What is a good cap rate for rental property?
There is no universal number. What cap rate measures, the ranges investors use, and why higher is not always better.
Guides
Rental property investing guides
By Cedrick Reese, Property Rental Calculator
Free, plain-English guides to rental property investing and the numbers behind a deal, each one paired with our free Rental Property Calculator.
Cash-on-cash return vs cap rate vs ROI
Three metrics, three different questions. What each includes, when to use it, and how they can disagree.
How to calculate cash flow on a rental property
From gross rent to effective gross income, operating expenses, NOI, and the cash that lands in your pocket.
The 1% rule and the 50% rule, explained
Two quick screens, not buy signals. What each says, how to use them, and where they break down today.
How to estimate operating expenses on a rental
A category-by-category guide, with the common rule-of-thumb ranges for management, maintenance, capex, and vacancy.
DSCR loans explained for rental investors (2026)
Qualifying on the property's rent instead of your income: ratio, down payment, credit, and the trade-offs.
Rental property investment terms glossary
NOI, cap rate, cash-on-cash, IRR, GRM, DSCR, cost basis, depreciation recapture, and more, each with its formula.
OBBBA tax changes for rental investors (2026)
Permanent 100% bonus depreciation, a bigger Section 179 limit, the permanent 20% QBI deduction, and 1031 left intact.
The 1031 exchange, explained (2026)
Defer capital gains and depreciation recapture: the 45 and 180-day deadlines, like-kind rules, the intermediary, and boot.
Is being a landlord worth it? An honest look
The real pros and cons of rental property, weighed without the hype, and how to decide on a specific deal.
How to screen a rental applicant
A compliant, step-by-step screening process: written criteria, fair housing, credit and background checks, and adverse action.
How to buy your first rental property: a step-by-step roadmap
From deciding if landlording fits your life to screening your first tenant, in the order most first-time investors actually work through it.
Buying a rental property with little or no money down
House hacking, seller financing, hard money, and partnerships, with the real tradeoffs behind each one.
Should you put your rental property in an LLC?
Real liability protection, real annual costs, and the due-on-sale clause risk most first-time investors miss.
How rental income actually gets taxed: Schedule E explained
What counts as income, what you can deduct, and the repairs-vs-improvements mistake that costs landlords the most.
The short-term rental tax loophole, explained
The 7-day rule, material participation tests, and how it lets qualifying losses offset your W-2 income.
What happens if you need to evict a tenant
The general six-stage process every state follows, what varies the most, and why screening is the eviction you avoid entirely.
How many landlords lose money? US landlord statistics from IRS tax data
How many landlords there are, how many report a rental loss, and what they net, straight from IRS tax data with a downloadable CSV.
These guides are educational estimates, not financial, investment, or tax advice. Verify important decisions with a qualified professional.
How this is built and kept current
Cedrick Reese, a web developer, writes every guide on this page from the actual sources cited at the bottom of each article, whether that's an IRS publication, a lender's published guidelines, or industry cost data. Each guide gets rechecked and updated whenever the law, lending standards, or typical figures it describes change.