Most real estate sites are organized around tools. This one is organized around the question you actually have. Pick the decision you are facing: you will get a direct answer, the method behind it, the calculator that runs the numbers, and — when the answer depends on one specific address — Property Intelligence™.
A property is worth buying when its condition, price and carrying cost still work under conservative assumptions — not just under the seller's. Test it by pricing the repairs you can see, adding taxes and insurance to the payment, and comparing the total against what similar homes actually closed at, not what they listed for.
Buying
Your offer should start from what comparable properties closed at, adjusted for condition and for how long this one has been listed — then be capped by the highest price at which the deal still works for you. List price is the seller's opinion; it is an input, not a starting point.
Buying
What you can afford is the monthly total you can carry without strain — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, any HOA dues, and a reserve for maintenance — not the loan amount a lender approves. Pre-approval sets a ceiling; your budget should sit below it.
Buying
Expect roughly 2% to 5% of the purchase price in buyer closing costs — lender fees, title and settlement, recording and transfer taxes, appraisal and inspections, plus prepaid taxes and insurance. Cash purchases drop the lender items but keep title, recording and prepaids.
Buying
Trust what has been documented and inspected; treat everything else as unknown. The systems that decide whether a house is a good buy are the ones with the largest replacement cost and the shortest remaining life — roof, heating and cooling, electrical service, plumbing supply, foundation and drainage.
Buying
Start with the monthly number you are comfortable with, then get pre-approved to confirm it, then look. Deciding what you can carry before you fall in love with a house is the single step that prevents the most expensive mistakes.
Buying
A property cash flows when rent exceeds every cost of owning it — mortgage, taxes, insurance, management, maintenance, capital reserves and vacancy — not just the mortgage. Budget vacancy and maintenance as real line items before you call anything positive.
Investing
Cap rate is net operating income divided by price — the unleveraged yield of the property itself. It is only meaningful against local comparables: a 5% cap can be strong in one market and weak in another, and it says nothing about your financing.
Investing
Cash-on-cash return is annual pre-tax cash flow divided by the cash you actually put in — down payment, closing costs and up-front repairs. It answers what your money earns; cap rate answers what the property earns.
Investing
After-repair value comes from what comparable renovated properties actually sold for in the same area, not from the purchase price plus the repair budget. Money spent does not become value earned; the market decides what the finished property is worth.
Investing
BRRRR works only when the refinance appraisal supports pulling most of your capital back out while the property still cash flows at the new loan amount. If either half fails, you own a property with your money trapped in it.
Investing
Investment lenders increasingly size the loan on the property's debt service coverage ratio — net operating income divided by annual debt service — rather than on your personal income. Most want 1.20 or better.
Investing
Price from closed sales of genuinely comparable homes in the last three to six months, adjusted for condition and size — then price at, not above, the top of that supported range. Overpricing costs more than it gains, because the largest share of buyer attention arrives in the first two weeks.
Selling
Net proceeds are the sale price minus loan payoff, commissions, transfer and recording taxes, prorated property taxes, concessions, and any repairs you agree to. The gap between price and proceeds is usually eight to ten percent of the sale.
Selling
Fix what a buyer's inspector will find and a lender will require — active leaks, safety items, failing systems. Cosmetic work pays only where it is visible in the first photographs and the first ten feet inside the door.
Selling
Compare the net proceeds you would receive today, invested elsewhere, against the total return of keeping it — cash flow, principal paydown and appreciation, minus the real cost of being a landlord. Keeping wins more often than sellers assume, but only when the property genuinely cash flows.
Selling
Estimate by system rather than by square foot: roof, heating and cooling, electrical, plumbing, windows, kitchen, baths, flooring and exterior, each priced from local bids. Then add a contingency of ten to twenty percent — twenty on any property built before 1978 or with unknown mechanical history.
Rehab
After-repair value is set by what comparable renovated properties sold for nearby — same size, same finish level, same area. It is never the purchase price plus the renovation budget.
Rehab
Holding costs are loan interest, taxes, insurance, utilities and security for every month of the project plus every month it takes to sell or lease. On a six-month project they routinely exceed the cost of the kitchen.
Rehab
A renovation is worth doing when the supportable after-repair value exceeds purchase price, total repair cost, holding cost and selling cost with margin left over. If the margin depends on the top of the value range, the project has no room for the surprise that always arrives.
Rehab
Pay cash when certainty, speed or a competitive offer matters more than return, and when the money has no better use. Finance when the property's return exceeds the cost of the debt and you want to keep reserves. Compare total cost over the years you will actually hold it, not the monthly payment.
Financing
Conventional loans cost less over time and drop mortgage insurance once you reach twenty percent equity. FHA accepts lower credit scores and smaller down payments but carries mortgage insurance for the life of most loans. The right answer depends on your down payment and credit, not on the rate alone.
Financing
A DSCR loan qualifies on the property's debt service coverage ratio — net operating income divided by annual debt service — rather than on your tax returns. Most lenders want 1.20 or better, and price the loan on how far above 1.00 you are.
Financing
Enough to avoid mortgage insurance if you can reach it without draining reserves, and no more than that if the capital earns more elsewhere. Always keep a reserve: the down payment that leaves nothing behind is the one that turns a repair into a crisis.
Financing
A parcel is buildable when zoning permits your use, the lot meets minimum size and setback requirements, it has legal road access, and it can be served by water and sewer or by a well and an approved septic system. Failing any one of those makes the rest irrelevant.
Land
Cost is driven by distance and by soil. Public water and sewer are priced per foot of connection plus tap fees; a well and septic system are priced by depth and by what the perc test shows. A failed perc test can end a purchase outright, which is why it belongs in the contingency.
Land
Site work — clearing, driveway, grading, drainage, utility trenching, permits and engineering — routinely runs from tens of thousands to well over a hundred thousand dollars before a foundation is poured. Sloped, wooded or wet parcels sit at the top of that range.
Land
Subdivision potential depends on the zoning minimum lot size, road frontage for each proposed lot, and whether each lot can be served independently by utilities or septic. Acreage alone never establishes it.
Land
A recommendation is only worth something if the method behind it can be inspected. Each page states the evidence required, the steps taken, and what we refuse to do when the evidence is missing.
