Cash flow is one of three ways a rental makes money. This adds the other two — the loan your tenant pays down, and what the property is worth when you sell — and shows the answer at three different appreciation rates instead of one.
Cap rate, real cash flow, and cash-on-cash return — with the expenses most analyses leave out.
Every dollar you bring to the closing — transfer tax, who pays it in your state, recording tax, and lender reserves.
Estimated all-in monthly payment for a home price you have in mind.
A leveraged rental makes money three ways and cash flow is only one of them. Here is what the other two are worth — and why the structure that maximises them is a bet, not a plan.
Down payment plus closing costs is the number most investors budget. Three more lines decide whether the deal actually closes — and one of them is money you never spend.
How to verify one specific rental deal: audit the seller's pro-forma line by line, comp a real rent, reassess the tax, age the systems, and price the offer the numbers actually support.
Set up basis correctly, claim the depreciation you are owed, survive the passive-loss rules, and know what the sale will cost — with every figure tied to the statute.