When it comes to real estate investing, the 1% rule isn’t the only method to determine the best opportunities to buy a rental house. Other popular methods include the gross rent multiplier, the 70% rule and the 2% rule.
Gross Rent Multiplier
The gross rent multiplier (GRM) gauges the amount of time it takes to pay off an investment. It’s a property’s purchase price divided by its gross annual rent. The result is the total number of years it’ll take to pay off the investment only with rental income. The lower the GRM, the more lucrative the property may be.
Purchase price ∕ Gross annual rent = Years to pay off investment
Let’s say you purchase a $200,000 investment property. You charge $2,500 in monthly rent, and your annual gross rental income is $30,000 (2,500 ✕ 12).
The property’s GRM is 6.67. So, it should take about 6 years and 7 months to pay off the property with rental income. Of course, you’ll need to consider other expenses when determining a property’s profit potential, including repair, operating and maintenance costs and vacancy rate.
You can use GRM to compare investment properties, too. If one property has a GRM of 6.67 while another has a GRM of 8.33, the property with the lower GRM (6.67) may be the better option because you should be able to pay off the investment faster. When comparing properties, make sure they’re in similar markets with similar operating, maintenance and other costs.
70% Rule
The 70% rule is for house flippers. It recommends that an investor pay no more than 70% of a home’s after-repair value (ARV) minus repair costs.
To calculate the 70% rule, multiply the home’s estimated ARV by 0.7 (70%). Take the result and subtract any estimated repair costs. The final result will be the amount you should pay for the property. Let’s look at an example.
Let’s say you’re interested in a property you estimate will have an ARV of $150,000. You also estimate you’ll need to spend about $30,000 on repairs to flip the home.
Here’s how to apply the 2% rule on a property selling for $150,000:
$150,000 ✕ 0.02 = $3,000
According to the 2% rule, your monthly mortgage payment shouldn’t exceed $3,000, and you should charge $3,000 in monthly rent.
The 2% rule is more extreme than the 1% rule – basically doubling the monthly rent amount. But it can work in certain markets and provide a financial safety net if an investor struggles to fill vacancies or needs a major, costly repair on the property.
No matter which rule you choose, you can run the numbers on a potential property to help ensure you’re making an affordable investment.
For a potential investment to pass the 1% rule, its monthly rent must equal at least 1% of the purchase price. If you want to buy an investment property, the 1% rule can be a helpful tool for finding the right property to achieve your investment goals.
Is The 1% Rule Realistic? Many people find the 1% rule helpful, but there are some shortcomings with using this strategy. For one thing, properties that fail to meet the 1% rule are not necessarily bad investments. And likewise, properties that do meet the 1% rule are not automatically good investments either.
Multiply the purchase price of the property plus any necessary repairs by 1% to determine a base level of monthly rent. Ideally, an investor should seek a mortgage loan with monthly payments of less than the 1% figure.
The 2% rule is a rule of thumb that determines how much rental income a property should theoretically be able to generate. Following the 2% rule, an investor can expect to realize a positive cash flow from a rental property if the monthly rent is at least 2% of the purchase price.
The 1 and 10 rule is another real estate investment guideline that suggests that investors should aim for a gross monthly rent that is at least 1% of the property's purchase price and a net profit margin of at least 10%.
The 1% rent-to-price (RTP) ratio rule, once a go-to method for estimating rental property cash flow, may no longer hold its ground in today's real estate landscape. Recent evidence suggests that this rule is losing its effectiveness due to inflated home prices and shifts in the rental market.
In November, Corcoran appeared on the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast with her son Tom Higgins to describe two methods she says make up her “golden rule” of real estate investing: putting down 20% on an investment property and having tenants of that property paying for the mortgage.
ALSO SEE: What is the 50% Rule? The shortfall of such a simplistic metric is accuracy. The 1% rule's weakness is that it does not account for the many additional costs involved with an investment property, such as maintenance costs, insurance, property taxes, HOA fees, vacancy rates, and utilities.
What is BRRRR, and what does it stand for? Letter by letter, BRRRR stands for “Buy, rehab, rent, refinance and repeat.” It's like flipping, but instead of selling the property after renovation, you rent it out with an eye on long-term appreciation.
In the realm of real estate investment, the 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, is a potent tool for maximizing returns. It posits that a small fraction of actions—typically around 20%—drives a disproportionately large portion of results, often around 80%.
The average cash flow on a rental property for most investors is an 8% return on investment, or ROI. Others will strive for an ROI of 15%. There really is no magic number or right amount to ear.
Real estate investors who develop their portfolios strategically and with determination can realize their dream of living off rental property income. Location, revenue potential, property management, and long-term financial planning are essential components for success.
The 1% rule states that a rental property's income should be at least 1% of the purchase price. For example, if a rental property is purchased for $200,000, the monthly rental income should be at least $2,000.
The 70% rule helps home flippers determine the maximum price they should pay for an investment property. Basically, they should spend no more than 70% of the home's after-repair value minus the costs of renovating the property.
To calculate how much house you can afford based on your salary, use the 25% rule—never spend more than 25% of your monthly take-home pay (after tax) on monthly mortgage payments. That includes your mortgage principal, interest, property taxes, home insurance, PMI and HOA fees.
If you're in the early stages of evaluating rental properties to invest in, the 1 percent rule is a quick and easy way to estimate the minimum amount you'd have to charge in rent to make a profit. Keep in mind, however, that it's just a general rule of thumb, so you shouldn't rely on it to provide a precise figure.
It's called the principle of 'aggregate marginal gains', and is the idea that if you improve by just 1% consistently, those small gains will add up to remarkable improvement. We see this everywhere in our lives. Saving small amounts of money over time can build big sums with the power of compound interest.
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