Nick Thiry · Fairway Home Mortgage · free · no email wall
Analyze rental income, expenses and ROI for your investment property. Enter the price, the rents and the real expenses — get cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, a year-by-year projection and total return, then download a branded PDF report to share.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Monthly and annual cash flow with every income and expense line tracked — before and after the mortgage.
Cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DSCR, total return on investment and compound annual growth.
Year-by-year appreciation, principal paydown and cash flow for the hold period you choose — up to 30 years.
Enter your rental property details to see projected returns. Defaults are a sample Twin Cities duplex — replace every one with the real figures.
The PDF report
One click builds a Fairway-branded PDF from exactly what you entered: the headline metrics, mortgage payment, income and expenses, the investment analysis, total return, the annual cash flow table, the total return chart, Nick Thiry's contact details and the disclosures.
Generated on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Your loan officer
This calculator is presented by Nick at Fairway Home Mortgage. Nick’s contact details print on your PDF report, so whoever you share it with — a partner, your agent, your CPA — knows exactly who to call about financing the deal.
Nothing about your scenario is transmitted. When you're ready, apply online or reach Nick directly.
Nick Thiry
Branch Sales Manager · Thiry Mortgage Group
Income minus every operating expense and the mortgage. The calculator takes vacancy and maintenance out first, so "positive" here means positive after the furnace fund.
NOI ÷ annual debt service. Many investor programs look for roughly 1.25×. Under 1.0× and the property doesn't pay for itself.
Year-one cash flow ÷ every dollar you put in. The honest yield on your down payment.
Appreciation, principal paydown and cash flow combined over the hold — and the compound annual rate that gets you there.
Question: The cash flow is thin but the total return looks great. Is that bad?
Nick answers: It's a bet on appreciation and paydown — totally valid, as long as you can carry the thin months. Lenders will look at the DSCR line, so let's talk about down payment before you offer.
Every metric the calculator produces, explained like a friend would — followed by the things that are specific to buying rentals in Minnesota.
Effective gross income − operating expenses
Everything the property earns after vacancy and every operating cost, before the mortgage. NOI is the number lenders and appraisers anchor on because it describes the property, not your financing.
Annual NOI ÷ purchase price
The unleveraged yield. Useful for comparing two properties head-to-head. Twin Cities long-term rentals often trade in the mid single digits; higher cap rates usually mean more risk, more work, or a smaller market.
NOI − mortgage payment
What actually lands in (or leaves) your account each month. The calculator deducts a vacancy allowance and a maintenance budget before calling anything cash flow — because the roof does not care that you skipped the line item.
Annual cash flow ÷ total cash invested
Your first-year cash yield on the down payment, closing costs and rehab you put in. It ignores appreciation and principal paydown, which is exactly why it is a useful gut-check on a leveraged deal.
Annual NOI ÷ annual debt service
Debt service coverage ratio. 1.00× means the property exactly covers its mortgage; many investor loan programs want roughly 1.20–1.25× or better. Below 1.00× you are subsidizing the property from your own pocket.
Monthly rent ÷ price · Price ÷ annual rent
Screening shortcuts. The old "1% rule" (monthly rent at least 1% of price) is rare in the metro today; 0.7–0.9% is more typical, which is why the full expense model matters more than the rule of thumb.
Appreciation + principal paydown + cash flow
Cash flow is only one of three ways a rental pays you. The projection adds loan paydown and appreciation to get your total investment gain, then expresses it as return on investment and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the years you own it.
(Operating expenses + mortgage) ÷ gross income
The share of scheduled rent you must actually collect to cover every bill. Above 100% means the property loses money even fully rented at the rent you entered.
Question: So which number matters most?
Nick answers: For the lender: DSCR. For your wallet: cash flow after vacancy and repairs. For the long game: total return and CAGR. If all three are green you've probably found something — run it and send me the PDF.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules vary by city and change — confirm the current version with the municipality, your CPA and your attorney.
An investment property you do not live in is classified non-homestead in Minnesota. It does not receive the homestead market-value exclusion and is taxed under a different class rate, so the effective tax rate is typically higher than the same house would carry as a primary residence. Pull the actual proposed tax from the county parcel record and enter the real number — do not assume the seller’s homestead bill carries over.
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester and many suburbs require a rental license and periodic inspection for each rental dwelling. Budget the license fee and any inspection-driven repairs in your rehab line, and confirm the property can be licensed at all before you close.
St. Paul limits annual rent increases under its residential rent stabilization ordinance (with exemptions, including for newer construction, and a process for larger increases). If the property is in St. Paul, test the projection with lower rent growth. Minneapolis has no rent-control ordinance in effect as of this writing; check the city’s current status before relying on either.
Furnaces, roofs, ice dams, frozen lines and snow removal are real line items here. The default maintenance budget of 1% of value per year is generic; older Minneapolis and St. Paul housing stock often deserves more. Utilities paid by the owner on multi-unit buildings (common heat, water/sewer, trash) belong in the utilities line.
Live in one unit and rent the rest, and owner-occupied financing with a much lower down payment may apply. The calculator models a pure investment purchase; for a house-hack, enter only the rent you will collect from the other units and ask Nick which programs fit.
Many Minnesota cities regulate or license short-term rentals separately, and lenders underwrite them differently from long-term leases. This tool models long-term rental income with a vacancy allowance; it is not an STR calculator.
The "why is my cash flow negative" question, the "what's a good return" question, and the "what do you do with my data" question. All of it, in plain English.
Still wondering about something? Text Nick at (763) 688-1671 — real questions get real answers.
A spreadsheet can’t tell you what a lender will actually approve. Nick can — download the PDF, send it over, and bring the numbers to a real conversation about down payment, DSCR and which loan fits the deal.
