Finvest

Your guide to rentals that survive the math

The four returns, the deal math, the expenses every listing skips, house hacking, financing, landlord taxes, and the passive routes, explained in plain English with calculators that tell you the truth early.

Start reading: Chapter 1

15 chapters · 6 calculators · honest numbers · www.getfinvest.com

Educational material only. This guide is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Real estate involves risk of loss; figures reference June 2026 rates and 2026 federal rules, with sources throughout.

Part I · Should you?

What real estate actually pays you

A rental pays four ways and three are invisible on a bank statement. The four returns, traced on one real house.

Rentals, REITs, or index funds: the honest race

Same $60,000, three vehicles, twenty years. The math lands where it lands, including the hours column.

Can you afford to be a landlord?

The down payment is the first line, not the total. The all-in cash number nobody posts.

Part II · The math

Deal math: NOI, cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR

The four numbers that price every income property, built in order on real deals.

The expenses everyone forgets

The seller's pro forma vs reality: vacancy, capex, management, turnover. The chapter that makes the brand.

Financing an investment property

Investor conventional, the house-hack loophole, DSCR loans, HELOCs: the menu with honest rates and catches.

Leverage: the amplifier

The same multiplier that turns +3% into +12% turns −10% into −40%. The physics, and the margin-of-safety rules.

Part III · The strategies

House hacking: the cheat code with a roommate

Owner-occupied financing plus shared walls. Alana's duplex traced end to end, plus the ADU angle.

The long-term rental, run like a business

Buy boxes, tenant screening, leases, and the honest self-manage vs manager break-even.

Short-term and mid-term rentals

Revenue with a job attached. The cost stack the screenshots skip, and the quiet mid-term middle.

Small multifamily and the art of scaling

Two to four units: one roof, four rents. Rent rolls, value-add honesty, and BRRRR with the failure points marked.

REITs, funds, and syndications: the passive routes

For the reader who got here and felt tired. Public REITs, the pitch-deck decoder, and sponsor risk.

Part IV · Ownership as a business

Landlord taxes: depreciation, losses, and the 1031

The shield now, the bill later: depreciation, recapture, passive-loss rules, the STR loophole, and the 1031 clock.

Tenants, law, and not getting sued

Fair housing, deposits, evictions reality, and the honest LLC-vs-umbrella answer.

The playbook: your first deal in 12 months

The funnel, the timelines, the one-pager, a 35-term glossary, and every number with its source.