Introduction

Deciding whether to keep a property as a rental or sell it is a classic dilemma. The Rent vs. Sell Calculator shows, in seconds, how your return on equity (ROE) changes across key variables—helping you pick the profitable path.

In this tutorial you'll learn how to:

  1. Enter property details and loan terms
  2. Read the cash-flow output and ROE metric
  3. Use the sensitivity heat-map to spot risk
  4. Share or bookmark scenarios with a single URL

Tip Open the calculator alongside this article in another tab for hands-on practice.

Real Estate Investing: Rent vs. Sell Return on Equity

Interactive calculator for cash-flow, ROE and sensitivity heat-map.

1 Entering the property basics

Begin with the four required fields—Fair-Market Value (FMV), List / Offer Price, Original Loan Amount, Monthly Rent. The calculator auto-saves as you type and every input supports arrow-key nudging (+/-). For quick what-ifs, hold Shift with the arrows for larger jumps.

Common starting points:

  • FMV – Recent appraisal or comps
  • Sale Price – The offer you expect to negotiate
  • Loan Amount – Purchase loan principal (exclude rehab loans)
  • Rent – Current or projected gross monthly rent

Keyboard users can tab through inputs; tooltips provide precise definitions if any term feels fuzzy.

2 Understanding cash-flow, equity & ROE

Once required fields are populated the calculator immediately computes:

  • Cash-Flow – Annual net cash after expenses & interest
  • ROE – Return on Equity after your hurdle rate

Cash-Flow turns green when positive, red when negative. ROE is displayed as a percentage—aim for a figure that beats your opportunity cost.

Screenshot

Screenshot of cash-flow output

Call-out Cash-flow already factors in vacancy, management fees and PMI where applicable—no manual adjustment required.

3 Exploring the sensitivity heat-map

Scroll (or swipe) to the left pane: a colourful 2-D grid shows ROE across two chosen axes—by default Sale Price (X) and Rent (Y). Green cells exceed your ROE hurdle; red fall short.

Switch either axis using the dropdowns beneath the form—every variable in the calculator can live on an axis. Popular combos:

  • Interest Rate vs Rent – stress tests rising rates
  • Vacancy vs Management Fee – illustrates operational risk
  • FMV vs Sale Price – negotiations & equity cushions

Hovering a cell reveals precise ROE; the red frontier line outlines your hurdle threshold.

4 Sharing & bookmarking scenarios

Every input change updates the URL in real-time. Copy it and the full scenario—including axis selections—restores instantly for collaborators.

Steps

  1. Configure the calculator until happy
  2. Click the browser address bar and copy the URL
  3. Paste into email/chat—recipient sees identical view

For lengthy URLs (lots of changes) the app compresses parameters with base-64 encoding behind the scenes.

Conclusion

You now have a repeatable, data-driven workflow for evaluating single-property rentals:

  1. Enter deal assumptions
  2. Confirm positive cash-flow & acceptable ROE
  3. Stress-test with the heat-map
  4. Share the scenario link with partners or mentors

Stay tuned for our upcoming Purchase-Only ROI Calculator—and explore more guides on the Articles page.