Underwriting, with the math showing.
Deal metrics, BRRRR mechanics and plain-English underwriting, with every formula named.
The seller's tax bill isn't yours: underwriting property tax reassessment and a fresh insurance quote
Listings show what the seller paid for taxes and insurance. You'll pay what the county and your insurer charge you. On our $300,000 example, that difference turns $53 a month of cash flow into −$122. Here's the math and the price that fixes it.
Rent should be 1.8x the mortgage? What that rule misses, run on a real-sized deal
Rent-to-payment ratios are quick and tempting. On our $82,000 example house, rent at 1.8x the mortgage payment loses $170 a month once vacancy, management, repairs, capex, taxes and insurance are in. Here's the full math and the ratio this house actually needed.
Reverse-underwrite your BRRRR from the lender's DSCR (before you make the offer)
A DSCR lender doesn't just check your appraisal. It checks whether the rent covers the new payment, and if it doesn't, your loan shrinks. Here's how to work the lender's math backward to a maximum offer, with every number shown.
Break-even occupancy: the 91.49% number that tells you how much bad luck a rental can take
A rental can cash flow on paper and still have almost no room for a slow month. Break-even occupancy is the one number that tells you how much room you really have. Here's the formula, one ordinary house worked line by line, and the four inputs that move it the most.
What is a real estate buy box? The definitive guide, with a fill-in template
Your buy box is the set of rules a deal has to pass before you spend another minute on it. Here's how to build yours, number by number: market, price, property type, condition, cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, the 1% rule and BRRRR cash left in.
The BRRRR costs nobody puts in the spreadsheet, and why no money left in rarely survives them
On the napkin, this BRRRR hands back every dollar. Run the same deal with points, six months of interest, taxes, insurance and two closings, and $25,820 stays in the house. Here's every line, worked out, and the three levers that actually move it.
When to refinance a BRRRR, and the $159,000 of equity that isn't there
An agent told an investor to cash-out refinance first and go shopping after. Seventeen replies argued about it and not one of them put a number on it. Here's where the refinance actually belongs in a BRRRR, the six-month rule that decides it, and why $300,000 of equity turns into $141,000 of spendable cash.
How to calculate ARV (and why the appraiser gets the last word)
Two investors walk the same house and come out with ARVs $30,000 apart. Both used the same formula, and that formula is the problem. Here's the comp method appraisers actually use, a worked example on a real grid, and what happens to your BRRRR when the appraisal lands 7.5% light.
NOI vs. cash flow: the $13,000 property that pays you nothing
A listing flyer says the property earns $13,000 a year. The seller isn't lying. You will still take home zero, and the reason is two numbers that sound identical and answer completely different questions. Here's the full waterfall on one ordinary house, and which metric needs which number.
Your rental property analysis spreadsheet probably has an error in it
Audits of real-world spreadsheets find that roughly 94% contain at least one error, and a deal underwrite has well over a hundred formula cells. Here's an honest look at the four ways a rental spreadsheet breaks, which two jobs it still wins outright, and how to use both tools without lying to yourself.