Free rental property calculator that grades the deal A to F.
Cash flow after every real expense, not just rent minus mortgage. Vacancy, maintenance, capital expenditures, management and reserves are all in by default, which is why the verdict here is usually more sober than the one you got somewhere else.
Every weight, cut-off and formula is published on the methodology page, and every change is dated in the changelog. Nothing here is behind an email.
Free: the 12-point checklist and this quarter's market report
What to verify before you offer, plus a national rent, price and rate read. Sent once, then a short note when something material changes. No sequence, no drip.
Nothing is stored and nothing is sent. The whole calculation runs in your browser. There is no account, no property limit, and no record of what you typed.
Everything is editable. The defaults are national rules of thumb. Replace them with your county's tax rate, your written insurance quote and your real achievable rent, and the grade moves.
Use it as a screen, not a verdict. The grade measures the arithmetic. It cannot see the roof, the street, the tenant or how quickly you could sell. Go and look at the property.
When the free grade says maybe, the toolkit says how much.
The calculator above is free forever, and it is not a trial. When you want the full arithmetic behind it, the toolkit comes in three editions. One payment, no subscription, and every file is yours permanently.
Screen any deal in your browser, right now.
- The A to F grade with the 0 to 100 score
- Cash flow, cash-on-cash, cap rate and both DSCRs
- Your walk-away price across three targets
- Every assumption editable, no property limit
You do not own a rental yet and want the plain-English starting point.
- Before Your First Rental, the beginner guide (PDF)
- The 12-point Deal Checklist (PDF)
- The Investor Field Guide (PDF)
You are actively analyzing deals and want the full model.
- The Investor Model, ten tabs (Excel): deal grade, five-year projection, three-deal comparison, BRRRR planner, scenarios and sensitivity
- The AI Research Prompt Pack (PDF)
- The same prompts as a copy-paste text file
You own two or more doors, or you are weighing short-term rentals.
- The Short-Term Rental Model with a nine-point permits and regulation check (Excel)
- The Portfolio Tracker with the Refinance Planner (Excel)
- The current national rental market report (PDF)
Open it, run a property you already own through it, and check the output against what that property actually does. If the model does not survive that test, ask for your money back and keep everything.
This is not for you if
- You want an app that pulls listings and comps for you. This connects to nothing.
- You want to be told a deal is good. It regularly says no.
- You are looking for a course, a coach or a community. There are none.
- You do not open spreadsheets.
There are no reviews on it yet, because there have been no sales yet, and we would rather show you the product than invent praise for it. The methodology page is the honest substitute.
What makes this different
The free grade above is complete. There is no locked metric, no property limit and no account. The paid toolkit is a file you download once, not a login you keep paying for. If that is the only thing you take from this page, it is the thing that matters.
How DealGauge grades a rental deal
The grade weighs four things: monthly cash flow after every real expense, cash-on-cash return on the money you actually put in, whether a lender would finance it, and cap rate against a target. A deal only earns an A when it clears all four with room. Many deals at today's rates do not, and DealGauge says so plainly. The methodology page publishes every weight and cut-off, including what the grade deliberately cannot see.
Two DSCRs, because they answer different questions
DealGauge shows a strict DSCR after all costs, which is how well the property covers its loan once every expense and reserve is counted, and a separate lender DSCR on gross rent, which is rent divided by principal, interest, taxes, insurance and HOA. The second is what a DSCR lender actually underwrites, and most look for roughly 1.20 to 1.25, so that is the one the grade uses for the financeability factor. The strict number is shown because it is the honest one, and it is always lower.
The expenses beginners forget
Vacancy, repairs and maintenance, capital expenditures for big-ticket items, property management and cash reserves are the costs that quietly turn a positive deal negative. All of them are in by default here. The bar above the walk-away price shows exactly where your rent goes, in proportion, before you own anything.
Why the walk-away price is the number to write down
Three targets, three prices, and you pay no more than the lowest of them. The tool names which one binds, because "your walk-away is $159,637 and the binding constraint is cash-on-cash" tells you what to negotiate on. Property tax is re-solved at every price, since your bill is reassessed to what you paid rather than what the seller used to pay. That single detail is the most common way a positive deal turns negative on the day it closes.
FAQ
Is DealGauge free?
Yes. The grade, the verdict, the metrics, the rent breakdown and your walk-away price are all free, update as you type, and work on as many properties as you like. No account. The email box is only for the checklist and market report. The full toolkit is a separate one-time $49 purchase.
What does the grade mean?
A 0 to 100 score across cash flow, cash-on-cash, financeability and cap rate, mapped to a letter. A and B are strong, C is marginal, D and F lose money or barely break even. Every weight and cut-off is published on the methodology page. It is an estimate, not advice.
What is the walk-away price?
The highest price at which this deal still satisfies all three targets: $150 a month in cash flow, 8% cash-on-cash, and a lender DSCR of 1.20. Whichever binds first sets the number. Property taxes are re-estimated at each candidate price.
Why is the cap rate lower than a broker's?
DealGauge sets aside a capital expenditure reserve inside operating costs before it calculates cap rate, so the figure reads roughly a point below a broker-quoted cap rate on the same property. A 6% DealGauge cap is about a 7% broker cap. Same property, measured more cautiously. Cash needed also includes a starting operating float, which you can change.
Are there reviews?
No, and we are not going to invent any. DealGauge is new. What we can offer instead is the full arithmetic on the methodology page, a dated changelog of every change that moves a number, and a thirty-day refund on the paid toolkit where you keep the files.
Can I put this calculator on my own site?
Yes, free, with no account and no sign-up. Copy one line of HTML from the embed page. It carries a small "Powered by DealGauge" link and nothing else.