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Guides for small landlords
Plain-English guides with worked examples: rental cash flow, returns, refinancing, rent tracking and bookkeeping. General information for US landlords, not tax, legal or financial advice.
Analysing a rental
How to calculate rental property cash flow, step by step
How to calculate monthly cash flow on a rental property, step by step: a fully worked example, the expenses people forget, and how to stress-test it.
Cash-on-cash return on a rental: formula, example and what it leaves out
How to calculate cash-on-cash return on a rental property, with two worked examples, how leverage changes it, and what the ratio does not tell you.
BRRRR calculator: how to run the numbers on a BRRRR deal
A worked BRRRR example from purchase to refinance: all-in cost, ARV, refinance loan, cash left in the deal, cash flow and DSCR, plus seasoning rules to check.
Refinancing
Refinance break-even on a rental property: how long until it pays off?
Calculate the break-even point of refinancing a rental property, with a worked example, why resetting to 30 years flatters the result, and a better 5-year test.
Cash-out refinance on a rental property: how the numbers really work
How much cash you can take out of a rental, what it costs once your old rate is replaced, and what it does to cash flow and DSCR. Worked example and checklist.
Bookkeeping and taxes
How to track rental income and expenses in a spreadsheet
Set up simple rental property bookkeeping in Excel or Google Sheets: the columns to use, categories, a monthly routine, a worked month and what records to keep.
Schedule E expense categories for landlords: a plain-English guide
Every Schedule E expense line from 5 to 19 in plain English, with examples, repairs vs improvements, depreciation basics and a worked year for one rental.
Rent collection
How to track rent payments: a simple system for small landlords
A simple system to track rent payments from every tenant: what to record, a monthly rent roll check, partial payments, receipts and when to follow up.
Rent ledger template: what to include and how to keep it
What a rent ledger (tenant ledger) should contain: the columns, a worked example with a running balance, partial payments, late fees, credits and deposits.
Late rent fees: how to calculate them, state limits, and how to track them
Flat vs percentage late fees, grace periods, examples of state limits (New York, Colorado, Maine), worked calculations and a clean way to track late fees.