REALTOR® Tool

Investment Property ROI

Run cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, NOI, and DSCR on a single-family or small multifamily rental. Includes the 1% rule and 50% rule sanity checks investors lean on for back-of-envelope underwriting.

Acquisition

Purchase price

Down payment

$75,000Loan term

Closing costs

Initial repairs

Interest rate

Income

Monthly rent

Other income (laundry, pet, etc.)

Vacancy reserve

% of gross rent — Austin SFR usually 5–8%

Fixed operating costs

Annual property tax

Annual insurance

Monthly HOA

Variable reserves (% of effective gross income)

Property mgmt

0 if self-managedMaintenance

CapEx reserve

Other monthly op-ex

Utilities (landlord-paid)

Other monthly op-ex

Monthly Cash Flow

-$265

-$3,184 / yr · Loan $225,000 · Cash in $84,500

Cap rate

5.1%

Cash-on-cash

-3.8%

DSCR

0.83

GRM

10.4

✗ 1% rule (0.80%)✓ 50% rule

Income (annual)

Gross rent$28,800

− Vacancy-$1,440

Effective gross income$27,360

Operating expenses (annual)

Property tax$5,400

Insurance$1,800

Property mgmt$2,189

Maintenance$1,368

CapEx reserve$1,368

Total op-ex$12,125

NOI$15,235

− Debt service−$18,419

Annual cash flow-$3,184

Estimates only. Excludes income taxes, depreciation, and future rent growth. Always pencil a deal with the investor's actual lender quote and a local PM's rent comp.

Rule-of-thumb shortcuts: 1% rule — monthly rent ≥ 1% of purchase price (gut check for cash flow). 50% rule — operating expenses (excl. debt service) ≤ 50% of gross rent. These are screening heuristics, not underwriting standards.