Flip vs. BRRRR Analyzer
Model both exit strategies on a single deal with state-specific taxes, insurance, and foreclosure data. Select your state below or use the calculator with Texas defaults.
Preliminary screening tool only.Default values are illustrative examples — not market offers. All calculations use state-level averages for taxes, insurance, and closing costs that vary significantly by county, property, and lender. Use this tool to identify deals worth deeper analysis, then verify every number with local professionals (title company, insurance agent, lender, CPA) before committing capital. Any or all projections shown here can differ materially from actual results. This is not investment advice.
Analyze Deals in Your State
Each state page loads local property tax rates, insurance estimates, transfer taxes, attorney requirements, and foreclosure timelines automatically. Select your market to see state-specific deal analysis, foreclosure process details, landlord-tenant law summaries, and investor regulatory guidance.
What to Watch: Key Risk Themes Across States
Short-Term Rental Regulations
STR rules are changing faster than any other regulatory category. Cities like Nashville, New York City, and Honolulu have effectively banned investor-owned STRs in residential zones. Austin, Denver, Portland, and Asheville are actively tightening restrictions. Always verify current local STR ordinances before any vacation rental investment.
Rent Control Expansion
Oregon has statewide rent control. Minneapolis and St. Paul enacted 3% caps. California's AB 1482 caps most units at 5% + CPI. New York's HSTPA (2019) and Good Cause Eviction (2024) have transformed the regulatory landscape. New Jersey has 100+ municipalities with local rent control. Virginia (Alexandria) recently enacted rent stabilization. Massachusetts and Colorado have active repeal efforts targeting their statewide preemptions.
Insurance Market Crisis
Florida, Louisiana, California, and Hawaii are in active insurance crisis. Major carriers have exited these states entirely. Always underwrite insurance availability and cost before closing on any property in these markets. Earthquake coverage is critical in Washington, Oregon, Utah, and Alaska. Tornado/hail coverage is the dominant concern across Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and the Central Plains.
Property Tax Reassessment Traps
California (Prop 13/19), Michigan (Proposal A), Oregon (Measure 50), and Nevadaall have sale-triggered tax resets that can dramatically increase property taxes when you buy. In Florida, investment properties don't get the Save Our Homes cap. In South Carolina, buying flips the assessment ratio from 4% to 6%. Always model the post-purchase tax bill, not the seller's current bill.
Wholesaling Enforcement
Texas (SB 1467), Florida (SB 730), Arkansas, Illinois, Colorado, and Ohio have all increased regulatory attention on wholesaling activities. Many state real estate commissions now consider marketing properties you don't own to require a license. Confirm current enforcement posture in your target state before wholesaling.
How It Works
This analyzer models a single real estate deal through two competing exit strategies — Fix & Flip and BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) — so you can compare them side-by-side before committing capital.
Fix & Flip is the simpler strategy: buy a distressed property below market value, renovate it, and sell at the After Repair Value (ARV). Your profit is the spread between the sale proceeds and your total costs (purchase, rehab, financing, holding costs, and closing costs). The key metric is Net Profit and ROI (return on your cash invested).
BRRRR follows the same acquisition and rehab steps, but instead of selling you rent the property and refinance into a long-term conventional loan. The key metrics are Cash Left In Deal, Monthly Cash Flow, and DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio).
When you select a Market State, the calculator automatically adjusts transfer taxes, attorney closing fees, property tax rates, homeowners insurance premiums, and the foreclosure timeline used in the stress test.
The built-in Stress Test applies three simultaneous worst-case assumptions: rehab costs 20% over budget, ARV 5% below your estimate, and the hold period extended by the full state-specific foreclosure timeline.
REI Deal Formulas
Fix & Flip
- Total Project Cost = Purchase Price + Rehab Cost
- HML Loan = Total Project Cost × LTC%
- Upfront Cash = Project Cost − HML Loan + Points + Transfer Tax + Attorney Fee
- Holding Costs = (HML Interest + Property Tax + Insurance) × Hold Months
- Net Profit = ARV × (1 − Closing%) − Project Cost − Holding Costs − Points
- ROI = Net Profit ÷ Upfront Cash × 100
BRRRR & Hold
- Refi Loan = ARV × Refi LTV%
- Monthly PITI = P&I + (ARV × Tax Rate / 12) + (Annual Insurance / 12)
- NOI = Rent × (1 − OpEx%)
- Cash Flow = NOI − Monthly PITI
- DSCR = NOI ÷ Monthly PITI
Frequently Asked Questions
Real Estate Investing Answers at a Glance
How do you calculate ROI on a house flip?
Flip ROI is calculated as net profit divided by your total upfront cash invested, expressed as a percentage. Net profit equals sale proceeds minus total project cost, minus all holding costs (interest, taxes, insurance), minus origination points. A common target for experienced flippers is 15–25% ROI on a 6-month project.
What is a good DSCR for a rental property?
A good DSCR is 1.25x or higher, meaning the property's NOI is 25% more than its total monthly debt payment (PITI). Most DSCR lenders require a minimum of 1.20x. Below 1.0 means you are losing money every month.
What holding costs do flippers forget about?
The most commonly overlooked holding costs are property taxes and insurance during the rehab period, which can add $500–$3,000+ per month depending on the property value and state. This calculator includes state-specific property taxes and insurance in the holding cost calculation automatically.
Common Use Cases
- Screen wholesale deals quickly — paste in the numbers from a deal sheet to see if the margins justify deeper due diligence
- Compare flip vs. hold for the same property — see if a deal makes more sense as a quick flip or a long-term BRRRR rental
- Evaluate deals across different states — compare how the same deal pencils in Texas vs. New York vs. Florida
- Stress test before making an offer — check if the deal survives a rehab overrun, ARV miss, and extended hold
- Share deal analysis with partners or lenders — every input syncs to the URL so you can send a link with your scenario pre-loaded