof — it's rarely worth the risk except on properties you're buying purely for land value or a full teardown.
📞 Before you offer
Verify rent with 3 comparable listings · get an insurance quote, don't guess · ask for the seller's actual tax bill · walk it with a contractor if any rehab is planned · line up financing quotes before you're under contract.
Every one of these checks is cheap and fast compared to the cost of being wrong after you're under contract with earnest money on the line. Insurance in particular can swing wildly by property age, roof condition, and location (flood/wind zones) — a guessed number can be off by hundreds per month.
Ask the seller directly for their most recent tax bill rather than trusting a county estimate — many areas reassess property tax at the new sale price, which can be significantly higher than what the current owner is paying.