Prompt details

Tested on

Claude Opus 5.5

Length

559 words · 4 fill-ins

Example input

[Property, price and location]: A duplex in Memphis, Tennessee, listed at $210,000. Built in 1962, two units, each 2 bed and 1 bath, about 950 sq ft. Unit A is rented at $1,050 a month; the lease ends in 4 months and the seller says the tenant always pays on time. Unit B is vacant; the listing says market rent is $1,050. The roof is 18 years old. Unit A's furnace and AC were replaced 3 years ago; Unit B's are about 15 years old. Separate electric meters, one shared water meter.

[Your financing]: Investment property loan: 25% down, 30-year fixed at 7.25%. The lender estimates closing costs at about $6,500. I'd spend about $4,000 to get Unit B ready to rent (paint and new flooring in one room). I want to keep $5,000 in reserves after closing.

[Rent and expenses]: Rents: $1,050 per unit, $2,100 a month in total. Seller's figures: property taxes $2,450 a year, insurance $1,500 a year. I'd pay water and sewer for both units, about $95 a month. Lawn care about $60 a month for 7 months of the year. I plan to manage it myself for now, but may hire a manager later.

[Your return targets]: Cash-on-cash return of at least 8% in year one, a DSCR of at least 1.25, and at least $150 per unit per month in cash flow after setting money aside for repairs and capital expenses.

Example output

1. Verdict

At $210,000 the deal meets none of your targets. Once vacancy, repairs, capital reserves and management are included, net operating income is about $9,886 a year against $12,893 of debt service. That gives roughly −$251 a month cash flow, −4.8% cash-on-cash and a 0.77 DSCR. On these assumptions it meets all three targets only at about $102,000, or about $139,000 if you exclude management while you self-manage. Unless due diligence shows materially higher rents or lower costs, this is a pass at anything near asking.

2. Income and expenses (base case, year one)

Item	Monthly	Yearly	Basis
Gross scheduled rent	$2,100	$25,200	Your figure: 2 × $1,050. Unit B rent is unproven: [verify locally with comps]
Vacancy and credit loss	−$210	−$2,520	Assumption: 10% of gross rent. About 2.4 months of one unit's rent per year. Unit B is vacant now and Unit A's lease ends in month 4. Memphis eviction and turnover rates run high [verify locally]
Effective gross income	$1,890	$22,680	$25,200 − $2,520
Property taxes	$204	$2,450	Seller's figure: [verify with Shelby County Assessor and Trustee, and City of Memphis]
Insurance	$125	$1,500	Seller's figure: [get insurance quote]. A landlord (DP-3) policy on a 1962 building with an 18-year roof may cost more
Water and sewer	$95	$1,140	Your figure: $95 × 12
Lawn care	$35	$420	Your figure: $60 × 7 months ÷ 12
Repairs and maintenance	$168	$2,016	Assumption: 8% of gross rent. Raised from a typical 5–6% because the building is 64 years old
Capital expenditure reserve	$210	$2,520	Assumption: 10% of gross rent. Covers the roof (18 yrs), Unit B HVAC (15 yrs), water heaters, plumbing and sewer line. Arguably light
Property management	$189	$2,268	Assumption: 10% of collected rent. Included so the deal still works if you hire a manager. Leasing fees not included [verify locally]
Pest control, legal, registration, misc.	$40	$480	Assumption: $40 a month. Includes any Memphis rental registration fee [verify locally]

Claude Opus 5.5

Rental Property Analysis – Rental property analysis prompt for ChatGPT and Claude

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Claude Opus 5.5

This prompt analyses a rental property deal from your own numbers. Paste the property, financing, rent and expenses, and your targets; you get every metric with its arithmetic, a stress test and the price that meets your targets.

What you get

A full income and expense table, with vacancy, repairs, capital reserves and management added where you left them out
Mortgage payment, NOI, cap rate, cash flow, cash-on-cash return and DSCR, each with its formula
A stress test for lower rent, higher vacancy, a higher rate and a big first-year repair
The highest price that meets all your targets, the red flags and a due diligence checklist

How to use it

1
Use real quotes where you can
Paste the lender's rate and closing costs, an insurance quote and the tax bill if you have them. A seller's figures are often low.
2
Read the verdict and the offer price
If the deal fails at asking, the offer price shows what it would take, and the stress test shows how thin the margin is.
3
Work the checklist before you offer
Get rent comps, an inspection and quotes for the big items, then run the prompt again with the real figures.

Better results

Ask: "Rerun it self-managed, with 5 percent vacancy and my insurance quote." Each changed assumption shows its effect on the offer price.
Paste rent comps from a local property manager into the rent fill-in. Rent is the one number that moves every metric.
Run the prompt on two properties, then ask: "Which of these meets my targets, and at what price per unit?"

Questions

Can ChatGPT analyse a rental property?

Yes. ChatGPT can analyse a rental property from your numbers: income and expenses, the mortgage payment, cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return and DSCR, plus a stress test. It cannot see the property or local rents, so verify rents, taxes and insurance locally before you offer.

What is DSCR in real estate?

DSCR, the debt service coverage ratio, is net operating income divided by the yearly loan payments. A DSCR of 1.25 means the property earns 25 percent more than its loan payments; below 1.0 it cannot cover them. Lenders often set a minimum for investment loans.

What is a good cash-on-cash return on a rental?

There is no single standard: targets vary with the market, the risk and the investor, and many set one somewhere around 8 to 12 percent. Whatever yours is, test it with conservative vacancy, repair and capital reserve figures, as this prompt does.

What is the 1 percent rule in real estate?

The 1 percent rule is a quick screen: monthly rent should be at least 1 percent of the purchase price. It ignores taxes, insurance, repairs and financing, so a property can pass it and still lose money, as our test duplex did at exactly 1 percent.

Updated 8 Nov 2026