Real Estate Investing, Explained
New to rental-property investing — or just tired of guessing? This guide breaks down the numbers that decide whether a deal makes money: cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DSCR, NOI, ARV, the 1% rule and more — in plain English. CashFlowRE computes all of them on every for-sale listing so you can find cash-flowing properties fast.
Start finding cash-flowing deals →In-depth guides
How to Analyze a Rental Property in 10 Minutes
A step-by-step framework for analyzing any rental property fast: estimate rent, run the cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DSCR and monthly cash flow, and…
Read the guide →How to Find Cash-Flowing Rental Properties (Step by Step)
A repeatable process for finding positive-cash-flow rentals: pick the right markets, set your buy box, screen on cap rate and DSCR, and underwrite con…
Read the guide →Cap Rate vs Cash-on-Cash Return: Which Matters More?
Cap rate and cash-on-cash return answer different questions. Learn what each measures, when to use which, and why smart investors track both.
Read the guide →The 1% Rule Explained: Does It Still Work?
What the 1% rule is, why it's only a screening tool, where it breaks down, and what to use instead to confirm a rental property actually cash-flows.
Read the guide →The BRRRR Method Explained: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat
How the BRRRR strategy lets investors recycle capital into multiple rentals — the five steps, the key numbers (ARV, 70% rule, DSCR refinance), and the…
Read the guide →DSCR Loans for Rental Investors: A Plain-English Guide
What a DSCR loan is, how lenders calculate the debt-service coverage ratio, what ratio you need to qualify, and the trade-offs versus a conventional m…
Read the guide →Key metrics & abbreviations
Cap rate
Cap rate (capitalization rate) = a property's yearly net operating income ÷ its price, as a %. It's the unleveraged annual return if you paid all cash…
Read more →Cash-on-cash return (CoC)
Cash-on-cash (CoC) = annual pre-tax cash flow ÷ the actual cash you put in (down payment + closing + rehab). Unlike cap rate it accounts for your mort…
Read more →DSCR
DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio) = net operating income ÷ annual mortgage payments. 1.0 means rent exactly covers the loan; lenders usually want 1.2…
Read more →NOI
NOI (Net Operating Income) = gross rent minus operating expenses (taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management) — but BEFORE the mortgage. It's …
Read more →ARV
ARV (After Repair Value) = the estimated market value of the property once it's fully renovated, based on comparable sold homes. We compare list price…
Read more →The 1% rule
The 1% rule is a quick screen: monthly rent ÷ purchase price. If that's ≥ 1% (e.g. $2,000 rent on a $200,000 home), the deal is likely to cash flow. I…
Read more →Composite score
The composite score (0–100) is our overall ranking that blends the investment math (cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, 1% rule) with location quality (liva…
Read more →Letter grade (A–F)
The A–F grade is a simple bucket of the composite score: A = top deals, F = weakest. Use it as a quick filter; open a property for the full breakdown …
Read more →Neighborhood tier
Neighborhood tier rates the area's quality (A+ to C) from the livability score, so you can filter for stronger locations regardless of the individual …
Read more →Livability score
Livability (0–100) is a location-quality score for the city/area, covering amenities, cost of living, crime, education, employment, housing, and weath…
Read more →Schools composite / school grade
The schools composite/grade rates the assigned school district's quality. Good schools tend to support property values and attract long-term tenants/b…
Read more →Crime grade
The crime grade (A–F) reflects the area's crime level relative to national averages — A is safest. It's part of the livability picture.
Read more →HPI / price trend (YoY)
HPI (Home Price Index) tracks how home prices in the area have moved. The YoY figure is the year-over-year % change — positive means prices are rising…
Read more →Days on market (DOM)
Days on market (DOM) = how long the listing has been for sale. We show a live count (scrape date + days since). A high DOM can signal an overpriced li…
Read more →Monthly / annual cash flow
Cash flow = rent left over after ALL costs including the mortgage (mortgage + taxes + insurance + vacancy + maintenance + management). Monthly cash fl…
Read more →Estimated rent
Estimated monthly rent comes from our rental-market model using comparable local rentals (and per-unit rents for multi-family). It drives all the cash…
Read more →Fractional / co-ownership share
Some listings are a fractional (co-ownership) share, not the whole home — so the list price is for a fraction. We gross it up to the implied whole-pro…
Read more →Hot home
A 'Hot' badge marks listings flagged as getting high buyer interest, so they may move fast. It's a demand signal, not a value judgment.
Read more →Waterfront / Lakefront
Waterfront filters find homes near a body of water (lake, pond, river, reservoir, bay, ocean) using Census water-boundary data, and you can filter by …
Read more →Price per sqft
Price per square foot = price ÷ living area. It's a quick way to compare a listing's pricing against nearby homes of different sizes.
Read more →Underwriting assumptions
Our cash-flow math uses default investor assumptions: 25% down, ~7.5% rate, 30-yr loan, plus allowances for taxes, insurance, vacancy (8%), maintenanc…
Read more →Comps / CMA
Comps (comparables) are recently sold, similar nearby homes. The CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) uses them to estimate ARV/value, which we compare t…
Read more →HOA
HOA = Homeowners Association fee, a recurring charge in some communities (condos, planned developments). It's an operating cost that reduces cash flow…
Read more →Frequently asked questions
What is CashFlowRE?
CashFlowRE ranks for-sale homes by their investment potential — it pulls listings, estimates rent, runs the cash-flow math, and scores each property on returns + location quality so you can quickly find cash-flowing deals. Use the filters and sort to narrow down, and open a property for the full breakdown.
Where does the data come from / how fresh?
Listings and details are scraped from public real-estate sources and refreshed on a recurring schedule (roughly every few hours). Rent, scores, and comps are computed from market data. Figures are estimates to help you screen — always verify the specifics before making an offer.
What's a good cap rate / cash-on-cash?
Rules of thumb (markets vary!): cap rate 7%+ and cash-on-cash 8%+ are generally attractive for cash flow; DSCR 1.2+ keeps lenders happy. Pricey/appreciating markets often trade at lower cap rates because buyers expect price growth instead.
How do I save searches / favorite homes?
Sign in, then use the heart icon on a card to favorite a property (see them under your account menu → Favorites), and save a filter set as a saved search from the filters area. You can also hide listings you're not interested in.
Why are some photos missing?
Photos are added by a background job that works through new listings newest-first, so a very recently added property may not have its images yet — they usually appear within a day or two. Some listings also genuinely have no photos at the source.
Subscription & billing
Plans: a 1-Day pass ($2), a 7-Day pass ($10), and a Monthly plan ($30, auto-renews). Manage or cancel anytime from the Subscription page (account menu → Subscription → Manage subscription). Payments are handled securely by Stripe.
Explain the metrics / abbreviations
Ask me about any of these and I'll break it down simply: cap rate, cash-on-cash (CoC), DSCR, NOI, ARV, the 1% rule, composite score, grade, livability, schools, crime grade, HPI/price trend, days on market, cash flow, estimated rent, fractional shares, price per sqft, comps/CMA, HOA, and the underwriting assumptions. Just type the term.
Ready to put the numbers to work? Create a free account and start screening deals.