Business & Finance K–12 · Real Estate Investing · Tool
Deal Analyzer
Four free worksheets for judging a real estate deal the way careful small investors do: a buy-and-hold rental, a house hack, the BRRRR method and a fix-and-flip. Change any number and every result updates. Print a filled-in worksheet for your notebook, print a blank one to work by hand, save scenarios on this device, or copy a link to share a deal with a parent or mentor.
How to use it. Every box starts with example numbers for a pretend property — replace them with real figures from listings, rent comparables, insurance quotes, the county tax record and a lender’s quote. Percent boxes are percents of rent unless the label says otherwise. Results are estimates for learning and comparison, not financial, tax or legal advice; a deal that only works with optimistic numbers does not work.
Saved scenarios (this device only)
Saved in this browser only. Clearing site data, private windows or another device will not have them — print or copy a link for anything you need to keep.
What the results mean
- Gross scheduled income — all rent and other income for a year if every unit stayed full. Vacancy is subtracted to get effective gross income.
- Operating expenses — taxes, insurance, HOA dues, owner-paid utilities, repairs, capital expenditures (CapEx: saving for roofs, furnaces, water heaters, flooring) and management. They do not include the mortgage.
- Net operating income (NOI) — effective gross income minus operating expenses: what the property earns before any loan.
- Cash flow — NOI minus the mortgage payments (and mortgage insurance): what is left for the owner.
- Cash-on-cash return — a year’s cash flow divided by the cash you put in (down payment, closing costs, upfront repairs).
- Cap rate — NOI divided by the price: the property’s return as if bought with cash, useful for comparing properties and markets.
- DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) — NOI divided by the year’s loan payments. Lenders commonly want at least 1.2–1.25 on investment loans; below 1.0 the rent does not cover the loan.
- The 1% rule — a quick screen: monthly rent at least about 1% of price plus repairs. Many good deals in high-price areas fail it, and many deals that pass it fail on expenses; it only decides whether to look closer.
- The 50% rule — a quick estimate that operating expenses run about half of rent over time. The worksheet shows it beside your detailed estimate so you can see if your expense guesses are too rosy.
- The 70% rule (flips) — a common ceiling: pay no more than about 70% of the after-repair value (ARV) minus the repair cost, leaving room for holding costs, selling costs and profit.
“Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost?” (Luke 14:28). The worksheet is the sitting down first. Run the numbers on fifty properties before you buy one, and walk away cheerfully from every deal that needs hope to work. This tool goes with the School Launch Real Estate Investing course and the Real Estate: Agent & Investor pathway.