Your Real Estate, Explained

Welcome

Real estate doesn't behave like a brokerage account. There's no daily price tick, no broker statement, no easy way to know what a property is worth on any given day. Instead there's a market value (an estimate), a rent roll, a mortgage, an operating budget, and a set of return metrics that combine all of those into a single picture of performance.

This page is structured around that reality. The portfolio view shows every property at a glance with the headline metrics. Clicking into any property opens a detail view with full financials, mortgage tracking, and document storage.

Adding a property

Use + Add Property to create a new real estate record for a rental property, primary residence, land parcel, condominium, or other directly owned property.

Step 1 - Open the Add Property dialog

From the Real Estate page, click + Add Property. The property creation form opens with five sections: Basics, Financials, Details, Mortgages, and Documents.

Step 2 - Complete the Basics section

• Property Name - Use a clear name you'll recognize later in reporting and property lists.
• Property Type - Classify the asset as Single Family, Condominium, Multi-family, Commercial, Land, or another supported type.
• Entity - Assign the legal owner, such as a trust, LLC, or holding entity.
• Status - Set the property as Active, Inactive, or Sold.
• Street Address, City, State, Zip, and Country - Record the full property location for identification and records.
• Acquisition Method - Indicate how the property was acquired, such as purchase or transfer.
• Owner Occupied - Enable this if the property is a primary residence rather than an income-producing asset.

Step 3 - Enter Financials

• Purchase Price - Record the original acquisition cost.
• Current Market Value - Enter your best current estimate for valuation and equity reporting.
• Monthly Rent Income - Track recurring rental income if the property is leased.
• Annual Property Tax - Add the yearly tax expense.
• Annual Insurance - Record annual insurance cost.
• Annual HOA Dues - Include recurring HOA or association fees when applicable.

Step 4 - Add Property Details

• Purchase Date - Set the acquisition date for historical tracking.
• Square Footage - Record the size of the property.
• Total Units - Use this for duplexes, apartment buildings, or other multi-unit properties.
• Beds and Baths - Capture basic property characteristics for reference and reporting.

Step 5 - Add mortgage information if needed

• Add Manually - Create a mortgage record directly if the loan is not connected digitally.
• Link from Plaid - Connect mortgage information from a linked institution when available.
• If no debt is attached yet, you can still create the property now and add mortgages later.

Step 6 - Upload supporting documents

• Upload Documents - Attach deeds, leases, insurance files, closing documents, or other supporting records.
• The Documents section acts as the central file store for property-related records.

Step 7 - Create the property

After completing the required fields, click Add Property to save the record.

Once saved, the property becomes part of your real estate portfolio and can be updated over time as values, income, expenses, and documents change.

Real estate metrics - the glossary

• Market Value - Current estimated worth. Best updated annually via appraisal, comparable sale, or your own informed estimate.
• Equity - Market Value minus Total Debt. Your stake in the property.
• LTV - Loan-to-Value. Total Debt divided by Market Value. Standard mortgage underwriting metric.
• Gross Rent - Total rent collectible if 100% occupied at current rates, before any expenses.
• Operating Expenses - Recurring costs to run the property - taxes, insurance, HOA, maintenance, and management. Does not include mortgage payments.
• NOI - Net Operating Income. Gross Income minus Operating Expenses. Excludes debt service. The standard measure of a property's operating performance.
• Cash Flow - NOI minus Debt Service. What actually lands in your bank account.
• Cap Rate - NOI divided by Market Value. Yield on the property as if owned with no debt. A 5% cap rate on a $1M property means $50K per year in NOI.
• Cash on Cash - Annual Cash Flow divided by Total Cash Invested. Yield on the actual cash you've put in, including the effect of leverage.

Common workflows

• Annual valuation refresh

  Each January (or after any major market move), walk through your portfolio one property at a time, update the Market Value, and note the source - appraisal, comparable, AVM. Equity, LTV, and cap rate all recalculate automatically.

• Tax season prep

  Open the Financials tab for each property and the Documents tab for any expenses paid during the year. Export the financials and hand to your CPA along with source receipts. The annual operating expense breakdown matches the structure of Schedule E.

• Refinance evaluation

  Check Portfolio LTV at the top of the page and individual property LTVs in the Equity & Leverage panel. Properties with LTV below 60% may have refinance capacity; properties above 75% may be locked in until values rise or principal is paid down.

• "Should I keep this property" review

  Open the Financials tab. Look at Cash on Cash and Cap Rate together. A property with low Cash on Cash and low Cap Rate is working hard for little return - a candidate for sale or repositioning. Compare against alternative deployments of the equity.