Real Estate Investment Insights — rental underwriting notes and calculators

Real Estate Investment Insights is for people who already know that cap rate is NOI over price and still get hurt by insurance quotes, post-sale tax bills, and listing rents. We publish working guides, a glossary that distinguishes lender DSCR from a website ratio, and calculators that show the arithmetic of the numbers you type.

The interactive tools use simplifying assumptions — including a blended 1.5% of price expense plug on several screens. That plug is a first pass, not an operating statement. AI “verdicts” group your inputs; they are not appraisals and not a live market feed.

Start with a document, not a dashboard

1. Underwrite a rental before the listing photos talk you into it — A working underwriting sequence for small residential rentals: lock rent, rebuild expenses from bills, then decide whether leverage still helps.
2. Twelve checks that should change the offer — or kill it — A short pre-offer checklist for rental buyers. Each item is something that should move price, terms, or a walk-away, not a 50-point ritual.
3. The expense stack the 50% rule hides — Where the 50% nickname hides real carrying costs on small rentals — taxes after a sale, insurance, turnover — and the worksheet that replaces it.

Then open the mortgage calculator or Deal Analyzer and replace the pretty rent with leased comps. Read About for how the Site is run, Contact for corrections, and the disclaimer before you treat any figure as a plan. Privacy and ads: Privacy Policy.

Articles live at /blog. Older outline-shaped posts now carry field notes on the parts those outlines usually skip.