Free Resources for Property Owners
Download templates, checklists, calculators, and guides to help you manage your rental properties more effectively and make smarter investment decisions.
Find the right resource for what you are doing
Owning a rental is a series of distinct jobs: evaluating a deal, finding and keeping good tenants, maintaining the property and keeping records, and eventually deciding whether to keep, sell or exchange it. The resources below are grouped by those jobs. Every one is free, works without an account, and explains its assumptions so you can judge the result yourself. For state-specific rules, use the state legal guides; for one-page summaries, see the landlord cheat sheets.
Evaluating and buying a rental
Underwrite with real numbers before you make an offer. Start with income and expenses, then test financing and risk.
- Property analysis worksheet: a line-by-line underwriting template.
- Property investment analyzer: full deal evaluation with returns.
- ROI calculator: cash-on-cash, cap rate and NOI.
- Rent estimator: estimate market rent from comparables.
- Expense ratio calculator: check whether operating costs are realistic.
- Break-even calculator: the occupancy you need to cover costs.
- Multi-unit calculator: duplexes to fourplexes.
- House hacking calculator: live in one unit, rent the rest.
- Vacation rental calculator: short-term versus long-term rental income.
- Due diligence checklist: what to verify before closing.
Renting it out
Fill vacancies with fair, consistent processes and paperwork that holds up.
- First-time landlord playbook: a step-by-step first year.
- Tenant screening checklist: consistent, fair-housing-safe screening.
- Lease agreement guide: what every residential lease should cover.
- Move-in and move-out inspection: documentation that supports deposit decisions.
- Security deposit calculator: deposit rules and interest by state.
- Tenant communication templates: notices and letters.
- Rent increase templates: raising rent the right way.
Running and maintaining it
Keep the property in good shape, keep records clean and keep more of the income at tax time.
- Maintenance checklist: seasonal and annual tasks.
- Vendor agreement templates: hiring and contracting with vendors.
- Expense tracking template: Schedule E-ready bookkeeping.
- Tax deduction checklist: a year-round tax calendar.
- Rental tax strategy guide: depreciation, deductions and selling taxes.
- Eviction cost calculator: the true cost of an eviction, and alternatives.
- Refinance calculator: rate-and-term or cash-out.
- BRRRR calculator: buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat.
Growing, selling or exchanging
The decisions with the most money at stake. Model the taxes before you list.
- Keep or sell calculator: six exit options compared after tax.
- 1031 exchange calculator: check whether a replacement fully defers the tax.
- Scaling playbook: growing from one property to ten or more.
- All investor tools: deal comparison, financing, rehab and tax tools.
Legal guides and cheat sheets
The state legal guides summarise landlord-tenant rules for California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois, with links to the governing statutes. The cheat sheets cover ROI formulas, tax deductions, fair housing, tenant screening red flags, maintenance priorities and emergency contacts, each with a printable one-page summary and a longer explanation below it.
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Questions about these resources
Are these resources free to use?
Yes. Every calculator, checklist, template and guide on this page is free and available without an account. You can print most checklists and cheat sheets directly from the page.
Can I rely on the templates and legal guides as legal advice?
No. They are general information to help you understand the issues and prepare. Landlord-tenant law varies by state and often by city, and it changes. Have leases and notices reviewed by a local attorney before you rely on them, and check the current statute for any deadline.
Which resource should a first-time landlord start with?
Start with the first-time landlord playbook for the overall sequence, then the tenant screening checklist and lease agreement guide before you advertise. Use the move-in inspection guide on the day the tenant moves in, and set up the expense tracking template from day one so tax time is easy.
I am thinking about selling a rental. Where should I begin?
Begin with the keep or sell rental property calculator. It compares keeping, selling, a 1031 exchange, a Delaware Statutory Trust, seller financing and holding the property for your heirs in after-tax dollars, and it handles former homes that became rentals. The rental tax strategy guide explains the taxes involved in plain English.
How often is this content updated?
Tax figures are updated each year when the IRS publishes new inflation adjustments, and the state legal guides show the date they were last reviewed. If you spot something out of date, please email us from the contact page.
Thinking about selling a rental? Run the numbers first.
Compare keeping, selling, a 1031 exchange, a DST, seller financing and holding for your heirs, in after-tax dollars, in about two minutes. Free, no account needed.