The numbers, explained.
RentCaliber models the first year of a US rental property using the assumptions you enter. All amounts are in USD. Default values are examples, not market data or quotes.
Income and operating expenses
Monthly collected rent = scheduled rent × (1 − vacancy ÷ 100). Other income is added without a vacancy adjustment. Taxes and insurance are annual inputs divided by 12. Maintenance is a percentage of scheduled rent; management is a percentage of collected rent. HOA and other costs are monthly dollar amounts.
Annual NOI = (collected rent + other income − operating expenses) × 12
Financing and cash invested
Loan amount = purchase price × (1 − down payment ÷ 100). We model a fully amortizing fixed-rate loan with monthly payments. A 100% down payment produces no loan or debt payment. The mortgage calculator adds taxes, insurance and HOA separately; PMI and fees are excluded.
Initial cash = down payment dollars + closing costs + upfront repairs
Cash flow and returns
Capital reserves = scheduled monthly rent × reserve percentage. They reduce cash flow but are excluded from NOI in this model. Cash flow = NOI ÷ 12 − reserves − monthly principal and interest.
Cap rate = annual NOI ÷ purchase price × 100. Cash-on-cash = annual cash flow ÷ initial cash invested × 100. No income tax, depreciation benefits, appreciation or sale proceeds are modeled. A return with zero cash invested is shown as N/A.
DSCR
DSCR = annual NOI ÷ annual principal and interest. N/A means there is no debt payment. This is an operating-income definition. It is not a lender qualification result: lender DSCR loans may use gross rent divided by PITIA or adjust NOI differently.
The illustrative Deal Score
The 0–100 score is a simple, proprietary rubric for comparing your scenarios. It is not a validated investment rating, predicted return, underwriting decision or buy/sell recommendation.
- Cash flow: up to 40 points, reaching the maximum at $500 a month.
- Cap rate: up to 30 points, reaching the maximum at 8%.
- Cash-on-cash: up to 30 points, reaching the maximum at 12%.
Each component is clamped between zero and its maximum; the sum is rounded to a whole number. Negative metrics contribute zero. Undefined cash-on-cash contributes zero. Dollar thresholds favor larger properties; do not use the score to compare different markets or asset sizes without reviewing the actual numbers.
Market data and calculator baselines
Market pages use the U.S. Census Bureau’s ACS 2024 5-year estimates for population, household income, median gross rent, median owner-occupied home value, median annual real estate taxes and total housing vacancy. The “Use baseline” action transfers median home value, median gross rent and median annual real estate taxes into the rental calculator. The tax figure is an area median for owner-occupied housing, not the assessment for a listing. It does not transfer housing vacancy because total housing vacancy is not a property-specific rental vacancy assumption.
City and state pages also show the NAIC state average for an HO-3 owner-occupied homeowners policy as insurance context. It is not a landlord-policy quote and is never loaded into the calculator. State pages also show seasonally adjusted FHFA Purchase-Only House Price Index changes. HPI describes price movement for a broad state index; it is not a property value, forecast or expected appreciation input. Market baselines are comparison references. Always replace them with the property price, comparable rent, lender quote, tax assessment, insurance quote and realistic operating costs.
Sources: Census ACS 2024 5-year API, FHFA HPI datasets and the NAIC 2023 Homeowners Insurance Report. The catalog records its retrieval date and can be rebuilt from those official endpoints.
Sources and scope
The fixed-rate payment model follows the standard amortization relationship. See the CFPB explanation of mortgage amortization. For debt coverage context, see Fannie Mae’s DSCR examples. These sources do not endorse RentCaliber or its score.
Reviewed September 24, 2026. Verify real deal inputs with local professionals and actual contracts before relying on an estimate.