Underwriting a
Central Florida
rental
Most rental spreadsheets we are sent are wrong in the same four places: insurance is too low, the tax figure is the seller's homesteaded number, there is no capital reserve, and vacancy is set at a round five percent because that is what the template said.
Fix those four and the deal usually looks different. This guide walks the model line by line with Central Florida figures, then works an example end to end.
Underwrite on your own tax basis, a real insurance quote, a management fee whether or not you self-manage, and a capital reserve of at least a few hundred dollars a month on a single-family home. If the deal only works with no reserve and a five percent vacancy assumption, it does not work.
Four places models go wrong here
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The model, line by line
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A worked example
The example is deliberately ordinary: a real house at a real price with honest expenses. It cash flows thinly, which is the truth about most single-family long-term rentals in this market at current rates, and it is why the strategy question comes before the property question.
The metrics, and what each hides
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Assumptions worth stress-testing
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Two numbers to get before you offer
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We will not send you a pro forma with an aspirational rent and no reserve line to make a deal look better than it is. If our numbers say a property does not work, you will get the numbers and the reasoning, and you can disagree with us on the assumptions rather than on the conclusion.
The bottom line
Underwrite the property you will actually own: your taxes, your insurance quote, your reserve. A deal that survives honest assumptions is a deal you can hold through a bad year, which is the only kind worth buying.
Talk through a deal
Leave your details and we will reach out to talk through the deal you are looking at.
We will be in touch to get the property details. Questions in the meantime: (352) 717-4153.
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