United States
How to underwrite a US rental listing
US listings advertise asking price and sqft, not a verified rent. Gross yield is still annual rent divided by price. Net yield (cap rate on total cost) subtracts closing costs, vacancy, tax and management. DwellIQ scores Zillow / Realtor / Redfin URLs with city-level $/sqft baselines — not county-assessor comps.
The formula
Gross yield (%) = (monthly rent × 12) / purchase price × 100. Example: $2,400/month on a $360,000 house = 8.0% gross.
Net yield uses ~3% buyer closing costs, property tax (~1.1% of price/year, county-dependent), vacancy and 8% management. A 8% gross house often lands at 4–5% net — or negative cash flow at 6.5% interest.
What “good” looks like
Coastal metros (NYC, SF, LA, Boston) often sit at 3–5% gross. Sun Belt and Midwest markets more often clear 6–8% gross with more landlord-risk and liquidity variation.
Paste a Zillow URL, or enter price, sqft and city if the portal blocks extraction. Financing defaults to 20% down, 6.5%, 30 years — change them to match your lender.
Limits
There is no US equivalent of French DVF in this tool yet. Scores use city averages. Always pull rent comps, tax bills and HOA docs before an offer.
FAQ
- Which US portals work?
- Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin URLs. Many pages are bot-protected — use the price / sqft / city fallback.
- Is this an appraisal?
- No. It is a screening score. Verify with local comps, an inspection and your lender.
Paste a Zillow URL (or price, sqft and city) and get a score out of 100.
Analyze a US listing