Rental calculator VS learning your market with a spreadsheet

[Nicholas R Paust]

I'm just wondering from seasoned investors on what's your go to method for analyzing a property.  I'm currently looking for my second property and feel maybe I just got lucky on my first property since I didn't run any numbers.  My first investment was a turn key property that cost $124,500 I put 20% down and rents for $1550. I see people talking about the 1% rule, as well as the bigger pockets calculator.   I also listen to Mike Zuber author of one rental at a time talk about learning your market which is a course he has that includes a spreadsheet that tracks sales so you know what's a good/great deal in the area of the investment.  Any thoughts on any of these or open to other suggestions.   I'm trying to turn this into a business for something that I can do every day.  Not just save up and do research when I have a down payment.  THANKS   

[Ryan Chatman]

@Nicholas R Paust Congrats on making it to the second deal!

My go to is this deal analysis spreadsheet; I've tweaked it to make it work for me:

https://bit.ly/3EAhMm8

Complete all of the Purple Boxes with your property's data and it will crunch the numbers. Looking at the Year 1 data is typically enough.

It also calculates Cap Rate, 1% Rule, and Cash on Cash return percentage

I think the 1% rule, CoC, Cap Rate, and some other metrics are fine for comparison sake but none are a one-size fits all.

I am by no-means seasoned, but I have done quite a bit of analysis on properties while searching. 

I think the most important thing is analyze a deal with conservative estimates and see if those numbers align with your goals. Some investors look to make net profit of $100-$200 per door. For mine I wanted my per door net to be higher.