Enter the address. With Pro you can scan the house in front of you with your phone instead. Then add the price and expected income. Use realistic estimates rather than zeros: the answer waits until the numbers it rests on are real ones.
The headline says whether it works. “Biggest risk” names the one assumption in your numbers carrying the most weight. Change that one first.
Confirm rent, taxes, insurance, financing, repair scope, and local rules independently.
Each term is also explained right where it appears in the calculators and saved deals. The line under each one says where to find it on a saved deal.
30 definitions
The monthly arithmetic underneath every rental answer.
What is left each month after rent comes in and vacancy, operating costs, reserves, and the mortgage go out. Positive means the property pays you. Negative means you pay it.
Shown as 'Cash flow / mo', the big number under the answer.
Rent you actually collect, not rent on paper. It is the full rent minus an allowance for the months the unit sits empty.
The 'Income after vacancy' line, under 'Monthly cash flow' on the Analysis tab.
Everything the property costs to run whether or not there is a loan on it: taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, HOA, utilities you cover. The mortgage is not an operating expense.
Under 'Monthly cash flow' on the Analysis tab, one line for each cost.
Effective gross income minus operating expenses. It is what the building earns before any lender is paid, which is why it is the number used to compare properties with different financing. DealLevel counts the CapEx reserve and property management as operating expenses, so its NOI is more conservative than a broker's, which often leaves the reserve out.
A line under 'Monthly cash flow' on the Analysis tab. Cap rate and DSCR are worked out from it.
The mortgage payment itself: principal plus interest. Taxes and insurance are counted separately here even if your lender escrows them into one payment.
The 'Principal & interest' line, under 'Monthly cash flow' on the Analysis tab.
The one-time fees to buy: lender charges, title, appraisal, recording, prepaid items. Usually a few percent of the price, and they come out of your pocket rather than the loan.
Its own line on the Analysis tab. You set the percentage on the Inputs tab.
What the property costs you each month while nobody is paying rent: taxes, insurance and utilities. A loan's interest is counted on its own line.
Fix and flip, and the BRRRR renovation period.
Money set aside each month for the things that fail once a decade rather than once a year: the roof, the HVAC, the water heater, the appliances. It is not maintenance, and leaving it out is the most flattering thing you can do to a rental on paper.
Operating expenses, on every rental strategy.
Every dollar of your own money the deal consumes: down payment, closing costs, renovation, and furnishing. Your return is measured against it, so getting it wrong flatters every percentage on the page.
Shown as 'Total cash in', under the answer and under 'Cash needed' on the Analysis tab.
Four ways of asking the same question: was this a good use of the money?
Yearly net operating income divided by the property value. It deliberately ignores your loan, which is what makes it useful for comparing two properties financed differently.
One of the figures under the answer, or under 'Key metrics' on the Analysis tab.
A year of cash flow divided by the cash you actually put in. Unlike cap rate it does count your financing, so a bigger loan raises it and a bigger down payment lowers it.
One of the figures under the answer, on every rental strategy.
One annualized percentage covering the whole hold, and the only return here that cares when money moves. A dollar back in year one is worth more than a dollar back in year fifteen, and this is the number that says so.
On the Analysis tab, on the line that ends in (IRR).
Profit divided by the cash you invested, across the whole project rather than per year. On a flip this is the headline.
On a fix and flip, shown as 'Return on cash'.
The same return stretched or compressed to a yearly rate, so a six-month flip and a two-year flip can be compared honestly.
On a fix and flip, shown as 'Annualized return'.
Net profit as a share of the sale price. A thin margin means small errors anywhere in the budget eat the whole profit.
On a fix and flip, under 'The return' on the Analysis tab.
What a lender looks at, and what breaks a deal quietly.
Net operating income divided by the mortgage payment. Above 1.0 means the property covers its own loan. Most lenders want 1.25 or better, because 1.0 exactly means no room for a single bad month.
One of the figures under the answer. Shows as 'No debt' on an all-cash purchase.
The loan as a share of what the property is worth. A 75% LTV refinance on a $200,000 valuation is a $150,000 loan, and the appraisal is what decides that valuation, not your estimate.
On the Inputs tab of a BRRRR, under 'Refinance'.
A fee charged as a percentage of the loan, paid up front. Two points on a $150,000 loan is $3,000, and on a short flip that lands entirely on this one project.
On a fix and flip, under 'Financing'.
The share of the year you assume the unit sits empty between tenants. Most markets run 5 to 10 percent. Assuming zero is the single most common way a beginner's spreadsheet lies to them.
On the Inputs tab, under 'Income'. Often the number named under 'Biggest risk'.
Quick checks. None of them is a substitute for the full arithmetic.
What the property is expected to be worth once the planned renovation is finished. Every flip and every BRRRR rests on this number, and it is an estimate, not a fact, until an appraiser agrees with it.
On the Inputs tab of a fix and flip or a BRRRR.
A quick check, not an answer: monthly rent of at least 1% of the purchase price. It was a useful filter in a cheaper market and it fails badly in expensive ones. Treat a miss as a reason to look closer, not to walk.
On a long-term rental, under 'Other ratios' on the Analysis tab.
Do not pay more than 70% of the after repair value minus the renovation budget. It is the flip world's standard sanity check, and it exists to leave room for the costs beginners forget.
Near the top of the Analysis tab on a fix and flip, where it says whether your price passes.
The point at which one assumption stops working: the rent, the sale price, or the occupancy at which the deal turns from yes to no. This is what 'Biggest risk' names for you.
Under the answer, headed 'Biggest risk' or 'What would fix it'.
Moving one assumption at a time to see how far it can slip before the answer changes. A deal that survives a 10% rent miss is a different deal from one that does not.
The stress test tab.
Renting by the night has its own words and its own way of going wrong.
What you charge per booked night, averaged across the year. Your peak-season rate is not your average nightly rate.
On the Inputs tab of a short-term rental, under 'Income'.
The share of nights in the whole year that are booked, including the slow months. Most hosts land between 50 and 65 percent. This is the assumption that sinks most short-term rentals.
On the Inputs tab of a short-term rental, under 'Income'.
Nightly rate multiplied by occupancy. It is the honest version of the nightly rate, because it counts the empty nights the headline rate ignores.
On a short-term rental, shown as 'Revenue per night' under the answer.
Buy, renovate, rent, refinance, repeat. The question is how much cash comes back.
Purchase price plus renovation plus holding costs. The total the property has cost you by the time it is rented and ready to refinance.
On a BRRRR, under the answer and under 'What the property costs you'.
What is still tied up in the deal after the refinance hands money back. The whole point of a BRRRR is to make this small. At zero, your return is infinite because you have none of your own money in it.
On a BRRRR, one of the figures under the answer.
After repair value minus all-in cost. The value the renovation added rather than the value the market handed you.
On a BRRRR, one of the figures under the answer.
Open the rental calculator with its example numbers, change one assumption at a time, and watch which one moves the answer.
Open the rental calculatorQuestions, or a number that looks wrong? Email support@deallevel.io.