Does it pencil?

PropPencil turns any property into an investor-ready deal analysis. Enter an address and see what it is worth to you, what it will earn, what could go wrong, and the highest price you should pay.

See an example analysisNo card required · free on public data
HUD Fair Market RentsFEMA flood mapsCounty tax recordsShort-term rental data
1418 Vine St, Cincinnati$118,000 ask
83/100
Fantastic Pencil

At $118,000, this property pencils.

What moved the score
Monthly cash flow+$557/mo
Cash-on-cash24.6%
Cap rate12.2%
Debt coverage1.87x
Price vs value−25%
Maximum buy price$156,500
$38,500 of headroom at a required 10% cash-on-cash return.
How it works

Stop guessing if a property is a good deal.

PropPencil analyzes the numbers behind a property so you can see what it is worth, what it could earn, and whether the deal actually pencils. Every screen answers one question.

01

What is it worth to you?

An investor value built from the property's own economics and the return you require — not a public estimate of what someone might list it for.

02

What will it earn and cost?

Rent, taxes, insurance, reserves, management and financing — modelled across a traditional lease, a Section 8 voucher and a short-term rental.

03

What could go wrong?

The specific assumptions that would break the deal, each with a dollar figure attached — not a vague risk score you cannot act on.

04

What price should you pay?

A maximum buy price tied to your required return, so you walk into the negotiation knowing the number you will not go past.

The Pencil Score

One number, and the receipts behind it.

Most tools hand you a wall of metrics and let you decide which ones matter. PropPencil weighs five of them — cash flow, cash-on-cash, cap rate, debt coverage, and price against investor value — into a single score from zero to a hundred, measured against the return you require.

It is never a black box. Every analysis shows what each part contributed and how many points it earned, so you can argue with the score instead of trusting it.

A perfect 100 is close to unreachable by design. A score that maxes out easily is not a score, it is flattery.

Six ways a deal can land

Rare Pencil90 and up
Fantastic Pencil80–89
Great Pencil70–79
Good Pencil60–69
Fair Pencil50–59
Poor Pencilbelow 50

Breaking even is not a goal. A deal that merely covers its own costs is rated Poor, because your money could be doing that in a savings account.

Maximum buy price

Know your walk-away number before you make the offer.

Any calculator can tell you a property has a 7.1% cap rate. The question you actually need answered is what you should pay. Set the return you require and PropPencil solves backwards for the highest price that still delivers it.

Asking price$118,000
Maximum buy price$156,500
Room below target$38,500
Recommendation: the ask already works — move before someone else pencils it.

Raise your required return and the maximum buy price drops with it. Every number on the page — the score, the cash flow, the verdict, the map pin — moves at the same time, so you can find the price that makes a marginal deal work instead of abandoning it.

Three ways to run it

The same house pays three different ways.

A traditional lease, a Section 8 voucher and a short-term rental produce very different numbers on identical brick. PropPencil scores all three side by side, so the strategy decision stops being a hunch.

83Fantastic Pencil

Short-term rental

Revenue$2,340/mo
Cash flow+$557/mo
Cash-on-cash24.6%
Debt coverage1.87x

Highest return, highest variance. Ten points off occupancy costs about $307 a month.

71Great Pencil

Section 8 voucher

Rent$1,419/mo
Cash flow+$230/mo
Cash-on-cash10.2%
Debt coverage1.44x

Contract-backed rent and 2% empty months. The trade is an inspection and the authority's rent ceiling.

62Good Pencil

Traditional rental

Rent$1,275/mo
Cash flow+$72/mo
Cash-on-cash3.2%
Debt coverage1.18x

A modelled rent, not a signed lease. One comparable rental from the block is worth more than any estimate.

The Section 8 analysis distinguishes Fair Market Rent from small-area FMR, applies your local payment standard, and separates the voucher portion from the tenant's share — because a Section 8 deal that works on paper still has to pass inspection.

Show your work

Every number has a source, a confidence and a range.

PropPencil estimates. It does not pretend to know the future. So each input tells you where it came from and how much to trust it, and the full net-operating-income arithmetic is one click away — no line item hidden behind a summary.

Gross potential rent$28,080
Effective gross income$28,080
Property taxes−$1,876
Insurance, maintenance, CapEx−$3,174
Management and utilities−$8,616
Net operating income$14,414
What could break the pencil

Risk you can actually act on.

Instead of burying downside in a generic risk rating, PropPencil names the specific assumptions holding the deal up and tells you what happens if each one is wrong.

⚠
OccupancyThe whole case rests on 61% occupancy holding. Ten points off costs roughly $307 a month, which would still leave it ahead of the voucher case.
⚠
InsuranceBudgeted at $49 a month. A real quote coming back $60 higher takes the score down a tier.
⚠
Rent estimateThe rent is modelled, not leased. Range $1,180–$1,390. One real comparable from the block settles it.
⚠
Age and big-ticket repairsBuilt 1912. The 5% CapEx reserve is $117 a month — thin for a roof and an HVAC on a house this old.
Pricing

Try one on us. Then it's $19 a month.

Every pencil pulls live data — HUD rents, county taxes, comparable sales, short-term rental demand. Those lookups cost real money, so the pricing is simple: your first full analysis is free, and the Investor plan covers a serious month of deal hunting for less than one home inspection.

Free

$0
1 full analysis when you sign up
  • ✓ The complete pencil — score, max buy price, all three strategies
  • ✓ Saved pencils and assumptions, synced to your account
  • ✓ No card required
Pencil one free
For deal hunters

Investor

$19/ month
100 pencils a month · about 19¢ each
  • ✓ Everything in Free, 100 times a month
  • ✓ Live comparable sales, rent estimates and short-term rental demand where available
  • ✓ Offer-price solver, stress test and 5-year hold projection on every pencil
  • ✓ Cancel any time — your saved pencils stay
Start with the free pencil

Why a limit at all? Each analysis fans out to paid data providers on your behalf. The Investor plan is priced to cover those calls with a little left over to keep the lights on — not to squeeze you. If you routinely need more than 100 pencils a month, get in touch and we'll work something out.

Before you buy, pencil it.

We do the math. You make the decision. Start with a single address and see the whole deal in about a minute.