Property search by address or area
Start from a specific address or a city, neighborhood, or ZIP code and pull the property details and asking price into one place — so you can size up a deal without jumping between a dozen listing sites.
Free real estate research tool
Size up an investment property and its market in one place.
Search by address or area. Get neighborhood and ZIP-level market context, the rental-investing numbers that matter — cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash, and DSCR — and a plain-English AI summary, free, with no sign-up.
The property, the market, and the numbers — explained.
Neighborhood & ZIP-level market context
See the local picture around a property — typical prices and rents, how the area is trending, and how it compares to its wider market. Context at the ZIP and neighborhood level matters because real estate is local: two houses at the same price can be very different investments three miles apart.
Cash flow — the money left each month
Cash flow is rent collected minus every monthly cost (mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, and a vacancy allowance). Positive cash flow means the property pays you each month; negative means it costs you. It is the first number most rental investors check, because a property that bleeds cash every month is hard to hold through a rough patch.
Cap rate — yield if you paid all cash
The capitalization rate is annual net operating income divided by the price. It strips out the mortgage so you can compare properties apples-to-apples as if you bought them outright. A higher cap rate means more income per dollar of price — but often more risk or a rougher area. Read it against other properties in the same market, not as a universal target.
Cash-on-cash return — return on the money you actually put in
Cash-on-cash is your yearly pre-tax cash flow divided by the actual cash you invested (down payment plus closing and rehab costs). Unlike cap rate, it accounts for your mortgage and leverage, so it answers the real question: for the dollars I put down, what return am I getting each year?
DSCR — can the rent cover the loan?
The debt-service-coverage ratio is net operating income divided by the annual mortgage payment. Above 1.0 means the rent more than covers the loan; below 1.0 means it does not. Lenders lean on this ratio for rental loans, so seeing it early tells you whether a deal is likely to finance and how much cushion it has.
Plain-English AI property & market summary
A written summary that pulls the property details and the local market into one readable brief — what the numbers suggest, what stands out, and what to dig into further — in language anyone can follow, so you are not left staring at a spreadsheet.
Understand the method
Every number follows the same transparent rules you can check yourself. Here is where to learn how the metrics and the analysis actually work.
How it works
Learn the ideas
Frequently asked questions
How much does the real estate research tool cost?+
Nothing. Property search, the market context, the rental-investing metrics, and the AI summary are all free, with no account required.
What counts as a good cap rate?+
There is no single right answer — it depends entirely on the market. In a stable, lower-risk area a cap rate in the rough 4–6% range can be normal, while higher-risk or higher-growth markets may run higher. The useful move is to compare a property against others in the same area rather than chasing one target number. This is educational context, not a recommendation.
Does this replace an appraisal, inspection, or a real estate agent?+
No. This is early-stage research to help you understand a property and its market before you dig deeper. It is not an appraisal, a home inspection, or professional real estate, legal, or tax advice. Before buying, use a licensed appraiser, inspector, agent, and your own advisors.
Where do the numbers come from, and how exact are they?+
The metrics are estimates built from the property details, asking price, and typical local costs and rents. Real results depend on your actual rent, financing, taxes, insurance, vacancy, and repairs — so treat every figure as a starting estimate to pressure-test with real quotes, not a promise.
Is this investment or real estate advice?+
No. Market Lens is educational research. It shows you the analysis and the reasoning so you can learn and compare; it does not tell you which property to buy, predict prices, or promise returns. The decision is always yours and your advisors.